Pic Dump

Alright, some more pictures from the Galway/Cliffs of Moher trip have surfaced so I thought I'd throw a few up here quick.

A few pictures to tease your appetite.

Pictured above is what is called the Dolmen. Basically it's a tomb that has been, somehow, standing there like that for 6,500 years. That means it's older than Stonehenge and the Egyptian Pyramids. And it's just sitting there in this huge field of rocks. Insane.

This is a shot of the castle tower on The Cliffs of Moher. These pictures are really good, but not the best ones that were taken. Those are even more impressive. This place was just incredible.
Shot of the cliffs facing south.
North again toward the castle. Clearly we walked a long ways. Much farther than we were supposed to.
This is a castle where some psycho killed six of her husbands.
Here is a few of us at the pub in Galway. I believe this was The King's Head, it's been there since mid-evil times or something. All I know is the cover band played Radiohead.
Dance move?
Anyways, more pictures to come I promise!

Apologies and Promises

Greetings everyone! I assume anyone who checks the blog regularly thinks I have probably already given up on it, but alas, I have not. I was waiting for someone, anyone, to make pictures available to me from our trip last weekend to Galway and The Cliffs of Moher. They still haven't so I thought I should update anyways.

Galway, for those of you rusty on your Irish geography, is a city on the west coast of Ireland. Basically the total opposite of Dublin, so a long bus ride straight across the country. The city is quite small, but completely wonderful. Galway is called the cultural capital of Ireland, and being there on a holiday weekend was great. We had so much fun, I think it was the trip that really solidified some friendships between our group. We spent some time shopping and wandering the city, and sampled the wonderful pub scene. It was a riot.

But the real gem of the trip was going to the cliffs. I can't wait to post pictures, but I know they won't do the real thing any sort of justice. Just an incredible feeling standing up there. I really can't describe how you feel so overwhelmed, yet so peaceful at the same time. Quite an experience, and one I'll get into more when I have pictures to show you.

This weekend we hung around Dublin. I really realized how much I love this city. Saturday Ali and I went downtown just because it was such an amazing day. The street performers were really on their game. My personal favorite is the guy who sits on a toilet wearing a cow mask and reading the paper. We had a nice lunch, walked around, got some ice cream, and sat in St. Stephen's Green taking in the sun. I really feel like I know my way around now, and it just feels so good to know that such a huge place can become familiar to even a country boy like me. I can imagine that soon enough it will feel like home.

Today I booked my first trip outside of Ireland. I'm going to take a long weekend. I'm going to London on Friday and spending the day/night there and then heading to The Netherlands. Amsterdam! Everyone says it's one of the must-see cities in all of Europe (and not just for the drugs and hookers!) so I'm very excited. Sunday night will probably be the highlight of my life, as I get to see my favorite band live in Amsterdam. The Hold Steady has given two of the most fun nights ever already, I can't imagine the third will be any different.

We're also working on a trip to Austria and Germany, but I don't know the details of that yet. I'm really looking forward to travelling outside of Ireland.

Work is good, life is good. I'm really happy here, and I hope you are all doing as well as I am in the comfort of America. One word of advice: don't take American food for granted. I would kill for a Grilled Stuffed Burrito right now. Also, it sucks not being able to watch The Tigers. It's the little things you miss.

Take care, I'll update again soon hopefully with pictures for you to enjoy!

The stiffy by the Liffey, and various other crude topics.

Alright, I haven't updated for awhile and haven't posted hardly any pictures. I don't know if I mentioned how my camera is basically busted, as the colors never turn out right and it's impossible to get the lighting right. So what I've decided to do is steal everyone else's pictures. They're better photographers anyway. We'll start with ones I actually did take, and you can see how the color and stuff is messed up. They are from a park called St. Stephen's Green, right in the middle of downtown Dublin. It's really beautiful, and the best thing is it's such a nice bit of natural beauty in the middle of the city. The place is huge! To see bigger versions just click on the pictures.




Now a few of the actual city. The big spike is as much a mystery to the Irish as it is to you and I. It is most commonly referred to as "the stiffy by the Liffey." Make of that what you will. It's right in the middle of O'Connell Street, the heart of the city. A good reference point for when you're lost.




And now for the good stuff, pictures from the pubs and bars. Look away if you're easily offended. This first one is Ashley and I at The Market Bar, where we went to dinner for Galena's birthday.

My buddy George was in town, so we rocked out at Doyles. We're pretty much regulars at Doyles.

Drinking in new and creative ways!
This is a large portion of the group. Left to right: Ali, Galena, Adam, Me, Molly, Ashley, and Dave. Believe it or not this was at a place called The Dragon, which was my first trip to a gay bar. It was an ungodly good time, aside from the insanely loud techno music.
Zenia, me, and some dude who apparently likes his picture taken with strangers.Dave, Steve, Molly, and I. I don't know what I'm doing.

Brian and I trying to figure out how to dance to the dope beats.

So anyways, today I started my first full week of work, and I'm really really excited. I'll be doing a lot of cool stuff, and will most likely be published in some shape or form by the time I leave here. That should be pretty decent for the resumé, eh? I still miss you guys, don't forget e-mails and comments are more than appreciated. I'll have a phone hopefully by the end of the week so maybe I'll be lucky enough to hear some of your lovely voices.

City life is not like normal life. Especially in Europe.

So today was a big day for me as I finally had my "interview" at the place where I'll be working. It was my first time venturing into the city alone, and I was very interested to see how I would manage. To get to the University College of Dublin I have to take two buses, it takes almost an hour and a half. It's not even that far but traffic here is ridiculous. I woke up at like 6:00am, ironed my clothes (first time ever, oh yeah baby!), and set out on my journey. I think the trick to this whole thing is pretending you know what's going on. If you pretend you've got the bull by the horns I believe you're much less likely to rubbish it all up. Worked for me! I made it to my interview early, which the Irish are not used to as they don't really seem to care about time. An interview scheduled for 10 to them means 10ish.

The great thing about the public transportation system is it offers world class people watching. You may have heard that Dublin is a pretty Americanized place. I have to disagree. Every day I'm surrounded by people speaking languages I am unable to identify, and very rarely have I heard American accents. Dublin is certainly less Irish than the rest of Ireland I suppose, but calling it Americanized is a bit silly. Though there are plenty of McDonald's.

Everywhere we go we definitely stand out as clueless Americans, and for the most part it's pretty funny. We've been laughed at more than a few times. I'm having so much fun. I have a feeling I'll never want to drink in any of the bars back home when I get back. It's just too awesome here.

I leave you with the first decent picture I've gotten my hands on. Notice my uncontrollable goofy grin. I'm happy, Guinness is delicious.

Ireland! Whoa.

Hey everyone, I made it. I got into Dublin at 5AM Wednesday and have been in a whirlwind of awesome ever since. Sadly I haven't taken many pictures, but we spent the whole day exploring downtown Dublin yesterday. It really is an incredible city, it's so fascinating for me to see so much history in one place. I've never seen so many people in my life! There are tons of tourists but if you want to avoid that and see the real Dubliners you can. We had orientation today and then a little welcome party later in the night at a place called "Club Chonradh Na Gaelge," which is almost literally a hole in the wall pub. They place has built their business around trying to keep the Irish language alive, which is used less and less by anyone anywhere despite the fact it's actually their official language. So anyway, you can't order a beer at this place unless you do so in Irish. We got a lesson in how to say some things from as real an Irishmen you'll ever find, followed by being taught how to sing a traditional Irish song. Singing was almost impossible as Irish is pretty much incomprehensible, but it was really incredible to be sitting in a pub in Dublin singing songs in Irish and drinking a Guinness. The song goes like this:

Tá nead ins an sliabh ag an Rógaire Dubh
'S ní ghabhfaidh sé an bóthar ach cóngar an chnoic

(The Black Rogue has a nest in the mountain,
And we won't go the road but by the short-cut of the hill)

That's the first verse anyways, I just wanted you to see what Irish looks like. We stuck around after that for awhile to listen to some Irish music and singing and then headed down to the Temple Bar district, which is the most famous pub in Dublin and an area of other pubs and whatnot. We had some beers at the Temple Bar, which was insanely packed, mostly with tourists. On my way to the bar I overheard someone talking about Michigan State. Turns out he goes to Western. Let me tell you, kids from Western suck at holding their booze.

Anyways, I suppose I got a bit ahead of myself. We are living in an area of Dublin to the north called Santry in a student apartment complex next to The University College of Dublin. I share a flat with two girls, one who is on the trip with us from MSU, and the other an Irish girl who I only met last night when we woke her up upon returning from the pubs. She has finals this week, but was really nice and I'm looking forward to her finishing up so we can make her show us the cool stuff to do around here.

The rumor that the Irish are the nicest people in the world could not be more true. I'm always worried that we'll be treated as annoying American tourists, because, well, that's what we are, but I've found that even the most hardcore intimidating Irishmen is generally the nicest guy in the world. I love the culture here. It's an oral culture, which means that you can strike up a conversation with anyone and you'll be laughing with them and slapping them on the back in no time. They don't take anyone seriously, including themselves. Everyone is always slagging on each other, as they call it.

Everyone on the trip with me has been great so far. There are still plenty of things to adjust to, but I think it's going to be a fun summer. That is, if I can control my spending so I don't go broke! Everything here is incredibly expensive thanks to their booming economy.

Here are some pictures of the apartment, hopefully I'll have pictures of more interesting stuff soon. I love you all, hope all is well with you and I'll update again soon.

Leave me comments, send me e-mails, shoot good vibes into the universe toward me, whatever floats your boat. I would appreciate it, as much fun as I'm having it is hard to be away from everyone and hearing from you would be great.

Inspiring people and why this blog is called "Dirty Old Town"

Quick update for the one week until departure mark.

I want to thank everyone who has helped me in preparing to go. Like I said before, this whole experience has already reminded me what incredible friends and family I have. People who really have no obligation or reason to help have shown me once again that there are some people in this world who are simply selfless and awesome, and that is a great thing to be reminded of.

I thought maybe I'd explain why this blog is called "Dirty Old Town" as I suppose it's kind of baffling to those who don't know. It's the title of an Irish song made popular by the amazing Pogues. Check the song out by playing the video below. Try to focus on the music and not how ugly Shane McGowan is.



This may be my last update before venturing abroad, so Godspeed everyone! I'll be going to a Tigers game this week with my best friends as sort of a farewell and then I'll be busy finishing up my preparations.

Love you all. Thanks again to everyone for being so cool to me.