Journal for tbrounst

Tom sort of talks about culture shock...though there are no pumpkins being smashed.

I had a lot of reasons for being interested in Willamette: it’s a small liberal arts college on the west coast, it’s close to home, it’s promotional material advertises how many baby ducks are born on campus each year (that one is actually the reason I started to care about the school—I’m not kidding), and a majority of students study abroad.

First and foremost, if you get the chance to study abroad, do it. If you have to choose between a second major or studying abroad…well, my roommate gave up a Spanish major to be here and he seems to be pretty happy. Studying abroad is the sort of thing where sometime down the road you’ll regret not doing it, but you will never regret doing it. It’s an incredible experience and I encourage everyone to try it.

I’ve been in Ireland for about a month now, so I still have no idea what I’m doing. Think about your first month of freshman year: it took you awhile to understand the college, Salem’s downtown, the fastest way to walk to Safeway. Now imagine adjusting to a new culture in addition to that. I’m constantly almost hit by cars driving on the “wrong” side of the street, I’m still awkwardly fiddling with one and two Euro coins, and figuring out how to have hot water at night.

In a lot of ways, though, I’m lucky. I’m in a well developed country that speaks English as its primary language and has an incredibly strong American influence (because that’s not common in the world). There’s a lot of stuff here that’s the same, from my flat mates watching “The Hills” to all the restaurants serving Coke to the glossy magazines describing 163 ways to please my man. In a lot of ways, it feels like America.

And yet, there’s a number of small details that you just aren’t used to. I mentioned I was going to eat a peanut butter and jelly, and an Irish student got a disgusted look on his face and asked “together?” They don’t eat mac and cheese here either. While all the name brands might look the same at first glance, you look a little closer and realize you’ve never heard of any of these before.

Culture shock, for me, wasn’t something that happened as soon as I stepped off the airplane, but rather crept up on me over time, day by day. It was the little things that started adding up. In a lot of ways, I miss home, or the little things I got used to at home, and there’s a lot of stuff here that I just don’t understand.

My solution is simple: throw myself into what I don’t understand and try and figure it out. I took an intensive Irish language course to try and figure out that crazy writing underneath English on the street signs. I go to pubs. I’ve traveled the country a bit, looking at historic and cultural sites like Newgrange and Kilmainham jail. When offered black pudding, I ate it. I should mention, black pudding is a delicacy in Ireland and, despite its name, is not at all pudding like. The secret, and by that I mean main, ingredient is pig’s blood.

I’m abroad, and I’m enjoying it. It’s different, it’s outside of my comfort zone, and there are a million little things that make me feel out of place. And that’s exactly why I wanted to go abroad. This is, easily, one of the most valuable experiences I’ve ever had. My only regret is that it has to end.

Posted by Thomas R Brounstein at 07:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Tom doesn't have internet, but he does have a couple good comments to respond to.

So…internet is still down. Apparently it’s down over half of Galway, not just in my little student village. They say that it’ll be down until Monday at least, maybe longer. If I go to the library I can get on, but at the least it means I won’t be using Skype or checking my e-mail often. Of course, since it’s a pretty nasty walk to the library, there’s no real guarantee I’ll be on again until Monday at best. It really all depends.

I’m going to use this opportunity to continue taking a break from the blog. While I could write daily blog posts and then just shove them all online when I get the chance, I’m liking spending some time not worrying about it. I’ll get back on the regular rotation once internet is back up. I plan on posting something I write for Collegian later today (it’ll probably be up by the time you read this) and then it might be awhile.

That said, Maggie and my dad made some great comments on my last note and you should check out what they said. Just as a quick response I ended up in Twentieth Century Drama, which seems like a good class so far. More importantly, and I guess I forgot to say this in the post, this system for English seminar registration is just for visiting students. I don’t know how normal students do it: probably online (which throws off my entire argument, but whatever). That’s why each seminar only had two or three slots. The classes have around 15 students, 12 from NUIG and three from abroad. This also means that the number of classes is based on the number of NUIG English majors. While there might not be enough slots and selection for us, I assume there are for the English majors here. I hope there are. Plus, all of these seminars technically fulfill the same requirement. Yeah…that’s an important bit of information I left out. As I said, though, both Maggie and my dad brought up good points.

Also, since it was just for visiting students a system like Willamette’s, where if you go first this semester you go last the next one, wouldn’t work—we won’t be here next semester! Maggie is completely right, the Willamette system isn’t that arbitrary (I’d argue it is a little—going first as a freshman is more important than going first as a senior), but it relies on us staying around. Sadly, I probably won’t be here next semester…

Anyway, I’ve got plenty to do and not much time. I’ll try and post as soon as I can. I’m getting really frustrated about this lack of internet.

Posted by Thomas R Brounstein at 06:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

In which Tom analyzes a process that, realistically, was probably just created because the professors hate people.

(Sorry for the late posting. The internet is down in my room right now. They say they'll fix it tomorrow, so hopefully I can get back onto a regular posting schedule again soon. Of course, Sunday we have another trip, so I'm not sure I'll be able to post after that. I guess we'll see!)

So, I finally registered for classes. My schedule is locked in place. It was pretty easy, really. For visiting students, we had to visit an office at a certain time depending on last name. For example, yesterday was A, B and T (or something…I can’t remember). Clearly they aren’t going in strict alphabetical order. I think my favorite part is they have a special hour and a half set aside for last names beginning with “Mc.” Overall, it was a painless process. I got there, waited in line for five minutes, went into the room, handed them my sheet and sat as they typed stuff into a computer for a few minutes. Then I left. To put this in perspective, the walk to campus was longer than the amount of time I spent doing this. So, registering for classes was easy.

Registering for my English seminar, on the other hand...well, that’s a fun little story. The way English seminar registration works is that at 9:00 they start letting people into a room where someone asks you what seminar you want. You tell them, and are then led to a desk with a piece of paper on it. The person writes down your name and ID number, hands you a sheet of paper saying your in the class and you’re on your way. They have three or four people doing this, and the process itself is pretty short.

So, they start letting people in at 9:00. What time should you show up then? I showed up at 7:40 and was one of the last people in line. To be fair, I talked to my friends who showed up at 6:30 and they were only 30 people ahead of me. First place, the people who showed up earliest? They got their at 2:30. As they explained it, they just came straight from the pub and passed out for a few hours.

To make matters worse, each class only had two or three spots for visiting students. This means, despite the fact that I had 10 classes on my list of potentials, only two were still open by the time I signed up. There was a very disheartening sheet of paper next to the room listing the classes that were taken, and we learned to curse that paper…

From what all the students said, this seemed like a terrible system. We had to show up stupidly early in the morning, and even then there was a good chance that you couldn’t take what you wanted. It had a huge amount of undo stress and anxiety, was frustrating, and was just all around hard on the students. I heard a lot of people grumbling that they wished registration would just be online. Keep it simple, and don’t make me leave my room at 6:00 a.m. (a completely justified feeling).

Yet, thinking about it a bit longer, there’s something very good about this system. It’s not arbitrary. Having people register in order of last name, or by random numbers or something like that is arbitrary; I get the class I want or I don’t despite whatever I do. Here, the odds of you getting the class you want are directly proportional to what you do. Am I willing to sacrifice a night of sleep for this seminar? Or, do I have enough options that I can show up late confident that something is open? How much do I want this class opposed to that one? Add in the random game theory of when everyone else is showing up, along with what classes they want, and it’s actually a pretty interesting system.

That said, I also don’t believe that they created the system this way simply to create an awesome logical problem, nor do I believe that they did it to encourage human interaction and meeting face to face. Simply put, I believe they have this system in place because it’s what they’ve always done.

Somewhere in the past they decided they wanted a non-random, non-arbitrary system for figuring out who gets what seminar classes, and they decided on a first come first serve system. They put it in the morning so it would be out of the way early and wouldn’t disrupt classes. The Irish are practical, and this was the most logical and simple solution to their problem. As for why they don’t do it online, that itself would lead to either an arbitrary decision of who registers first, or would create an immense flood of traffic, pretty much killing the internet for everyone (the internet is not that good here). Beyond that, while the internet has been a force in America for around 15 years now, from my understanding that’s not the case with Ireland. It probably has only emerged, really, in the last 10 years or so, meaning it’s possible that they simply haven’t bothered to do an online system yet.

And why would they? The old system works well enough. I said the Irish were practical: why change something that works? Besides, I wouldn’t be surprised if the teachers got some small thrill out of seeing us out there at 2:30.

Overall, though, it’s a system that rewards planning and dedication, and has no random element to it. It’s a system where you get what you want or you don’t, and there is a very clear reason for it. And I think this is something that’s important to the Irish people: you control your own fate. For a country with a history of oppression and being conquered, that’s something quite valuable.

Posted by Thomas R Brounstein at 03:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

So, something you might not know: Ireland takes a lot of pride in its county. A lot of pride. No, more than that. It puts America to shame, really. Like, we talk about loving our country and our pride to be American, but that’s really nothing compared to this.

So, something you might not know: Ireland takes a lot of pride in its county. A lot of pride. No, more than that. It puts America to shame, really. Like, we talk about loving our country and our pride to be American, but that’s really nothing compared to this.

The best way I can think to describe this is metaphor. Imagine that the way the Irish feel about Ireland is like a newly married couple. All overly lovey, sickening to friends and family. You know, those people who are adorable, just a little obnoxious. Or really obnoxious. Whatever. In this scenario, Americans are an older couple hitting middle age. They like each other, I guess, but they don’t really do anything. They’re just sort of still in a relationship.

I feel the reasons for this are pretty simple: America had a relatively easy time gaining independence. The struggle was only a few years long, and after that Britain mostly left us alone (except for in 1812 when we invaded Canada…a goal we still aspire to). Ireland…well, if you think Ireland’s struggle for independence was easy you’re sort of an idiot. They had to fight hard for it. They had to fight to speak the language, play their sports, practice their religion. Theirs was a culture that was nearly exterminated, and they brought it back from the brink.

So, is it any surprise, really, that they’re so passionate about their culture? That they are so proud of their literature, so in love with their sports? When you fight for something it’s so much sweeter than it being handed to you. America’s struggle for freedom was minute by comparison, and over two hundred years ago. Ireland’s struggle, on the other hand, spanned hundreds of years, and arguably is just now nearing its completion with the peace that has settled over Northern Ireland. Even at the most generous, you could only say Ireland gained independence in 1922, which is still modern memory (1822 is still modern memory here…).

It’s just something I realized. The way they feel about their country is clearly very different than the way we feel about ours. Our pride seems to be more instilled as a matter of habit, speaking words and phrases that have lost much meaning to us, loving it because it’s the land we grew up on. Their pride, though, seems to be made from something deeper, from the sacrifices of those who have come before them and the struggles that they have endured.

The irony, of course, is that by trying to destroy Irish culture, the conquers made the Irish love it even more.

(And I’m finally reaching my goal of shorter blog posts!)

Posted by Thomas R Brounstein at 03:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

I finally know my classes. Unless something else changes. Which it might. So…tentatively here is my real schedule.

I’m writing early today because the Lost premiere is on tonight from 9:00 until 11:00, and after that I need to go to bed. Stupid classes starting for real tomorrow.

On the bright side, I finally know my classes. Unless something else changes. Which it might. So…tentatively here is my real schedule.

I have class from 9:00 until 11:00 in the morning on Monday and Wednesday. This is an “understanding Ireland” class that Willamette has set up. This class is specific to WU students, and all of us must take it. All of the excursions we go on are related to this class, and the basic idea is that it’s an introduction to Irish history, culture and literature. There are four components: Irish literature in English, Irish literature in Irish (hopefully translated), Irish history and, Irish sociology. This is taught by four teachers and is divided into four one our segments. Tomorrow (Monday) I have the two literature classes, and on Wednesday I have the sociology and history.

I think this class will be really cool. The idea is we don’t know much about these very important aspects of Irish culture, so there is a class specifically designed so that we will learn about them. I hope it well help a lot; at the least it’ll be really informative.

From 9:30 until 11:00 on Tuesday and Thursday is the other Willamette specific class taught by a Willamette professor who came with us to Ireland. The class is about comparing Greek myths with Irish myths, so we’re reading The Illiad and The Tain. Not much to say about that class, really. It sounds interesting and fun, and I really love mythology, so it’ll be a good class. That said, I do seem to know a scary amount about Greek myths—when the assignment was to get a base overview of the Trojan War, several people just asked me to explain it to them.

Also, the Trojan War was really gory. I have no idea how many people have died so far, but I do know that several people had their tongues severed by spears through the throat, and it talked about how blood comes squirting out like a red lance. I swear, if people knew what was in the classics, they surly wouldn’t be encouraging us to read them. Seriously, people complain about Power Rangers being too violent?

I’m also taking a history class on the early medieval period. This class really excites me since I know almost nothing about the period in question. I know there were castles, and if you were a peasant your life sucked. Also, I can only assume dragons were kidnapping princesses, and that evil wizards were constantly being felled by a ragtag band of adventurers with unclear goals and good hearts.

So far the class has been pretty challenging for me. The teacher moves quickly and doesn’t write much, so I have to hear what he says, take notes on it, and not get behind, which is no simple task. I’m used to math classes which are pretty forgiving. The teacher write the theorem on the board, you copy it down, then stare at the board as they write a proof. Repeat. If you ever get behind, everything you need to know is on the board. Beyond that, I have very little context for this class. We’re covering the fall of the Roman empire right now, and I’m having troubles because I know almost nothing about that period. So when the professor talks about the Goths and the Gauls, I don’t have any context to place that in. If I already had a surface level understanding, the class would be easier since everything I’m learning could be put on that foundation, but I don’t have that foundation. I feel as though I should, and somehow that was just never taught to me, so I need to do a bit of extra work to build that up. Fortunately, Wikipedia exists.

Finally, I’m taking an English seminar on 20th century drama. The class sounds interesting, and even better it was available to take! Remind me to write a blog post signing up for English seminars; it was pretty awesome. And by that I mean it was an awesome story, but terrible in all other regards. Anyway, when I signed up for the class, the person I was talking to said that I would love it and that the teacher was fantastic: she was the best drama teacher in the country! This seemed awesome until I remembered the size of the country. It’s sort of comparable to saying “the best teacher in Western Oregon.” It was later pointed out to me that this is still a strong claim, and drama in Europe is different than drama in America; it’s more a part of their culture. I’m excited for the class, though I don’t know much about it. I’m not sure what we’re reading, or what it will be like, but I’ll find out soon enough.

So, there you have it, my class schedule. It should be a fun semester. I’m excited for all of my classes. I intentionally took classes outside of my comfort zone; I will be challenged by these. No math classes that I have grown oh so used to, but instead all humanities. It’s going to be different, but that’s why I’m here afterall.

Posted by Thomas R Brounstein at 08:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Tom experiences something completely different...then writes far too much about it.

Well, I’m back.

As you might have noticed, I decided not to bring my laptop on this recent excursion, and it was for the best. We had a home stay for this trip, so we were split up into three houses: one for girls, one for girls with food allergies, and one for guys. As per usual, the guys won (in Dublin we had the biggest room, even though there were the least of us). Our home stay had the nicest people, the best food, and the most dogs. Plus a really big house. It was awesome.

I’m glad I didn’t bring my laptop, though, simply because we didn’t have time for it. While the evenings were free, we spent most of the time in the pub, or sitting around talking. Being on the computer would have made me miss that. Or, at the least, I wouldn’t have been on it either way. Besides, nothing too bad happened while I was gone. I’m finally back, though, and caught up on e-mails, Facebook and blog comments.

One note on blog comments: someone told me that the comments weren’t working when, in fact, they are. The way the comments work is that when you submit one I get an e-mail telling me I have to go confirm it. I then read your comment to make sure it doesn’t say anything offensive and then press a button to post it. I figure I’m going to confirm every comment I see, so it’s not a big deal, it just means that your comment won’t appear immediately; I just need to get on. That said, not many people have been posting comments. For shame! You all should.

This past weekend, we went to Carraroe to take an intensive Irish language class. I did learn a few things about Irish through the class, most notably that it’s the most terrible language in the world. That’s not entirely fair: I’m pretty bad at learning languages, so it was stacked against me from the start. On the other hand, nothing is ever pronounced like it’s spelled. Ever. One problem is that they used to have two kinds of accents to change sounds, but with the advent of the typewriter they only had one (the diagonal slash with a positive slope…I am such a math nerd). So they replaced the other accent with the letter “h”. Thus, in a sentence, “h” has no meaning in and of itself but modifies the letters next to it. That’s just one of the frustrating things about the language. The tip of Stacy West’s iceberg, if you will (it’s a Willamette thing).

Completely unrelated to the language, however, is something I want to talk about today (I might come back to the language tomorrow). I’ve been feeling a little frustrated with Ireland. More, I was having a hard time finding the Ireland that I wanted, the Ireland I hoped to visit. Sure, it was there up on Newgrange a little, but Newgrange was special; it was a preserved area.

My problem so far is that Ireland hasn’t felt that different. Sure, the people have an accent, and the money is different, and they have Cadbury eggs year round (probably the best part so far). Sure, the stores are different, as are the name brands and the channels on TV. Sure, there are all sorts of small differences, but they were pretty inconsequential. Does it matter if I shop at Safeway or Dunnes? Aren’t they both just arbitrary names? The content of each was similar enough. If I eat Walker’s Crisps or Lay’s Chips is there any difference (no: they’re the same company).

I came to Ireland because I wanted culture shock. I wanted to see something different, see something I didn’t understand. I wanted to be in a whole new world (shining, shimmering and splendid). I wanted to be out of my element. I didn’t want to be in a big, mostly American style city that felt just like home. I wanted rolling green hills, stone walls that could be from last year or hundreds of years ago. I wanted fields and pastures. I wanted the shades of green grass under shades of gray fog. I wanted all the stereotypical stuff people associate with Ireland.

The problem is I couldn’t find that in Galway or Dublin. Don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot of great stuff there. The history is so rich and dense here that I don’t know what to do. In Dublin especially, where you get to see all of the elements of the 1916 Uprising and the 1922 Civil War, it’s clear I’m facing something different. Yet, at the back of my mind something seemed wrong. It didn’t feel different enough, I guess.

That changed during this trip. Something clicked. Perhaps it was the bus driver that kept telling us stories from Irish history, stories of his friends and family that you couldn’t find anywhere else. Suddenly it felt a lot more real. Perhaps it was getting away from the cities. The town we stayed in was nothing more than small village, really, and was pretty lightly populated. Perhaps it was better interaction with the locals. We met a lot of them in a pub the first night and played darts with them for hours—that was one of the highlights of my trip so far and I really, really hope I can say “fuckin’” in an Irish accent by the time I get back. Perhaps it was the scenery. We finally saw the green rolling hills and stone walls, the gray mist and green grass. And this time, people were living there. It wasn’t preserved for history, but where people currently lived. And perhaps it was being more emerged in the language. The people spoke primarily Irish, not English. The accents were thicker, and the bartender would chat with patrons in Irish. We even learned to order drinks in Irish (after trying to construct a sentence for awhile, we learned that the easiest solution was just say “Guinness”).

I don’t know what it was, exactly. But somewhere in there, it finally clicked. This place was different. This town was the place I had been looking for, the Ireland I wanted to find. It wasn’t the Ireland of Galway, or the Ireland of Dublin, but the Ireland for me. This was why I had come abroad, this was the difference I had hoped to see. It wasn’t a city that makes me feel like I’m in Salem or Bellingham or Seattle or Portland, but a village that puts me out of my element, where the world around me is different—the scenery is not like any other place I’ve been.

I was asked by a friend, awhile ago, if Ireland was different than America. I told him I couldn’t answer that question (it is a really hard question) because I didn’t want to tell him that so far it had been pretty similar. If he asked me again now, I could change my answer. Some parts are like America, but the trick is finding those parts that aren’t.

Posted by Thomas R Brounstein at 03:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Remember when I said people in Ireland were proud of their Obama heritage? Even if it was weak at best? In case you didn't believe me...

Remember when I said people in Ireland were proud of their Obama heritage? Even if it was weak at best? In case you didn't believe me...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/7839614.stm

That's from Northern Ireland.

Posted by Thomas R Brounstein at 02:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I was asked some questions about Obama for the Collegian, and I figured since I already answered them, I might as well post my full responses here. I tried to write it so as to be a bit easier to quote, so it might seem a little fragmented. Plus, this nicely covers whatever I would want to say about how the Irish view Obama, a topic that I wanted to write about anyway, and this seems like a perfect opportunity. Just as a heads up, though: this is a little long.

Hey, how about since I might not be able to post for awhile, I post twice today? Okay!

As you know, today was inauguration day for President Obama. This is the first time I’ve written that phrase, and it feels good. I hope I get to write it many times in the next eight or so years…

Anyway, we had an inauguration party with soda, chips and cookies as we all huddled around the TV and watched the event. It was pretty awesome. There was even one Irish student with us (and like eight Americans). I watched from 4:00 until 5:30 or so, which was enough time to see everything. It was really exciting, and it was amazing to see this on the other side of the world. I imagine Willamette was a little crazy. Really, really crazy.

I was asked some questions about it for the Collegian, and I figured since I already answered them, I might as well post my full responses here. I tried to write it so as to be a bit easier to quote, so it might seem a little fragmented. Plus, this nicely covers whatever I would want to say about how the Irish view Obama, a topic that I wanted to write about anyway, and this seems like a perfect opportunity. Just as a heads up, though: this is a little long.

Enjoy!

How much do college students in Ireland seem to talk about Obama?

One Irish student told me that they followed the American election more closely than their own elections. Obama is important here. People care about him. They talk about him. When we talked about Obama’s inauguration, Irish students got excited. He is less discussed here than back home, but he’s still talked about.

How much do Irish citizens seem to care about the US’s new president?

I was in a bookstore the other day which had a full wall of books and magazines dedicated to Barack Obama. As I walked by, I heard a mother ask her daughter “who is that?” The little girl responded proudly “Obama!” The mom smiled and said “very good!” This seems to happen everywhere. Bookstores have shelves lined with Obama books, magazines proudly display him. I saw many television ads for his inauguration, when and where it would be on. During a tour, our tour guide proudly announced that they had traced back Obama’s heritage, in part, to a man from Dublin. It was something like his great uncle, but they were still proud of it, talking about how they could claim Obama as one of their own. I doubt they would feel this way for an ordinary president, but Obama is no ordinary president.

Is Obama generally favored or not?

Obama seems to be favored by many people, though it’s not as apparent as in America. While they care about him and like him, he doesn’t have the same rampant support that I’m used to from Willamette. They like him, but it’s more detached and removed than what we’re used to. They don’t have the passion about him that we do.

Did Irish students gather to watch the inauguration?

The college bar decided to throw an inauguration party for any students who wanted to attend. It’s a pretty big bar and often has musical acts or events for students, so it’s used to housing a large number of students. It was packed. Irish students filled it to watch the inauguration of an American president.

How important does Obama’s presidency seem to Irish students? To the Irish in general?

There is an odd dichotomy. On one hand, the Irish I’ve met care a lot about Obama. They want to talk about him and are excited to see him in office. However, they also have a detachment that comes from being on the other side of the world. What Obama does won’t affect them directly as it does Americans. They see the change as important, but removed.

Any last thoughts?

Obama’s presidency isn’t just an important change for America, but for the world. It affects everyone, on all parts of the planet, in some way, and the entire world was rejoicing as Obama was sworn into office. It’s a brand new day, one that we have all been waiting for. Its time has finally come.

Posted by Thomas R Brounstein at 01:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Irish language also has an interesting history, though. When Ireland was invaded the conquerors went about trying to abolish Irish culture, as conquerors commonly do. One part of this was to obliterate the Irish language and destroy it wherever possible. The language, of course, still persisted, though more and more English was being adopted as the language of common speak.

Well, I guess it’s time to write another blog post. It would be better if I had something to say. Huh. Anyway, I might not be able to blog again until Saturday. We have another excursion tomorrow and we’re leaving at 1:00 p.m., so I probably won’t blog before that. We’re getting back Saturday, though, so I’ll try and post something then. That said, I’m planning on bringing my laptop this time around, so hopefully I’ll have internet access and I might be able to post while we’re there.

So, where are we going on this excursion? I can’t remember the name, and my internet sucks too much for me to bother looking it up. So, what’s the point of this excursion you’re now wondering? It’s intensive Irish language emersion. It turns out that the proper name of the language isn’t Gaelic, but Irish, though I don’t think anyone will care if you say Gaelic. We’re being shipped off for half a week to a part of the country that speaks almost exclusively Irish and being taught how to speak it.

While other people might be excited about this, I’m surprisingly not. It’s not that I dislike the Irish language—though it does sound a little disgusting (no, really)—but rather that I just don’t like learning languages. I’m bad at it. Or, more accurately, I’ve had a history of bad teachers that makes me really jaded towards language learning. I plan on learning it for the week, and maybe retaining one or two phrases, but not much more. That said, it is a rare opportunity to learn the language—you won’t find an opportunity like that most places.

The Irish language also has an interesting history, though. When Ireland was invaded (which time?) the conquerors went about trying to abolish Irish culture, as conquerors commonly do. One part of this was to obliterate the Irish language and destroy it wherever possible. The language, of course, still persisted, though more and more English was being adopted as the language of common speak.

However, during any time of intense nationalism there is a resurgence in Irish language. Specifically, if it becomes outlawed, suddenly everyone is speaking it. It became a symbol of Irish freedom at those times. It was a language that wasn’t commonly used, yet represented the urge for independence.

It is now a requirement that everyone learns Irish. I think they learn it from four until they’re 18, and they have to take a proficiency test on it to graduate. Beyond that, many signs (all of them? I haven’t been looking closely enough to be sure) are written in both English and Irish. The language still exists here. However, it’s not commonly spoken. No one I’ve seen uses it in causal conversation. English is clearly the dominate language. Irish is just something that’s also there, that people know but don’t use.

Yet, they’re proud of it. I remember someone telling me that Irish became an official language of the EU, and there was pride in his voice as he said it. It represents what they struggled for so long for. It is something truly Irish, and I can tell you, the Irish are proud of what is truly Irish.

That, incidentally, is also why they dislike U2. They sold out and stopped being Irish.

Trust me, don’t mention Bono in Ireland.

Posted by Thomas R Brounstein at 12:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

So, Dublin. I figured the best way to do this was to pull out my itinerary and make comments on what we did. This seemed the easiest and most logical solution.

Let’s keep this blog post short today. I don’t feel like writing much. Of course, I say that every time, and every time it’s about a page. So, we’ll see.

First, I posted a lot of photos of Dublin on Facebook. You should all go look at them and comment to make me feel good. Plus, it’ll help put into context what I’m talking about today. More importantly, it’ll make me feel good. Go, comment.

Second, I finally know my address here. It seems to be 144 Gort na Coiribe, Headford Road, Galway, Galway, Ireland. One Galway is the city, the second one is the county. If you want to send me care packages, they don’t have box macaroni and cheese here. I really like the kinds with wacky shapes. Just saying.

So, Dublin. I figured the best way to do this was to pull out my itinerary and make comments on what we did. This seemed the easiest and most logical solution.

Friday, January 16:

7:30 a.m. Depart for Dublin: This was ungodly early. That’s pretty much all I have to say about it.

11:30 a.m. Visit to the GAA Museum: The GAA Museum could more accurately be described as the stadium where they play Gaelic football and hurling. By the way, those are possibly the two most violent sports I’ve ever seen. In hurling, everyone just runs around with sticks and I’m pretty sure it’s not against the rules to hit each other with them…(okay, it really is, but it doesn’t seem like it).

2:00 p.m. Visit the Guinness Brewery: This was the favorite place of many of the people on the trip. It was also the most well run tour of the trip. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. My favorite part? At the end you got a free Coke! Well, most people got a free Guinness…I really wanted a Coke.

3:30 p.m. Visit to Kilmainham Jail Museum: Remember those people I mentioned yesterday? The rebellion leaders? This is where they were held and executed.

Evening free: We ended up going to a pub called the Stag’s Head. The next day, during our tour, we were told that the Stag’s Head was the best pub in Dublin, and, by extension, the world. It was pretty awesome. The band even gave a shout out to us Americans.

Saturday, January 17:

9:15 a.m. Visit Trinity College to see the Book of Kells: Spoiler alert, the Book of Kells was beautiful. That said, we didn’t actually get to see the real one. Maintenance was being done on the case so they had a reproduction from the same time period out. There was no way I would have known if one of the workers didn’t tell me. That said, the real Book of Kells is usually on display.

10:00 a.m. Walking tour of Dublin: There’s really not much to say here. Look at the photos. Dublin is awesome. Not as awesome as Galway, but awesome nonetheless.

Afternoon free: We wandered around. A lot. My legs really hurt and I took a nap. Oh, also, it started to rain really hard and I was stupid and left my fancy new rain jacket in Galway, so my cloths were drenched. I learned my lesson; next trip I’m staying inside. Or brining my rain gear. Either one.

7:45 p.m. Viewing of “The Old Curiosity Shop”: I’ve been spoiled when it comes to plays. I thought this was okay, but not great. The production values were high: fast scene changes, good acting, good sets. However I just couldn’t get into the story. It was based off a Charles Dickens work, and for some reason it never really clicked with me. Everything about the play was great, but the story never let me get into it.

Sunday, January 18:

9:15 a.m. Visit Newgrange: I heart Newgrange. It was quite possibly the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen. I wrote a bit about it last time, so I don’t want to repeat myself, but I do have to say once again that if you get the chance you should visit it. The view was amazing, the tomb itself was incredible, and the entire place was just indescribable. Rolling green hills and a bubbling river, stone walls with ivy crawling along the side…it was perfect.

3:30 p.m. Arrive at Clonmacnoise: This was an old monastery and graveyard that were now nothing more than ruins. It was interesting, and beautiful, and several people said it was their favorite part. I took some photos of it, and if you check Facebook you’ll see how pretty it was. What I liked about it was that it was old stone ruins on these green hills with a grey sky above: everything I hoped and dreamed Ireland would be. I love the nature here. It’s just beautiful, and seeing these ruins only helps the magic.

6:30 p.m. Return to Gort Na Coiribe: And we came home. Gort Na Coiribe is where we live here. That was the end of our adventure!

Posted by Thomas R Brounstein at 02:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

The post office still stands, bullet holes piercing the columns and walls, where for six days the revolutionaries, numbering no more than 200, boxed themselves in, piling anything they could against the windows and doors, fortifying their position, as a contingent of British soldiers stood outside, firing on the building with guns and artillery.

You’re at a card table, playing for big money. If you go all the way, you can get one million dollars. No one expected you to make it, no one even expected you to make it as far as you have. You’ve won three quarters of a million, $750,000 on the table, ready for you to pick up and leave. And now, the dealer is shuffling the cards, fanning through the deck and asking what you want to do. Do you want to stay in one more hand, risk it all for the big prize, or do you walk away with what you have now. It’s the moment of truth. Do you take the money, or do you go for it all?

And what if the stakes were even higher?

This past weekend, as in Friday bright and early up until about four hours ago, I was in Dublin. For those of you who don’t know Ireland’s geography, Galway, where I am, is on the west coast while Dublin is far away on the east coast of the country, a whole two hours away. Ireland is pretty small.

I took lots of great photos from the trip, and I have 60 that I’m planning on putting on Facebook tomorrow (I really don’t want to write 60 captions right now, and, yes, every photo needs a caption) to show what the trip was like, what Dublin was like, and the places we saw. I think my favorite place we visited was Newgrange, which was just absolutely beautiful. Just standing on that hill, seeing green rolling fields and the river off in the distance as a chill wind flew by…it was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. It was far more beautiful than anything I’ve ever seen. If you’re in Ireland, go visit Newgrange. It is worth it.

That’s all I’ll say about the trip for now. While it’s tempting to do an itinerary of the trip and a brief rundown of everything we saw/did, I think I’m going to leave that for tomorrow. Having photos will also probably help with that. Instead, there’s something else that’s been on my mind. To have it make sense, though, you need a history lesson.

Ireland has a history of being invaded and oppressed. It’s a history written not as the struggles the Irish overcame, but rather who was conquering them at the time. Each time this occurred, the Irish would rebel and fight back, and they’d have some victories, but they were always beaten back. The revolutionary spirit persisted, but the soldiers did not. Ireland fought for its independence, but never won.

This came to be the standard, and Ireland stopped resisting. Near Easter of 1916, the revolutionary spirit was nearly dead. The common people had no interest in rebellion against British rule.

Then came the Easter Uprising of 1916. Revolutionaries fought back against British soldiers. Most famously, they occupied the general post office within Dublin. The post office still stands, bullet holes piercing the columns and walls, where for six days the revolutionaries, numbering no more than 200, boxed themselves in, piling anything they could against the windows and doors, fortifying their position, as a contingent of British soldiers stood outside, firing on the building with guns and artillery.

The uprising was not popular with the common people of Ireland. They didn’t want to rock the boat, so to speak, nor disrupt what had been working. The common people despised the revolutionaries, and after six days when the leaders surrendered they were spit on by Irish citizens.

The revolution failed. After six days, the leaders surrendered to end the loss of life. As part of their terms, they insured that no solider of theirs was to be punished; none of their men were executed for what had occurred. Only them. The men were brought to prison (the prison is now a historical monument, which I toured) and sentenced to death. The British screwed up, though. Instead of killing them all in one day and leaving it at that, they killed the leaders slowly, over the span of days, so that each day the Irish citizens heard about these revolutionaries again, heard about their punishment again. They heard about the cruel things being done to these men. It wasn’t long before the public opinion changed. These men were no longer radicals, but martyrs.

Over the next six years, the independence movement grew stronger. A movement, remember, that had been fighting to some degree and in some form for hundreds of years. I apologize that I don’t know much about these six years. What I do know, however, is that in 1922 Britain offered them a deal. They could have independence for 26 of the 32 counties, but six northern counties would remain under the control of Britain. This would become Northern Ireland. The treaty was signed because it was the best they thought they could achieve.

Instantly, a schism developed within the nationalists, pro-treaty and anti-treaty. The pro-treaty side felt that this was the best deal they could earn; they fought hard and were happy to have this much. Though they wanted all the counties, they knew this was a good stepping-stone, a good first step towards that goal, and they didn’t believe that they could get anything more from Britain. The anti-treaty side felt the treaty was an insult. They had fought and died for hundreds of years for the independence of Ireland—not the independence of 26 counties. They wanted to keep fighting until Britain gave them all of Ireland. They had gotten this far, stopping now was akin to defeat, and if there ever was a time to liberate all of Ireland, this was it.

In 1922 civil war broke out over this treaty. The affects of this civil war are still being felt today.

My friend KP asked me if I had been alive back then, if I had gone through this, which side would I be on? Would I be pro-treaty or anti-treaty? It’s a question I struggled with, I still struggle with, and we spent the next 15 minutes as we walked back to the hostel discussing it. It was so easy to argue either side, to see both viewpoints, we couldn’t make any headway.

So, I ask you, simply, what do you think? Which side would you choose? Pro-treaty, or anti-treaty?

There are no right answers, nor easy ones.

Posted by Thomas R Brounstein at 02:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Yesterday I mentioned that I went to the societies fair, and today would be the club fair. I went and checked it out. There are a lot less clubs than societies, and it seemed like less people in general were looking around, but I still saw some interesting ones, such as archery and aikido.

I have twenty minutes between right now and when my laundry comes out of the washer. Let’s see if I can write a blog post in that time! Of course, it doesn’t help that I’m fried from filling out REU applications for the past two hours. I’m almost done; I just need to write a couple of essays, find out where a couple of college professors live, and figure out what math books I’ve been using. Yeah, easy stuff.

I also have to blog earlier today because, as mentioned yesterday, the film society is airing Wall-E tonight at 7:00 with free food afterwards, so I figure I’m busy from 7:00 until 9:00 at best. So why not blog after that? Well, the same reason I’m doing laundry, really.

Tomorrow we’re doing a weekend trip to Dublin as a class. The good news is that we’re going to Dublin, the accommodations are already paid for, and we’re going to see some really awesome stuff, not the least of which is Newgrange, a burial site from the Neolithic Irish people. Apparently they actually let you go inside their and look around. Like, you’re allowed inside the actual structure. It’s pretty awesome. Sadly, to leave for Dublin requires us to be on the bus at 7:30, so I figure I want to wake up at 6:30…meaning I have to go to bed stupidly early (or try and sleep on the bus, which won’t work). Thus, no blogging this evening. Also, by extension, no blogging this weekend. I don’t plan on bringing my laptop with me to Dublin, and I doubt I would have internet anyway, so I won’t be posting again until Monday my time.

On the bright side, I’ll try to take lots of pictures of Dublin/Newgrange for Facebook. If you haven’t checked out my Facebook photos yet, I’d heavily advise that you do. It should give you a good sense of where I am and how I’m living right now. Plus, I’m really proud of some of those photos (that sunrise, for example). Mostly, though, it’s just another way to share my experiences with you guys.

On another note, yesterday I mentioned that I went to the societies fair, and today would be the club fair. I went and checked it out. There are a lot less clubs than societies, and it seemed like less people in general were looking around, but I still saw some interesting ones. The kayaking club seemed cool, until I remembered how ungodly cold it is here. Kayaking is a summer sport; that’s why there’s water involved, to cool you down. I also looked at the archery club. Archery is always something that seemed fun and cool, but I never got into it, in large part because one time when I was much younger I heart myself doing it at Scout camp. Since then I’ve just been scared to hold a bow. Well, I ended up signing up for archery club, so hopefully I get over that fear! I’m not sure how often I’ll go, but I want to check it out a couple of times.

Also, I signed up for the aikido club. I took the class when I was a freshman and had a lot of fun in it; I still consider it one of the best classes I took at Willamette. Unfortunately, I forgot almost all of it. Now, if someone ran at me and tried to chop at my head, I wouldn’t know what to do! It’s a sport I want to get back involved with, and this seems like a good way. When I get back to Willamette, perhaps Justin and I might try getting involved in the dojo nearby. Mostly, though, I just liked the feeling of it, and it was a good way to meet new people. Feeling good and meeting new people are two things that seem sort of important this semester.

Sadly, I doubt if I can be super involved with these clubs. Between archery and aikido I’m busy three nights a week, two hours each night. That’s not insurmountable, but it is a nice chunk of time. Worse, each session costs two Euros because of the money grubbing gym. That means it costs six Euros a week to get involved with these clubs. Mind you, that’s cheaper than just about any archery or aikido lessons I could find in the states, and it’s a small price to pay for meeting new people and learning fun skills, but it’s a far cry from the free I was hoping.

I’m in Ireland and only have a finite amount of cash (though I suddenly really want to know what an unaccountably infinite amount of cash would be like), so I need to ask myself, a simple question: is my money more worthwhile being spent on these clubs or something else?

Considering I’m going to learn skills that interest me, meet new and exciting people, and have an awesome time for six hours a week, I think the answer is clear.

Posted by Thomas R Brounstein at 07:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

So, today was the societies fair. The best way to imagine it (if you’re a Willamette student) is think of our club day where all of the clubs ask you to sign little pieces of paper so they can spam your inbox for the rest of the year and only one in a dozen people actually do anything. Now remove all the sports clubs and change the name to societies.

Good news! I think I fixed my schedule difficulties. That said, I don’t want to talk about it in case it explodes again. I’ll talk about it when I turn in my registration form and the classes are set in stone. Up until then, screw it.

So, today was the societies fair. The best way to imagine it (if you’re a Willamette student) is think of our club day where all of the clubs ask you to sign little pieces of paper so they can spam your inbox for the rest of the year and only one in a dozen people actually do anything. Now remove all the sports clubs and change the name to societies. That’s pretty much what it was. Clubs here are specifically sports oriented and care about things like archery, canoeing or various martial arts (I think there is four or five martial arts clubs). They also cost €10 to join, but you get to use the gym so it might be worth it. Club fair is tomorrow.

I, like a good lost and confused student, signed up for many more clubs than I have any interest in joining, and probably will never bother with most of them again. I signed up with the sci-fi/fantasy club, obviously. The people there were about as stereotypical nerd as you could get; a friend of mine described them as coming straight from their mother’s basement. One of them graduated in ’03 but comes back to recruit people and work with the society. I got to have the warm fuzzy feeling of “at least I’m not that nerdy,” which is something every nerd strives to feel (really—we always justify our actions by “at least we’re not that nerdy!”)

I also joined the film society, which shows free movies three times a week, then has an after party with free pizza. It’s pretty great. Tomorrow they’re showing Wall-E, which is just about the best movie ever. For free. With free pizza afterwards. Best society ever! Also, I joined the quiz society, because my brother’s love of trivia is rubbing off on me. Finally, of course, I joined the maths society. It’s maths in Europe. Not math. When I joined I jokingly asked “so, what are the Pi Day plans?” One person responded “what’s Pi Day?” and the other said “oh yeah, we almost did something for that last year.” I died a little bit inside.

So, this is about the time I make some complex comparison between Ireland and America, or something. I don’t think so. Not today. The thing I actually noticed was the difference between little schools and big schools. I don’t know if you know this, but Willamette is a small school. NUIG, on the other hand, is a big school. Thus, it should have more clubs, and more diverse clubs. I should be able to find just about anything.

Eh…not really. Yeah, I guess there were more clubs, and some of them that weren’t at WU (quiz club, for example) and some of them more active than anything at WU (film club, for example), but all things considered, they were pretty similar, which is huge considering the size of Willamette and NUIG. I get the feeling that this is because of two things. First, Willamette students are very dedicated. We make a lot of clubs, and work with them. Just about everyone I know is a part of some club or another. Admittedly, most of them are just involved in poi, but Willamette students are part of clubs. We’re dedicated and that sort of thing.

The other thing is I feel there is diminishing returns on clubs. For example, there’s no need for a second sci-fi club, or a second math club. Thus, after a certain point, there is no need to create any more clubs, or any clubs that are made are very specialized and need a large population to be justified. This number of clubs could be pretty low, and Willamette might have enough students to support it. NUIG has a lot more students, and thus more clubs, but not significantly more because of the diminishing returns. We both have a math history club, why would either of us need a second one? For those of you who are really nerdy, you can imagine my theory on the number of clubs to students by graphing root x, putting students on the x-axis and number of clubs on the y-axis.

Of course, I only saw the societies today, so I only saw half the clubs, really. Maybe I’m just way off. Maybe they do have a lot more. Or, maybe there’s some truth to what I’m saying.

Huh…I keep wanting to write one of these to only be two paragraphs. Not a page. One of these days…

Posted by Thomas R Brounstein at 02:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

In which Tom complains about money in a new and unique way.

Today has been a long day, and I’m actually surprised I made it on before I crash. I’m fading fast, though, so I don’t feel like writing much. I’ll talk about some of what happened today soon, though. It’ll come up again. Let’s just say that my carefully planned schedule…well, it exploded.

However, I want to write about something completely different than what happened today. Rather, I want to complain about money, but in a different way from what I’ve been doing before.

As you may know (oh, I hope you know) Europe uses the Euro with only a few exceptions. Ireland is not one of those exceptions, so I’ve had a lot of fun getting to learn the Euro, which has some pretty cool things about it. Bill sizes are scaled based on their value, so fives are smaller than 10s are smaller than 20s are smaller than 50s. This is a pretty cool system, and one that seems useful. Beyond that, their coins are different. They have coins for one, two, five, 10, 20 or 50 cent in common circulation, along with a one and two dollar coin. The different system of coins takes a bit of getting used to, but it works well and flows easily enough. Plus, I really like having a commonly used 50 cent piece. It’s surprisingly convenient.

No, the problem I have with the Euro is those one and two dollar coins. I’ve been saying for years American should have a dollar coin, but I think I mostly just supported it to mess with the status quo and I had no real reason for wanting it. After using it for awhile I can say I hate dollar coins (and two dollar coins by extension) and that we shouldn’t adopt them.

I’m the kind of guy who sorts all of his bills by denomination (they’re also all oriented in the same direction, but that’s besides the point), so it’s easy for me to tell exactly how much I have at any given time. I can just quickly flip through the bills, find what I need, and I’m there. Change is harder since it’s in its stupid little pouch and it’s hard to sort through, so I typically round up to the nearest dollar unless I have a lot of coins. This reduces the amount of scrounging around for everyone involved.

I can’t really do this with dollar coins. Rather, to pay for something with a dollar coin I have to dump out all my coins and shift through them randomly, looking for the correct one. It’s time consuming, it’s frustrating, and in the end the coins I’m looking for might not even be there. I don’t keep track of coins I carry with me, unlike the bills, and even if I did, when I dump out coins I usually dump out half—the coins I want might not even be in my pile!

I don’t like it. Dollar coins make my life harder. They make me spend more time scrounging for the right amount of money, or make me grossly overpay. And, since they’re harder to keep track of, I rarely know how much money I really have on me at a given time.

Really, I’m not sure what the advantage is. This isn’t me being a self-centered American; I really can’t think of advantages to dollar coins. They just seem clumsy and like they get in the way more than anything else.

That said, maybe I’m missing something. You can think about it and respond; I’m going to bed.

Posted by Thomas R Brounstein at 04:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

So, I realized that in trying to make complex connections about simple objects like candy or electricity, I haven’t been doing something relatively important. I haven’t been talking about myself and what I’ve actually been doing. So, I think it’s time to fix that and address some of the questions I’m commonly asked in the hope people will stop asking me. I get really tired of answering the same thing over and over.

So, I realized that in trying to make complex connections about simple objects like candy or electricity, I haven’t been doing something relatively important. I haven’t been talking about myself and what I’ve actually been doing. So, I think it’s time to fix that and address some of the questions I’m commonly asked in the hope people will stop asking me. I get really tired of answering the same thing over and over.

Classes started to do. Sort of. Lecture classes started today. Seminars, which are small group discussions, don’t start until next week. Also, the two classes I’m taking that are Willamette specific don’t start until next week and the week after (one start next week, one starts the following week). Though we do have a special session of one of the Willamette classes tomorrow. Oh, and I haven’t even signed up for classes yet. That’s next week for some classes, later for others.

…

It’s different than Willamette, and it’s actually not nearly as bad as I just made it sound. I actually like muddying it up to make it sound funnier. Thing is, there are two main types of classes, lectures and seminars. Lectures already started, seminars have sign ups over the next couple of weeks. Beyond that, visiting students sign up late since they want to give us a chance to get a feel for what’s going on before we sign up for classes.

So what classes am I taking? I’m glad I asked! I want to take a Celtic mythology class, a class about understanding modern Irish culture, what it is and if there even is a “modern Irish culture,” and an English class discussing children’s literature. What’s really exciting is I should be able to use that English class to finish off my minor, and the reading list looks excellent. Of the four books we’re reading, there is The Witches by Roald Dahl, Holes by Louis Sachar, Stardust by Neil Gaiman, and some other book I’ve never head of. Here’s the thing, I love Holes and thought it was a great book, still one of my favorites, and as for Stardust, when I wanted a fun read while I was in Ireland I picked up a Neil Gaiman book. If I get into this class (by no means certain) I will have read every one of his novels.

So that’s my class list. Hopefully it’ll work out. I’m really excited about the Irish myth class; that sounds excellent. I don’t know much about Irish mythology, but I love mythology and it would be great to learn. And, of course I’m excited about the English class. The modern Ireland class…I’m interested, but I’m worried it’ll assume that I know a lot about Ireland initially. You know, like I lived here my whole life.

Speaking of people who have lived their whole lives in Ireland, I have flat-mates (and excellent transition skills). So far I’ve met four of my five flat-mates. There’s Brian Piper, another WU student who I’m sharing a room with and hanging out with a lot. Then there’s three girls: Katie, Laura and Rosanne. The last flat-mate, who may or may not exist, is a guy named Mike. I have yet to see him. I think he’s a ghost.

So far, the girls seem really nice. Rosanne is busy since she’s in her final year and school got really hard, so I’m told I won’t see much of her. Katie and Laura, however, seem to be very good friends, and don’t seem too overly busy. I think it’ll be a good situation, they seem really easy to get along with and live with. Plus, it’s a big enough building it’s not like I’ll see them all the time.

I wish I had more details to share than “they seem nice,” but, well, I’m not sure what else to say. Any random facts about them will be a little meaningless. Just know that they seem like good people, and I’m happy to be living with them.

Hopefully this will curtail some of the questions I’ve been getting. That said, I’m making a point to respond to people ASAP, so drop me a line if you have any questions! I do like hearing from people.

Posted by Thomas R Brounstein at 02:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

I’ve been here about a week, and there’s one thing that stands out to me about this week quite a bit. Ireland is expensive. Really, really expensive.

I’ve been here about a week, and there’s one thing that stands out to me about this week quite a bit. Ireland is expensive. Really, really expensive.

Now, admittedly, this is the first time I’ve really had to support myself. Yes, at college we have all that great independence and such, but at the end of the day someone is still buying and making my food for me (I love meal plans), and there are all sorts of little things we don’t have to worry about, living in dorms like I have for two and a half years. Suddenly I find myself spending a lot of money I never worried about before.

What’s worse is there’s a lot of small expenses you don’t think about, but are pretty important. Things like a trash can, an Ethernet cable to use the wireless network (…) and toilette paper are all very important. For that last one, well, we made sure to buy some day one. Beyond that, setting up a cell-phone for while I’m here, getting more than just travel sized containers of my toiletries, buying an alarm clock, these all cost money. Each individually might not cost much—except for the cell phone—but it adds up fast.

Part of the problem is that we’re still only a week into the trip. As should come as a surprise to just about no one, there’s a large expense when someone is first settling, but it drops after that. We had to buy a lot of stuff all at once, but once it’s bought we don’t need to worry about it anymore. We have enough detergent to last the semester, and I don’t see us needing to replace the clock anytime soon. Things like the toilette paper we’ll need to buy more of, but not all at once. Just starting out creates a huge expense as you need to buy everything.

Over this past week I’ve noticed the expenses leveling out a bit. We’re no longer doing several shopping trips—perhaps even in a day—just to buy stuff for the room that we didn’t bring. Now we’re pretty much only buying food…which still isn’t that much cheaper.

Here’s the thing about food here. Imagine the cost of food in dollars. Now add a little bit. That’s about how many Euros it costs. It’s unfortunate that the Euro is also stronger than the dollar right now.

That said, it’s been possible to find some cheap deals. Rice is always cheap. As is pasta. The meat isn’t too expensive; I got three large chicken breasts for €4.69. And the produce is also a good cost. However, from there the costs start rising. Anything other than that can be expensive if you don’t know what you’re looking for.

A little anecdote about soda, before I finish. I was wondering around the super market, and out of curiosity I decided to see how expensive the soda was. Two liters of Coke was €1.99—far too expensive. Next to it was two liters of non-name brand, knockoff coke for €0.89. Not bad at all. Next to that, though, was the knockoff of the non-name brand, knockoff coke that literally just said “Cola” on the wrapper. It was only €0.29. I knew I had to get it, if not just for the story.

Turns out it wasn’t terrible. Not great, but not terrible. I get the feeling that’s how a lot of the stuff I buy on this trip will go. It won’t be too bad, but I won’t have the money for the nice stuff. It’ll be okay, but I’ll have had better. And, frankly, that’s how it should be. I’m really on my own for the first time; if I had all the nice stuff that would be cheating. This first week of high costs, high stress and careful budgeting is important; it’s part of being on your own. And knowing you can’t get everything you want, that you need to settle for “Cola” sometimes, is an important trait. I do wish I was able to have a job here, though. Income flowing in sounds fabulous considering how much is flowing out…

Posted by Thomas R Brounstein at 02:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

One of the first things I noticed, after only spending half a day or so in my new apartment, is how concerned they are with electricity here. The electrical outlets have on/off switches. You know, so you can turn them off if you’re not using them. The hot water in my building is only on from 6:00 am until 2:00 pm...When I tried to watch a little TV I found I couldn’t because not only was the TV unplugged but so was the cable.

When you have something plugged in, even if you’re not using it, it still takes energy. For example, a phone charger is always taking electricity even if it’s not charging a phone, and a TV that’s off is still sucking up the volts. This is called a “phantom charge,” it’s electricity being used without really being used. I heard a figure once that America’s phantom charge was greater than the actual electric charge of a list of five or six countries combined (the only country on the list that I remember is Vietnam, so that should tell you something about the list). Of course, we also have the highest carbon footprint per capita, and I think the second highest in the world behind China (I don’t have internet right now so I can’t check these facts).

I say this because one of the first things I noticed, after only spending half a day or so in my new apartment, is how concerned they are with electricity here. The electrical outlets have on/off switches. You know, so you can turn them off if you’re not using them. The hot water in my building is only on from 6:00 am until 2:00 pm (though we can manually turn it on if we want). When we had someone fix our door, he then showed us around the apartment and made sure to tell us, several times, to turn off the heat when we left a room. When I tried to watch a little TV I found I couldn’t because not only was the TV unplugged but so was the cable.

My six person apartment only has a mini-fridge because, I assume, it takes less energy than a full size one. We don’t have a dishwasher because (I assume) it takes energy and it’s easy enough to wash by hand. Unless I’m mistaken (which I really, really, really hope I am) tokens for the washers and dryers cost €3 each, which seems like a way to actively discourage people from doing laundry frivolously (or to hose us out of money).

Now, I’m not certain this all has to do with saving electricity, but that seems like a good explanation that fits well. It makes me wonder, too, about America. While on one hand I want to be good for the environment, on the other I like having hot water any time of the day, or not worrying about fiddling with the heat in each individual room, or having a full size fridge for six people.

It makes me realize, to a degree, America’s culture of excess. We do this because we can, screw the repercussions. We’ll have our hot water always on, and ignore the environmental problems.

But excess is the easy excuse here, and not the correct one. I don’t think people even realize what they’re doing. In other parts of the world—and not even rural parts, but developed countries—people don’t always have hot water, simply to save electricity. They turn off heat for the same reason. I mean, before reading this, how many of you even knew phantom charges existed? And I bet, now that you know, you’re going to look at your cell phone charger a bit more skeptically and perhaps even unplug it when you’re not using it.

I’ll be honest, even a day ago I assumed that they wouldn’t be this cautious. If you have power, use it, it seemed. I hadn’t even bothered to think about it. Yet, now I can’t help but wonder, how much energy is wasted because we’re heating water at 3:00 am? And on that same note, how much would I be willing to give up minor conveniences, like warm water after a 3:00 am bathroom trip, to protect the environment?

Sadly, I can see myself unplugging my phone charger when I’m not using it (I already do), but I can’t see myself doing the same with the TV.

Posted by Thomas R Brounstein at 08:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Despite all the exhaustion, there was something I noticed that stuck out to me. It was in the Dublin airport, as we were walking to our gate we passed one of those airport bookstores, the kind that sells cheap fiction novels and magazines telling me 100 ways to please my man and some celebrity’s dirty little secret...Something just didn’t seem right about it to me but it took me a minute to place my finger on it.

Well, I’m in Ireland. The trip to National University of Ireland was a little…long. Let me put it this way: I left my house at 5:00 on Monday. I arrived at NUI at 2:00 on Tuesday. To be fair, I arrived in Ireland at 8:00 on Monday (just in time to see the sunrise from the small single window in customs), and there is an eight hour time difference, so really it only took me 19 hours to get to Ireland. After that, we had a lay over in Dublin before finally getting on a plane to Shannon, where we stayed the night. The next morning we boarded the shuttle and finally got to NUI.

I should say, that night in Shannon was pretty great. None of us had slept in over a day, I was awake for 27 hours at one point, and I only had four hours of sleep the night before. To avoid screwing with our sleeping schedules too much we decided to try and fall asleep at 8:00, which would give us 12 or 13 hours of sleep before boarding the shuttle. I made it until 5:00 before I fell asleep. That was pretty typical of us.

Despite all the exhaustion, there was something I noticed that stuck out to me. It was in the Dublin airport, as we were walking to our gate we passed one of those airport bookstores, the kind that sells cheap fiction novels and magazines telling me 100 ways to please my man and some celebrity’s dirty little secret. I glanced at it out of the corner of my eye, but moved on. I came back later, after having found the gate and stowed my baggage with some fellow Willamette students, to investigate.

Something just didn’t seem right about it to me but it took me a minute to place my finger on it. It was exactly like one in America. Everything about it seemed exactly the same as one of those bookstores I would find in Sea-Tac, or LAX, or whatever that airport in Boston is called. The books might be different, I’m not sure (I don’t follow cheap fiction closely), but they looked the same. The magazines were the same. The layout of the store even felt similar.

I guided myself over to the wall of candy. I hadn’t seen one, yet, but I knew exactly where it was and what it would look like, simply because I was so familiar with this kind of place. I stood there, looking at all the chocolate, and I couldn’t help but feel it was exactly the same as back home.

Then I started looking at the names of the candies. To my surprise they were different. I didn’t recognize any of the names. I shouldn’t have been surprised, obviously, yet I was. Everything else about this place was the same; by now I had just assumed the candy would be as well. And, yet, here it was, a stark difference from America. Something completely new and foreign: all sorts of candies I had never heard of. After seeing so much that was like America, it was nice to see something different, no matter how small.

Take away from this story what you will. Perhaps it’s a metaphor: other cultures may look the same but it’s the details that set them apart, it’s the details you need to pay attention to. Or perhaps it shows America’s incredible influence. The only difference between this place and a place in America is the names on the candy, one of the most insignificant things possible. Or perhaps it was nothing more than an surreal moment created by being awake for nearly a day. I don’t know, but something about it stuck out to me.

Posted by Thomas R Brounstein at 07:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)