Vita brevis

Damn right, life is short.
So love your family, find your god, make great friends and learn as much as you can. Find one drink worth paying for, one sport worth screaming for, one cause worth dying for and one person worth living for.

That's my new life policy and I'm sticking to it. So far I've only fulfilled a couple of them though.
I'm risking getting overly personal on my blog here but oh well...

I love my family and I have great friends. I know my god knows me and logically I know I that I know him too but I can't help but question how deeply I believe that when I compare my rational, calm approach to faith to the zeal of some of my fellow students who go to mass every day. I mean really? If I really believe in God how come I don't feel that way about going to mass too?

As for the others - I know there's always more to learn and I'll do my best to never stop trying.
I'm still searching for the alcoholic equivalent of my little black dress and so far the closest is a very very dirty martini (cuz it tastes like eating olives - yay for being arab). Still not worth it though...

Sports - cricket, baseball and american football are too long. Football could work maybe (I did have to suppress a squeal when Manchester City scored against Man U today)...rugby looks promising.

Obviously haven't found a person (just in a romantic context ) worth dying for (in either the literal or Shakespearean meaning - sorry parents for that remark!!!!) or I'd be married already.

As for a cause...ummmm....... I would die for my family. I know that much..but it's not really a cause. Not democracy, emancipation, feminism, environmentalism.... MAYBE i'd be willing to die fighting for the right to an education...just maybe. Book burners beware! haha.

Anywayy...that was my deep reflection for the moment. Some day I will come back to this and see if I made any progress.

Okay so if you want to know what I've been up to for the past two days check this video out!

LOVE,
Ashley

Down time

The shock of living in Ireland has finally worn off.

Actually, it kind of all hit me in the face last night after talking to Toni-Marie & Nicolas and listening to Galway Girl ( my new favourite song -http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFlfSeh-Ts8 it makes me cry what I can only assume are happy tears but may in fact be something totally different).

Anyway so there I was, in my bed and I suddenly realised "Holy Shit, I'm LIVING in Ireland for 5 months!" This was accompanied by such a jolt of mixed fear, excitement and home-sickness that made me more or less nearly fall out of my bed. I did manage to quickly recover from that excess energy and get some sleep.
Today though, the feeling is a lot different. The loneliness is starting to set in and I'm getting really antsy. I can't focus and I just really want to see either family or some friends from school or home.
That being said though, I am MUCH better here than I am at ND. The Irish are so much more like Trinidadians than Americans are. As Patrick put it, "it must be an island thing."
I'm a lot less home sick, a lot less culture shocked and a hell of a lot less depressed.

I'm going to try to force myself to focus on something so I'll try to make some progress on my short story that isn't really a short story. I'll explain eventually but it is a genre all of it's own.

Of course you know I love you all and, as you can tell, I MISS YOU!

TO THE CASTLE!

Hiiii everyone! As you can tell I'm in a MARVELOUS mood. That's probably because I am full of tunnock's caramels and tea! Okay, I'm gonna break this thing up into section just so you have the slightest chance of keeping up with me when I go off on random tangents....
Also...managed to finally get fbook to let me upload some photos so here's the links to the two albums:
First few days: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=195678&l=1279c580a6&id=504857518
Howth: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=195692&id=504857518&l=07e2b7d45a

*FOOD*
I think I'm in a good mood cuz I have such good food in my tummy. lol. I made a delicious lunch and even yummier dinner *daydreams about yummy steak.* I really think I'm getting decent at this. I made dinner for 10 people the other day. Rice and Rosemary Chicken in Mushroom Sauce. No one is dead yet.
And while I'm on the theme of food... there's pizza at the O'Connell house this week. Hahah I never though I'd be this excited about free food but it saves so much time when you don't have to cook it yourself. Also...I LOVE pizza.

*ROOMMATES*
On a slightly related note (related because I cook in the kitchen and I hang out with my roommates in said kitchen) I realllly like my roommates. We all (well, most of us) get along really well and we actually just spent 5 hours sitting there talking. They're awesome girls and I'm really glad I got them. Deidre (from Penn State) has her brother making us door stoppers so we can leave our doors open (since they automatically close). This is mildly amazing as most of the other ND girls either don't talk to their non ND roommates or just exchange polite hellos. I am super lucky.

*HOWTH - HIKING, SEA LIONS AND FISH & CHIPS*

So I went to Howth (pron. - Hoath) on Saturday and we went hiking. We basically "made our own route" (which is code for we got lost). We were following paths and stuff but let's just say not all those paths ended up somewhere. We consequently did a fair share of path hopping and estimating what general direction we were facing. hahaha. The fog didn't help. Though we actually ended up climbing higher than the fog and emerged from the forest onto a rocky cliff in the sunlight. But we had no clue how high up we were/ where we were becaus enow that we were't surrounded by trees the fog was thick enough that we couldn't see past three feet down the cliff next to us. When the fog eventually lifted we discovered that the answer was A VERY LONG DROP.
Anyway, we eventually all agreed upon a path and made it back up another hill and down down down down dowwwwwwnnnn to the town again where we had fish and chips for lunch.
I have to say, I still don't like fish. You may find it queer that a person who lives on an island doesn't like fish but I really don't. I take everyone else's word that the fish was amazing but I'm still raving about the chips (yummmm vinegar) lol. I was tempted to feed my fish to the sea lions but I don't think deep fried food is good for them lol. BUT AHHHH SEA LIONS ARE SOOOO FREAKING COOL! THEY WERE JUST THERE CHILLING IN THE WATER! AHHHHH SOOOO COOOOL. lol.
Okay then we went for a hike along the cliffs. Which was awesome. I think we saw dolphins in the distance too....I'll let the pictures do the talking for that part. But it was spectacular despite the blistering cold.

Sometimes I even worry myself...

After just one week I must conclude that Dublin is putting me at risk of forming some incredibly maladaptive habits. The main concern being that I just spent my Wednesday night in a pub only to return to my room with a friend and pop a bottle of cider while making grilled cheese sandwiches. While that's no problem right now, because my weekend officially starts on Wednesday at 8, I really hope this doesn't become a habit.

On another note, Dublin has also made me fundamentally question what I want out of life. I was browsing the basement of a bookstore that was filled with classics for 3 or 4 euro each and I realised that there was a genuine concern that, should I live here, I might actually be at risk of simply buying dozens of these books, quitting my job and becoming a recluse.
From this I decided that my new (though admittedly impractical) goal in life is to be independently wealthy so that I can live in a cozy house and lock myself away for extended periods of time with a giant stack of books. Then, when I feel like it, I can invite all the great intellectuals of our time over for tea and discussions.
Finally, just for good measure, I will further increase my eccentricities by becoming a part-time nudist. How liberating!

Okay, now that you've all gotten over the shock (hopefully) of my last sentence (also, I think it's odd that "gotten" follows different grammatical rules in American and British English) I'm onto a new unrelated topic.
I am praying with all my might that my English professor recovers from his operation quickly and comes to teach us because I will punch myself if I made it all the way to Ireland and never got to meet Seamus Deane. He's often reffered to as "the smartest man in Ireland" and he probably is. He also stopped writing poetry when he was a young boy because he thought his best friend was the better poet. That best friend was SEAMUS HEANEY!!!!!! *squeals* And they're STILL best friends! *jumps up and down*
Anyway...I'm officially Seamus Deane's newest fan and I reallllly want to meet him. He's an expert on almost everything and there's not a single person who doesn't feel completely humbled in his presence. I AM SO EXCITED! Sadly, he missed class yesterday because he's 70 and just had an operation. :( I hope he comes out to work soon!!! :(

Angelus Novus

Hii! I know I haven’t updated anyone in a while so this post may address multiple completely unconnected topics! You have been warned.

Sunday was our ND Scavenger hunt around Dublin. My team came second out of 6 teams! We basically had to run around Dublin for 3 hours taking pictures of and collecting the most random things.

Some examples of the photos were:

“take a picture with a giraffe” - we took a pic with a giraffe puzzle. Points for creativity. “catch a shot of a person with a mullet” – we camera stalked a woman on O’Connell St.

“take a picture in a high visibility jacket (fluorescent yellow) – extra points for each worker in a vest who poses with you.” - DUBLIN CITY WORKERS RULE!

“A rabbi” – one group took a picture of Jesus. Hahaha

Some of the items were:

“A copy of Mein Kampf in German” – The Irish watch you very suspiciously if you ask.

“A two dollar bill” – Yeah we had it! Wohoo!

“A TESCO membership application” – we checked 2 of them. They had none L

Anyway…the point is. It was crazy but so so much fun and involved lots of asking random strangers to either take pictures of us or with us. My personal fav. was begging as many strangers as possible to get into a photo of the hags with the bags (5 points per stranger). The only way I can describe how fun it was is by stealing a phrase from the Irish so forgive me but…It was good craic.

Okay, new topic yeah?

FIRST DAY OF CLASSES!!!! Actually it was pretty stressful, not gonna lie. There were at least 5 separate incidents where I just wanted to sit somewhere and cry. BUT I made it through and I’m still alive and I’m actually pretty excited about them. They’ll be hard work (3000word papers!!!) but the topics and lecturers are all really interesting.

I’ll break from my norm of focusing on trivial things for a moment to just reflect on something that occurred to me in Prof. Whelan’s Irish history course today.

He said something to the effect of “the Gothic as a sensibility or a way of writing novels always revolves around unresolved tension between the past and present.” Now, add to that Wolfe Tone’s idea of turning away from “the Gorgon head of history” and focusing instead on the possibilities of the future. Finally, add Walter Benjamin’s interpretation of the Angelus Novus as modernity forcing the angel of history to turn from the past and look to the future (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angelus_Novus).

Noticing a theme? Anyway, with all that going on, how could I not string those three concepts together and apply them to other fields?

The tension between past and present inherent in Gothic literature is the same tension that forms the very core of Post-Colonial literature and theory. So much of Po-Co Theory revolves around exploring how the experience of colonisation takes away the voice of the colonised and a sort of “writing back” to the colonisers. The problem is, or at least my problem with Po-Co Lit THEORY, is that all the focus is placed on the past instead of the future. It is no longer the case of “The Empire Writes Back,” Post-Colonial writers don’t expect the former colonisers to read their works. They write for themselves and their own people. If all we theorists do is focus on the past-present tension we completely disregard the future and, in so doing, we fail to prevent so much more. While the colonial experience is no longer the same it is still in existence (I don’t need to list examples of neo-colonialism and economic imperialism) and the academic community, turned to stone facing Tone’s “Gorgon head of history,” has failed completely because they have allowed these modern forms of colonisation to go unchecked.

I will not have my point here turned into petty arguments about examples of modern-colonisation and, as such, I have refrained from listing any examples but I’m sure you can all think up at least one example for yourself. Got one? Good.

NOW, ask yourself where the “intellectuals” were when they could have been speaking out against these things from the very start.

Chances are they were staring at a blackboard covered in words like “slavery” “indentured labourship” “encomienda” “independence” “revolution” and “Uhuru.”

Stag's Head

Hiii everyone! Just a quick update from the land of Guinness and (thankfully) chocolate digestives!

I have to say that Trinidadians are way closer to the Irish than we are to Americans. We're both a lot more...relaxed. Also, we arrive 10mins late for everything.

I would type more tonight but I'm exhausted and have to be up early so instead I'm posting a video to summarise my night...I highly recommend watching it!

I guess the only other interesting thing I can really say is that I have (so far) no Friday courses. Hopefully that won't change tomorrow but you never know.

Oh ALSO, I've concluded that videos are the lazy person's substitute for actual blogging because seriously it's SO much easier to ramble on in a video than it is to type this all out. I think it's because when people take the effort to read what you're saying they expect more from you. Doing a video means you're put on the spot so people go a little easier on you. Plus it takes them less effort to process it.

What windy city?

Well whoever nicknamed Chicago the Windy City was either retarded or had never been to Dublin. The wind here feels like it could quite literally blow Chicago away. Thank Heaven for hot tea and digestives and the O'Connell house!

Also, before I forget - I really want to point out how odd it feels to eat pizza in the former home of "The Liberator" or to see that a brokerage has set up shop in the former residence of W.B. Yeats.
I suppose they can't really retire all these buildings though or half of Dublin would be museums! I swear these homes of famous people just pop up everywhere!

Speaking of O'Connell....We took a trek down O'Connell street where we had a great view of The Stiletto in the Ghetto (actually called the Spire of Dublin) and featured in the picture here.




The Irish have some truly creative names for their statues...a lot like ND really. I think my three favourites are as follows:

Two Women or "That Hags with the Bags" - http://www.awaycity.com/wiki/images/thumb/f/fe/Statue_meeting_place.jpg/400px-Statue_meeting_place.jpg - TM this one should be very familiar to you. Haha.

Molly Malone or "The Tart with the Cart" - http://photos.igougo.com/images/p408202-Dublin-Molly_Malone_Statue.jpg

And the very BEST -
Oscar Wilde or "The Fag on the Crag" or "The Queer with the Leer" - http://conodonoghue.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/DublinB074-copy.jpg


Okay...it's now 2am and I have the Irish equivalent of an "early start" tomorrow (10am).

Looking forward to a full day of orientation and free food but missing each and every one of you.
Still.... missing you is worth the trade for the private bathroom! Haha!

Backdating

Hi everyone! So I'm backdating this post a bit to address my very first day here.
I think this world places too much emphasis on documentation and immigration laws etc. etc. because I genuinely spent the whole last 2 hours of the flight to Dublin freaking out that I might not have all the forms I needed and that I'd be sent back. I couldn't even feel excited!!!
Luckily however, I made it through immigration in one piece and made it all the way to the O'Connell House for Orientation.

By 7pm I reached my physical and emotional limit (did I mention it was there was sleet?!) and it's a darn good thing mom and dad didn't answer their phones or I'd have burst into to tears. Anyway....I forged on ahead and somehow managed to unpack everything and my room looks lovely.

Also...how amazing is it to have your own bathroom!?!?!?!?! I don't think I'll ever be able to get married now because I'm enjoying making all the decisions about what goes where WAYYYY too much.

Of course Dublin is great but I still miss you all! *many hugs*