Only in Ireland...

Will you...

1. Get confused because ham is called bacon, and bacon is called rashers, but only sometimes. 

2. Not be able to find normal flavored potato chips, ANYWHERE.  The only three flavors of chips, or should I say, crisps, are sour cream and onion, cheese and onion, or bacon. 

3. find these (note the flavor):

(they don't taste very good)

3. hear amazing and talented musicians play live at pubs any day of the week. 

4. Walk down a street and run into this: 

5. Notice a lot of people wearing track suits with the bottoms of their pants tucked into their socks.  Be told these are the thugs of Cork and that they are to be avoided. 

6. Wake up to this every morning: 

Dia duit!

Conas atá tú?

Confused?  I would be too.  The language I'm speaking in in Irish, a Celtic dialect.  I'm taking classes over here to learn the basics of the language, it's very difficult but enjoyable.  The title of this blog "dia duit" means 'hello', and translates literally into 'May God bless you'.  "Conas atá tú?" means 'how are you?'.  I thought that whenever I blog I could include a little bit of what I've been learning.  I'm getting tons of information on the Irish culture, identity, history and language every day, and as a representative of our big Irish clan, I figure it's my job to keep you all educated too.  I'll conclude this small lesson by teaching you the responses to both of the phrases I used earlier.  A typical greeting would look like this:

Hello!
Dia Duit!  (May god bless you)
dee-ah dwit 


Hello.
Dia is Muire duit. (May God and [The Virgin] Mary bless you)
dee-ah is Mwir-ah dwit 

How are you?
Conas atá tú?
kunas ah-taaw two 


I'm well.
Tá mé go maith.
taaw may guh mah 
-or-
I'm not so well.
Nil mé go maith.
kneel may guh mah 


The pronunciations are weird, aren't they?  Whenever he has us speak out loud I always catch myself speaking with a French accent, which isn't entirely inappropriate since the language is so guttural.  Anyways!  Go forth and speak Irish.  Here are some more pictures of town and campus.

 O'Coneills has the best hot chocolate in town!  (Seriously, it's liquid Hershey's) 

Ireland!

I'm back after a very long hiatus!  Ironic that my last post was about Halloween, a holiday we got from the Irish.  I'm going to talk about what I've done so far through the pictures I've taken.

 I was lucky enough to see a rainbow on my first day in Cork! 

This is the walk into downtown Cork from the university and where I'm living. 

Downtown Cork.  I've heard that when the drunken Irish are feeling particularly boisterous they like to jump in the fountain on the right. 

As you can see from all of these pictures, it has been rainy most days in Cork.  The natives call it "The Wet" and it really is wet ALL THE TIME.  I feel like I live in a puddle.  I love it here but the constant dampness is definitely something I'm going to have to get used to.  

We were treated to a very nice dinner at this place (I already forget the name) and the weather was beautiful for about 3 hours!!  Which was lucky because this place was full of photo-ops. 

This one's for Mom.  Yes, all the flowers were real. 

This is the only picture of campus that I've taken so far, but there will be more to come!  Half of the buildings look like Hogwarts and the other half look super modern, it's a very cool place.  

I love and miss everyone!! I am however having a great time here and hope to have lots more stories to tell!