little adventures

Predictably, I haven't had time for any more [major] adventures, what with the thesis writing and all. About all I have time to do is take short walks around south Dublin. Compared to the walks near my apartment in Florence and Lexington, though... well, there really is no comparison. I think these little hour-long outings qualify as a certain type of adventure. I'm getting to know new parts of the city, and the longer I'm here, the more I realize I still need to explore. It's a little astounding, having always lived in small cities or even smaller towns, that there's so much within walking distance that's still a complete mystery to me. Here are a few of the places I've found recently.

☾☆

I took this first set wandering around campus when I should have been socializing at a lunch for new PhD students. I think I'm probably the only student who intentionally skips the free-food portion of academic gatherings simply because small talk is the worst. As in, panic-inducing. But the campus is gorgeous, and I enjoyed walking around for a while.

☾☆

the Grand Canal just south of our apartment; on my way to the wine store on Baggot Street

☾☆

around Dartmouth Square just south of the canal, near our church

the church next door to ours

☾☆

This is Herbert Park in Ballsbridge (the road just before the entrance to the park; both go by the same name). Easily some of the most extravagant houses I've seen since we moved here. I wondered how many security cameras caught me gawking. ;)

Herbert Park

on the outside edge of Herbert Park, next to the River Dodder on the left

What is, at first glance, a "cute little house" just outside Herbert Park, is actually "Herbert Lodge," a €1.2 million, 2-bedroom house. Now you know why looking at houses here is so stressful. (To be fair, though, Ballsbridge is one of, if not the, most expensive neighborhood in Dublin. Hence the gorgeous park.)

☾☆

And because I can't post anything without including a picture of Pippin... this is him sitting on my keyboard while I'm trying to write. :P

☾☆

weekend in Wales

So as the title suggests, Jason and I spent a weekend in Wales. Monday (a few weeks ago...) was a bank holiday (like the random federal holidays in the US), and since Jason had been working crazy long hours for the two weeks previous, he got Friday off. I, of course, have basically no obligations - to be fair to myself, I did "work" on vacation by reading a novel - so we decided somewhat at the last minute to take a holiday in Wales!

Unfortunately, "last minute" meant that all preparations for the trip had to be done the day before we left, which will be remembered as the Day of Epic Errands. I had to go to the grocery to buy something quick for dinner on the night we got back to Dublin (a much-appreciated foresight come Monday), then find a warm, water-resistant coat that (1) has a hood and (2) actually fits me. Don't ask how I've survived in Ireland this long without one - it involves lots of layers, umbrellas, and not going outside when I know the weather's going to suck (but when does anyone know what the weather in Ireland is going to do?). I finally found a good coat in the kids' department at TK Maxx (TJ Maxx in the States... not sure why the name is different?). Sidenote: it is just as difficult to find petite women's clothing here as it is in the States, hence the kids' clothes.

Then, I had to go to class, because of course all of my obligations are going to fall on the same day. I won't catalogue the other hundred-odd errands I had to run that day, but it involved a lot of time on the bus and generally more running around than is part of my typical day. Put that way, it doesn't sound nearly as epic as it felt, but I don't think that telling you the details (ex., "I had to take the bus to buy cat litter!") would help. Eh.

So to get to Wales, we took the ferry from Dublin to Holyhead, since that was (1) cheap, (2) relatively quick, and (3) something we've never done before.  Despite the fact that the ferry was overcrowded, due to an earlier ferry being canceled thanks to rough waters (same thing happened on our way back...), it was actually pleasant, once you managed to get on the ferry and find a seat. For the sake of my social phobia and the high probability that we'll be doing the ferry again in the future, I'll just gloss over the hoards of people pushing their way through the interminable queues to get to the ferry. So, moving on...

Once we got to Holyhead, we realized that we didn't have the address of our B&B written down anywhere, and despite the fact that our phones are supposed to work throughout Europe, we couldn't get service in order to look it up. But guess who saved the day? Two super-helpful librarians! We stopped by the local public library and asked if we could look up directions on the computer, and the librarians working helped us look it up and gave us a map with our route highlighted. +1 for librarians. :)

We stayed at Yr Hendre guesthouse in Holyhead, which was absolutely lovely. The place is on the outskirts of town, but the town is much smaller than you'd think given that it's such a major ferry port. We dropped off our things and went to a hotel & restaurant on the waterfront for lunch, and then went hiking around the coast and Holyhead Mountain. It's designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and while I'm not sure that my pictures quite do justice, I'll let you have a look for yourselves:

yay, new coat!

we felt like we were going on a quest :)

inventive ways to avoid the mud that was everywhere

When I saw this, I shouted, "It's a seal!" and Jason got excited until he realized it was just a mosaic. But it's still pretty cool.

The next day, we had the standard "full breakfast" (a full- Irish, Welsh, Scottish, and English breakfast are all basically the same thing: ham, sausage, fried egg, potato, tomato, with one or two regional differences). We took the train to Llandudno junction (despite the fact that they said the name aloud on the train probably 20 times, I still can't be certain how that word is pronounced) and walked about 10 minutes to Conwy (pronounced Conway, got that one :P). We had decided to go to Conwy because of Conwy Castle and the fully-intact medieval walls surrounding the city, but as we were walking from Llandudno to Conwy, we started seeing signs for the "Conwy Feast," and then noticed the date - that weekend! Once we could see the town, we noticed a bunch of tents set up along the coast. Yep, there was an enormous food festival going on the very same day we were there, and we hadn't even realized it. It was clearly Destiny that brought us to Conwy.

We had SO MUCH food: chiefly cheese (Welsh cheddar, omg), but also sausages, chutneys, fudge, pastries, wines... In addition to all the free food the hundred or so stalls were giving out, we also bought flatbread pizza, cider, apple cinnamon cake... And yes, both sets of ellipses signify even more food that we sampled / bought. It was glorious excess.

We finally did make it to the castle and walls. I once again confronted my fears of tight, steep, spiral staircases and soaring tower-tops in high winds (I basically spent the whole visit with clenched stomach and trembling limbs, but sooo worth it! And it's not like my fears were warranted - most of the other visitors were children and they were perfectly unconcerned. I'm just afraid of everything, apparently.)

those terrifying stairs

bridges out the front of Conwy Castle

two of maybe four tents for the food festival; there were also a ton of outdoor stalls

good view of the medieval walls

good light :)

walking along the walls around the city!

We hadn't made plans yet for our next day in Wales, erroneously thinking that we would have internet access and could make those plans on the fly, but it turns out we had something better than the internet: Rita, the B&B owner. She recommended we go to Chester, which turned out to be incredible! And also part of a mildly amusing story: I had said at the beginning of our trip that it was funny that I had been to Scotland and Wales before making it to England, but that we could easily remedy that now that we're so close. Well, thanks to my ignorance of UK geography, I've now been to England without even having realized it: Chester is just over the border into England. I probably should have realized when none of the signs were in Welsh that we were no longer in Wales, but... the town is so gorgeous, you wouldn't have been focused on the signs, either:

(Not my picture; I didn't take any because it was super-crowded and kind of rainy and, okay, yeah, I just forgot.)

So despite all that is of historical and architectural interest in Chester, we spent the day shopping, but actually, the Chester Rows (the strange way the shops are organized, with shops slightly lower than ground level, topped by a kind of footpath behind which are more shops) are one of the most interesting things about the city. You can kind of see what I'm talking about in the picture above. 

Our last day in Wales was like we'd gotten stuck in the Twilight Zone. Our ferry back to Dublin, the earliest one available, didn't leave until 2pm, so we had to find something to do in tiny Holyhead that morning. Once we'd walked around basically the entire town, we decided to go into some of the shops in the town centre, and... woah. We went into one "bargain" shop that probably hadn't updated its merchandise since the mid-90s: Disney Pocahontas plastic cups, Ken and Barbie in neon windbreakers, actual cassette tapes. We went into another store that sold (1) candy, and (2) onesies, but most of them were for adults. An art and craft supply store that had a well-stocked shelf of edible body paint. I was deeply unsettled and only too happy to get back to our nice little apartment in Dublin. It was also a little bizarre, but in a good way, to walk ashore in Dublin and feel like we'd made it back home. :)

baked apple scones

Although my sub-par food photography skills do these scones a clear disservice, they are one of my favorite creations. They're quite simple - cooked apple pieces mixed into a cinnamon spice dough - but that means that it's pretty difficult to go wrong.

When Jason and I go to a cafe, if there's anything on the menu with apples in it, that's what I'll order. The apple scones at Queen of Tarts were my inspiration here. If apples aren't your favorite, though (what's wrong with you? ;) ), you can use the dough recipe (omitting the cinnamon and spice if you like) and mix in just about anything else you can think of - chocolate chips, nuts, raisins, etc. To make banana scones, simply omit the egg and use a large banana instead!

I'm convinced that what makes these scones so great is Kerrygold Butter. I've always used margarine in my baking because sure, what's the difference? I know that butter is richer, but to me, the difference in taste has never outweighed the difference in price or in fat content. Enter Kerrygold. It will change your life. You can also buy it in the US, so don't let that stop you. :)

Baked Apple Scones

Makes 12 scones

Prep time: ~30 minutes
Bake time: 15-20 minutes

Ingredients
For the apples:

1 large Granny Smith apple, diced
1 tbsp butter
3 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp water
1 tsp cinnamon

For the dough:
3 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
5 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup butter, diced
1 egg, beaten
1 cup milk

1. Preheat the oven to 400F (200C or 180C in a fan-assisted oven) and spray a baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In a skillet over medium heat, melt the butter. Add in diced apple, sugar, water, and cinnamon and cook for 8-10 minutes, or until apples are tender, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and spread out on a large plate or baking sheet. Allow to cool before using (you can put them in the freezer until you're ready to use them. Alternately, you can cook them ahead of time, and freeze them. If going this route, pull the apples out of the freezer when you start baking to allow them to thaw a bit).
3. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and sugar. Add the butter, mixing until the mixture is crumbly and there are no large chunks left. Toss diced apple into flour mixture.
4. In a small bowl, combine egg and milk. Add to flour mixture and stir just until moistened.
5. Knead the dough a few times to fully incorporate ingredients. The dough should be slightly sticky, but not enough to really stick to your hands. If the mixture is too wet, add a bit more flour; if too dry, add milk. Divide dough into two equal sections. 
6. On a floured surface, roll one of the dough sections into a ball, then flatten into a 1/2" to 3/4" thick circle. Cut into 6 wedges, and place on the prepared baking sheet. Do the same for the other section of dough. 
7. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the scones begin to brown around the edges. Transfer to a wire rack and allow to cool slightly before serving (~5 minutes). Serve plain or with butter or jam. 

feels like home

I know I haven't updated for a while, but that really isn't my fault - after we moved into our new apartment, it took two full weeks to get our internet set up! I was surprised, but not as annoyed or inconvenienced as I would have supposed: since Jason and I finally have smart phones, I was still able to check my email, but my time on social media sites was limited, which has been fantastic for my research! I've been reading as many novels as I can get my hands on - well, that's an overstatement, because researching contemporary Irish literature in Ireland is like... potential subject matter for my doctoral thesis is EVERYWHERE, you know? So I've been going crazy on the books these past two weeks. I think I've averaged about a novel a day, which obviously isn't sustainable, but it's such a wonderful change from not being able to find any decent Irish literature in the States (except for a few well-known authors, and Boone County Libraries only seemed to have Irish chick lit a la Cecelia Ahern - not "bad" [that's debatable] but so not my thing).

As might be expected, the past few weeks have been spent adjusting to our new apartment. I can't tell you how great it feels to have a "home," even if it's only for a year (we have the option of renewing our lease, but who knows??!?). I haven't taken pictures of the inside of the apartment because I'm still trying to make it look the way I want it (I'm making the best of a horrible red/orange carpet and the severe contrast of black leather furniture - far outside mine and Jason's preference for browns and greens), but I do have a few pictures of our great views:

Looking out our bedroom window over Fitzwilliam Square

Some of the buildings across the street - out our living room window

And the view from our kitchen window. On a clear day, you can see the mountains (follow the line of the street up), and it gets such fantastic light that I spend most of my day right here.

Pippin enjoys the views, too :)

We went out to Ikea - twice! - to buy some furniture and other assorted things. The apartment came fully furnished, but we needed more closet space so we got some clothes racks, and we also got end tables, a coffee table, kitchen things, etc., etc. Also, this was the first time I've ever been to an Ikea, and yeah, I see how people can get addicted. Kind of glad it's on the complete other side of town! We also bought a Nespresso machine (we can skimp on a lot of things, but not on coffee!). Basically what I'm saying is: we have a furnished apartment and a fully functioning kitchen and are now equipped to cater for guests, so get yourself over here. :)

To make the offer potentially even sweeter... I've been experimenting with scone recipes! One thing I particularly missed while living in our temporary housing with limited kitchen supplies was baking. I love baking, and to make up for all those weeks without it, I've made all of the following scones during the past two weeks: cinnamon spice, chocolate chip, banana, and baked apple. Excuse the vanity, but they've all been amazing. :) After having success with the first plain batch, I tried a recipe I'd found on some blog for peanut butter banana scones, but they turned out kind of gross - totally the wrong texture. Since that misadventure, all the other recipes have been of my own devising, and much the better for it. I've got so many other ideas I can't wait to try!! I'll have to post a recipe here soon.

And speaking of food... of course Jason and I have been to a few more fantastic restaurants since my last update! We are all about the food, and there has to be about twenty times more restaurants here than anywhere else we've lived so far (which... isn't saying much? But still). So the sushi place I mentioned last update - that's Michie Sushi. It's won several local awards for casual and "ethnic" dining. The best part is that this place is located down this little alley in Ranelagh, and you'd absolutely never know it was there - or be brave enough to try it, if you did happen to spot it - unless someone had recommended it to you. It's a cosy place, but the food is first class and not too expensive, either. Also award-winning but on the opposite end of the spectrum in terms of both cost and visibility is Matt the Thresher. They have really spectacular seafood, simply and elegantly prepared. It's also about 2 minutes from our new apartment, what?! But you can get good food for a much smaller price tag, if you know where to look, so we probably won't be back any time soon. Speaking of deals: another recommendation from someone Jason works with was for this Mexican place called 777. Even more than the sushi place, you really have to know this one's there. It's on South Great Georges Street just off Dame Street, which is about as central Dublin as you can get, but they have a very understated shopfront. There's a small "777" over the door and no other signs. God, we felt like we were members of some secret society walking into that place. And it just so happened that we went there on a Sunday, which is their "specials" day. They have a changing menu of inventive Mexican dishes and cocktails, all for €7.77 each. Of all the places we've been to so far, this is one of the most likely to make it into our regular rotation. I got nachos and a strawberry & passion fruit daiquiri, and Jason got green chili pork with potatoes and a fried egg. Ahh, now I want to go there again. Other places we've been: Keshk, Dunne & Crescenzi, and The Bell & Pot - all good, but nothing special.

Another benefit to being settled in our new apartment was that we were finally able to find our local church! We've been to Methodist Centenary Church twice now, and we both feel we were really lucky to live so close to a good church (obviously lots of churches in Dublin, but not as many Methodist ones, you know?). This church is small - comparable in size to our church in Lexington, KY (where we continued to go even after we moved to Florence), maybe a bit smaller. Last week, they had a lunch after the service, so we got a chance to meet a lot of the young adults in the church, and had a really great time. I met an exchange student from Finland studying English lit at Trinity, and we had a great time talking about the differences between American, Irish, and Finnish universities. Everyone has been so friendly and welcoming!

Another fun (and free) event that I was really excited to get to attend last week was British crime novelist PD James speaking at Trinity College. She was interviewed by Irish crime novelist Declan Burke, whose blog I follow (Crime Always Pays - news about Irish crime fiction and other related topics), so that was a nice touch, as well. As great as Declan's questions and Ms James's responses were - and she is a fantastic lady; few people are as sharp at any age, and her at 93! - I kept thinking about how lucky I am to be able to attend events like these, for free, within walking distance of my home. Regarding events, Dublin isn't much different from any other major city, except that it's so small - anything within Co. Dublin is relatively easy to get to, and anything within the city centre is walkable. So not only is there a ton of great cultural things to do, but the location is never inconvenient. I swear, people in Dublin love to complain about their public transportation, but if they had to take a bus in Lexington, KY, just once, they'd never complain again.

So that's the good news. Now you get to hear about the grand bureaucratic mess that is the Immigration office. Luckily, I knew well in advance that this was going to take up basically my entire day, so that made the wait somewhat more bearable, but still. I got there at 7am and the line was already around the corner of the building and halfway down the block from there. They start giving out tickets to everyone but students at 7:30, and didn't start giving out tickets to students until 8:30. The tickets are just your number in line, so yes, I had to wait an hour and a half to get a number in the line, which was 175 - ridiculous, because there were so many non-students who got there much later than I did who got to go in before me, and I can almost guarantee that my paperwork didn't take any longer than (as long as?) theirs. (Which, by the way, was only about 15 minutes total, no exaggeration). In any case, after I got my number, I was told that the wait would be roughly 3 hours, so I could go get coffee or something if I wanted. I was gone for two hours, and when I got back, they were still on number 70. I didn't get out of there until 3:30 that afternoon. :/ The best part? I have to go back in one year and renew my immigration card in person! I hope I can block out this memory until then.

The other similar errand I had to complete was to get a PPS number - basically like a social security number; I need it in order to be able to work part time, and for Jason and I to file our taxes jointly. You have to get there "early" for that line, too, but I was there at 8:30am and got out by 10:30am. I'm so glad I went to immigration first, because in comparison, PPS was nothing. I still went to Queen of Tarts afterwards for a recovery coffee and apple tart. :)

So that's about it, really. The weather has been settling into fall temperatures - mid-50s (or 9-13 Celsius, which I'm trying to get used to, but it's still weird) - and clouds always threatening rain, but today was all glorious sun and mid-60s heat (yes, heat, comparatively speaking :P), so I took the afternoon off from my manic consumption of Irish novels and spent about 2 hours walking around in the Grand Canal area in South Dublin. I also walked through Mount Jerome Cemetery for a while. Here are some pictures from this afternoon:

An interesting building I passed - I love the little balconies on opposite sides!

At Mount Jerome Cemetery

Look at that sky! We actually saw sunlight! ;)

So even though I'm not doing much of interest at the moment, unless you want to hear about my 15-hour reading days, hopefully it won't be quite as long until the next update. I still owe you some real apartment pictures and a scone recipe, at the very least. :)

apartments, houses, and day trips

I really should update more often than every two weeks. So much has happened, I hardly know where to begin! I suppose it makes sense to start with the big news - we found an apartment! The relocation service provided by Jason's work was incredibly helpful. On Monday of last week, the relocation specialist took us on an "orientation" trip. We basically drove around a bunch of neighborhoods in the Dublin area to give us an idea of what they're like. This was even more helpful than it might sound: County Dublin, including the suburban areas, is basically a collection of lots of small towns and villages, and each one of them has a distinct "feel." Jason and I had been to several different places on previous trips - Dalkey, Killiney, Shankill, Dun Laoghaire, Bray, Saggart, Clontarf, Howth, Balgriffin, the Docklands... - but there are just so many! On this orientation trip, we added to that list: Castleknock, Sandymount, Booterstown, Monkstown, Carrickmines, Sandyford, Dundrum, Milltown, and Ranelagh. All in one day, too!

On Wednesday of last week, we looked at apartments. Our options were somewhat limited by having a pet, and several apartments put on our itinerary on Tuesday were already let by Wednesday (I told you the market moved quickly!!), but we did view four pretty nice places. The first one was in Castleknock (on the far side of Phoenix Park), and was really quite nice. We then viewed apartments in Clontarf and Dun Laoghaire - neither were bad, but they were both a bit dated and on the upper end of our price range. The final place we viewed was a one bedroom apartment on Fitzwilliam Square right in the city centre - and we're signing the lease tomorrow! The apartment is very close to Jason's work, and being in the city centre, it's convenient for me to get to campus by bus. It's also convenient to basically everything else! :) The apartment is the top floor of an office building, so we shouldn't have any noise problems. Also, this is the first time the rooms have been let as an apartment - they had previously been offices, as well, so it's just been renovated and all the kitchen appliances are brand new. It's a quirky place, but so I think it will suit us nicely. :) The end of this building (the first column of windows on the right side of the building in this picture, stretching all the way back) is the office building, and the top row of tiny windows all across the top is our apartment:

We don't have any pictures of the inside yet, but we'll fix that in the next few days!! We can't wait to move in!

Also, Jason and I have been cooking lots of great things. As you might guess, we've had a lot of potatoes. :) We've also figured out how to make good baked potato chips (crisps? lol, still sounds weird): we slice the potatoes as thin as we can, sprinkle with a bit of salt, and bake at 180C on a wire rack for 25 minutes. So easy, and you don't even need to use any oil! We also got great lamb burgers from a butcher on the north side of town. It's bizarre: chicken is sometimes hard to find and expensive when you do, but lamb is everywhere. No complaints here!

Speaking of which, we've also had lots of great food with Jason's parents, who are visiting this week! First, we took them to some of the places we've found: Gallagher's Boxty House (a place in Temple Bar that serves lots of different potato dishes; Jason and I first went on our school trip with Dr. Madden!), Paulie's Pizza, Neon (Asian street food), and of course, the Queen of Tarts. :) I also got this mug:

The new places we've been: Jo'Burger, which is a quirky burger place out in Rathmines, and Viva, a great tapas place. We're planning on trying a sushi place tonight... it's dangerous, finding all these great restaurants within walking distance! Jason and I clearly like food a little too much. :P

We have done lots of other things besides eating, I swear. One of the reasons Jason's parents came to visit was to go looking at houses with us. On Saturday, we all went up to Portmarnock for an open house viewing.  This was the house we looked at:

The house was lovely and well laid out, but we weren't in love with it, and I'm not sure that Portmarnock is the area for us - it's quite, quite small, but unlike some other areas, the houses are still cramped together. (This is something we're probably going to have to get used to, though - detached houses are rare enough, and truly private yards (called gardens here) are almost non-existent.) While in Portmarnock, we ate at the Oasis Bar and Grill, enjoying the quiet and the beautiful views out over the ocean:

Next, we took the bus to Balgriffin to look again at a house we checked out when we came in May. It's a beautiful place, but a bit expensive:

We're still in love with it, to be honest, but we're obviously not going to rush into anything for many reasons, not the least of which being we have a 1-year lease on our apartment. It's overwhelming, though, even trying to imagine making a huge decision like buying a house. :/ I didn't expect to feel this way, but I'm kind of glad we don't have to do that right away.

On Sunday, we spent the day walking around Merrion Square and St. Stephens Green. The weather was unbelievable, and "early" in the morning (probably around 9am?), the parks were practically empty. Here are some shots from Merrion Square park:

And of course we visited my good friend Oscar Wilde:

Monday, while poor Jason was at work, Tom and Daisy and I went on a day trip to the Cliffs of Moher! The last time I went, on the school trip where Jason and I met, it was pouring rain when we went to the cliffs, so I was especially excited that the forecast showed only a small chance of rain - and we were not disappointed. The weather for the entire day was fantastic: warm and sunny. We left Dublin early in the morning - 7am. The first place we stopped was Bunratty Castle. We were only there for about 20 minutes (it was essentially a rest stop on our way west), but it seems like a great place for a future day trip: the 15th century castle is fitted with 15th and 16th century furniture and decorations; they do dinner and shows in the castle in the evenings; and there is also a walled garden and a folk park, which is "a living reconstruction of the homes and environment of 19th century Ireland." Sounds fun, right? Here's the castle:

And here's some pretty place in the countryside on our drive west (around Moneygall, I think?):

Next we went to the Cliffs of Moher, and to say it was windy would be a gross understatement. I would not have been too surprised if the wind lifted a couple people and blew them over the cliffs (thankfully, there were lots of stone walls to prevent this from happening, though I saw one or two foolhardy individuals running along the tiny ledge outside the walls...?). It was stunning, though, and we had an hour and a half to walk around and enjoy these views:

Next we ate lunch at a place called Fitzpatrick's Bar in Doolin, which had really good seafood chowder. We went to the Burren, and stopped by Corcomroe Abbey for a few pictures. Here are some shots of the Burren:

I look closer to the edge than I really am. Seriously. I was terrified. :P

Tom climbed up, but I was already too tired by that point to follow, so I took pictures from down by the bus, lol.

And here's Corcomroe Abbey:

 Finally, some pretty shots from the bus on our drive back to Dublin:

This one is Dunguaire Castle, which also does dinner and Medieval shows. It might be corny, but I'm sure it beats Medieval Times and I'm not ashamed to admit that I really enjoyed that, lol.

So, what else has been going on... oh, Jason and I finally joined the modern world and got smart phones! All of these pictures come to you via my new HTC One. Also, I started my Research Methods course at UCD. Basically, I have to take two classes (called modules) while I'm at UCD, but they're essentially professional development type things. This one is basic research skills (today was how to use Special Collections, and, as I expected, it's the same process as in the States, except UCD has FANTASTIC Joyce and Yeats collections, among other Irish authors!), and the other one I'll probably end up taking next year is "Tutorial Training," which looks like a less intensive version of the teaching training I got at UK. So those requirements are a bit... tedious? But at least they shouldn't be difficult. The difficult part was in scheduling this stupid class and figuring out where and when it meets. I'm fairly certain (but still not 100%, somehow) that I missed the first class - the administration in the English department never answers my emails, and doesn't have much information when I go talk to them in person, either. The organizer of the class wasn't there today - a librarian gave the presentation on Special Collections - so I'll try to figure out who the organizer actually is (part of the information shortage), and email said person. I would have done that sooner, but the admin said she would do that for me, but of course all is silent on the email front. O.o In any case, if I did miss the first class, then I have now missed the first class meeting for each of my three degrees: for my undergrad at USC, the class location was changed at the last minute, and I didn't have my computer on campus to find the new location in time to get to class; for my master's at UK, I asked for special permission to join a class that was already full, but I didn't KNOW I had actually received said special permission until the class had already met once (once again, email delay - I could have used a smart phone a LONG time ago); and now, this. So I keep telling myself that I'm well used to this sort of thing, and it's always turned out fine. 

I THINK that gets you up to date. I took hundreds more pictures than the ones I posted here, but our internet usage is limited in this temporary housing, so I can't upload too many. Once we get the internet hooked up in our new apartment, I can upload pictures to Facebook and you can see more pictures of the Irish countryside than you probably ever wanted to look at - it sounds ridiculous even as I type it, but I really did go a bit overboard.