Beklager, jeg snakker ikke norsk...

I'm keeping up pretty well so far with my mid-term resolution to update the blog more - look at me go! I'm still working on hashing out stories from my previous travels, but might as well not keep youall waiting longer than you have to for new stories!

hopefully real Norwegian trolls will be cooler
 than this guy - Dad doesn't look scared
 at ALL! <3 Disney World (circa 2000)

In case you didn't understand the title of this post (if you actually did, you get a prize. What, I'm not sure, but I'll figure out something), the translation according to BBC Languages is "I'm sorry, I don't speak Norwegian." You guessed it, I'm headed off to NORWAY!  As the birthplace of Road Dahl, Liv Ullman, Knute Rockne, and the inventor of the Swiss cheese slicer, I have high expectations for this country - I'm headed to the land of my forefathers for culture, cold, and MORE FJORDS!!! 

The previously mentioned prestigious citizens and geographic features aside, this weekend should be rather memorable for three reasons: 

1. My travel companions are the dynamic duo themselves, Jack "the Shanimal" Shannon and Brian "Murphy Shuffle" Murphy (and two of their friends from NUIG, but I don't know them yet).

2. My part in this adventure began less than two weeks ago in the middle of nowhere next to Ireland's only fjord via smartphone at approximately 2:30am.

3. With roughly 12 hours until I leave Limerick, we still have no accommodations, no itinerary, and no plan - and I LOVE it! (I do have the emergency number for the US embassy in Oslo, so we're good to go)

Wish me luck, and Alt for Norge!

***EDIT MONDAY 24 OCT: Due to a history essay due Thursday afternoon, my post about Norway will have to happen after that, since I procrastinate like crazy.***

to Arthur!

the man himself, Arthur Guinness

What’s the most important holiday of the year in Ireland? Arthur’s Day! Okay not really, but it sure felt like it! Arthur’s Day commemorates the birthday of Arthur Guinness, the original brewer of (you guessed it) Guinness beer. Every September 22^nd, pubs, bars, and clubs all over Ireland throw huge parties and concerts to celebrate the day, with more advertising than I’ve ever seen for a holiday!

I first heard about Arthur’s Day the day I arrived in Dublin. After seeing bits of the city, our jet-lagged group collapsed in the lounge of our hotel where Arlene (one of the IFSA staff) was waiting for stragglers to arrive. She told us a number of places to go in Galway and Limerick, things to see, cities around Ireland we should visit, why Irish people complain about the weather in every conversation, etc. She was ASTOUNDED that none of us had ever heard of Arthur’s Day, and went on and on about how it’s the best holiday ever and Limerick was throwing a HUGE concert with amazing acts and it was going to be absolutely  great!

 When Arthur’s Day rolled around, the whole Limerick group purchased tickets for the event/concert taking place at Dolan’s Pub, one of the places Arlene had recommended.  As I’m sure you can imagine, the festivities stared early in the day, even for a Thursday. I have class until 3:00pm on Thursdays, and walking between every class I saw students carrying plastic cups of Guinness out from the campus bar! Guess Ireland doesn’t have much of an open container law?

 Arthur’s Day’s most important tradition is a toast at 17:59 (or 5:59pm, if you’re not used to military time) in honor of the first batch of Guinness being brewed in the year 1759, so we made sure we were downtown by about 5:30pm. We walked in the door of Dolan’s and were greeted by Arthur Guinness himself! He looked pretty good for being 252 years old, and once the bartenders told us we’d get a free pint of Guinness for “making yourselves known to Arthur,” we immediately took the photo op!  Who can turn down free Guinness, especially on Arthur’s Day?  

The rest of the night was a huge mix of toasts to Arthur – who was pretty well drunk by the time we left for the evening – and moving between the concert in the Dolan’s Warehouse and the traditional Irish music, or “trad” music, performance in the regular pub.  To get to the concert initially, we were told to walk around the block to an alternate entrance where they were taking tickets. I had just gotten my full pint of Guinness, and since the doormen usually guard the real glass pint glasses like the Crown Jewels, I was nervous about this whole idea. We walked up to the front door and the man said “the door’s just around the corner on your left, be sure to take your drink with you!” Strange, but Marion and I were ecstatic about getting real glasses out the door of a pub! BIG deal.  The concert wasn’t actually all that amazing and the girl singing was dressed like Harry Potter a bit, which was definitely weird, but everyone celebrating was really friendly and welcoming! I even capped off the evening at Dolan’s with a Jameson and Coke – a little pricey, but when better than Arthur’s Day in Ireland??

ATTENTION, ATTENTION!

UL library (not my picture, I'm not THAT good)

Dear family and others,

I am indeed alive, and currently back in Limerick, Ireland! I apologize for the SEVERE lack of blog entries - I've had the opportunity to go on several wonderful trips and it's just overwhelming to think about sitting down and attempting to summarize them in a few paragraphs when I want to write BOOKS - which obviously I don't have time to do, which compounds the problem - and so on and so forth.

However, having recently (within the last few hours) returned from a weekend trip, I think if I keep along the track of NOT writing things down, I never will because they'll get so gosh-darn overwhelming.

MEANING THAT: starting tomorrow when I hole myself up in the UL library for hours and hours upon end, my study breaks will be filled with telling stories of my recent adventures to Galway, Cork, Waterford, Killary, and Edinburgh, as well as hopefully some interesting anecdotes about life in general in Ireland.

You'd think I'd have gotten around to this stuff sooner, but obviously not. SOON I promise! :)