Wednesday, January 14, 2009
The new website is up!
I finally got all my photos onto the new website, and it has a pretty good journal application, so this blog is temporarily on hold. I'll start it up again when I get back to the States in May. Until then go here if you want to know what I'm up to: http://caseyincork.shutterfly.com/
Monday, January 12, 2009
Man, today was a full day.
So I've pretty much got my schedule all sorted out, and Monday is by far my busiest day.
I had a lesson in the uilleann pipes at 2pm. It's me and another guy named John Scott. Both of us are beginners, so we really don't know what we're doing, but I'm glad it's the two of us 'cause that'll give me more incentive to practice, I think--so I don't make a fool of myself.
My first impression is that it will be a bit hard to get used to, but the fingerings aren't to hard. It's just that while you move your fingers around, you have to move your elbows, especially your right one, to pump air through the pipes. You don't blow into it like Scottish bag pipes--there's a small bellows that you pump with your right elbow to get air flowing into the the bag and through the pipes. So... the trouble is that you have to move your elbows and fingers all at the same time. I'm sure I'll get it with practice, but I'm sure I'll have to practice to get it. I can't get away without practicing (like I do with the bassoon) because I don't know what I'm doing at all really. All I know right now is the D major scale. :P
Then I have three classes in a row--at 4, 5, and 6. At 4 is a Exploring the New, a music class about 20th, avant-garde, new wave composers--I think that'll be fun. At 5 is Intro to Irish Traditional Music, which is basically us looking at pictures of instruments and listening to clips of music--that'll be fun and easy. And then at 6 is a general Irish culture class that is less like a lecture and more like a class full of people listening and talking to a lively professor who tells cool stories--that will probably be my favorite class.
The only problem is that Exploring the New is in the music building, which is up on a giant hill like a 15 or 20 minute walk from the main campus. Irish Traditional Music is the Connolly Building, which is one of a group of buildings about 5 or 10 minutes from campus. And the last class is on the main campus. At least Traditional Music is in between the music building and the main campus, but I still have to hoof it from one class to the next to get to them on time. :P
So it's a busy day, but it's totally worth it because it's all of my coolest classes, and the rest of my week is pretty easy sailing.
On Tues/Thurs I have Aspects of Irish Folklore, which will be a typical lecture, with typical essay and final, but at least it's pretty interesting subject matter.
On Thursday I also have a lesson in the bodhran, an Irish drum. My first lesson is this Thursday, and I'm pretty excited about that one.
And then there is Intro to Modern Irish, which I think will be really cool, but we don't yet have the timetable for that one because they set it up according to everyone's schedules. Hopefully it won't meet on Fridays 'cause I'd really like to keep that day off. I also hope it doesn't end up in the morning, because right now I don't have any morning classes and that is awesome.
________________________________________
In other news, I went with a group yesterday (Sunday) to Blarney Castle, which is just about a 15 to 20 minute bus ride away. That was great fun.
Yes, I kissed the Blarney Stone.
I also took a ton of photos. It was drizzling pretty much all day, but it was still a very pleasant trip. It wasn't too terribly cold, just a bit wet. I got to really try out my new waterproof boots and they turned out to be very convenient. I could tromp through puddles without any worries.
________________________________________
By the way, I've been having trouble uploading all of my photos to the livejournal website I linked to earlier, so I'm trying out a new sit called Shutterfly. I think that will end up working much better, and it also has a journal entry section included on the share site.
So, bottom line... I'll probably be moving everything over to that website pretty soon, photos, journal, everything. Once I get it all updated and pretty, I'll post a link to it from here and then I'll probably just stop posting on here for a while--no need to have 2 separate blogs for the same span of time.
I had a lesson in the uilleann pipes at 2pm. It's me and another guy named John Scott. Both of us are beginners, so we really don't know what we're doing, but I'm glad it's the two of us 'cause that'll give me more incentive to practice, I think--so I don't make a fool of myself.
My first impression is that it will be a bit hard to get used to, but the fingerings aren't to hard. It's just that while you move your fingers around, you have to move your elbows, especially your right one, to pump air through the pipes. You don't blow into it like Scottish bag pipes--there's a small bellows that you pump with your right elbow to get air flowing into the the bag and through the pipes. So... the trouble is that you have to move your elbows and fingers all at the same time. I'm sure I'll get it with practice, but I'm sure I'll have to practice to get it. I can't get away without practicing (like I do with the bassoon) because I don't know what I'm doing at all really. All I know right now is the D major scale. :P
Then I have three classes in a row--at 4, 5, and 6. At 4 is a Exploring the New, a music class about 20th, avant-garde, new wave composers--I think that'll be fun. At 5 is Intro to Irish Traditional Music, which is basically us looking at pictures of instruments and listening to clips of music--that'll be fun and easy. And then at 6 is a general Irish culture class that is less like a lecture and more like a class full of people listening and talking to a lively professor who tells cool stories--that will probably be my favorite class.
The only problem is that Exploring the New is in the music building, which is up on a giant hill like a 15 or 20 minute walk from the main campus. Irish Traditional Music is the Connolly Building, which is one of a group of buildings about 5 or 10 minutes from campus. And the last class is on the main campus. At least Traditional Music is in between the music building and the main campus, but I still have to hoof it from one class to the next to get to them on time. :P
So it's a busy day, but it's totally worth it because it's all of my coolest classes, and the rest of my week is pretty easy sailing.
On Tues/Thurs I have Aspects of Irish Folklore, which will be a typical lecture, with typical essay and final, but at least it's pretty interesting subject matter.
On Thursday I also have a lesson in the bodhran, an Irish drum. My first lesson is this Thursday, and I'm pretty excited about that one.
And then there is Intro to Modern Irish, which I think will be really cool, but we don't yet have the timetable for that one because they set it up according to everyone's schedules. Hopefully it won't meet on Fridays 'cause I'd really like to keep that day off. I also hope it doesn't end up in the morning, because right now I don't have any morning classes and that is awesome.
________________________________________
In other news, I went with a group yesterday (Sunday) to Blarney Castle, which is just about a 15 to 20 minute bus ride away. That was great fun.
Yes, I kissed the Blarney Stone.
I also took a ton of photos. It was drizzling pretty much all day, but it was still a very pleasant trip. It wasn't too terribly cold, just a bit wet. I got to really try out my new waterproof boots and they turned out to be very convenient. I could tromp through puddles without any worries.
________________________________________
By the way, I've been having trouble uploading all of my photos to the livejournal website I linked to earlier, so I'm trying out a new sit called Shutterfly. I think that will end up working much better, and it also has a journal entry section included on the share site.
So, bottom line... I'll probably be moving everything over to that website pretty soon, photos, journal, everything. Once I get it all updated and pretty, I'll post a link to it from here and then I'll probably just stop posting on here for a while--no need to have 2 separate blogs for the same span of time.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
America in Ireland
It's funny the amount of American culture I'm encountering while outside America. Though a lot of it is older stuff. I watched Sabrina the Teenage Witch on tv a few days ago. I heard Eagle Eye Cherry's "Save Tonight" in a grocery store. House is starting new with season 1 on tv this week. I never expected to come to Ireland and see Will Smith's face plastered everywhere on advertisements for the movie Seven Pounds, but there ya go. I also just finished watching a movie on tv called Orange County. I really liked it! It's really funny--Jack Black, Scarlet O'Hara, John Lithgow, and others. Great coming-of-age story. :P
Last night, a group of us (Maureen, Jon, Kate, Holly, Allie, Patrick) went out to a couple of pubs (Preachers and Counihan's), and we passed a guy playing didgeridoo. That was kinda random and cool.
The beer here is really good. I never really liked it much before, but that's probably just because a lot of beer in the US is just bad quality, and I had only tried a few different kinds. Fosters is my favorite so far.
I have to admit that I'm already starting to miss home a little. I think that might be partly because I didn't get much time to chill between finals and my flight. I was working constantly the last few weeks of school, and then any free time I had I was spent sort of frantically trying to see all my friends before leaving. I did a pretty good job of that, and I'm glad, but I wish I had had a little more time to just sit back and relax before leaving. Oh well. I can look forward to doing that this summer (though I'm sure I'm going to be working a lot since I'll be broke when I return).
At least I won't have to worry about school when I get back. As for school here, I don't think it'll be too bad. I think the uilleann pipes and bodhran will be fun, though I will have to practice, and I've heard that Intro to Irish Traditional Music is super easy. The rest of my classes are lectures that have one longish essay and one exam at the end. Not too bad at all, but after having just finished a semester that was all projects, it'll take me a little while to get back into the groove of listening to lectures, taking notes, and writing papers.
Here's the website for the photos, by the way (I also added a link to it on the right under "Links"):
http://pics.livejournal.com/caseylowry/gallery/0000cbs9
It isn't completely updated because it's taking me a really long time to upload all of the photos. I'm gettin' there, though.
Last night, a group of us (Maureen, Jon, Kate, Holly, Allie, Patrick) went out to a couple of pubs (Preachers and Counihan's), and we passed a guy playing didgeridoo. That was kinda random and cool.
The beer here is really good. I never really liked it much before, but that's probably just because a lot of beer in the US is just bad quality, and I had only tried a few different kinds. Fosters is my favorite so far.
I have to admit that I'm already starting to miss home a little. I think that might be partly because I didn't get much time to chill between finals and my flight. I was working constantly the last few weeks of school, and then any free time I had I was spent sort of frantically trying to see all my friends before leaving. I did a pretty good job of that, and I'm glad, but I wish I had had a little more time to just sit back and relax before leaving. Oh well. I can look forward to doing that this summer (though I'm sure I'm going to be working a lot since I'll be broke when I return).
At least I won't have to worry about school when I get back. As for school here, I don't think it'll be too bad. I think the uilleann pipes and bodhran will be fun, though I will have to practice, and I've heard that Intro to Irish Traditional Music is super easy. The rest of my classes are lectures that have one longish essay and one exam at the end. Not too bad at all, but after having just finished a semester that was all projects, it'll take me a little while to get back into the groove of listening to lectures, taking notes, and writing papers.
Here's the website for the photos, by the way (I also added a link to it on the right under "Links"):
http://pics.livejournal.com/caseylowry/gallery/0000cbs9
It isn't completely updated because it's taking me a really long time to upload all of the photos. I'm gettin' there, though.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Ireland!
Wow. So it's been a while since I've posted, but I've been so busy over the last week! Where to begin!
The trip got off to a bad start with the flights because my flight from Dallas to New York was delayed 2 hours. That subsequently made me miss my connecting flight to Shannnon, so I had to wait in more lines and get on another flight. I ended up having to change from American Airlines to Delta, so my bag didn't arrive with me in Ireland because it didn't have time to get processed and switched over. That was all a bit stressful, but it worked out in the end. I got to Ireland on Thursday, safe and sound, and my bag arrived on Friday. The Delta flight was quite pleasant--I got to watch Tropic Thunder, finally, and I watched Ghost Town. Tropic Thunder I enjoyed, but it didn't live up to what everyone made it out to be. Ghost Town, though, was VERY good. Love Ricky Gervais.
The first day in Limerick (for the IFSA Butler orientation) was nice. My new friend Bryan and I walked around a bit, taking photos and such. And then there was a free dinner where I got to meet the others in the program. My roommate at the Jurys Inn (our hotel) was Laura--she was quite nice. Pleasant company. A group of us went out to a pub called Dolans that was GREAT fun! They had a small 3 piece band playing Irish traditional music. Absolutely loved that.
The second day was filled with people talking at us about safety and immigration and so on and so forth, but we did get to go to the Cliffs of Moher. THAT was cool. Took LOTS of photos there. (By the way, I will have a separate website for all of my Ireland photos up soon. I'll link to it from here.) There were lots of signs telling people not to climb over the fence because they might fall to their death. Great fun.
On Saturday we rode a bus to Cork. Our apartment complex is really nice. The common areas for some are a bit small, but that's ok. I have two roommates--Maureen (from IFSA Butler) and Muriel, a french girl. Maureen is quite nice, and Muriel seems to be great, as well--we just met her yesterday. A small group of us went to a place called the Welcome Inn that had a live guitarist. He was awesome--took some of our requests. Along with Irish music, he played Bob Dylan, John Lennon, John Mayer, Elvis, and Billy Joel--piano man on guitar is kinda funny, but he pulled it off.
Sunday was a nice day off from orientations. Our IFSA Butler local guy Ger took us around the University College Cork (UCC) campus a bit. After buying a few groceries, Maureen and I took the evening off to just chill. We found a biopic on Linda McCartney on tv--it wasn't that good, but we watched it anyway. :P
Yesterday was actually the first day of classes, but we had orientation all day, so today was my first time to go to class. The funny thing about the system here is that we go to classes we think we might like for a week and a half, and then we register for the ones we want. It's really quite nice. If one of my prospective classes turns out to be boring or if it conflicts with other classes, then I don't have to drop out of it, I just won't register for it when the time comes. I like it better than our system back home.
The only class I've been to so far is Aspects of Irish Folklore, which is just for visiting students. It wasn't a real class session, though. The professor just talked to us for a bit and handed out a small booklet. I think it'll be fun and easy, so I'll probably take that one. Later on tonight, at 6pm, I have the history class for visiting students, so we'll see how that goes.
I'm already starting to get a grasp on the layout of the city, it's not too difficult, really, because there are so many large landmarks that let you know where you are--cathedrals, rivers, a huge brewery, a giant McDonald's (:P).
As I mentioned above, I'm going to create a separate website for the photos I take. I'll probably do it later tonight.
The trip got off to a bad start with the flights because my flight from Dallas to New York was delayed 2 hours. That subsequently made me miss my connecting flight to Shannnon, so I had to wait in more lines and get on another flight. I ended up having to change from American Airlines to Delta, so my bag didn't arrive with me in Ireland because it didn't have time to get processed and switched over. That was all a bit stressful, but it worked out in the end. I got to Ireland on Thursday, safe and sound, and my bag arrived on Friday. The Delta flight was quite pleasant--I got to watch Tropic Thunder, finally, and I watched Ghost Town. Tropic Thunder I enjoyed, but it didn't live up to what everyone made it out to be. Ghost Town, though, was VERY good. Love Ricky Gervais.
The first day in Limerick (for the IFSA Butler orientation) was nice. My new friend Bryan and I walked around a bit, taking photos and such. And then there was a free dinner where I got to meet the others in the program. My roommate at the Jurys Inn (our hotel) was Laura--she was quite nice. Pleasant company. A group of us went out to a pub called Dolans that was GREAT fun! They had a small 3 piece band playing Irish traditional music. Absolutely loved that.
The second day was filled with people talking at us about safety and immigration and so on and so forth, but we did get to go to the Cliffs of Moher. THAT was cool. Took LOTS of photos there. (By the way, I will have a separate website for all of my Ireland photos up soon. I'll link to it from here.) There were lots of signs telling people not to climb over the fence because they might fall to their death. Great fun.
On Saturday we rode a bus to Cork. Our apartment complex is really nice. The common areas for some are a bit small, but that's ok. I have two roommates--Maureen (from IFSA Butler) and Muriel, a french girl. Maureen is quite nice, and Muriel seems to be great, as well--we just met her yesterday. A small group of us went to a place called the Welcome Inn that had a live guitarist. He was awesome--took some of our requests. Along with Irish music, he played Bob Dylan, John Lennon, John Mayer, Elvis, and Billy Joel--piano man on guitar is kinda funny, but he pulled it off.
Sunday was a nice day off from orientations. Our IFSA Butler local guy Ger took us around the University College Cork (UCC) campus a bit. After buying a few groceries, Maureen and I took the evening off to just chill. We found a biopic on Linda McCartney on tv--it wasn't that good, but we watched it anyway. :P
Yesterday was actually the first day of classes, but we had orientation all day, so today was my first time to go to class. The funny thing about the system here is that we go to classes we think we might like for a week and a half, and then we register for the ones we want. It's really quite nice. If one of my prospective classes turns out to be boring or if it conflicts with other classes, then I don't have to drop out of it, I just won't register for it when the time comes. I like it better than our system back home.
The only class I've been to so far is Aspects of Irish Folklore, which is just for visiting students. It wasn't a real class session, though. The professor just talked to us for a bit and handed out a small booklet. I think it'll be fun and easy, so I'll probably take that one. Later on tonight, at 6pm, I have the history class for visiting students, so we'll see how that goes.
I'm already starting to get a grasp on the layout of the city, it's not too difficult, really, because there are so many large landmarks that let you know where you are--cathedrals, rivers, a huge brewery, a giant McDonald's (:P).
As I mentioned above, I'm going to create a separate website for the photos I take. I'll probably do it later tonight.
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