Another (Belated) Photo-Essay

Last Wednesday-- ie, over a week ago-- the ERASMUS students did a bit of light hiking on Cavehill, one of the hills at the edge of the city. The weather was perfect; clear and sunny and not too cold.

This is what I saw when we broke through the trees.

We had a great view of the city...

A closeup of one of the natural caves.

And back again to the city...

Looking down at the rest of the group from the base of the cliffs.

A Friendly Face

Well, after my first (and only) class of the day, I spent about an hour and 20 minutes outside. Why, you might ask? As I was going down the college steps, I saw a little ginger tomcat limping down the sidewalk and crying, so of course I had to kneel and see if he was ok. He was quite friendly, though I didn't manage to examine his front paw, which seemed swollen-- he wouldn't walk on it.

It had been drizzling on and off all morning so I spread my coat on the top step to sit down and continue to pet him. Then I ended up moving down a step, and he curled up on my coat. I figured he needed a rest, and so I just sat outside until he was ready to leave. He scampered off at a pretty good pace-- I think it's possible that the paw was an old wound, like a broken bone, that didn't heal properly. Also, he looked quiet well cared-for and well-fed, so I'm not too worried.

It was a bit chilly, but on the bright side, I did finish my book.

Important: Different Postcode

My address is:

28 Nansen St.
Belfast
Northern Ireland
BT12 6AT

Out & About

All of the ERASMUS (foreign students from the rest of Europe plus us) students went out often to get to know each other. That's Dominik behind me, a student from Germany who also studied here last semester.

I took a walk into the city, all the way up to Queen's University and back, with Katrijn, Lotte, and Jereon (all from Belgium). The building behind them is the Falls Road Fitness Center.

We turned off Falls Road to get to a slightly different side of the city and encountered this famous mural. The UFF was a Protestant paramilitary group. The red fist is their symbol, an adaptation of the red hand of Ulster. What's confusing is that both (or all) 'sides' in Northern Ireland use the flag of Ulster.

I love this view of the city... to the left are the spires of St. Peter's Cathedral. To the right is a building that the IRA once used as a watchtower. At the horizon is one of the beautiful rolling hills that I see every time I'm at a point where I can see past the houses or down a street.

This is Jereon, drinking hot chocolate.

Finally, some pictures!

Leaving the Dublin City Airport, on the bus to Belfast

My room, before I got anything unpacked or the bed made.

The front entrance of St. Mary's. It's just one large building and actually quite easy to get lost in.

It started snowing the evening after we arrived-- here's the front of our apartment.

Belfast wasn't very prepared for snow... this is Nansen St. (our place is about halfway down) in the afternoon.

Busy Day...

Well, my horoscope was pretty accurate. Today was busy!

St. Mary's has a very... shall I say... relaxed way of organizing classes. It seems to work, but I didn't know the full schedule of all the offered courses until 2pm and I got to the college at 9! I did go to two classes today; two sessions each with a break for lunch.

Oh well. I must go contemplate that schedule now...

Backdated posting...

Well here I am, writing this blog entry for later posting, taking a break from unpacking and sitting on my somewhat squisy mattress and listening to David Bowie on my thankfully un-fried computer. My bedroom is one of the smaller ones, but really I got first pick and I like it the best. It'll be easier to keep warm, after all. It is purple, with a big painting (doesn't match the purple) over the bed and lots of drawers. There were some hangers left behind in the closet-- perfect-- and I have a nice mirror. On the downside, most of the sheets were dirty and had to be washed, so they're currently drying. But for tonight, I have an airline blanket, my own pillowcases, and a comforter that seems to be relatively clean.

Travelling went smoothly, and upon arriving at the Jury's Hotel in Belfast, we called the St. Mary's people and they sent someone to pick us up. Then we were served some tea and cookies and got a tour of most of the college building, some introductory packets, and got to call our parents. Then we were dropped off at the closest shopping center and told how to walk back (it's very close to our apartment) along with another American girl from Iowa who lives one street up. Friday morning we have an orientation session, and have to find the store to load up our gas and electric cards (it's a strange thing... but good because we can keep track of our utilities). Our landlord explained everything, and was cleaning the apartment when we arrived. He seems very nice and helpful-- he's certainly used to exchange students staying and Briege (the international office secretary lady) also knows him.

I feel so totally jet-lagged that my body hasn't been telling me it's afternoon when it's really evening here. Hopefully I should adjust more easily to the time zone this way. Either way, I am sure that I will sleep well tonight.

Update: Am posting this from the Uni computer lab... the keyboard is a little funky. Slept well and warmly, fiddled with the heat some more, and had a nice hot shower (though little water pressure and chilly bathroom) etc. One of the Millersville students who studied here last year is visiting and we talked with him last night and got some advice (like how to turn the power on for the stove!) There's also an electric kettle, so I boiled up a pot of water for my tea this morning! Surprisingly I didn't have too much trouble getting up... I seem to want to eat light meals more often than normal but that's ok. I think my sleep schedule will work itself out just fine.

We got to meet some (most) of the other Erasmus students who are here already-- about 10 of us-- at a very nearby bar last night. We also chatted this morning over tea in the staff room while Paul and etc. were setting up the presentation.

Oh! I almost forgot-- it snowed last night! We got 2-3 inches, probably, and it's a bit heavy now but was light and fluffy last night. Belfast is so not used to snow... the roads were not cleared at all! --which is why the international office people were running a bit late. St. Mary's is literally a two minute walk from our apartment (which, I hear, is one of the nicer ones) and I had no trouble getting around. The closest shopping center is about a 5 minute walk or less.

We had an orientation session today, just a little talk really, and will be discussing courses a bit more today. On Monday we should have a tentative schedule worked out. Yay!

We're going to try to get in touch with the landlord (his name is Fiontin but it sounds like Fenton... he left his number but we don't have phones yet) about the circuits in our room, which seem to have been tripped. I couldn't find a circuit box last night so it's probably in some weird place.

I guess I'm more in a euphoric/excited stage of culture shock at the moment...? But it probably hasn't really sunk in yet that I'm in a totally different place. Once I get over jet lag, maybe. The people are fun though :)

I do get sporadic wireless in my apartment (courtesy of someone in the neighborhood...) but until our upstairs circuits are fixed I will probably be saving my laptop battery until Sat. or Mon. when I can take it here with me and charge it in the computer lab. I think I saw some free plugs somewhere...

Anyway, pictures will come later.

Time for a New Year

Happy New Year, everyone! I fly out tomorrow at8:40pm from JFK airport in New York City. We're scheduled to arrive in Dublin at 8:10am, local time (3am our time...) and after resting for a bit we'll take the Aircoach into Belfast.

As far as I know, this is my address:

28 Nansen St.
Belfast
Northern Ireland
BT12 6FE

If there is an apartment number, of course I will let everyone know.

Being a spell to fly:

Upon 40 days of Prayre and Fasting, with purest faith and calling unto the Gods…

~ Clasp near thy rod of power (a.k.a., a telephone)

~ Call forth for ye Spirits of Travelle and theire nefarious Agents

~ Yea, state and visualize thy destination –thrice, for the Agents of Travelle to Comprehend thee…

~ Yea, Task them and overcome them in Ye Test of Wills

~ Speake the words of power: ‘Visa,’ ‘MasterCard,’ ‘Amex’

~ Two weeks hence, take ye under the New Moon to Clearing of the Travel

~ Present Thyself in Trembling and Loathing to the Guardians of the Towers of the North, East, South, and West and Present to them the holy scroll of the High Priestess: ‘Ticket’

~ Pass ye surely through the Elemental Detector and its “Ever Alert” guardians of Thy safety (but not Thy Rights)

~ Wait until the Stars show, the wind blows and the new grass grows

~ When your Gryphon of Metal arriveth (and, ha, craven fool, it arriveth not when ye expect but only upon the winged beast’s good and fickle pleasure), board it and fly away.

Introspective

I can't believe it's almost time to leave...

My List*

In no particular order:

- read lots of books! I've got about 8 that I bought over the summer or picked up at the library book sale in October, and didn't have time to read yet...
- get some banking stuff and some legal stuff done with my mom before Christmas
- sleep in (I've got a good start on this one)
- play with the cats and give them lots of cuddles (likewise)
- bake and cook some things!
- unpack (the mess is driving my mom crazy)



*may be added to later :)

Home

There's an lolcat for every occasion. Or, in this case, an lolmouse.

p.s.- Shameless self-promotion, even though it'll come to nothing... vote for me! Yay!

Yay!

I can't believe I'm almost done! I just can't wait to get home :D

Oh, Bunny...

bunny!

*Giggle*

This is probably an oldie, but it's a good one...

Here It Comes...

Fall 2007 Finals Schedule

Eastern Europe	December 11: take-home essay due	12:30-2:30pm
Food and Culture	December 11: take-home essay due	2:45-4:45pm
Lit Analysis	December 12: exam	2:45-4:45pm
Old English	December 12: exam	6:00-9:00pm
Art History	December 14: exam	8-10am

And then, right after my Art History final, I pack up and head home!

How Well They Guess At My Character

I just have to laugh at my horoscope sometimes...

Scorpio

October 23 - November 21

If you find yourself tired and irritable at the moment, dear Scorpio, you should know that this is normal. You may have had a few months that were a little too studious. Would you like to continue on with the same rhythm? Be careful that your ambitions don't lead you to serious physical exhaustion. If you become sick, you will be even more frustrated. So, be wise and take care of your own basic needs.

Surely I'm not This Competitive?

toothpastefordinner

Made of Win

Earlier in the year, my roommate and I had decorated our door with a CSI theme. Now that it's close to the holiday season, I added some colorful snowflakes. Now it's rather morbidly cheerful!

I particularly like this purple snowflake, so here's a closeup shot. No pun intended ;)

...and my British-points gold stars!

Flee

"Crawl to your Mother Earth. She will save you from the void."

My Horoscope

"...Strange and unsettling dreams might plague your sleep tonight, but don't get too agitated. They are not prophetic in any way. The symbols probably represent nothing more than psychic detritus released through sleep."

I shudder to think what psychic detritus will have be released tonight.

Updating

Silly blog won't let me upload pictures anymore :(

Food

Thanksgiving food blog entry coming soon. That is, when I get back to Uni on Sunday and am taking a break from frantically researching and simultaneously writing a 10-page paper on pagan influences on Old English homilies. It sounded interesting at the time, I swear.

Thanksgiving

"I celebrated Thanksgiving in an old-fashioned way. I invited everyone in my neighborhood to my house, we had an enormous feast, and then I killed them and took their land."
~Jon Stewart, The Daily Show

Nevertheless, I will be glad for the break. Plus, I'll be celebrating Thanksgiving in a very non-traditional, vegetarian way, and thus I will subvert the existing oppressive idealogical superstructure. Yay!

Did you understand what that meant?

This is Bad News.

PA bars hormone-free milk labels

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania is stopping dairies from stamping milk containers with hormone-free labels in a precedent-setting decision being closely watched by the industry.

Synthetic hormones have been used to improve milk production in cows for more than a decade. The chemical has not been detected in milk, so there is no way to test for its use, but a growing number of retailers have been selling and promoting hormone-free products in response to consumer demand.

State Agriculture Secretary Dennis C. Wolff said advertising one brand of milk as free from artificial hormones implies that competitors' milk is not safe, and it often comes with what he said is an unjustified higher price.

"It's kind of like a nuclear arms race," Wolff said. "One dairy does it and the next tries to outdo them. It's absolutely crazy."

Agricultural regulators in New Jersey and Ohio are considering following suit, the latest battle in a long-standing dispute over whether injecting cows with bovine growth hormone affects milk.

Effective Jan. 1, dairies selling milk in Pennsylvania, the nation's fifth-largest dairy state, will be banned from advertising that their product comes from cows that have never been treated with rBST, or recombinant bovine somatotropin.

The product, sold by St. Louis-based Monsanto Co. under the brand name Posilac, is the country's largest-selling dairy pharmaceutical. It is also known as recombinant bovine growth hormone, or rBGH.

It has been approved for use in the U.S. since 1994, although safety concerns have spurred an increase in rBST-free product sales. The hormone is banned in the European Union, Canada, Australia and Japan, largely out of concern that it may be harmful to herd health.

Monsanto spokesman Michael Doane said the hormone-free label "implies to consumers, who may or may not be informed on these issues, that there's a health-and-safety difference between these two milks, that there's 'good' milk and 'bad' milk, and we know that's not the case."

Rick North of the Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility, a leading critic of the artificial growth hormone, said the Pennsylvania rules amounted to censorship.

"This is a clear example of Monsanto's influence," he said. "They're getting clobbered in the marketplace by consumers everywhere wanting rBGH-free products."

Acting on a recommendation of an advisory panel, the Pennsylvania Agriculture Department has notified 16 dairies in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts that their labels were false or misleading and had to be changed by the end of December.

"There's absolutely no way to certify whether the milk is from cattle treated or not treated" with rBST, Wolff said. "Some of the dairies that have enforced this, it's absolutely the honor system."

Rutter's Dairy Inc., a central Pennsylvania company that sells about 300,000 gallons a week, began promoting its milk as free of artificial hormones this summer. It has fired back at the state decision with full-page newspaper ads and a lobbying campaign. It is also urging customers to protest.

"We just think the consumers are more keenly aware in today's world about where their food comes from and how their food is manufactured or handled," said Rutter's President Todd Rutter.

Rutter's sells its milk at the state's minimum price, but a national spot check of prices by the American Farm Bureau last month found "rBST-free" milk typically costs about 25% more.

Jasmine

Still off wandering the neighborhood somewhere... hopefully.

Sure, she looks like a badass

But she's really a sweetie.

Tomorrow...

This photo-essay has been brought to you by lolcats.

Geography 101

You gotta love US foreign policy...

Romance Sonambulo

My current poetic obsession <3

Green, how I want you green. Green wind. Green branches. The ship out on the sea and the horse on the mountain. With the shade around her waist she dreams on her balcony, green flesh, her hair green, with eyes of cold silver. Green, how I want you green. Under the gypsy moon, all things are watching her and she cannot see them. Green, how I want you green. Big hoarfrost stars come with the fish of shadow that opens the road of dawn. The fig tree rubs its wind with the sandpaper of its branches, and the forest, cunning cat, bristles its brittle fibers. But who will come? And from where? She is still on her balcony green flesh, her hair green, dreaming in the bitter sea. --My friend, I want to trade my horse for her house, my saddle for her mirror, my knife for her blanket. My friend, I come bleeding from the gates of Cabra. --If it were possible, my boy, I'd help you fix that trade. But now I am not I, nor is my house now my house. --My friend, I want to die decently in my bed. Of iron, if that's possible, with blankets of fine chambray. Don't you see the wound I have from my chest up to my throat? --Your white shirt has grown thirsy dark brown roses. Your blood oozes and flees a round the corners of your sash. But now I am not I, nor is my house now my house. --Let me climb up, at least, up to the high balconies; Let me climb up! Let me, up to the green balconies. Railings of the moon through which the water rumbles. Now the two friends climb up, up to the high balconies. Leaving a trail of blood. Leaving a trail of teardrops. Tin bell vines were trembling on the roofs. A thousand crystal tambourines struck at the dawn light. Green, how I want you green, green wind, green branches. The two friends climbed up. The stiff wind left in their mouths, a strange taste of bile, of mint, and of basil My friend, where is she--tell me-- where is your bitter girl? How many times she waited for you! How many times would she wait for you, cool face, black hair, on this green balcony! Over the mouth of the cistern the gypsy girl was swinging, green flesh, her hair green, with eyes of cold silver. An icicle of moon holds her up above the water. The night became intimate like a little plaza. Drunken "Guardias Civiles" were pounding on the door. Green, how I want you green. Green wind. Green branches. The ship out on the sea. And the horse on the mountain. Federico García Lorca

The Carceral

If you haven't yet heard of The Stanford Prison Experiment, I recommend watching this video.

"They were taught the art of power relations."
~Foucault

Happy Pumpkin Day

I know, this picture's got to be 4 years old by now... Bink's quite a bit larger now ;)
However, I love it. Happy Halloween!

I'm in a Wicked Mood

Finding pictures of guys in corsets: three minutes with google.

Breaking Jason's mind: priceless.

Happy Anniversary!

lolcats.com, of course.

Hair be Philosophers

Van Halen lyrics are oddly deep.

Homework + Me =

(I saw this little guy as I was in the midst of crossing a small creek while on a nature walk with my mother, and balanced on some wet, slippery rocks to get the shot. Enjoy.)

Makes me Smile

This comic always makes me smile. Enjoy...

Devotion of a kind

He does not peer with censorious eyes at
My soul.
Animals are like that,
Too.
Shaking a wet hand over
Kitty
Earns me a hurtful look and
No satisfaction.
Later, she’ll bump my leg
And purr.

Criminal

I've been a bad, bad girl
I've been careless with a delicate man
And it's a sad, sad world
when a girl will break a boy
just because she can

Don't you tell me to deny it
I've done wrong and I want to
suffer for my sins
I've come to you cause I need
guidance to be true
and I just don't know where I can begin

What I need is a good defense
cause I'm feelin' like a criminal
And I need to be redeemed
to the one I've sinned against
cause he's all I ever knew of love

Heaven help me for the way I am
Save me from these evil deeds
before I get them done
I know tomorrow brings the consequence at hand
but I keep livin' this day
like the next will never come...

~Fiona Apple

One More Week...

I miss my kitties so much!

The zombies are coming! The zombies are coming!

OMG ZOMBIES!!!

More Birdies!

Apparently, there's just a whole huge flock of goldfinches that like to hang around campus :)

And now for something completely different.

You get bonus geeky English major points if you catch the reference to a certain other poem ;)

JARRING NEWS

The price of pots in Athens!
It really made me burn
when the potter told me just how much
I owed on a Grecian urn.

-JACK LITTLE

Bloody Hand

by Cieran Carson, 1989

Your man, says the Man, will walk into the bar like this — here his
fingers
Mimic a pair of legs, one stiff at the knee — so you'll know exactly
What to do. He sticks a finger to his head. Pretend its child's
play —
The hand might be a horse's mouth, a rabbit or a dog. Five
handclaps.
Walls have ears: the shadows you throw are the shadows you
try to throw off.

I snuffed out the candle between finger and thumb. Was it the
left hand
Hacked off at the wrist and thrown to the shores of Ulster?
Did Ulster
Exist? Or the Right Hand of God, saying Stop to this and No
to that?
My thumb is the hammer of a gun. The thumb goes up. The
thumb goes down.

The Onion makes me smile

Scientists Isolate Area Of Brain That Doesn't Like Poking

Tempus Fugit

Man, I haven't written here in forever...

What can I say? The Snapper has stolen my soul once again.

Nature II

On my way to dinner, I saw a little baby birdie sitting in a shrubbery!

...so I took a lot of pictures.

...and then I saw a bunny.

Nature

Closet 2.0

My mother kindly dropped off the shelving I used last year to store food, dishes, etc, and I finally got it set up! I feel so much more organized now.