Casting Call

As you may know, I am all alone for the next four days! I haven't gotten lonely yet, but I'm sure I will. There is hardly anyone in the apartments and the weather hasn't been too great, so I've been staying inside the past week (besides my trips to Galway and Cork). 

Yesterday, I checked my DCU e-mail and saw that there was an open casting call for all DCU students to be photographed around campus for the new prospectus (aka handbook), plus they would get paid €50 if they get chosen! Of course I went to the casting call. One thing that photographers love more than taking pictures is to have pictures taken of them (most of the time).

So I went, and I got a reusable bag filled with goodies! I love free stuff!

In the bag was a tiny box of cereal... I was so confused. Who puts cheap boxes of cereal into gift bags? (The cereal was delicious by the way)

And noodles. I hate ramen noodles. Even if they are super.

A chocolate rice crispie bar! They know me so well.

I also got this sample energy tablet. I definitely thought it was a condom at first.

And perfect travel-size lotion, which I was most excited about.

So, we'll see if I get an e-mail that I got chosen. If not, it's totally cool. I'm fine with all this great free stuff! I still think I'm a winner.

A Few Words of Irish

When Ryan and I went to Kilkenny, we got this great free map from the hostel. When we got back to Dublin, I hung it up in my room, along with my other maps.
I'm leaving in a little over a week and am starting to take down all the posters and pictures in my room. This is a 'before' picture of my map wall.

And the Kilkenny map.

And the reason why I'm posting this is because of the bottom half of the paper. It says, "A Few Words of Irish". Luckily for Ryan and I, we didn't have to use any of these phrases. That's a good thing, because some of them are pretty strange... and a little out-dated. I can't imagine anyone asking me, "Any chance for a kiss?!"

Here is your Gaelic lesson for today!

Irish..                                            What it Means...                         How to pronounce it.....

Dia Dhuit                                      Hello                                             Dee-a Gwit

Conas atá tú                                 How are you?                               Kunnas a-taw too?

Ar fheabhas ar fad!                       Great altogether!                         Er ow-ss er fod!

An bhfuil pionta uait?                  Do you fancy a pint?                    On will pyunta oo-it?

Beidh an-chraic againn               We'll have a right craic                 Beg on-crack a-gwing

Ba bhreá liom gan dabht!            I'd love one without a doubt!       Baw vra lum gon dowt!

Ceann eile b'fhéidir?                     Another one perhaps?                   Ki-own ella bay-der?

Táim as mo mheabhair ar          I'm out of my mind drunk           Time oss muh viower er     meisce                                                                                                    meshka

An rachfaimid ag rince?             Will we go for a dance?                On rock-ha-meed eg rinka?

Aon seans póga?                          Any chance for a kiss?                  Ain shance po-ga?

Ceol agus Craic                            Music & fun                                  Ke-ole og-uss crack

Ól agus Craic                               Drink & fun                                   Ole og-uss crack

Go n-eirí an bother leat               May the road rise before you       Guh ny-ree on bo-hir lat

                                                           (Good luck)

Things I Will Miss About Ireland

My time here is coming to a close and I am starting to realize a few things that I will miss about being here. Now, these are just a few things off the top of my head, not all of them. Like I said, I am a very lazy busy girl! I don't have time to blog all the time!

1. I will miss the accents. Irish accents are so dreamy, I tell you. When Rose and I were in Barcelona, the last day was spent making fun of people and sleeping in the airport. After five days in a terrible city that made us hate our lives, we were SO ready to go home. At first in the airport, we spent a few hours sleeping in a deserted area with chairs, but later made our way to some benches near a cafe and the terminals. Rose looked at me and said something about how we picked a terrific spot to sit. I was confused... until I heard the family behind us, speaking with Irish accents! Literally the best sound in the world! I will always associate Irish accents with happy times (and Spanish accents with horrible times... but that is another story).

2. I will miss how everyone uses reusable bags here. I haven't seen a plastic bag in so long and I love it. We've seen older ladies drag small suitcase-like bags on wheels throughout stores and they are just so convenient!

3. I will miss having my own bathroom. It's a small convenience but it makes being a hermit so easy!

4. I will miss all this free time. I have had so much "me time" over the last four months and it has been absolutely wonderful. I thrive on alone time. Especially since classes have ended, there isn't a lot to do around here in Santry, so I've taken advantage of it by sleeping in, catching up on Lost and doing a lot of reading and writing!

5. I will miss living in Dublin! I love Dublin! I love it so much I almost want to get James Joyce's quote, "When I die Dublin will be written in my heart" tattooed on me somewhere. I have a long list of things I love about Dublin in my head and may blog about it someday, but for now I'll keep it short. I will miss this city a lot.

And of course I have to write about things I will not miss!

1. I will not miss my living situation at all! Sure, it's really nice having my own room and bathroom and huge window (I'm a sucker for natural light), but it has not been made up for with our terrible Spanish flatmates. They are disgusting, lazy, loud and do not clean up their messes in the kitchen. They also stalked us on Twitter for some time, but that is another story. I know I speak for Rose when I say that they are the absolute worst flatmates we have ever stayed with and we have many, many stories to back that up.

2. I will not miss the weather. We have only seen a handful of beautiful, sunny days since we've been here. Other than that, it is always cloudy, usually rainy, and sometimes cold. It is amazing how the weather can affect your day.

3. I will not miss how much traveling I've done the last four months. I'm talking about actual traveling, the process, the in-transit, the airplane rides and train rides and walking with heavy suitcases to the hostel. That part absolutely stinks. I have had my fill of airplane rides for a while and am really not looking forward to my 8-hour plane ride back to the US.

4. I will not miss how everything is in Euros here. The exchange rate isn't that good (but it's better than the British Pound), so everything is a little bit more expensive. I've spent so much money while I've been here and I am looking forward to saving some money this summer.

5. I will not miss how far away I am from my family and friends! I am 3600 miles away from southeast Wisconsin and six hours ahead. It sometimes seems so unreal that I'm this far away from home, and I will be so happy to be back in good old Wisconsin soon.

Worst Flatmates Ever

This post had it coming. Yes, I am going to write about my terrible Spanish flatmates! One of my very first posts was about how the two of them are terribly loud and always slam their doors, but it has gotten way worse since then. 
As a precursor, read this post that my wonderful American flatmate wrote! http://thegrasshoppersmermaid.blogspot.com/2012/04/we-draw-line-at-two-bags.html

As some of you may know, Rose and I don't use the kitchen all that often. I'm a terrible cook to begin with so I usually make sandwiches, pasta in the microwave or cereal and yogurt. Easy stuff to make. Rose is the same way. We have never used the stove or oven, only take up two shelves and a door shelf in the refrigerator and we store all of our food in our room.
This story stemmed from when I wanted to make brownies in the oven on Monday night. My mom had Ryan bring me four brownie packets and oven-save containers and I was absolutely craving brownies! (Although I have to admit, I was sad that I couldn't just make them in the microwave...) When I opened the oven, this is what I found.

Disgusting, right?! I don't want to make brownies in their mess! So I knock on one of their doors, ask her to come to the kitchen, and I explain why she should clean the oven. It's their mess. Anyway she agrees and says she'll clean it within the next day or two. That was MONDAY. It has now been a week and it's still not clean.
Tangent: Speaking of messes, while Rose was cleaning the microwave she found this underneath.

And this in the refrigerator.

Like I said, Rose and I only use the top two shelves in there and one drawer shelf. But you're with me when I say that this is disgusting, right?!

Rose put signs up in the kitchen asking them to clean these areas. They are clearly not our messes and we just want to live in a clean space! When they were in the kitchen, I went out and asked the girl if she would clean the oven today. 

It's been a week since I asked you and it still isn't clean, I said. 

She rolled her eyes and shrugged, saying Maybe today...maybe tomorrow.

I'm sorry, are you 15?! Rolling your eyes is so immature and aggravating! (I should know... sorry, Mom) I asked her again, Will you please clean the oven? It is disgusting and I just want to use it to make brownies.

She smirked and said, again, Maybe. If we have time today.

Are you kidding me?! How old are you?? I ask you to do one thing that is way over due and you act like you're still in high school!

I told her, Alright if you don't clean it I will e-mail Annand (our landlord) and you'll be stuck with a fine.

She shrugged and said Ok.

Which is fine by me. I hope they get fined because of their messes. Rose and I don't use the kitchen because it is so terribly gross and messy. There are always oil spots on the counters, sauce splattered across the cabinets and long, black hair clumps on the floor.

This one episode is one of many, and every time Rose and I keep getting more and more annoyed with them. We have had multiple problems with their cleanliness and loudness and we caught them multiple times smoking in the apartment. I've had to put my towel wedged beneath my door to keep the smoke from coming in my room, because smoke travels. They are by far the worst flatmates I have ever had.

I have had it with them. But, karma will do it's job and they will get what's coming to them.

Tiergarten & Holocaust Memorial

On our way back from seeing the Berlin Victory Column, Rose and I walked through Tiergarten.

Tiergarten is the German word for Animal Garden and it takes up a huge part of west Berlin. The roundabout in the center of the map is the Victory Column.

It reminded me so much of Central Park in New York City. There were tall, beautiful trees all around, a river running through, and various statues throughout the park.

This is the Beethoven - Haydn - Mozart Monument, also called the Composers Memorial.

Here I am standing in front of Mozart (we go way back... and by that I mean I used to play his Eine Kleine Nachtmusik and Turkish March. No joke!)

I used to play this song on the piano too... but like ten times slower. This is Sonata in C major.

Rose and I then walked a short ways to the Holocaust Memorial. Wait, let me correct myself. This was actually called the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe.

Pretty blunt, don't you think?

We thought it was just a bunch of solid, gray blocks scattered around a courtyard between apartment buildings...

But the ground was actually leveled off a few feet lower than the sidewalk and the gray blocks were really, really tall. We were pretty impressed with this memorial.

This ends my Berlin experience. Berlin was pretty cool! Probably my second favorite trip besides Krakow.

Berlin Cathedral, Brandenburg Gate & Victory Column

I guess I should update my blog on Berlin. I'm sorry that I'm such a lazy, lazy, lazy busy, busy, busy girl and that I have had no time to write a blog post that is way overdue.

Procrastination should be my middle name.

Anyway, here are some sights that we saw the first full day we spent in Berlin. 

We saw a lot of the Berlin Cathedral.

And here in the background the round ball on a spire that sorta looks like the Seattle Needle is the Fernsehturm, or the Berlin Television Tower.

  We visited the Brandenburg Gate.

And made our way to the Victory Column, or Siegessäule in German.

The Berlin Wall -- Part Three

The other side of the Berlin Wall faced the street and this is what some of the paintings looked like.