It Rains Mainly in the Plains of Ireland

Back when I was visiting my family in Florida, we shared a little joke that you knew you were in Tallahassee because it was raining. Every day like clockwork it would rain in the afternoon. Here in Limerick, it rains several times a day. Most of the time the showers are quick hitters and gone in 15 minutes. But today's rain lasted all day.

The showers started during class and started to let up a bit on our walk home. After having an afternoon run canceled, a group of seven of us decided to venture downtown for dinner. Except it started to rain. Hard. By the time we reached the bus stop we were soaked. Then we stood and waited for the bus for 15 minutes. It didn't come so we hiked to a nearby gas station to call a cab. After waiting for 15 more minutes, the rain let up and we decided to walk up to the next bus stop. Fifty minutes after leaving, we reached downtown.

After roaming the city for a bit, we found a small secret restaurant for dinner. It was solid. I had smoked chicken stuffed with salmon. I meant to take a picture of this but remembered my plan after the first bite. (I will try of all my fancy meals from now on.)

When we emerged from the restaurant at 9 p.m. the sun was just on the horizon, but still quite bright. Time to put on the shades. Again we wandered around for a while and ended up at the Bank Bar and Grill for dessert. I didn't partake in the food, but the atmosphere was great. Unfortunately, right as we were leaving at 10 two chaps started to play some Irish music. It was tempting to stay, but we decided against it so we could get home and rest up for this weekend.

When we got off the bus at our stop we were greeted by the result of a long day of rain. Pretty sweet. I guess the rain isn't so bad after all.


I don't know if I'm going to be able to post for the next few days while we make a trip to Dublin, but expect a big roundup when I can write again. Here's a preview of our trip:

We leave for Dublin Thursday after class, no definite plans for that day yet. On Friday morning, we will tour the Four Courts (kind of like the Supreme Court in D.C.) Then we will talk to a few barristers. Afterward, everyone is dead set on visiting the Guinness factory. In the evening, we will have a fancy dinner to celebrate the Fourth of July and go out on the town. Saturday will include a trip up to Belfast to see more historical buildings and courts. Our visit will also coincide with a prelude to parades leading up to the Orange Walk. Should be interesting.

We return to Dublin on Sunday for a free day. Right now, I think my plan for Sunday is to travel with another girl with Northern Ireland roots to find our family's origin. Jill knows that her family has a castle, which has since been turned into an equestrian center. I, on the other hand, don't know much. I know the Arneals came from County Tyrone. I think they originated from a town called Killeeshill, but that isn't certain. I don't know if anything is still there. Right now we are planning on renting a car. Hopefully, everything lines up because it should make for an exciting trip.

LJLA

Irish Steak and Pub Hopping

Today was great except for a minor cold I am coming down with. I don't know if it the jet lag, all the running/walking or sleeping on a four-inch mattress, but my body is trying to wear me down. So what I'd do? Take a three-hour nap. It was glorious.

I woke up feeling a little bit better, but hungry. Eight of us ended up going to downtown Limerick for dinner and a night on the town. We ended up at Locke's Restaurant and Bar. (This led to a Lost moment. Sorry, Charlie, no one else was there to soak it in.) After failing to eat lunch I was famished and wanted something Irish to eat. The choices were either sausage, Irish Bacon or Irish sirloin steak. Naturally, I opted for the steak. (I'd post a picture of it here, but the camera battery is dead and My UK adapter won't let me charge it. I hope this problem will be remedied before the Dublin trip this weekend) It was great. The best part was it was actually a good portion of food. They had a gravy-like sauce to dip it in. Quite good. The downside was it cost 24 Euro, which is $36. But screw it, that was my big meal of the week. Tomorrow, it's frozen pizza from the grocery store.

Afterward, two of the girls peeled off and went back home and the rest of us hit up a couple pubs. (Luckily one was next to a pharmacy. Hello, Sudafed.) We hung out at Gate's Pub and Club Mojo and conversed. Gate's was quite the rough crowd as it was filled with five or six old guys and then us. Mojo was more youthful, but still pretty slim pickings on a Tuesday night. I guess not everyone is in summer school.

Random thoughts from the first couple of days:
— One of the things I'm worried about is which side of the sidewalk to walk on. Since they drive on the left side here, do they walk on that side too? I've encountered several natives and try to read them, but usually just walk on whatever side they aren't favoring, which varies. I just hope they don't walk by me on the right side and curse those bloody Americans.

— Daylight lasts a long time here. I didn't realize how far north Ireland is, but it stays light until well past 10 p.m. and my room is quite bright at 4 a.m. This might be the cause of the weird sleep patterns. Why would I go to bed at 10 p.m. when it is still light out? That's just crazy. According to this website, it is only dark in July for seven hours a day.

— Roundabouts are way fun. In fact, they are so fun that I sing a song every time I walk by/through/on one. You can too, just sing this little diddy to the tune of "Lollipop," "Roundabout, roundabout, round round roundabout, Roundabout." I am the envy of all my friends.

Cheers,

LJLA

School Time

A short post while I recover from a long day. Three classes: Trial Advocacy in the U.S. and Ireland, Criminal Justice in Ireland and Legal Responses to Terrorism. All look pretty interesting. We started off slow with an overview of two classes and watch the "Battle of Algiers" in Terrorism. The rest of the day consisted of a nap, a 4.5 mile run along the Shannon River and a trip to the grocery store, which is not quite a mile away. Jake and I made spaghetti for dinner. Good times. Must sleep to get over tiredness and jet lag. Ta ta.

Strolling around Limerick

d

There it is. The object that consumed almost half of my day on Sunday.

With no cell phone, a dead computer and no other way of communicating with the outside world, the adventure of retrieving my lost suitcase was a slow, long journey. After deciding against taking a cab out to Shannon Airport, the only other option was taking the bus. I got up at 8:30 and started my journey back the route I came on Sunday. Option No. 1 was to take the city bus back downtown and take the Express Bus back to the airport. However, when I arrived at the first bus stop, I learned that the routes did not begin until 11:20. Awesome. So onward I went on foot. It was only after I left that I forgot my map and only had a vague recollection of where the bus station was. (I should start writing stuff down. Nah, I'm a man.)

Walking along N7 (Dublin Road) was quite nice. I explored the town and saw the sights of downtown. (There is a Burger King and Dominoes here!) The walk ended up being almost four miles -- I learned this after the fact. The only point of reference I had downtown was Wilson Street, where I got on the bus yesterday. After making a few random turns, which I thought would keep me in the right direction, I found Wilson and surveyed the area. After walking half a block and turning around I saw Wickham Street, which is the road I took to Wilson from the bus station on Saturday. I would like to thank Sean Wickham. If not for knowing him, I probably would not have remembered the street (all though the All-Star Tattoo Parlor also was a big clue). Score one for Scotus. Also, score one for Lincoln's innate ability to find where he is going based on vague memories.

Anyway, I quickly made it back onto the bus and out to Shannon. At the Airport, my bag was returned and I did a little jig. Back to Limerick with two more bus rides. Back in the apartment I took my first shower in two days and met up with the other Nebraska folk. I also watched my first Gaelic football match. It was interesting, but to say I fully understand it is an outright lie.

In the afternoon, we had an informal meeting with the study abroad group. There are 16 of us in all: Three from Nebraska, one from Stetson in St. Petersburg, one from Cleveland State-Marshall and the rest from Kansas. We got an overview from one of the professors and decided to go somewhere to watch the Euro 2008 championship match. (Note to Nathan: you can skip the rest of the entry as it deals with soccer.
The place we ended up going was called Hurlers Pub. Yes, that's right a pub called hurlers. It is named after the sport of hurling and not the act of throwing up.

There was a good-sized crowd at the pub that was almost all pulling for Spain. We watched the match (as seen to the left) and had a merry ol' time. After Spain won 1-0, several people started singing the International Soccer Song of Happiness (Ole, ole, ole. Ole. Ole.) Good times.

I'd add more pictures of my room, but the Internet connection is slow. I'll try tomorrow -- the first day of classes. Woo.