Bollocks!

There’s no real reason for the title of this blog post, other than that I heard someone bellow it on campus today and didn’t think I could use it in any form of normal conversation without it sounding more like “I’m REALLY American!” My blog is probably the only safe place to practice my European euphemisms. Oh, Bollocks.

ANYWAY.

This weekend we took a short day trip to Howth – a fisherman’s town just North of Dublin. It’s a very cute, picturesque town right on the coast that has cliff walks and cute little shops and restaurants. We weren’t able to do a full cliff walk because we had gotten there later in the afternoon and the short days means dark falls at about 4:30 (or “half four”, as they would say here). We were fortunate enough, however to catch the farmer’s market which had all sorts of fruits, veggies, breads, desserts, and international cuisines. I got a loaf of sundried tomato, cheese and pepper artisan bread that I could cry over and nearly devoured that same day.

Side note: I’m sure you’re familiar with the expression “You say tomAYto, I say tomAHto”. Well, I never thought anyone actually said tomAHto until I got here. It was a trip, hearing it for the first time. And every time after that, for that matter.

Howth, being a coastal town, was as cold as it was beautiful. Unfortunately, this means I don’t have quite as many pictures as I would have liked. The warm insides of my pockets won out over exposing my hands to the bitter cold for a photograph. But, you can very quickly enjoy Howth here!

I’ve had a request to blog about the classes I’m taking here at Trinity (shout out to Grammy!). So here’s a run-down of what I’ve got going:

Art in Ireland: The Making and Meaning – This class is interesting because I get to learn about all sorts of Irish Art and Architecture. Basically, I get to glance at a few pretty pictures on a power point in between furiously writing everything my professor is blathering at a speed that would give an auctioneer a run for his money. I’m not sure the woman even breathes. But we do get to go on two field trips in Dublin to see art, so I’m excited about that! I’m packing lunchables!

Gender, Culture, and Society – This is probably my favorite class. We talk about all sorts of topics relating to pop culture, subcultures, and how femininity/masculinity play a role. My professor always starts class with a cool video of someone like Jimmy Hendrix or The Who and manages to make ingenious connections to the material. We once spent an entire seminar talking about marijuana and alcohol. Ah, the life of a social science major. (Don’t worry Mom and Dad, my future will be just fine!)

Globalization and Development – Where I’m learning all about white people who think they’re helping people in impoverished third world and agricultural countries, but really all they’re doing is imposing ostentatious western ideals on people without trying to understand their culture or even understand their true needs. You know what they say about the road to hell …

European Societies – Where I’m learning an awful lot about America. Yep. It’s no wonder all the people here know more about the US than I do, they talk about it constantly! I never realized that America has set this huge standard of measurement for all other societies. Granted, this might be subject to the slight of my professor for this particular class. Nonetheless, Americans don’t even talk about themselves as much as the Europeans do. But this is also a really interesting class!

Social Theory and Inequality – Where I’m learning about all the different injustices we all suffer every single day of our lives. Basically, the gist of this class is: nothing is fair, and there’s nothing we can do about it. It’s really uplifting!

Race, Ethnicity, and Identity – My professor talks about different races and ethnic identification while power shifting through his very text heavy slides as I sit in the back and copy down a word or two every once in a while. But when I can string a sentence together it’s pretty interesting!

Truthfully, I’m making it sound worse than it actually is. Every single one of my classes is extremely interesting, even if the material isn’t always the most lighthearted. And although some of my professors teach as though they’re stuck on fast forward, it’s nothing I can’t handle. The scary part is that for all of my classes the final exam counts for 90% of my grade. Yowza. But I’m sure there will be plenty of time to study while I’m traversing through Europe this spring. I’ll have a lot of time on the train, right? (REALLY Mom and Dad, EVERYTHING is under control!)

This weekend we’re going on a trip to Northern Ireland through our IFSA-Butler program. We’ll be staying in Belfast and visiting Giant’s Causway, Dunluce Castle, and Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge which are all supposed to be really awesome! This time I’ll make sure my camera battery doesn’t die on me in an absolutely crucial and life changing moment. Bollocks!

Until next time!