auf wiedersehen

4am = berlin time.

now = listening to ipod and packing when i get home



talk to you post-germany

violin soundtracks and techno beats

Julien vs. Cow



Julie vs. Olga



Harris becomes treeman, also, headless.



Harris and Drew



Noah and Drew



Harris, sprouting.

p.s.

i'm so jealous of thane and harris going to france
there's so many places i want to go, i feel like i should go all new places

but i want to go back to paris sooooo badly
and it'd be nice because i know the area around republique really well....

ahh, we'll see i guess

poland
italy
prague
vienna
finland

...parissss

Je Veux Te Voir (Club-Club Version)

apparently Dan found some punk hang out place in Berlin called White Trash somethin somethin, I forget but tomorrow night they're having an indie dance party and it's 1 euro i think to get in.... we better go haha.

i've been trying to upload more photos from the weekend but it's having trouble uploading, so i'll try in a bit

Je ne te connais pas

On friday I went up to Heidi's farm with Laura, Angel and Martina. The lambs were so cute! Angel Laura and I each picked one up to bring it over to where we were shooting and the one I picked didn't squirm like the others so I chose that one to hold and it sat still for me for about 2 hours, in the barn and then I carried it out to the field in the back so we could get all the grown sheep to stand around me (thank you, food, for tempting them thus) and took more photos. I really loved my little lamb and we were joking about naming it after me but it turned out it was a boy so Laura said they'd have to name it Emily the Boy. Heh. One of the calves in the barn licked my hand for a bit and I took some videos of all the baby animals. Really cute.



After we were done, Martina drove me home and I pet her dogs (in the back seat). I reallllly love her one dog, I forget its name, but I want this breed of dog now. It is SOOO huge and sweet and apparently hers is actually small for an Alaskan Malamute. So, after Berlin, hopefully I can find a ballgown type thing in a thrift store because we are going to re-pose me like the photos we took out in the field and reshoot so she can combine the photos so it looks like I am out with the sheep in a ballgown.






After I got home, Olga wanted to take Julien out behind the fairy forest and show him the Burren so I went with them and we explored out there for a good bit. It was really fun, and nice to be showing someone around. We got back to the house a few hours later and watched the British version of The Weakest Link while eating (and choking on) popcorn. I went out to the Petrol station for brioche with Harris but he disappeared and I walked with Beki and Amber back to the house talking about fur hats from Russia. After I ate dinner the house phone rang and it was Harris who apparently was going to Connolly house or to Orchard to watch Juno but I told him we were going to end up at New Hotel. Then we got dressed up and went out to Greenes and Julien bought a round. We made art with the coasters and Julien preformed all of his regional irish accents for us. (I'll have to videotape it next time). I texted Robert and invited him out but, we would find out monday, apparently he had already had a pint or two somewhere else, so didn't want to drive. We walked to New Hotel while Julien picked us daffodils and when we got there it was someone's 40th birthday party, but it wasn't an exclusive thing luckily. Olga and I hung out with Julien which was really fun and then (small world) these two people he had gone to grade school with and used to be in a band with were there, so there was a lot of excitement about that. A lot of people ended up showing up. Harris and Drew got back from Connolly's and apparently Harris rode on drew's handlebars the whole way haha. Rex showed up and Julien and Harris gave him tons of attention. A band started playing and we had a huge sing-a-long to Ring of Fire, Hit the Road Jack & Great Balls of Fire, among others haha. H left not too long after, as he'd had a long night already. Olga and Julien left because he was leaving early in the morning. Noah called me over and we slow danced with all these cute old ladies haha. I danced with Drew for a bit when the music picked up again but after 5 or 6 songs my side started hurting haha so I went and got a guinness and Drew stole my phone and started sending drunk texts to Harris and I felt bad because it was really late. Eventually I left with Noah and Drew and somehow (those of you who know me really well are going to be so shocked) Drew talked me into sitting on his handlebars and letting him bike me home. So yeah, I got home really quickly haha but the whole time I was saying "Drew, you don't know how terrified I am right now, okay, my eyes are closed, don't crash haha". But it was fun like, and we didn't die, so that's an experience worth writing about haha.








Saturday morning we woke up to go on an Irish Studies field trip at 10am. We went to Loch Rae (i think?) to look at stained glass in a cathedral. We went to the ATM down the street while we waited for mass to be over and then Olga and I ducked into this fresh produce store and got blueberries and cherries and fresh basil and chives. We went into a cafe next door and had coffee and then went to the church, looked around, and ate cherries. We got back on the bus and went to Coole Park which is Lady Gregory's estate. It was pretty amazing. Harris gradually turned himself into a tree being haha and Gordon told him he was the epitome of some irish fairy tale, I forget exactly the guy's name but I'll figure it out. Drew found a disney scooter with words chipped off so all it said was "the pooh" haha. it was missing a wheel so he cracked part of the plastic off and put the one wheel in the center so it worked well. It was a really fun walk around.

We got back into town and Olga and I made mashed potatoes with wild garlic we'd picked and the chives and a salad with the fresh basil. I donated my potatoes and dishwashing skills in return for her cooking me dinner. Harris asked what the occasion was, but there really wasn't one, we just felt like it. Tyler and Beki came over and Harris came over after a while and we went and worked on time arts projects and then he left to go pack for Paris and I took a shower - a really bad one. Since Shelby & my shower is broken, we are using Lena & Olga's and it was either scalding hot or freezing cold and then the water just stopped and I just stared at it incredulously and just as i was about to step out and dry off the soap it came back on. Weird. I borrowed Lena's hairdryer and then straightened my hair and went to blue door, realizing as i went that it was strongly misting and i should have worn a coat with a hood. By the time we got to New Hotel I was soaked and John, the manager, was standing out in the foyer smoking and said "You're a very brave woman to walk all the way here without anything on your head, want to go inside and dry off? Haha." I just said thanks and went into the bathroom and saw how soaking wet I was (shouldn't have bothered drying/straightening) but it looked good enough. Harris Noah and I were the only ones there at that time besides some couple, I forget where they were from, not Ballyvaughan, but I think their names were Paul and Mary, I should have asked where Peter was. Ohhhh. heh. They were really nice and we had a long talk with them about politics and art etc. Annie, Annie's brother, Katrina, Josh and Max showed up and Annie's brother got in the conversation about politics which was not good haha. Especially sitting at a table of Obama supporters, tensions rose easily, although that wasn't the kicker, as he was just for Hillary, but then we started talking about Kosovo because Javid (spelling?) was working (and obviously Matt/Muhammad we made friends with) so the subject of Kosovian independence came up and how Serbia was already trying to invade them to regain land and they didn't want to let them have their own country and how outrageous it was and Annie's brother started going on about how the people of Kosovo were as much to blame in the Serbian conflict (although they were the ones being ethnically cleansed...) and how we shouldn't support their independence because would we support any country breaking away? It just got really frustrating and Harris ended up leaving (he also had to go finish packing). I stayed and talked to Paul and Mary for a good while and then walked home with Noah.

When we got back Harris was ironing and I had a cup of tea. We watched this really strange movie with Ryan Reynolds in it where he was on house arrest and then number 9 kept coming up and all these alternate universe/stories with the same group of actors kept occurring. It was pretty bizarre. Hold on, I'm going to go look on imdb and see if i can figure out what it was... Oh. Heh. "The Nines". Well, that would make sense now wouldn't it. I love Ryan Reynolds. Anyway, went to sleep.

I forgot to mention that friday night Drew drunkenly promised to cook me breakfast sunday morning, so I held him to it. It was pretty amazing actually. Scrambled eggs, toast, sausages & black pudding. It was really great. and he wouldn't let me have just water with breakfast so Harris gave me some milk. Drew and I watched rugrats on rte two and some special on Beyonce heh. Harris came back from school or wherever and I said bye and told him to get me some kind of souvenir and he left for Paris. I lay out on their lawn for awhile listening to my ipod which was really relaxing and talked noah into joining me after awhile, at which point he agreed that it was pretty amazing. I worked on my time arts project for awhile and then took a nap for a few hours. I had leftover mashed potatoes, brioche & apples for dinner with olga and tyler came over and i took some video footage which we watched in fast forward so we all sounded like chipmunks. I ran through my dance mix and then Olga and I decided to go out to New Hotel for just onnnne drink, so we only took enough change to get a pint of guinness.

When we got there we were the only two in there besides Javid and Chris and we also realized we should have brought more money but Chris said not to worry since he was working so he gave us free drinks and eventually free ice cream as well haha. Thank you Chris! John came and was givin me a hard time haha, then Philip showed up too and started sticking up for me so there was a play fight haha. Chris might come to Baltimore for a bit over the summer so I offered our couch if he needed a place to stay for awhile. That would be so great if he came! Apparently Chris Attenborough might give him a job at his bar for a bit, so that would be great to have them both around.

I think I talked John into throwing me a birthday party at the New Hotel which would be sweet! He even mentioned maybe having a band or musician come to play music - that would be soo great! I'm going to hold him to that if i can. It'd be so much fun.

Anyway around midnight Olga and I walked home and went straight to sleep. Woke up in the morning and we told Robert we'd invite him earlier next time. Today is rainy and one of those days where you just spend the day researching Berlin online and listening to dance remixes.

I'm starting to panic because there is so little time left and to be honest, I really wish I could live here. *sigh*.
Seriously, mum and dad.... when you retire, I really think you need to move here. I'll come visit all the time.

My room in the hotel is with Morgan, Kristen, Raychel, Hannah & Carra. We are getting picked up by the bus at 4.15am in the morning tomorrow......... this travel should be interesting with such a huge group... Don't worry, I'll be keeping another journal.

neat

p.s. J Lo had twins



& no, I didn't make this photo, just found it online and thought it was interesting

day of crits

mixed media crit went meh. i wish we could go back to london and find damien hirst.
painting crit... i don't know. some of it is just disappointing, level of work wise, but some people's work is amazing (i.e. Thane and Harris and I like Franz's a lot as well). There were a couple good discussions and it was pointed out to me that my one painting looks like a flag, which I think is very interesting. Tom also said some funny stuff and we talked about overthrowing all authority at the Burren via Franz's anarchic uprising against Tim. (jokes). .....

I wanted to see the screening of No Country for Old Men in the lecture hall, but I've already seen it and I didn't want to walk home so I took the bus, stopped at the Petrol Station and then watch a bit of television. Harris and I went and ate dinner at Zam Zams (just chips for me) and then I went home and met Julien, Olga's beau from Limerick, who was very nice and gave me some wine and I hung out with him and Shelby & Tyler while Olga cooked him dinner. Then after they were done eating we had a bit of excitement because one of the table legs broke randomly (looked like it had been broken once before and re-glued) and all the dishes crashed on the floor. We are now down to one single wine glass in the house heh. Anyway, that was exciting, and after we cleaned it up Harris showed up (missed the excitement though) and somehow fiddled with our TV and we have cable now! Thanks Harris. But we don't get RTE one or RTE two which is all I really want, so that's disappointing, but I suppose it's better than no tv at all. He made a dance party mix on my itunes and Olga and I danced around the kitchen. I'm out of actual beer now though, which sucks, because it's cheaper than at the pub. Dance party over, I talked to Shelby and Tyler for a bit and then went to sleep, had very weird dreams, and woke up, came to school, sat through lecture, looked at some painters in the library and took out some books on Irish art, wrote this, and in about an hour or so I am supposed to go sit out in a field with lambs so Martina can take my photo.

Hopefully I will get my time arts piece done tonight or tomorrow. We will probably end up at new hotel at some point tonight. At least we are going somewhere tomorrow with an ATM. (we have saturday class with irish studies since gordon will be missing classes in march). Berlin soon.

Oh, and for mixed media they gave us each the name of another person in class, randomly, and for our project we have to stalk them and make a project out of our surveillance footage... I can't tell you who I got though, it's a secret to be revealed later on. I know who Shelby's stalkee is though, should be good.

the bad things about london

- the tube closes at midnight

- most pubs close around half eleven and then you have to travel to and pay cover charges to get into clubs instead

- living in close quarters

- my knee getting screwed up again

- too much to do in such a short amount of time

- sometimes confusing layout

- ££££££££££££££££££££££££££

the good things about london

- when I got to Ireland I thought it was great that I no longer cared about my appearance. London made me realize I should care just not obsess. And now I have a healthy balance.

- when I got to Ireland I tried not to take myself too seriously as an artist, but I started not taking myself seriously enough. London made me more confident, just not uptight. Again, healthy balance.

- dancing elvises, cats that let you pet them, pandas in the subway, pigeons where there seemingly should be none. I think pigeons were created for the amusement of mankind, perhaps. I love pigeons. Just not when they fly into your face as happened to one of my classmates in Paris, but none of that nonsense this time, so that's good.

- good food if you know where to look

- making friends - Neil, Lawrence, Matt/Muhammad, Marchin (sort of)

- giving oneself a sense of perspective

- was uncharacteristically sunny the entire time

- haircuts

- good art

Luxembourgish

They only have Luxembourgish for Windows.
Lame.

mr blue sky

Yesterday was very nice out. I downloaded some new music, mostly from movie soundtracks.

After my shower I hung out with Olga and Lena for a bit and then walked to the Spar and back and Harris and I watched the Two Towers (Lord of the Rings, mom) which was amazing as ever, but the medicine I've been taking for my knee pain makes me sleepy when I try and watch movies. Afterwards I hung out with Tyler and Shelby in the kitchen for a while until they left to go to the pier and then I spent a few hours doing my mixed media project instead of sleeping, but I am happy with the way it turned out so I will post it shortly.

I'm a bit tired this morning, but I'm glad I have that finished.

I am teaching myself rudimentary vocabulary in several languages thanks to a free program downloadable offline that Drew found (thanks Drew!). I'm going to brush up on my French German and Spanish. I also have Italian Irish Dutch Albanian and Danish (just in case I set off on a mission to meet Justin) and Polish. Some will be studied in more detail, but I have them if I want now. There are numerous other ones I can download if I get through all these (like Czech, Ukrainian and Luxembourgish - which I would learn simply to say I knew it because I didn't even know they had a separate language, considering I hear you can actually RENT Luxembourg. If you're filthy rich, that is).

I also realized that every country I have been to so far, I have heritage from - French, Irish, German...
Now I just need Italy, Canada and Holland if I want to do the whole this-is-your-bloodline-tour.
Not sure how interested I am in Holland though, but I do know what Dutch words for animals mean in English because of studying with Drew haha

Anyway, since my work is done for tomorrow, for the morning at least, I am going to go learn some things.

clouds over my house

Maybe the air here is different, i don't know, but i feel like i am walking through a thick mist that is the physical incarnation of a constant soundtrack.

walking down the lane in my black boots, gravel settling underfoot, i'm waltzing over a record as it spins and spins and spins.

i'm out of my head, looking down from above at someone who is at her best. more independent, less neurotic, not in a creative rut - for once almost constantly inspired to some degree. Maybe, I might go so far as to say, there is even too much inspiration because it is impossible for me to capture everything I grasp at.

it feels like the west did, in certain cinematic moments.

it's so much easier to let go of all the bullshit here. and see, it even seems wrong to use such a coarse word in this context. no one says that here. they may say worse, but it sounds charming nonetheless.

if i am out of my head, i hope i get that again once i move. places with such a vast expanse are good for my soul, i think. London and Paris and Dublin and Berlin are lovely places to visit but to live, I need somewhere open. I need that great desolation, where I can hear my soundtrack floating along on the wind and in the myriad stars that I can actually see above at night without an orange glow. I want to go back to death valley and fade in the sun.

I can no longer play along in that dramatic everyday college-age-life that i have come to find so petty and unsatisfying. art and love and music and culture and experience are so much more important that "she did/he said/they slept/bitch whine/didjoo hear?" when i get back, i'm dropping all that still. i refuse to let myself be swept downstream with it. i'll wade against it in my waterproof raincoat and black & white wellies. i'm semi sorry if i seem like i am different when i return and i suppose i'm sorry if i offend you because i don't care what you're saying or that i don't think the things that are important to you are of any interest. but if i don't come off as indifferent than i guess you're on the same wavelength as me, and that's wonderful.

i need to follow this path past the traffic lights to make it to my promised land, and if i stop for a moment i feel that i won't get there. there's no direct tube route to where i need to be, and i need my head clear to find the way.

i think mostly, Ireland has set my priorities straight. i think it has made me a better person, but to some people it may not come off that way, and for that i apologize, but hopefully you'll see the better side. i just refuse to surround myself with people that bring me down.

the world is a much larger place than the eastern seaboard, much less a small state smashed between other tiny states, which i wish were their own individual unique countries rather than a repetition of the same politics and dismal constancy from maine to virginia, at least.

my world consists of rivers and ocean waves battling each other along the side of a stone wall built centuries before. it has Tescos and Spars and Boots pharmacies. As I walk, I hear conversations in non-English dialects about seventy percent of the time. In my world I know many of locals by name and I say bonjour as I enter a shop. Museums and galleries are where I go to shows, and dark red and black irish punk clubs are where I go to dance. I know Prague is Praha and I know how to tell those I love that I love them in Polish. My horizon has glaciated mountains and costly lit up ferris wheels and a blanket of pigeons and swans. My parks stretch into mist so that you can't see the city that bustles behind the rows of beautifully ornate gnarled trees and on the corner there is a beautiful woman in an apron selling baguettes and brioche and she speaks to me in broken english as I converse with her in broken french. Travelers ask me for directions in cities I call my own for three days. I am no longer as self conscious other than to distance myself from the image of "tourist." Those I see on a regular basis at pubs are not alcoholics but merely social. My reality has a concentration camp to my left and Versailles to my right. They are tangible and not just faraway phantasies read about in textbooks. We practice Dutch on our laptops and eat breakfast at cafes. I listen to Ukrainian folk songs on my iPod. A man outside Embankment plays the Moonlight Sonata on his guitar for pence on the street and I find is somewhat unsettling that on 1 January 2012 the zloty (which dates back to the 14th century) will be replaced by the euro.

I would not give this up for anything. My world is a map that keeps unfolding before me and I hope it keeps growing. I would rather live in a world full of subtitles than a world where I only hear one of the 375 million people who speak English as their first language (actually more, because that was in 2006). That number is huge, but not compared to the number of total people in the world and those that have a native language they speak as well. I'd rather hear heritage come from your mouth than a language that has come to replace some of the most beautiful sounds I've ever heard. I would rather be friends with a bus driver who used to be a fighter in the Liberation Army of Kosovo than girls whose only care is the next show with cute boys and how trendy their hair is and which ex-friend is dating who and who wronged who. At least your problems aren't stemming from another country trying to ethnically cleanse your entire population. Sorry if I sounded a bit bitter there for a moment but I am eternally thankful that I have never had to face any problems like that firsthand but also thankful I feel that it is a reality because it really puts things in perspective, a perspective I think it is impossible to fully achieve from the (supposed) luxury and comfort of your american sofa.

There are people I have met here who I can honestly say I feel closer to than some "friends" I have known for years upon years. Real friendship I have to say I am finding the true value and meaning of and it also has opened up my eyes and pushed me to a place where I don't want to waste my time with irrelevant relationships. Let me just stick my headphones in my ears and see if I can hear banal chitchatter over them. no? Good.

I want to sit in a coffee shop and talk about art and collaboration projects and painters and have my work critiqued by my peers as I sip on my latte. I don't want to go to MacDonalds or Burger King or KFC. I don't want fast food. I want a slow pace where I can appreciate the scenery. I'd rather have paint smudges on everything I lovingly own than a pristine house where no one is allowed to use the dishes set out in the dining room.

I believe kitchens should have couches because that is where everyone inevitably ends up gathering to talk.

I want to travel even more. You can close your eyes over london and open them in a dreamlike mist-mountain landscape over Dublin and the world seems so much smaller and so wondrously huge simultaneously.

If america had as many musicians playing in the streets, it would be a much better place.

hands away

(harris, me, morgan, beki in the background, eating. and noah took the photo)

ill, and not in the sweet that rocks sense

so friday i felt pretty crappy, but luckily gordon let me sleep on the bus for part of the field trip.
after school i went over to blue door and started to feel feverish and ended up staying on their couch from about 5pm - 2pm the next day under 2 blankets with a really high fever, so unfortunately i missed the first night of the music festival in town. Saturday afternoon I went home and took a shower and then cleaned my room. We went out and ended up at the New Hotel with tons of musicians playing together and Chris didn't charge me for one of my guinnesses and after his shift was over he bought me a free shot of apple & jack daniels - "apple jack." cute. in the morning Harris and I went to the Tea Junction for breakfast and ran into Chris and Thane and sat with them. Harris left to go bike to Kinvara with Drew to get money for the immigration officer and I walked to the Emo (petrol station) with Thane and Chris and got my usual ice pop and then walked home and covered myself in red paint and went out into the fairy forest by myself to shoot photos.

An owl was keeping me company and I kept thinking of grandma's stories about owls signaling a coming death. I'm still awaiting some sort of news. (Although mom did end up telling me about the death of Polaroid heh).

I felt very sick and my knee hurt very bad so I stayed in bed all night, but I got to talk to Brian for a few hours so that was really nice. I couldn't sleep at all because of my knee, I got maybe an hour total all night long so needless to say in the morning I was very unhappy and oh, forgot to mention Olga had gone to the hospital Saturday night for her stomach pains/problems so it turned out Robert was driving her to the pharmacy in Kinvara so I stayed home with her till he came back and picked us up and spent far too much money (but well spent) at the pharmacy. Got a knee brace that actually helps and various medications for different ills and picked up some groceries before going to school. The day was okay. I got a bit of work done and after regular hours there was an opening in the gallery. I guess I like it better than the last opening because there's no horrid sounds that play over and over all day that drive me crazy in my studio. I think about half of the paintings were made by mentally disabled people, if I understood the lecture correctly. Afterwards I made dinner and walked to blue door and let drew borrow my telephoto lens and then we walked to town because we thought Franz was going to sing, but no luck finding him so we went back and practiced learning some dutch on drew's computer heh. Then Harris and I went back to my house and we were going to watch Amber's Harry Potter movie but she only has the third one and Harris hasn't seen the second one yet so we watched the Return of the King instead. My medication made me sleepy though and I fell asleep or at least half asleep before it was halfway over. He woke me up when it was over and he went home and I went to sleep and listened to my iPod for a bit before drifting off to sleep.

This morning I'm in a really weird/good/strange mood. It's really pleasant out, and Martina liked my progress with my photos and gave me a good critique that was actually helpful.

take 1

this was more of a test run, but figured i might as well share. i have to do the paint differently next time
and hopefully it will have both characters in it so i will have help with the photos and not be running back and forth with the 10 second self timer heh

back in IRE

last night I walked home with josh and then got a lift back to town, got brioche and some ham from the petrol station so I can make sandwiches. After dinner I walked over to blue door and they were watching terminator. Harris and I went out to O'Laughlins (spelling?) with Noah and talked about the Prague trip and random things, cinema, valentines day, London, etc.

This morning I woke up feeling terribly sick and I am really not looking forward to being on a bus for the duration of the afternoon. I thought about not going, but I'd rather save a sick day for later. Bah.

back to the life

again, captions soon and sorry for lack of order

the way we get by

(captions to come soon) - also note, these are out of chronological order, sorry

okay well

it's dark and i forgot a flashlight and harris is riding noah's bike home so I'm leaving whenever Hannah leaves so I will upload photos as soon as i'm able. sorry. soon though. promise.

MIND THE GAP

// Preface: I took all these notes in a 100page small notebook and filled the entire thing up during the trip. Maybe I will remember details as I write but 90% of this is from my little notebook on which I have since painted the Mind the Gap logo on the cover. I did change the tense as many times I wrote things as they happened and it is confusing to keep switching around like that. //


Flight EI248 18.50 departure - 20.10 landing. seats 14A / 14B
Flight EI243 8.35 departure - 9.55 landing. seats 10A / 10B

9 Feb 2008

Harris and I walked to Spar and met up with Noah Beki and Morgan. We got the bus to Galway at half nine and caught the 11 am bus to Dublin Airport, which was € 19, but oh well. It took till 3.15 and we tried (mostly unsuccessfully) to find a comfortable way of sleeping on the bus. Beki Morgan and Noah had to run to catch their flight. We got some food while we waited for it to be check-in time. The Dublin airport was really pleasant in the departure area at least. I liked the huge green and red futuristic lights that took up the entire ceiling (how did I not notice them right away) and the shiny silver bits on the floor - I bet they put them there to keep little children, and people like me, amused. Security was incredibly stress free (for once) and took about 2 minutes. As we walked toward our gate we saw this guy shining a woman's boots. It was a nice little setup with four red leather chairs. €7 but it was about the experience, so Harris got his boots shined. The guy was pretty great. I think his name was Boco and we asked where he was from and he said that his capital city was Sophia. We were trying to figure out where he was from and kept guessing all these countries because he said it was around Greece and Turkey and the Black Sea and Serbia Montenegro and Romania. We obviously aren't taught geography very rigorously in the states, and we could not guess it, but it turned out to be Bulgaria (he told us after 5 or so minutes of embarrassed struggling). Well, now we will always remember. Harris's shoes look pretty awesome though, brand new like. We got to our waiting area and Harris went off to go find out how much pints were.

"Hey, hey Harris"
"Wh-wh-what?"
"We're going to London!"
"Yess we are!"

What I want to know is why there were one, two, three, four three-quarters full pints sitting around the edges of counters in the waiting area. What a waste. Do people buy a pint 5 minutes before boarding time or do they just take two hours to drink it? I don't know. We had about an hour and a half to relax, but one Bulmers and a guinness made the time go quicker. The sun setting outside of the window to my right was cinematically beautiful. For such a loud (planes taking off) and busy place, it was surprisingly calm and quiet. You could see the mountains in the distance & for me at least it drew more parallels to the desert. There was a really cute baby running around whose brother kept having to reign him in. I also liked that the bathrooms were labeled "Ladies" and "Gents." While I was in the "Ladies" there was a little boy a few stalls over and I heard him say, "I was the best mascot ever! What is a mascot? You're going to flush down the toilet when you scream, Nana!" Psychobabble. Back outside, we talked about Paris and I told Harris everything I could remember about what to do and how to act and things to say and such. We were also pretty sure there was a French futbol team next to us, based on the cheering at the TV. We paid a euro or so to use the internet booth next to our seats. 20 minutes before the flight, it was very dark out. We took photos of each other in the airport and there was a poem on the wall called "On Dublin and Sunset over the Liffy" but my eyes were too bad to be able to read it from my seat and I was content sitting and looking forward to a nap on the plane. Harris drew in his sketchbook and I attempted to crack my back to no avail. Gate B25, you were so quiet compared to Newark or BWI and I really appreciated that. Orange lights outside twinkled in the darkness and for some reason, for a small second, it felt like Christmas. I watched planes take off behind a man in white patent leather sneakers and one of the janitors looked just like Jesus. The plane ride was uneventful, sleepy, and full of pretty lights in the dark. We landed around 8. They herded us all past customs without looking at anyone's passport.

The exchange rate of course was and is miserable. I had £100 but the tain to Victoria was 10something already. The train was a bit slow and I took a photo of the reflection of us in the window. We got to Victoria and stood outside for a moment so Harris could have a cigarette and I said I knew I was in London because of their cute British cabs/taxis and such. We paid for a one day pass and waited quite a long time for the Circle Line train to Bayswater. We got to Fiana's flat without a hitch around 11pm. The architecture of the buildings all around was pretty impressive. Bayswater street seemed promising as we walked past. We got changed and unfortunately it was already close to midnight so everything was closed besides clubs that were 2 bus rides or so away and also had cover charges. We walked up Portabello road for quite a ways with Fi and her roommate Steph before deciding that "The Bed" pub she was looking for did not, in fact, exist. We stopped in an Indian run convenience store and got 2 Carlsbergs each fairly cheaply and Harris got a magazine and we went back to Fi's flat, which is in the basement across from Prince Edward's pub. Harris and I were famished so we went back to Bayswater street and the only thing open was Subway, so we shared a 12inch onion chicken teriyaki sub, which they put extra meat/cheese on without asking and tried to overcharge us, but they took 10% off at least when we complained. It was however, extremely delicious, so thank you Subway, for being open and making a good sub. And thanks Fiana and Steph for the bed and hospitality.

10 Feb 2008

We must have been very tired (although with no jetlag we don't have an excuse) because we all woke up around noon. Fi offered us the use of her shower but as it was so late already we wanted to get a move on and start the day. We walked literally around the block to Hostel 63, which Harris saw yesterday while out for a walk. There was a Polish guy working at the desk named Marchin (spelling?). Anyway, it was only £12 a night (per person) so we booked it for Monday and Tuesday nights. Then we walked up to Bayswater and ate breakfast at the ARTCAFE which was beautiful and laid back and run by spanish speaking people who were all very pleasant. I got the Renoir breakfast, which was 2 eggs, 2 rashers, beans, a cooked tomato & toast and Harris got basically the same thing minutes the beans and tomato plus a delicious cheesecake with kiwis on top. There were some obnoxious Americans that walked in with a frisbee who were saying stuff like "there's not even room to sit outside, why even bother?" but eventually came back and sat inside behind us and we've been mocking them. They make me cringe. We paid £1 to use their internet for 90 minutes (which we didn't use all of) to look up galleries and museum locations and email Nigel. Harris finally got through to Jaime and there was some Chinese New Year celebration outside. Unfortunately we didn't know till later that the BIG Chinese New Year celebration was happening in Soho, so we missed that. Harris picked out a purse for me at this shop where mostly everything was only £5, which is good because the purse I bought in Dublin had broken. We took the tube to Embankment and walked across the bridge over the Thames. We saw a very tall, very neon, very bald cross-dresser/clubkid/something and found the Hayward Gallery. We got directions to the Tate Modern from a girl inside with pastel pink hair and walked back across the river. Having walked quite a ways we asked a nice businessman for directions and he said to walk back across the river again and we finally found it. The Tate Modern was pretty amazing. They had up some Francesca Woodman photos and a whole Surrealist exhibit. I could write you a list of names but I don't know if you'd recognize most of them. Little kids made art on the floor and there were some really great works from Joseph Beus. Max Ernst, Yves Tangay, Mark Rothko, Franz Kline, Jackson Pollock, Andy Warhol, Piet Mondrian, Sol Lewitt, Fiona Rae, Robert Morris, Christina Iglesias, Donald Judd, Roy Lichtenstein, Ellen Gallagher, some great artists from the Congo, Dieter Roth, Steve McQueen, James Rosenquist, Robert Rauschenberg (reminded me of that huge show i saw of his in the MOMA i think? That was such a good show), Oldenburg, Juan Gris, Eduardo Paolozzi, John Baldessari, Jonas Mekas, Henri Matisse, Maurizio Cattalan (had 3 sculptures of saluting hands -hitler style- coming out from the wall), Pierre Bonnard, Ernst Barlach and Gerhard Richter. To name a few. On the first floor there is also a giant crack in the cement floor as an art piece that runs the length of the gallery and I have a photo of Harris's head in it. We got a smoothie and talked to a nice man on the balcony outside the cafe who said not to pay for a ferry to Tate Britain.

White neon lights: "The whole world + the work = the whole world"

We decided it was probably too late to go to the other museums, so we walked back along the South side of the river and saw some very pleasing blue and white lights on the trees. We heard reggae music in the distance and all of a sudden these two 60-70 year old men were dressed like Elvis (I will post video) dancing and hip thrusting to the music and it took us about ten minutes to pry ourselves away. We were almost crying it was so funny. We took tons of photographs on the way back. There were blue, pink and green lights in the water but they didn't show up on camera unfortunately. We got money from an ATM in Embankment Station and then walked a bit but ended up turning back around and going back to Bayswater. We ate at a Thai place called Tuk tuk or Nuk nuk or something like that and split this appetizer combo that was delicious for only 4.80 per person, and I also got Thai ice tea, which mom knows I love. We went back to Fi's and on the way, in the tube station he asked why I wasn't wearing my hair down and I said since it was up in a ponytail it'd look bad but I'd shower and use Steph's hair straightener when we got back so he went to the art store we'd seen on Portabello the night before while I took a shower and dried and straightened my hair. I talked to Mom on the phone which was good, but she told us how a large chunk of Camden Town apparently burnt down the previous night, which none of us had heard about. I would later find out was a 14 alarm fire and apparently some pub that a lot of celebrities (incl. Amy Winehouse) like was one of the places that burnt. Then Harris, who had fairly good success, came back. I mentioned thinking about giving myself bangs and he said to go for it so I used Fi's baby scissors and stared at myself in the mirror for a bit and did it. I had an audience half the time heh but I guess it turned out well, eh. It went through about 3 stages and critiques before I finished. Then Fi, Steph, Harris and I went to Prince Edward's. They had a kind of cider kind of like Bulmers called Strongbow, but I got gin&tonics instead, and some food. It was very good. Harris drew this interesting man at the bar's head who looked like Royal from the Royal Tennenbaums. Luis, who works here, was really nice as well. We saw Big Ben from far away but Fi just told us it is covered in gold, which I had not realized. Also, apparently the city of Bath is really nice and I hear from an ariel view it is shaped like a question mark.

Okay I guess it is high time I told you about CCTV (thank you Harris for informing me CC stood for Closed Circuit, you are a wealth of information). But yeah, Big Brother is everywhere. Cali, NY, Miami, some parts of Washington have some in the traffic lights and corners, but nothing like this. The average Londoner is on CCTV something like 500 times a DAY. Average. And you know there's got to be some veritable hermits who bring down the average. We counted about 48 in one tube station alone.

We talked to Fi about how much the British love American Cheerleaders and how she met a New Zealander and an Australian and the New Zealander hated Flight of the Conchords (Australian hadn't seen it). Also she told us a story about some Brit who said "I saw that 'I love New York shirt and I was like eff that so I got an 'I love NJ" shirt." She told us about how when she was in Bath they stayed with a Brazilian futbol team who spoke no english, trying to play Jenga with them and that's the only word they had in common. We went back to the flat and watched the BAFDAs which are like Britain's Oscars I guess, or whatever award actors get. After it was over Harris said

"Let's go find celebrities!"

The only downside was that the tube stops running at midnight and it was already almost half eleven. Also we didn't know where said celebrities were but we were going to try Leicester Square. Videos about this event also were taken and quest Viggo Mortensen began. We got on the circle line and debated if were doing a possible thing. We took a bunch of photos (that looks really scary because of the blur) in the tube station and there was also a giant panda sculpture thing I photographed in the subway. I saw a Lord of the Rings musical poster, which I am still curious about. Fi had given us the Transport London number that you call and tell where you are and need to be and they will tell you what bus line to take but she said you need to also find out the letter or you will go in the wrong direction. It seemed a little sketchy/confusing but regardless a diseased looking drunk with his leg wrapped up in gauze appeared on the train and gradually moved up toward us and right before he approached we reached Glouster so we ended up getting off and caught the very last train back to Bayswater. We stopped in a 24 hr convenience store and bought ice cream (I got the same kind I always get in town here haha) and then took more video on the way home. Then we watched this weird movie I still don't know the name of because I nodded out during the credits, but I know it included flashbacks and 4 older men going on some journey with another man's ashes whose wife used to be a gypsy girl and he used to be a butcher boy and they had a retarded daughter. (Anyone know? Sound familiar?)

Oh, I forgot to mention. Fi told us how last semester a boy from Syracuse NY was being a stupid tourist and not paying attention and ended up getting DECAPITATED by one of the double decker buses. Pedestrians, by the way, do not have the right of way here.


11 Feb

I woke up at 8.15 and got ready. Steph said I could come use her hair straightener whenever, which was nice of her. Fi left for school around 9.15 and I borrowed Steph's key so I could go sit outside. It was a bit chilly and I wished I had a warmer coat, but it was nice to be out in the fresh morning air. Lots of buses and cars and birds chirping and morning sun making the white buildings, balconies and columns even more radiant. I walked up to the hostel to ask Marchin what time check in was. I was greeted good morning by 4 or 5 people, one of which being an Italian businessman (or so he looked) and another black guy with long braids in his hair working on something in the street. London is apparently a morning person.

We stopped at a french pastry shop to pick up breakfast. The woman at the counter looked just like Angelina Jolie playing Mariane Pearl in A Mighty Heart, except even more believable. We drank our coffee and ate our pastries outside of Prince Edward's after a walk and then walked through Kensington and Hyde parks, which were really nice, past the pond with all the ducks and swans and numerous other birds. We found the Serpentine Gallery after passing it twice, but unfortunately it was closed due to putting up a German exhibition. I did buy an interesting book about Polaroids and OCD and a postcard. We walked back through the park and checked into our hostel. We then left to go meet Jaime for lunch. We got sandwiches and sat outside of a Starbucks to eat and she told us how to get to places and about her 3 years here. She told us a story about a guy trying to break through their kitchen window (but he didn't). We went to her flat and met her roommate whose name Harris and I cannot, unfortunately, remember but I liked her a lot and she was born in American but grew up in Milan. She goes to school with Jaime and makes jewelry. After that we walked through China town to the National Portrait Gallery. Sam Walsch, Lucien Freud, Leon Kossoff, Snowdon, Ian Breakwell, John Keane, Stuart Pearson Wright, Ross Wilson. The Photo Prize was up as well, and I am not going to write any of the names because I am sick of writing names but I'll just say it was great. Well there's a star next to Chad Hunt so I guess I really liked his work.

Then we went to the National Gallery which was right next door. We saw the Tudor gallery

"ALL FLESHE IS GRASSE"

and I really liked the portrait of Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton 1573-1624. He had nice, unique hair. For that time at least. We also really liked "A Grostesque Old Woman" attributed to Quinten Massys. Lots of Rembrandts too. Turner. Constable. Delaroche. Monet. Cezanne. Rosseau. Van Gogh. Picasso. Degas. In the gift shop we each got a map/guidebooky thing. We took the tube to the Tate Britain but they were closing soon. The exhibit we went to see cost £6 so I didn't want to do it but after Harris went in and flipping through fashion art magazines for a bit, the guy at the door waved me over and said I could go in for free, which was really nice of him because it was an amazing show and I am really glad that I got so see it - Peter Doig. I got two magazines and the girl at the checkout, whose name also turned out to be Emily, asked where I was from and wanted advice because if her boyfriend gets into SVA they are moving to NYC so I told her I would ask my uncles/family and get back to her so we exchanged e-mail addresses. It was already dark at that point so we went back to the tube. It was VERY crowded. We got off at Notting Hill and tried to go to a thrift store but it was closing. So we went to Cafe Diana, which was dedicated to princess Di and ate Lamb & greenery in pita bread - delicious - and mint tea. There was a program on the telly with a rescued seal and it was so cute. At that point my knee had unfortunately started throbbing - the pain actually started in the National Portrait Gallery, where I had to hop/hobble down the stairs - and yes, that sucked. Some lady on the street earlier asked me to be in some hair show, forgot to mention that. We got some free newspapers which is good because out of £160 I only have £28 left. Things I have bought: food, tube tickets (one 1 day pass, and one 3 day pass which has paid for itself a million times over), guidebook, a couple drinks, purse so i can carry stuff around, and hostel. At least there is actually a Barclays here.

After Cafe Diana we found about 3 thrift stores and I got a red dress for my photo project! I tried it on when we got back to the hostel and Harris liked it and considering it was only £4 total I'd say that is a great success. Harris got a tie to go with the green sweater he got last night and a pair of blue sneakers. We dropped off our stuff and went and got the 6 Carlsbergs for £5 special at the convenience store and went back to the hostel and drank them while reading our magazines and free newspapers we'd collected. I stared/listened with my ear out of the window to a group of Russians sitting outside of Prince Edward's. From our window you could see Fiana's flat. Someone in the garden below was definitely smoking weed because you could smell it from our window. We made friends with one of the other guys in our hostel - Neil Douglas Edward's. What a name. I have since found him on Facebook. He told us where the cool places were and I talked to him about our school here while Harris went out for a walk in Hyde Park. He said how he worked in Chino (Cali) for a while and stayed with this crazy woman for a month just by knocking on doors and asking for a place to stay, and she'd buy them food and stuff for free. The three of us went out for a stroll around the block so Neil could get a drink from Subway. We saw a place that was open, some cocktail havana latin dance something, but w went back to the hostel and went to sleep. I had a dream that Robert wanted each cottage to do fire drills but in order to do so we had to actually set our houses on fire.

12 Feb

We got up around half nine and went to Fi's so Harris could shower and I could straighten my hair. Then we went to ARTCAFE for brunch and I had a tomato-mozzarella-avacado panini and a lemon & sugar crepe. We went to Barclays to use the ATM and then took the tube to Oxford Circus and I got a cheap jacket in Primark. Top Shop was huge and not all that impressive but at least they played Hang the DJ and Personal Jesus. We took the tube to Camden Town, the punk/rock/goth/alternative lifestyle mecca, grabbed some food (scottish smoked salmon sandwich for me, & mango soda) and ate up on Starbuck's terrace overlooking the closed off street from the recent fire. We walked through dark markets smelling of incense and lots of punk gear, British boots, jewelry, scarves, lingerie, thrift stores, foreign food, basically anything you could possibly think of was there. We were looking at our map under a bridge and a woman (50s? 60s?) with burgundy hair and piercings asked if we were lost and needed help. We told her we were looking for Frank Auerbach's studio and she thought he was our friend (we are more likely to get sued for stalking) and to look it up on the internet. She also said that it was like if she came to our country and asked us where John Smith lived heh. After walking around for a bit, we did go and search online and Harris found the address of Walter Sickert's studio, where Frank now works so after following clues we drew ourselves a map and took the tube to Mornington Crescent and it took me a few minutes to get Harris to realize we were standing right across from the street we were looking for. We walked up and saw the sign saying "Walter Sickert lived and worked here" so we knew we had actually found it. Harris pressed all the door bells ABC&D but alas, no answer. So he wrote him a note (which I have photographic documentation of) and we went and got coffee around the block and then went back and rang again and then finally left. We got off at Notting Hill and went to the art store. We tried 2 of the vintage stops again but no luck. We went back to the hostel and I felt bad because I kept missing everyone's calls due to my phone being in my purse where I can't hear it. Stephanie Leal texted saying she was out of work. Harris called his dad while I rested my feet/knee. I didn't get much sleep the night before due to knee throbbings. We went off to go find Slade but when we finally found it they wouldn't let us see the painting studios and we didn't think to ask about an actually gallery, but it was really disappointing. We walked around and Harris got some souvenirs and I looked for boots but no luck. We went into Whiteleys and there was an H&M in there and Harris got a really nice light grey dress shirt and I got legwarmers, which I know are stupid but they actually do keep you warm. We ate dinner at a Lebanese restaurant, where harris changed into his nice new shirt. The food was delicious, even if it was more expensive than last night. The guys next to us put salt in their friends drink while he was in the bathroom and we were all laughing at it. I also realized that the back of my heel was bleeding. We went back to the hostel again and I changed into less-dressy jeans so I could wear socks as stupid as they looked, my feet hurt too badly not to, and Harris found a gallery that was assuredly closed but he wanted to find it anyway so Neil (our hostelmate) and I went to meet Stephanie while Harris went off on his quest.

On the way, Neil gave me a phraseology lesson. Some I knew, some I did not.
Truck = Lorry
Stop Light = Traffic Light
Sidewalk = Path

We met up with Steph at Warwicks. Jaime came and we met him as well. Conversation ranged from philosophy of artistic aesthetics-beauty to comedic poetry to Jaime buying a motorbike on eBay one night while drunk (he later resold it and made a small profit luckily) to "This is going to be awkward because that's my dad (Kenny Leal) sitting in the first row, and this is a poem about how I didn't want to cook breakfast after a one night stand with that guy (points at random audience member)". Neil talked about his constant need to travel and how he majored in Politics. Jaime apparently talks to his plants, I think the one's name is Vanilla? and apparently Steph killed a bunch of them haha. Jaime works for some famous chef in London who has a bunch of TV shows but I can't remember the name. They each bought me a drink. Steph tried to give Harris directions because I had run out of credit on my phone but in the end she and Jaime left and Neil and I went to try and find Harris by the Shakespeare, which we got a bit lost trying to find but eventually we were all reunited and we decided to go to that Latin cantina dance place we'd seen on bayswater the previous night. We ended up being the very first people there, which was a little awkward and then Harris and I didn't realize we'd get change for our Beck's so one of the girls brought it over and that was embarrassing as well. We sat in a corner and Harris told us how he accidently almost hopped a fence into Buckingham Palace hahaha. After a bit we headed back and Harris and I said goodbye to Fi and Steph and dropped off the key they'd let us borrow. Fiana told us a story that finally satisfied Harris's "What's the worst thing that happened to you here?" question: Four guys from ithica had made "friends" with these 3 guys while drinking and hung out with them once or twice and then one night real late they called them up and wanted to come in and they said no cuz it was late but eventually one of the guys let them in and once they were inside they pulled down skimasks or the equivalent and one pulled out a gun and said to give up all their laptops and wallets and get on the floor. One of the guys had his laptop to his chest and refused to do it. One of the Londoners said to shoot him but as this was happening one of the other boys got up and ran out of the flat and started screaming for help. So the three guys took off after him with the bag of stuff leaving the other 3 to call the police. They chased him for awhile but eventually dropped the bag and got in a car and sped off. He got the bag back and in the end the only thing that was stolen was one kid's social security card. Turns out the gun was a BB gun which makes sense, since you can't buy guns over here, not even the garda carry guns, but in the heat of the moment, what would you have done, right. Crazy. We went back to the hostel and packed and Harris and Neil had a political discussion while I fell asleep.


13 Feb

I woke up at 5.15 and got ready. When we got to Bayswater Station the circle line was closed so we went up to Queensway and took Central line to Oxford and then transferred to the blue line to get to Victoria Station. We bought breakfast and took the Southern Train Line to Gatwick. We wandered around and passed the time in the bookstore since our flight was delayed till 9.15 (because of so much fog in Dublin) but then I saw this Polish-English dictionary I really wanted but by the time I found it I couldn't get it because our flight was boarding. We had perfect timing though because as soon as we were in the waiting area everything got really crowded and we didn't have to wait in the long line. I slept on the flight so it felt like it lasted 5 minutes and Harris sketched my portrait of me sleeping on the back of one of the barf bags cuz it was the only plain paper. Customs took mere seconds once we got through the painfully long line of obnoxious tourists. We went to the currency exchange. £37 turned into €48 but then only 44 because of commission. We took a different bus, Nestorlink, instead of Citylink, to Galway because it was €1 cheaper and the guy said they'd get there fast, and he was nice. We spent the first hour of the ride talking to this great Scottish man named Lawrence and his neighbor, a 13 year old Irish boy named Ray I think. They had just gotten back from L.A. and Universal Studios. They got to go on the Jurassic Park ride, not fair!

"Limerick. It used to be Stab City, but now they just shoot ye."

He spent a lot of energy trying to talk us into going to Glasgow. It was incredibly warm out - 13 degrees C and really sunny. There was a Garda car parked on the side of the road and Lawrence started snorting and calling them piggies so I guess some things are not so different from the US haha. No one was in the car but Matt, our busdriver, whose real name is actually Muhammad (but I'll come to that) said they have cameras hidden inside the cars to catch you speeding. We discussed regional accents and sayings, like how the people in the North as a greeting will say "What about ya?". Lawrence also had a bottle of Jack Daniels that he bought for $80 in Duty Free thats box was larger than say, an old school boombox. He moved to Ireland about 27 years ago I believe he said, but he still goes home 4 or 5 times a year.

After they got off, we talked to Matt, our busdriver, for the remainder of the trip. Matt's real name is Muhammad but the Irish really like to change people's names. He'd been in the country 7 years now, originally from Kosovo. We talked about politics and the effects of American government on everyone else in the world. He talked about this Match Making Festival in Lisdoonvarna every year that Mikey had told Shelby and I about when we visited (he said it was crazy and he'd go to protect female friends haha). Matt said, yeah, well, but now I am married so I am not so wild anymore. "We say in Ireland, I have the talk but I don't have the walk." Matt told us about how he has never had a loan and always pays off his credit card on time. Then we talked about Kosovo.

This Sunday Kosovo is declaring independence officially! We are going to celebrate, and you should too. 17 February!

I learned that there is only one airport in Kosovo, in the capital, Priština. Anywhere you go in Kosovo is only an hour away from Priština. He grew up about 10 miles away from there. He studied law but never finished because of the war. He was 20 years old when he fought in the Liberation Army of Kosovo. "They used to call us terrorists, but we were invaded. They wanted to do ethnic cleansing. They raped and killed women and children." We talked about how terms like militia and guerilla all depended on political propaganda. He fought for most of a year and a half. His family came to Ireland to escape. Half of Kosovo left. Walking. Driving. Any way they could.

We talked about the differences in welfare and healthcare between Ireland and America and how nauseating the US insurance business is. It was very sunny so Harris gave Matt his sunglasses to borrow. Matt told us how he is 29 and his wife (also from Kosovo) is 23 and he married her and brought her here and wanted to get married before he lost his chance with her haha. He knew some Polish because he dated a Polish girl years back, but mainly he speaks Albanian. He gave us some historical background on Kosovo and also we talked about how in Kosovo there are people that are Christian, Protestant, Muslim, and no one has any problems with each other. That was never an issue. They just saw themselves as Albanians. We discussed the Troubles in Ireland as well. He told us how he feels bad when people blame him for traffic or other things out of his control.

He turned the radio on for a bit since we'd been talking since the airport. He was fascinated that I was writing everything down and said how it was good because in 50 years I will read it and things I never thought of will all come flooding back.

I loved his speech patterns.

"Amazing how system of brain work."

We then talked about obnoxious American tourists like that group of girls Harris Neil and I saw on the tube the night before. Matt said how many Americans come over thinking they are better than everyone else. Humility is necessary. Matt told us about the walls in county Clare. He says many Irish are bad drivers "cuz you get license at pharmacy." He said that about how in America it is so easy to get guns "You get in pharmacy." He said there was another recent school shooting. I still have to look that up and see what that is about. He told us about his 9 month old son, Ensar (he spelled it for me) who his wife is not working right now so she can take care of him. He wants her to raise him. He said when he is old enough, he will send him to Montessori school, best in IRE.

I found out Harris's mom owns 6 houses in one complex at Ohio State that she rents to International students so he gets to meet them, which is really neat.

There were some gardas checking seatbelts or registrations or something so we all put on our seatbelts. Ireland towns are a lot more colourful than the white stone London. Harris and I both dozed off for a bit. We arrived in Galway and Harris tried to get Matt to keep the sunglasses but he wouldn't, however I took photos of them together and he said maybe he'd see us if/when he took his wife through Ballyvaughan on the way to Cliffs of Moher. We walked to the ATM and then walked to this great fish & chips restaurant Harris knew about that was delicious. There was a family eating on the same bench as us whose little kid was NOT happy about eating his fish. The dad tried to bribe him by telling him that pirates ate fish every day and he'd never be allowed to be a pirate if he didn't. After not having soda for so long, sprite tasted so good! We went to the art supply store and I got some paint. We went to Dunnes for Paddy but ended up getting something a few euros cheaper. Then we walked through the park to the bay, which was really beautiful if you ignore the construction to your left. I also loved how the mountains rose out of the mist. Speaking of which, when we landed in Dublin, ti was absolutely breathtaking. A blanket of fog. What I first took to be volcanic looking islands were the tips of mountains and everything was dark green and greywhite. So beautiful/magical/mystical. I've never seen anything quite like it, in real life, TV, photos, anything. After going to the bay past a swarm of swans, we picked up our backpacks from left luggage, where we had dropped them off at the train station so we didn't have to haul them around all day. I also had bought a bag of Taytos we shared with some cute pigeons. We waited for the bus and successfully did not miss it and left Galway around 1800. Harris and I each had 2 sears to ourselves so we could lounge. Harris tried to take a nap before writing in his sketchbook.

After being immersed in London it was very strange to walk around in Galway. Everyone looked blase about their appearance and underdressed.

The trip was definitely worth it though, and I think it helped to put things in perspective, for me in general, in life. The more different countries I go to, the more I notice both differences and similarities in cultures and the more I am able to value them individually. There are definitely certain things about London that I loved, and just so there are things I am happy to be returning to in County Clare. I really believe that going to as many countries as possible, even if you can only stay a long weekend, changes your life and your viewpoint permanently, and for the better. It broadens your horizon, metaphorically but sort of literally.

My hands are getting really tired of typing so I might add some extra notes later but let me quickly wrap this up.

My backpack popped a button off my new coat when I put it under the bus so I will have to sew it back on. I wish Lily Allen's new CD had come out while we were there, I would have gotten it. It was very cold when we got home. I went home and Harris called saying he was going to Logues right before I got in the shower. So I went and hung out and saw people and chitchatted and we went and tried to watch the Italian Job but I fell asleep almost instantly on the couch and woke up in the dark at 1.15 and went and showered and passed out.

This morning Aine didn't recognize me with my new haircut and came and found me and said how the whole time she was talking to me in the cafe she couldn't place me. Martina wants me to maybe model for her for one of her photo shoots. Aine said I win the best dressed award. We had crits. Mine was really short. Really short. I mean, no bad feedback. But short, and I could have had the same conversation absolutely any time which is a leetle frustrating but Harris's crit was apparently really good, and I'm glad. It was worth it to come back early so we could meet Lawrence and Matt though.

Anyway, my hands hurt I typed so much. Now I am going to go upload photos. Be back!

before i begin

i have bangs now