Hurleys and Sliotars

After seven days here in Baile Átha Cliath (Dublin's Irish name - I'll get back to you on the pronunciation...), I finally got my first taste of Irish rain. Irish rain is basically the same as American rain, from what I gather, except that in the Midwest, it will rain hard for an hour then clear up, while over here, it's been overcast and lightly raining on and off ever 20 minutes since I woke up this morning at 10:15 (for all you Central-Time-ers, that's 4:15 in the morning, so I've been up way longer than you). Appropriately, it was also the day of our open-top bus tour of the city center. Made it more exciting I think, especially when we ran up against the wet tree tops.


I learned a little gem of trivia this week in my Semester Startup Program. The link below is a picture of the inside of the Old Library at Trinity College (where they house the Book of Kells):
http://ireland.archiseek.com/news/2002/000238/longroom.jpg
Look familiar? This room also appeared (slightly altered) in a movie that came out in 2002. Give up? Now look at the two side-by-side and see if you recognize it:
http://librarianinblack.net/librarianinblack/wp-content/uploads/TypePadFiles/2libraries.JPG
Thanks to all of you for indulging my nerdy side for 30 seconds there. I thought it was kind of cool to be going to school next to the Jedi Temple from Star Wars.


Now that I'm finally starting to get the hang of looking to the RIGHT whenever I cross the street (I've had a few near misses - people drive fast here), I've been enjoying my walks to class every morning. I can't really say the same for my feet. Yesterday, I walked 35 minutes to Trinity, then our SSP group walked 45 minutes to the GAA (Gaelic Atheltic Association) museum, 30 minute walking tour, walked back to a bus stop (thank goodness) 10 minutes away, got off, walked 10 minutes and stopped at a pub for lunch, then walked 25 minutes to the Guinness Storehouse, 45-min walking tour, then walked back home (45 minutes). By the time I got back at 8:00, I had basically been walking since 10:30 that morning. Needless to say, people walk a lot in Dublin. That and the fact that we're all super cheap and didn't want to fork up the euro sixty for the bus.


I finally uploaded some photos - they're on facebook now (http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2059313&id=1304250202&l=f1da465f6c for those of you without facebook). It's mostly scenery/buildings/etc. but there is one of me and a giant leprechaun that I thought you would appreciate, Emily, since you told me to find one - I already have, and it's only the seventh day. He even had a pot of gold.


I hope all of you will tune in to the All-Ireland Hurling finals tomorrow at 3:30 (that's 9:30 in the morning in Missouri). For those of you who are unfamiliar, hurling is like a cross between lacrosse, baseball, and rugby, where players carry wooden sticks called "hurleys" and whack each other while trying to hit a ball called a "sliotar." I plan on joining the rest of the country in one of Dublin's many pubs to watch it on the big screen amongst a crowd of screaming locals. Should be exciting. Cheers!