cliffs of moher

Gorgeous.

How scary are those drops? They try to keep you away from the edge, but people go anyway. It's insane!

The obligatory picture of me looking pensive and staring out into the Atlantic.

Pretty sure you're not allowed to to this. Random Dude did not care.

Most of the group from Duquesne. We were missing a few people. But the bottom row L to R is Sarah L., Lisa, me, Kelly. Top row L to R is Caitlin, Sarah S., Rebekah, Doug, Meg.

Got up early and we took a tour bus with two other student groups to to the Cliffs of Moher. Along the way, we stopped at Aillwee Cave. The cave wasn't anything incredibly spectacular, but it was nice and I feel like caves of any sort are pretty cool. It's REALLY old and it was discovered in the 20th century by some guy who followed his dog who was chasing a rabbit. And he kept the cave to himself for 40 years until he decided it could be a tourist spot.

I have some nice pictures from there. I didn't feel like doing the whole upload thing with them. So check out my Facebook if you want to see those. http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/album.php?aid=2014988&id=1476120019 (You should be able to see the album even if you don't have a Facebook).

In other news, tomorrow night is the Superbowl! The Superbowl that the Steelers are in! They're actually airing it here. Apparently there are some Steelers bars in Dublin, but that's a bit far. They show American football in a couple pubs. It'll start airing at 10 PM, but the game won't actually start until 11. We're going to get there around 8 and try to claim a table or at least a section of the pub close to the TV. Its gonna be a long night.

no pictures yet...

Cliffs of Moher were amazingly beautiful. My camera battery is charging right now, but I'm going to upload pictures tonight. Beautiful.

As per Laura's request, if anyone wants to send me notes or any other lovely things of that nature, just send them to:

Rachel Noderer
27A
Cuirt na Coiribe
Headford Road
Galway
Ireland

do it for the living, do it for the dead, do it for the monsters under your bed

I feel so much better than I did in my last post. I've been talking to people here about that "missing out" feeling and everyone is experiencing something similar. So we're all going through it together.

And, yes, four months is a lengthy amount of time. But it can also go by quickly. Actually, we're already at one month down/three to go. I'm in my third week of classes already and I feel like we've just started. So this may not be as hard as I initially thought.

I really can't wait to go to London. That's going to be a lot of fun. It's just Kelly, Mike, and me. All of us want to basically do the same things too. And we're all very laid back. So I think they're going to be wonderful travel buddies.

This Saturday we're taking a day trip to the Cliffs of Moher. Hold on to your seats for some FABULOUS pictures. If you've never seen then, Google Image that right quick. They're breathtaking in pictures. I can't even imagine what it will be like to be there in person. I hope it doesn't rain, but it's probably going to be ridiculously windy.

I don't have any final exams for any of my classes. But they're all assessed by a final essay of about 3000 words. Each of my five classes requires a 3000 word essay. That's a 10 page paper for each class. 50 pages total. That's a short story. WHAAAAT. I think it'll be okay. I honestly think I'm going to start working on those papers as soon as I get topics. I don't want that all crashing down on me. No, thank you.

By the way, if you haven't read Lolita, do it. It will make you feel squirmy, but Nabokov is honestly a master of the English language. It is beautifully written. Beautifully.

oh, the people that i've met are the wonders of my world

I hope this homesickness passes. It does for the most part. I'm better than I was yesterday. But I just keep having moments. I'll get in a really weird funk and then miss everyone from home.

Apparently four months is quite a bit of time. Who knew?

It's just this feeling of missing out. Which is weird because I'm in this totally amazing city in a beautiful country. But I also can't share this with the people I love. That's hurting.

I think I'll feel better when people have definite plans to visit. My mom is still looking for flights.

I'm afraid that when I come back everyone will be reliving some great joke that I'm left out of. Or I'll change. Or they'll change. Or everyone will grow in different directions. But all of these fears seem incredibly blown up when I stand back and look at them.

I have to stop thinking about it. While four months is a long time, it can also be a really short time. And I have to make the most of it.

I talked to Kelly earlier and she said she was feeling the same way. We're thinking about planning bigger trips (like to England or Scotland or the other side of Ireland) every three weeks. It'll make the time go by faster but we'll also be experiencing the rest of the world.

I don't have class tomorrow. If it's not raining, I think I'm going to go out and explore with my camera.

I do feel good about this.

!!

Okay. I just need to explain the ridiculousness that was yesterday morning.

To catch everyone up, here's how the English department at NUIG works:
Your English lecture courses are huge and you don't need to go through a special registration for them. You just show up and eventually register with the university. I'm taking two of these. Modernism & Postmodernism and English Specialist Studies (Nineteenth Century Gothic and The American South--how these two go together, I have no idea.). These classes have about 200 people in them. It's nuts.
THEN you have your English seminar classes. They are much smaller--about 15 people. These haven't started yet because there is a super special registration process to go through. There are about 30 classes to choose from. Each of them has a limited number of spots available to international students. And these spots are given on a first come first serve basis. So it's highly highly competitive.

Yesterday morning, I got out of bed (after NO sleep because I've been sick all week) at 4 AM. Left the apartment at 5 with Sarah, Sam, and Doug. We got to the university at 5:15. And we stood outside in the cold wet suck. 5:15 AM and I was the 61st person in line. Yes. 60 PEOPLE WERE THERE BEFORE US. The girl who was first in line had been there since 2 AM. Apparently she had just been drinking whiskey and coffee the whole time. Oh my goodness, it was wretched. Just sitting there.

Though, the first girl was really smart. She took her notebook and made everyone sign in in the order they got there. Around 8 AM, the registration people came and took the list and gave out numbered tickets according to the list. As soon as we had the ticket, we could leave and go somewhere warm until 9. Then we lined up according to our tickets and went in to register that way. It was NUTS. And there were people rolling in at 9 AM trying to sneak through, they came out bitching and moaning. Seriously. We were warned to come early. They should've come early.

The Jane Austen class was the first one to fill up. I'm alright with that though. It would have been my only Monday class. So there would have been zero motivation to go. But I got my second choice, Contemporary North American Fiction. We're reading Fight Club and American Psycho. Apparently the prof is really awesome. And I do not have class on Mondays. I'm very pleased with how this worked out.

After that exhilarating morning, I came back to the apartment, took a shower, and went to class. After class I passed out on the couch for about an hour. Made dinner and watched Grey's Anatomy with the roommates. And then I took Benilyn PM and made a hot toddie (tea, lemon, honey, and whiskey) to get rid of my sore throat and I had the best night of sleep I've ever.

I woke up feeling SO much better. It's funny how that works.

I think tomorrow is going to be a reading day. I just started Lolita. I'm about 50 pages in. It's really beautifully written. But it makes you feel really creepy.

OH! I booked a flight to London. Kelly, Mike, and I are going the first weekend of February. It's gonna be awesome.

AND I got into the play I auditioned for. It runs the last few days of March/first few days of April. And that first weekend of April, we're taking it to Dublin for some Irish student drama festival.

Excitement!

Oops!

Sorry, everyone. I've been AWOL for a bit. (I recently learned what AWOL stands for. Don't judge.)

Well, actually. The internet in Cuirt na Coiribe went down Saturday afternoon. There was a big storm. And apparently when big storms happen, things break. And that makes me nervous. Because it storms quite a bit. And the office closes for the whole weekend. So we were left without the internet until Monday morning. I know. It was only two days. But when people depend on Skyping and IMing for their connections back home, two days is a long time. But it's amazing how much reading you get done with you don't have the internet. I'm just saying.

So Sarah, Kelly, Abby, and I decided it would be a good idea to go for a walk to the delicious creperie in the previously mentioned storm. This resulted in an absolutely phenomenal lunch (best crepes EVER.) and pretty nasty colds for Abby and myself. For the most part, I'm feeling healthy. My sinuses stopped crushing my face. But my throat hasn't stopped hurting.

Today was Inauguration Day! The college bar had a thing. They were airing CNN on a bunch of different TVs. The bar was packed and everyone was cheering and loving everything. It was awesome. I'm gonna make another post about it later with a whole buncha pictures, don't you worry.

As for right now, I need to get some sleep. Sarah and I are leaving at 5 AM to go stand in line to register for our English seminar courses. There are only 15 spots available in each class and they're given on a first come, first serve basis. There are people going at 2 AM. I'm not even kidding. I'm hoping for the Jane Austen seminar, but if I don't get that, I have some backups. But waiting (probably outside) for about 4 hours isn't going to do much for my cold. Awesome.

you've gotta push all the doubt to the side of your mouth

More beauty for everyone to enjoy. Galway Bay.

More of the Bay. Galway is beautiful.

Better street shot than the one before. It was a muuuuch nicer day outside that day. Bustlin' little town.

St. Nicholas Church. It's real old and real pretty.

This is what I see when I walk to and from school. Yeah. That's right. To be fair, this was on a rare non-rainy day. So I don't see this very often. But I lovvvve it!

I auditioned for a play today. Tom Stoppard's Dogg's Hamlet. It's entirely nonsensical. Like, it's in English, but they're just saying random words and you get the meaning through the acting. I don't know if I'll get in. I was totally the first one to show up though. How very enthusiastic of me!

Everyone went to the pub crawl sponsored by the International Students Society tonight. I signed up to go, but I haven't been feeling well these past couple days. I've had a sore throat that I can't kick. I keep on coughing and sneezing. And I have class at 9 tomorrow morning. I feel like a pub crawl could get really expensive too. I'm trying to make 50 Euro last me until Tuesday. Budgeting is hard. :(

So I'm going to be doing a RIDICULOUS amount of reading during the semester. Seriously. Like, three books a week. I'm trying to get a head start so I have room to fall behind. I'm already halfway through Frankenstein.

I want to go out and do the social thing, but I'm also here to learrrrn. I'm such a nerd. Though, I have gone out quite a bit by my standards.

I'm hoping to go to the Cliffs of Mohrer soon. I think Ann, our on-site coordinator, was going to plan something for us. So hold on to ya seats for some fabulous cliff action in the near future.

And excitement! Eric called a little bit ago. He's trying to come visit the last weekend in March! Nothing's definite though.

On that note, it's time for me to get to bed. 7:30 AM, here I come.