What a lame excuse for a travel blog.

This blog was intended to document a whole lot more from my trip here, in Ireland. But as I experienced more and more, I found it increasingly difficult to reflect on anything at all. Here will be my lame catch-up attempt.

The first week of classes in Gleann were difficult for me to adjust to. We had language class in the morning from 10-11:15/30. We would enjoy tea with our classmates, and then the second group had class from 11:30-12:45. We would then break for lunch, and start back at 2. Lunch during the first week for us at the Prance house consisted mostly of grilled cheese. We must have ate that everyday! After 5 days or so I realized that I was starting to feel really disconnected from what we were learning, the program, and just being in Ireland in general. Squid and I talked about this, and the other squirrels felt the same way. It was disconcerting. A lot of poetry sessions frustrated me because it's hard for me to come to the point where I feel comfortable with it all. Cathal O' Searcaigh's poetry was interesting, but by the time we got to work with him, I was feeling very frustrated.
Week 1 classes: Tunes with Mick Brown (sunday); hike to the tower, poetry with Don Byrne; seminar, weaving; bodhrán, gaeltacht studies; knitting, dancing; sean-nos with Lilis; archaeology (dolmens around Donegal); Mick Brown again!; Poetry with Cathal O' Searcaigh (sunday).

The Prance House agreed that we were all feeling very frustrated (unknown to me at the time, but we were all just adjusting), so we invited Sean over for tea. We scrubbed and cleaned the house to make sure it looked GREAT for her when she came over! Oh! how fun it was to have a couple hours with Sean to chat about classes, Gleann, and the future of our educations. She really is a fantastic motivator! After tea all of our spirits were raised. I was starting to feel more settled in, and excited about all the different things we were doing. Mick Browne especially was a lot of fun; he taught us 3 tunes by ear! I played Haley's whistle, and she played her low whistle.
Week 2 classes: Dolmens in Malainn Mhoir, poetry with Don; seminar, gaeltacht studies with Donncha O' Baoill; bodhrán, weaving; knitting, dancing;

By the time week 3 rolled around, I was in disbelief that we'd already finished half of class! It hadn't felt like we'd done anything yet! I really wanted to get out and talk to local people in Gleann, but it seemed like the only way to do so was to meet young guys at the pub, and I felt really uncomfortable doing that.

[MORE TO FOLLOW]

The Second Week

Non-stop. That's a good word to describe the last two weeks we've had here in Gleann. This week we've done: poetry, Gaeltacht studies, archaeology (exploring dolmens), beach walks, weaving, knitting, dancing, singing, among other things. The Prance House has continued its tradition of grill cheese nights, as well as exploring new and 'spiced' foods like fajitas and fried rice. We have been so extremely lucky with the weather, having blue skies come out almost everyday. Tomorrow Cid and I are going to hike up to the tower again, and then see how far we can get, to find an old abandoned village. This weekend will be our first days off, and we are all excited to sleep in. That is all for now, but I will update soon with more detail.

A brief update

First let me preface this by saying that I will update more often! This will be short--

I'm in Gleann Cholm Cille! And it's the most beautiful part of Ireland that I've been to so far! It's situated snugly in a valley between two mountain (hills perhaps more accurately). On the west end of the valley is the ocean, with stunning sunsets every night.


Cid, Haley, Alysa and I live in a small little cottage right in downtown (which consists of a small food mart, gas pump, three bars, a small cafe, and a handful of other businesses). We're next door to the Catholic church and it's graveyard. Our landlady is a sweet old woman named Cait (pronounced Cawtch, which is Irish for Kate). We have deemed the cottage the Prance House, after a word substitution game Miranda and I play (girl=squirrel, dance=prance etc. etc.). We eat loads of grilled cheese and drink Bulmer's quite often. It's great. I love my squirrels.

I will write more later, and include photos! Miss you all!

Oslo-Arendal-Stavanger-Utbjoa-Haugesung-Bergen-Oslo

My journey across Norway!

Sunday-Oslo
I left Dublin around 9:30am and arrived at the Rygge airport at about 12:30pm (with a 1 hour time zone change). I couldn't find Glenn at first, but he showed up! The first bus to the airport didn't leave until my plane landed. So we left the airport and went back to his apartment in Oslo. We just hung out there, and I went to bed early to FINALLY catch up on sleep. Which I wasn't able to do yet.

Monday-Arendal
We got up around noon, and took the train to Arendal. This took maybe 4 hours, I don't remember. Per Erling met us with the car and we went to Emma's house. Partied/hung out there, and fell asleep.

Tuesday-Late Start to Stavanger
Another late start, we got up around 12:30p and weren't going to be able to make the 2 o'clock train to Stavanger. So we ate an excellent breakfast of eggs, bacon and toast. There was coffee, but I didn't listen to Sean and drank it anyways. My mistake. It wasn't horrible, but I really will just have to wait until I get home to drink it again. After breakfast Glenn, Emma and I walked down into town (Arendal) and took the little tiny ferry (Glenn called it a school bus boat) across to the cafe where we were going.

 
We had some hot chocolate (varm sjokolade) and then Emma and Glenn's friend Marthe gave us a lift to the train station. We took the 5pm(ish) train to Stavanger. No one was in our compartment so we were loud and obnoxious all we wanted! We arrived in Stavanger around 11pm and Glenn's friend Arne met us at the train. We took a cab back to his place and hung out. The boys made burritos with ground beef and zucchini, because they were out of everything else. But this was surprisingly delicious.


Wednesday-Stavanger to Utbjoa
Surprise! We got up late again! Around 12:30. So we walked downtown to be tourists and just see the city. First we walked up to this tower, which is apparently the best place to smoke in the city. Then we went and got MacDonalds, which is the first time in a while that I've eaten there. It tasted the same as in the States, but wayyyy more expensive. Then we walked down to the middle of the city. Arne told us the story of how the water came to be there. Once there was a troll who threw rocks around. One time he threw this giant rock because they were building a new church. The rock landed next to the church and he picked it up and threw it again. But the rock left a giant crater, so it filled up with water, and that's why there's water in the middle of Stavanger. 

 Glenn and I walked to the bus station to take the next bus to his parents house in Utbjoa. But we missed this by 30 seconds and it drove right by us. So instead we walked into the "Viking Pub" and had a beer while we waited an hour for the next bus. We took the bus up from Stavanger to Aksdal and Glenn's dad and brother picked us up and drove us up to the house in Utbjoa. We had hamburgers for dinner. Burgers for lunch, burgers for dinner.

Thursday-Haugesund

We woke up late AGAIN and had a leisurely breakfast of eggs and toast and yogurt with fresh blueberries made by Glenn's dad. It was so delicious! After hanging out for a bit we drove out to Haugesund, the closest city to where Glenn's family lives. We saw all the tourist stuff; the monument to Haarald Fair-Hair who in the 9th or 10th century swore that he wouldn't cut his hair or beard until all the kingdoms (Fylker) united. And they did. So there you go.

We then drove out to the Viking Village and looked at all the buildings. It was pretty cool, but nobody was there because everything closes for Easter week here. So we just walked ourselves around. After seeing all this we went back into town where we met Glenn's sister, Michelle, for food at the restaurant where she works. Glenn got another burger and i got a cheese-steak type sandwich. Delicious. Glenn and I went out for drinks after dinner and had a lot of fun, and then walked home in the rain. We stayed at Michelle's apartment, where I had a bed, and Glenn got the couch.

Friday-Bergen
We woke up at 7:15am! We had to catch the bus up to Bergen so we could have time to look around before the last train left at 4pm. This bus also went on the ferry, but this time it was not sunny out. So we stayed inside. We got to Bergen around 11am and ate MacDonalds! It may be expensive for fast food, but it's the cheapest food we could get. We walked around for a while, looked at all the buildings. Then we took Fløibanen up to get an aerial view of the city. We found snow! And a tourist shop. oh yeah, and a troll!

 

We walked around the waterfront in Bergen and looked at more buildings and churches and decided it was time to buy some food for the 6.5 hour train ride back to Oslo. But oh no! The restaurant was closed because of Easter! So we went to the grocery and bought Wasa crackers salami, cheese, chocolate milk and wayyy to much chocolate for later. We made it to the train, and Glenn slept for about 3 hours and I watched as we went through the mountains. Beautiful! We made it back to Oslo around 10:30pm and had Burger King for dinner, hooray!

I made it!

It was a long trip, but I have made it! Right now I'm sitting in my hotel room near the Dublin airport, so not really in Dublin at all. I got here at 8:30am and they checked me right in, and I promptly fell asleep. After a couple hours I walked across the street to the Tesco (giant grocery type store) and took a look at everything and bought some candy (of course). Tomorrow morning I leave for Norway for a week to see Glenn! It's almost been four years since he moved there, so I suppose it's high time for a visit.

The flight here wasn't too bad, especially because they didn't fill Miranda's seat next to me, so I had some more legroom. Pictures to follow soon!

Clearing A Space

a man should clear a space for himself,
like dublin city on a sunday morning about six o’clock.
all dublin itself are rid of our traffic then,
and i walk.
houses are solitary and dignified,
streets are adventures twisting in and out,
and up and down my mind.
the river’s talking to itself and doesn’t care if i eavesdrop.
no longer flooded with purpose,
the city turns to the mountains and takes time to listen to the sea,
and i witness all three communing in silence,
under a relaxed sky.
bridges look aloof and protective.
the gates of the park are closed,
green places must have their privacy too.
office blocks are empty, important, and a bit pathetic if they admitted it.
the small hills of this city are truly surprising when they emerge in that early morning light,
nobody’s ever walked on them yet,
they await the first explorers to straggle in from the needy north
and squat down here, this minute,
a weary legion between the cathedral and the river.
at the gates of conquest they might enjoy a deep, uninterrupted sleep.
to having knew so much,
and without mercy and still be capable of rediscovering yourself,
the old nakedness is what makes a friend of this city when sleep has failed.
i make through that nakedness to stumble on my own,
surprised to find a city so like a man.
statues and monuments check me out as i pass,
clearing a space for myself the best i can,
one sunday morning,
the original son,
in dublin.

-Brendan Kennelly