In addition to this lovely blog here, I have also been writing for my beloved Purple & White as the International Correspondent (I am fancy). If you are interested in reading any of my articles, you can find them at:
http://www.millsaps.edu/p&w
I wrote five article, but only two of the issues they are in are uploaded, so check out October 1st and October 29th.
Hopefully the others will be uploaded eventually and I will add them. Or maybe I'll just do a post with the articles if anyone wants to read them
P.s. Two posts in one day?? CrAzY.
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Tuesday, December 15, 2009
mo' procrastination
ONLY ONE MORE EXAM UNTIL I AM FREE (until grad school)
I keep meaning to write about Belfast, and it keeps getting away from me, so here are just a few quick impressions it left on me:
- SO COLD. Well, that's the Republic too right now. I did not think it could/would get much colder until it DID and now going outside is the most miserable thing imaginable, which is why I spent most of my time holed up in my little room in the apt, drinking mass quantities of tea and cider (which my sweet beau brought me all the way from ye olde U.S.). Oh yeah, Belfast. Well I bought an awesome hat at the Christmas market there that basically doesn't leave my head ever. Which is good because I also need a haircut something fierce. But that's another story.
- ANOTHER terrifying experience. I would really like to go somewhere that doesn't involve me risking my life in some kind of really high-elevation adventure. In this case, it was the Carrick-a-Rede bridge, a rope bridge suspended high over the OCEAN. And once you crossed it there was no way to get back from the little island thing but to cross it again. NOT. HAPPY.
- The Giant's Causeway is one of the coolest naturally occurring phenomenons ever. Definitely a highlight.
- It is unreal to me the separation that still exists there. Only 3% of the population actually lives in undivided neighborhoods. Everywhere else the Protestants and the Catholics live separated. In Belfast there are these huge walls, really high that they call the Berlin Walls of Belfast because they close off the neighborhoods to one another. There are these gates that close automatically at 10 p.m. and no one can get through after that time. All in all, it was very eye-opening that stuff like that still happens in a place like the U.K.
- I like pounds, as in the money. The coins are really cool and they feel good in your hand. Euro paper money is still way prettier though.
Some other thoughts: Brian is here (yay!!) and it seems like he is going to end up doing in a week and a half almost all the stuff I've done in a semester. We did a weekend trip to Cork and the Blarney Stone/Galway and the Cliffs of Moher, and we did the Guinness tour, Jameson tour, and literary pub crawl. He is in Belfast now visiting our favorite Northern Irelander, Jack of course. Once I (FINALLY) finish my Irish Lit exam we are off to England and Scotland.
WHICH MEANS I ONLY HAVE THREE MORE DAYS IN IRELAND. Where has it gone?
I am considering starting a blog about my life in general when I get back to the states. But I'll probably be really bad about keeping it up.
I keep meaning to write about Belfast, and it keeps getting away from me, so here are just a few quick impressions it left on me:
- SO COLD. Well, that's the Republic too right now. I did not think it could/would get much colder until it DID and now going outside is the most miserable thing imaginable, which is why I spent most of my time holed up in my little room in the apt, drinking mass quantities of tea and cider (which my sweet beau brought me all the way from ye olde U.S.). Oh yeah, Belfast. Well I bought an awesome hat at the Christmas market there that basically doesn't leave my head ever. Which is good because I also need a haircut something fierce. But that's another story.
- ANOTHER terrifying experience. I would really like to go somewhere that doesn't involve me risking my life in some kind of really high-elevation adventure. In this case, it was the Carrick-a-Rede bridge, a rope bridge suspended high over the OCEAN. And once you crossed it there was no way to get back from the little island thing but to cross it again. NOT. HAPPY.
- The Giant's Causeway is one of the coolest naturally occurring phenomenons ever. Definitely a highlight.
- It is unreal to me the separation that still exists there. Only 3% of the population actually lives in undivided neighborhoods. Everywhere else the Protestants and the Catholics live separated. In Belfast there are these huge walls, really high that they call the Berlin Walls of Belfast because they close off the neighborhoods to one another. There are these gates that close automatically at 10 p.m. and no one can get through after that time. All in all, it was very eye-opening that stuff like that still happens in a place like the U.K.
- I like pounds, as in the money. The coins are really cool and they feel good in your hand. Euro paper money is still way prettier though.
Some other thoughts: Brian is here (yay!!) and it seems like he is going to end up doing in a week and a half almost all the stuff I've done in a semester. We did a weekend trip to Cork and the Blarney Stone/Galway and the Cliffs of Moher, and we did the Guinness tour, Jameson tour, and literary pub crawl. He is in Belfast now visiting our favorite Northern Irelander, Jack of course. Once I (FINALLY) finish my Irish Lit exam we are off to England and Scotland.
WHICH MEANS I ONLY HAVE THREE MORE DAYS IN IRELAND. Where has it gone?
I am considering starting a blog about my life in general when I get back to the states. But I'll probably be really bad about keeping it up.
Friday, December 4, 2009
yum?
Eggs make up 75% of the things I actually COOK in this country. I am pathetic.
If you are what you eat, I am turning into:
a) fried egg sandwich
b) toast
c) cereal, specifically special k and no other kind
d) tea
e) crisps (either lightly salted or salt & vinegar)
f) tomato & basil soup
g) bagels and cream cheese
h) pasta
i) some combination of the above
BECAUSE THAT IS ALL I EAT!
I am pitiful-slash-need to learn how to cook.
If you are what you eat, I am turning into:
a) fried egg sandwich
b) toast
c) cereal, specifically special k and no other kind
d) tea
e) crisps (either lightly salted or salt & vinegar)
f) tomato & basil soup
g) bagels and cream cheese
h) pasta
i) some combination of the above
BECAUSE THAT IS ALL I EAT!
I am pitiful-slash-need to learn how to cook.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Où est la rue du trois frères?
I haven't been able to put my thoughts about Paris down in my blog yet because I'm not sure any words I pick can do it justice. But here is my trip in a nutshell.
(Disclaimer: if I use the words amazing, incredible and beautiful a lot, please forgive me. I need to spend some time with a thesaurus.)
Early morning. Watching the sun rise in Paris. First stop was the Lourve, but just to pick up the tour bus. The architecture is INCREDIBLE. I can't believe they were going to just tear down the building at one time because they couldn't think of a use for it. Anyway, we picked up our hop-on, hop-off bus and were off!
Places we saw:
a) the Lourve
b) the Seine
c) Notre Dame
d) the square with the Egyptian obelisk ferris wheel (don’t think I ever caught the name)
e) Champs Elysees
f) l’Arc de Triomphe
g) the Moulin Rouge
h) the Musee d'Orsay
i) the Rodin museum
j) Galaries Lafayette
k) the Eiffel Tower
l) ALL OF PARIS (from the top of the Eiffel Tower)
m) a MILLION pieces of incredible, amazing, beautiful, iconic (oooh! a new word) art
and a bunch more stuff that either doesn’t have a cool name or I can’t remember it.
We rode the tour bus around the whole route and then started hopping off and on to go to all the museums and attractions. Luckily my travel companions also wanted to do a lot of nerdy museum-going, so that was our main objective, along with the cathedrals and Eiffel, of course.
Basically I just wandered around the museums in a Heritage-fueled excitement/stupor. Luckily, Grace is an art history minor, so she was like my own mini tour guide, especially in the Musee d’Orsay. Grace also took a class on Gothic cathedrals, so we had a lot to talk about at Notre Dame (flying buttresses!). Some of my favorite pieces that we saw include Le Penseur (aka the Thinker), Victory at Samothrace, La Liberté Guidant le Peuple, Ballerinas Resting… and a lot more.
Things we ate:
1. Baguettes. A lot of baguettes. Free breakfast at our hostel was cereal and baguettes, so we stashed extra in our purses to eat for lunch. I probably at 6-7 baguettes in 2 days.
2. Crepes! You can’t go to Paris and not eat crepes, duh. Especially with Nutella.
3. Delicious sausage sandwich thing, with cheese melted on this really swank cheese melty device… on a baguette of course.
4. The French version of a hot dog, which is two weenies in a baguette (I told you I ate a lot of baguettes).
5. Pizza? It was good.
6. Wine!!
Food gave me a good excuse to practice my French. Since I am somewhat of a failure at learning languages, the only conversations I was able to carry on were asking vendors how much things cost, asking for directions/where something was, and being very grateful. I said “merci” more than any other word on the whole trip. (At least I was polite!)… Still, I really enjoyed using the language in a non-classroom setting and it made me want to go further with my French learning. Maybe after I graduate I’ll spend some time trying to pick it back up again.
As for the Eiffel Tower, have I mentioned that I really hate heights and/or enclosed spaces that are high? Which is why going up into the Eiffel Tower (the tallest structure in the world for 40 years when it was built, dontcha know) in a GLASS ELEVATOR was not fun. In any way. I mean, rationally I realize that millions upon millions of people go up in that thing and they all come down safe and sound, but I am not rational. Thank God for Grace, who all but held my little scared hand on the way up. Anyway, I did eventually ascend to the very top and the views WERE worth it. It was gorgeous. We went at night, and all the lights were breathtaking. And when we got down again we watched the light show and it was a great end to the trip.
So after two days of walking EVERYWHERE, my dogs were darn tired. Actually, at the end of the second night (after going up the tower) Grace and I were extremely pitiful. We were both walking veeeerrryy gingerly, trying to put as little weight as possible on our poor swollen feeties. I’m sure we were hilarious to any onlookers. Also, we made the mistake of getting up on this big cement ridge to watch the Eiffel Tower light show. A mistake because in order to get down, we had to jump. Grace went first and as soon as she landed on her bruised feet and started wincing, I KNEW. I knew what was coming for me and there was no way to avoid it. So I jumped down too. And then we limped our sad asses back home.
Fun facts!!
The Lourve started with just 12 pieces of art, including the Mona Lisa, which is the most popular tourist attraction in it now.
The Eiffel Tower was built for the 1889 World’s Fair. A few years later, to top structures like Eiffel, a man decided to make a structure that moved for the 1893 World’s Fair. It was the Ferris Wheel! (Also, Eiffel the man helped design the Statue of Liberty).
Hmmmm… I knew I should have written the rest down…
To sum: I LOVE PARIS I WANT TO GO BACK NOW AND ALWAYS.
(Disclaimer: if I use the words amazing, incredible and beautiful a lot, please forgive me. I need to spend some time with a thesaurus.)
Early morning. Watching the sun rise in Paris. First stop was the Lourve, but just to pick up the tour bus. The architecture is INCREDIBLE. I can't believe they were going to just tear down the building at one time because they couldn't think of a use for it. Anyway, we picked up our hop-on, hop-off bus and were off!
Places we saw:
a) the Lourve
b) the Seine
c) Notre Dame
d) the square with the Egyptian obelisk ferris wheel (don’t think I ever caught the name)
e) Champs Elysees
f) l’Arc de Triomphe
g) the Moulin Rouge
h) the Musee d'Orsay
i) the Rodin museum
j) Galaries Lafayette
k) the Eiffel Tower
l) ALL OF PARIS (from the top of the Eiffel Tower)
m) a MILLION pieces of incredible, amazing, beautiful, iconic (oooh! a new word) art
and a bunch more stuff that either doesn’t have a cool name or I can’t remember it.
We rode the tour bus around the whole route and then started hopping off and on to go to all the museums and attractions. Luckily my travel companions also wanted to do a lot of nerdy museum-going, so that was our main objective, along with the cathedrals and Eiffel, of course.
Basically I just wandered around the museums in a Heritage-fueled excitement/stupor. Luckily, Grace is an art history minor, so she was like my own mini tour guide, especially in the Musee d’Orsay. Grace also took a class on Gothic cathedrals, so we had a lot to talk about at Notre Dame (flying buttresses!). Some of my favorite pieces that we saw include Le Penseur (aka the Thinker), Victory at Samothrace, La Liberté Guidant le Peuple, Ballerinas Resting… and a lot more.
Things we ate:
1. Baguettes. A lot of baguettes. Free breakfast at our hostel was cereal and baguettes, so we stashed extra in our purses to eat for lunch. I probably at 6-7 baguettes in 2 days.
2. Crepes! You can’t go to Paris and not eat crepes, duh. Especially with Nutella.
3. Delicious sausage sandwich thing, with cheese melted on this really swank cheese melty device… on a baguette of course.
4. The French version of a hot dog, which is two weenies in a baguette (I told you I ate a lot of baguettes).
5. Pizza? It was good.
6. Wine!!
Food gave me a good excuse to practice my French. Since I am somewhat of a failure at learning languages, the only conversations I was able to carry on were asking vendors how much things cost, asking for directions/where something was, and being very grateful. I said “merci” more than any other word on the whole trip. (At least I was polite!)… Still, I really enjoyed using the language in a non-classroom setting and it made me want to go further with my French learning. Maybe after I graduate I’ll spend some time trying to pick it back up again.
As for the Eiffel Tower, have I mentioned that I really hate heights and/or enclosed spaces that are high? Which is why going up into the Eiffel Tower (the tallest structure in the world for 40 years when it was built, dontcha know) in a GLASS ELEVATOR was not fun. In any way. I mean, rationally I realize that millions upon millions of people go up in that thing and they all come down safe and sound, but I am not rational. Thank God for Grace, who all but held my little scared hand on the way up. Anyway, I did eventually ascend to the very top and the views WERE worth it. It was gorgeous. We went at night, and all the lights were breathtaking. And when we got down again we watched the light show and it was a great end to the trip.
So after two days of walking EVERYWHERE, my dogs were darn tired. Actually, at the end of the second night (after going up the tower) Grace and I were extremely pitiful. We were both walking veeeerrryy gingerly, trying to put as little weight as possible on our poor swollen feeties. I’m sure we were hilarious to any onlookers. Also, we made the mistake of getting up on this big cement ridge to watch the Eiffel Tower light show. A mistake because in order to get down, we had to jump. Grace went first and as soon as she landed on her bruised feet and started wincing, I KNEW. I knew what was coming for me and there was no way to avoid it. So I jumped down too. And then we limped our sad asses back home.
Fun facts!!
The Lourve started with just 12 pieces of art, including the Mona Lisa, which is the most popular tourist attraction in it now.
The Eiffel Tower was built for the 1889 World’s Fair. A few years later, to top structures like Eiffel, a man decided to make a structure that moved for the 1893 World’s Fair. It was the Ferris Wheel! (Also, Eiffel the man helped design the Statue of Liberty).
Hmmmm… I knew I should have written the rest down…
To sum: I LOVE PARIS I WANT TO GO BACK NOW AND ALWAYS.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
I am a Blog Failure
So, according to Tayto I have not updated in two weeks and one day. And I feel bad about this. My reasons (excuses) for this terrible lapse include:
1. I went to Paris. And then peed my pants about it a lot.
2. I went to Belfast. Not so much pants-peeing, but still really cool.
3. I had to write a 10-page paper.
4. I had to rest my brain after writing said paper.
5. I had to write an article for Molly.
6. I had a lot of online tv (i.e. Glee) to watch.
7. I am a horrible journal keeper and apparently blogs fall into that category. At least I'm consistent.
8. I had to keep procrastinating on my 5 grad school applications, including the 10 or 11 essays. Ugh.
Okay, that's enough of that. I promise to have a real update tomorrow and will try to be updated by the end of the week!! After all, I have some exams to procrastinate studying for...
(Just kidding Mom and Dad).
1. I went to Paris. And then peed my pants about it a lot.
2. I went to Belfast. Not so much pants-peeing, but still really cool.
3. I had to write a 10-page paper.
4. I had to rest my brain after writing said paper.
5. I had to write an article for Molly.
6. I had a lot of online tv (i.e. Glee) to watch.
7. I am a horrible journal keeper and apparently blogs fall into that category. At least I'm consistent.
8. I had to keep procrastinating on my 5 grad school applications, including the 10 or 11 essays. Ugh.
Okay, that's enough of that. I promise to have a real update tomorrow and will try to be updated by the end of the week!! After all, I have some exams to procrastinate studying for...
(Just kidding Mom and Dad).
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