the other side of the coin
I've just finished my first week of classes here. Well, actually I finished yesterday; my weekend begins on Thursday evening this term. Looks like the work will be a good mix of things I'm comfortable with and things I have no idea about. There'll be a lot of learning to do, and I'm excited about the program. Except for the fact that I have 8 am classes 4 days a week. I haven't had a single 8 am class since my freshman days at the good ol' U of A. I can manage. On the bright side, I get to take both Medieval Latin and Old English. Why do I need to know two completely dead languages, you ask? Well, I don't know. But I'm very excited about both.
In other news, I finally bought a sports hall membership today. The big holdup had been finding flip-flops to use in the showers in the sports hall. You wouldn't believe how scarce they are here. I have them now, and I have my membership. I'm sure that having both will add a little more motivation for me to go over there and work out a couple of times per week. It's a good place with plenty of equipment and room to work out. I like it a lot.
But on to business. Ok, here's the thing: I have some pictures of St. Stephen's Green, the city park in Dublin, that I was thinking of posting this time. However, if my quiet neighborhood and the serene scenes of the canal were a little misleading in their presentation of Dublin, the St. Stephen's pictures would just be a flat out lie at this point. So, I've decided to post a few grittier pictures to balance the scales against the last batch. I noticed the word "beautiful" appeared a few times in the comments and rightly so, but in my opinion, this place has nothing on the foothills of St. Clair County for scenery (see Waldrop Road), but I might be a little biased.
In the interest of honesty, here are a few pictures to flesh out your picture of Dublin a little more clearly:
I should probably start with these. They've pretty much been somewhere within a hundred yards of the point where my road meets the main road into City Centre since I arrived. They were at my back when I took the lovely picture of the quiet red-brick neighborhood I'll call home for the next 9 months. The barricades and destruction do move around because these work crews actually seem to be getting things done (and faster than the crews on 20/59 west of B'ham). This pic shows where they are this week. See that stuff on the ground there? It's gravel and dirt, not sidewalk.
This is a view down an average street along my path. You can see the big green dome of the Rathmines parish church in on the left at the horizon. I pass several areas on my way to school: my quite street, this area, a sterile and stuffy business park (with plenty of Starbucks), the city park, and an upscale downtown shopping area. I actually quite like this place because it seems "lived in" to me. Lotsa small ethnic grocery stores, green grocers, and just normal stuff. But I can admit it's not much to look at, so it fits the bill for today's post.
Speaking of ethnic grocery stores, this little place in the middle with the white sign and Arabic writing was a Mediterranean and Middle Eastern store about two blocks away from my house. One day I dropped in to check it out and found a group of four inspectors of some sort giving the owner the rundown. Next day, store's closed. I don't think it's coming back either. Oh, and I ate at that place called Oregano once (far right). Decent pizza, close to home, and not too expensive.
This pile of concrete and glass is my building at school which is unimaginatively called the Arts Building. Please don't let the lawn and sculpture distract you from its ugliness, and believe me when I say it's even worse on the inside. I'm not sure that I know how to describe the ceilings, its worst interior feature, but I'll try. They're concrete formed into squares roughly the size of ceiling tiles, and each square has a hollowed out center that rises about a foot higher than the level of the ceiling, giving the whole industrial-looking arrangement a bizarre honeycomb effect. Except they're not hexagonal but square. I told you it is hard to explain. I'll try to get pictures of that too. Probably someday when I'm frustrated at my school.
Interesting tidbit: that sign in the picture reads "Keep off the Grass" or something to that effect (perhaps the same sentiment in Irish). They zealously guard each patch of grass on the campus. We have quads; we just can't use them. We have to keep them nice and green for the tourists, I suppose.
Now, I think I've thoroughly dispelled any paradisical notions about this place. But just in case I haven't, how do you feel about warm sodas and paying almost 9 bucks to wash a load of laundary?
Coming attractions:
*An explanation of the morbid-sounding name of my blog. It's nothing earth-shaking, I just didn't want any of you to think that I had taken to harming birds for some reason.
*The St. Stephen's Green pics. It's a beautiful place. That's why I couldn't post it right after posting other nice pictures.
*A killer recipe for squash croquettes.
*A tone that's less cynical and pessimistic. Contrary to the tone of the current post, things are going great here. I'm meeting/hanging out with people and getting things done. Thanks for your prayers, and thanks for checking in on this little place every now and then.
In other news, I finally bought a sports hall membership today. The big holdup had been finding flip-flops to use in the showers in the sports hall. You wouldn't believe how scarce they are here. I have them now, and I have my membership. I'm sure that having both will add a little more motivation for me to go over there and work out a couple of times per week. It's a good place with plenty of equipment and room to work out. I like it a lot.
But on to business. Ok, here's the thing: I have some pictures of St. Stephen's Green, the city park in Dublin, that I was thinking of posting this time. However, if my quiet neighborhood and the serene scenes of the canal were a little misleading in their presentation of Dublin, the St. Stephen's pictures would just be a flat out lie at this point. So, I've decided to post a few grittier pictures to balance the scales against the last batch. I noticed the word "beautiful" appeared a few times in the comments and rightly so, but in my opinion, this place has nothing on the foothills of St. Clair County for scenery (see Waldrop Road), but I might be a little biased.
In the interest of honesty, here are a few pictures to flesh out your picture of Dublin a little more clearly:
I should probably start with these. They've pretty much been somewhere within a hundred yards of the point where my road meets the main road into City Centre since I arrived. They were at my back when I took the lovely picture of the quiet red-brick neighborhood I'll call home for the next 9 months. The barricades and destruction do move around because these work crews actually seem to be getting things done (and faster than the crews on 20/59 west of B'ham). This pic shows where they are this week. See that stuff on the ground there? It's gravel and dirt, not sidewalk.
This is a view down an average street along my path. You can see the big green dome of the Rathmines parish church in on the left at the horizon. I pass several areas on my way to school: my quite street, this area, a sterile and stuffy business park (with plenty of Starbucks), the city park, and an upscale downtown shopping area. I actually quite like this place because it seems "lived in" to me. Lotsa small ethnic grocery stores, green grocers, and just normal stuff. But I can admit it's not much to look at, so it fits the bill for today's post.
Speaking of ethnic grocery stores, this little place in the middle with the white sign and Arabic writing was a Mediterranean and Middle Eastern store about two blocks away from my house. One day I dropped in to check it out and found a group of four inspectors of some sort giving the owner the rundown. Next day, store's closed. I don't think it's coming back either. Oh, and I ate at that place called Oregano once (far right). Decent pizza, close to home, and not too expensive.
This pile of concrete and glass is my building at school which is unimaginatively called the Arts Building. Please don't let the lawn and sculpture distract you from its ugliness, and believe me when I say it's even worse on the inside. I'm not sure that I know how to describe the ceilings, its worst interior feature, but I'll try. They're concrete formed into squares roughly the size of ceiling tiles, and each square has a hollowed out center that rises about a foot higher than the level of the ceiling, giving the whole industrial-looking arrangement a bizarre honeycomb effect. Except they're not hexagonal but square. I told you it is hard to explain. I'll try to get pictures of that too. Probably someday when I'm frustrated at my school.Interesting tidbit: that sign in the picture reads "Keep off the Grass" or something to that effect (perhaps the same sentiment in Irish). They zealously guard each patch of grass on the campus. We have quads; we just can't use them. We have to keep them nice and green for the tourists, I suppose.
Now, I think I've thoroughly dispelled any paradisical notions about this place. But just in case I haven't, how do you feel about warm sodas and paying almost 9 bucks to wash a load of laundary?
Coming attractions:
*An explanation of the morbid-sounding name of my blog. It's nothing earth-shaking, I just didn't want any of you to think that I had taken to harming birds for some reason.
*The St. Stephen's Green pics. It's a beautiful place. That's why I couldn't post it right after posting other nice pictures.
*A killer recipe for squash croquettes.
*A tone that's less cynical and pessimistic. Contrary to the tone of the current post, things are going great here. I'm meeting/hanging out with people and getting things done. Thanks for your prayers, and thanks for checking in on this little place every now and then.
posted by Gabriel | Friday, October 13, 2006
2 Comments:
I think it's just the wrong time of year for finding flip-flops. Most stores have probably taken them off their shelves for now. I finally found them in the form of "pool shoes" at sporting goods stores, but even at that I had to go to a few stores to get them in my size.
The temp is, well, I don't know exactly. Pretty warm. I slept with the window open last night because they have turned the radiators on within the last week, and I went around yesterday in short sleeves.
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