38 Mt Charles
Belfast, Belfast BT7, UK
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Paddy's Day Thought
Interesting thought:
Compare St. Patrick's life and ministry with how people celebrate the day to commemorate him. Hmmm...
Compare St. Patrick's life and ministry with how people celebrate the day to commemorate him. Hmmm...
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Long Time, No.... Write?
Yes, yes. I know it's been over a week. I'm sorry. I was busy with moving all this last week, but that is over now, and I finally have internet again, so here you go.
Alright, well, Monday is when I officially moved in to Mt. Charles. It is great! I can already tell a difference. I'm so grateful I was able to move here! I do have TONS of laundry to do, though. In fact, the past couple days I've had to resort to wearing this pair of flats I have that I can wear barefooted because I ran out of clean socks. How pathetic is that? Yeesh. Haha!
The plans for spring break are coming along nicely. Our itinerary for Paris has changed a bit because a friend here, Julia, will be home in the south of France while we are there, so we're going to spend half of our "Paris time" in Bordeaux with her family. Her parents have a vineyard and Julia said that pretty much anywhere you go there are vineyards. Plus, everyone I've talked to just raves and raves at the beauty of southern France, so I am very excited, indeed!
Yesterday I celebrated St. Patrick's Day. In Ireland. How cool is that? They call it "Paddy's Day" over here. We actually had off of school for it. Can you believe it? There was a parade downtown yesterday, and we all went to that. It was so great! My absent-minded self forgot to take my camera, but I have friends who did. Hopefully I can get copies of their photos and pass them on to you all.
After the parade, I really wanted a Shamrock Shake from McDonald's. Since Ally rented a car for a friend who is here to visit, we were able to drive to a McDonald's. Ally's friend, Elaine, was going to go, too, but she was not feeling well and decided to stay at home. So, the party began with Ally, me, and this Chinese guy Siqi (who lives next door and originally introduced himself to me as "Steve," but I soon discovered the truth - haha!). Ally wanted to stop by College Gardens (another Queen's residential area) to see if her friend Rachel wanted to come. Rachel wasn't at home, but on our way back to the car, I was about to mention that Nicolas (my Belgian friend whose house we are staying at in Brussels) lives somewhere down that street, too, when I turned around and happened to see him walking behind us. Haha! He was going back to his place to grab a sweater and then meet up with some other people, but we kidnapped him instead. Hehehe
The actual McDonald's part turned out to be very disappointing, though. First, I was going to order a Big Mac - as I had been craving one for quite some time, now - but Ally really wanted the toy out of a Happy Meal, so I said I'd get one for her and just have a regular hamburger. Well, apparently the hamburgers in Happy Meals are not the same as regular hamburgers. It was literally a patty smacked in between two dry buns. Aboslutely nothing else. I was not the happiest of campers. Plus, the toy turned out to be pretty crappy, as well, so Ally was disappointed, too. Furthermore, THEY DIDN'T HAVE SHAMROCK SHAKES!!!! What kind of McDonald's - ESPECIALLY in Ireland - is it that doesn't have Shamrock shakes in March, or at least on St. Patrick's day itself! Sniff sniff. My hopes were utterly dashed. It wasn't a total loss, though, but the car ride itself was fun, and Nicolas let me have a bite of his Big Mac. Yumm! That was pretty much my excitement for the day. :)
Today I went to accounting tutorial, met with my group about our project, went grocery shopping, visited the Science Library to research and study a while on my new Mathematical Investigations project, and then came home to finally have internet access. It's very nice to feel connected again with the rest of the world. :)
I have an excursion planned with interstudy (my study abroad program) this weekend. I believe we will be visiting Killarney and Cork and also going kayaking and hiking or something along those lines. It should be a nice break. Hopefully I won't feel too guilty about all the work I could be doing so that I can actually enjoy my time there. It'll be good, though. I'm looking forward to it. :)
That's it for now. I'll write again when I have more or when I can, whichever works. Sorry it's been so long!
Alright, well, Monday is when I officially moved in to Mt. Charles. It is great! I can already tell a difference. I'm so grateful I was able to move here! I do have TONS of laundry to do, though. In fact, the past couple days I've had to resort to wearing this pair of flats I have that I can wear barefooted because I ran out of clean socks. How pathetic is that? Yeesh. Haha!
The plans for spring break are coming along nicely. Our itinerary for Paris has changed a bit because a friend here, Julia, will be home in the south of France while we are there, so we're going to spend half of our "Paris time" in Bordeaux with her family. Her parents have a vineyard and Julia said that pretty much anywhere you go there are vineyards. Plus, everyone I've talked to just raves and raves at the beauty of southern France, so I am very excited, indeed!
Yesterday I celebrated St. Patrick's Day. In Ireland. How cool is that? They call it "Paddy's Day" over here. We actually had off of school for it. Can you believe it? There was a parade downtown yesterday, and we all went to that. It was so great! My absent-minded self forgot to take my camera, but I have friends who did. Hopefully I can get copies of their photos and pass them on to you all.
After the parade, I really wanted a Shamrock Shake from McDonald's. Since Ally rented a car for a friend who is here to visit, we were able to drive to a McDonald's. Ally's friend, Elaine, was going to go, too, but she was not feeling well and decided to stay at home. So, the party began with Ally, me, and this Chinese guy Siqi (who lives next door and originally introduced himself to me as "Steve," but I soon discovered the truth - haha!). Ally wanted to stop by College Gardens (another Queen's residential area) to see if her friend Rachel wanted to come. Rachel wasn't at home, but on our way back to the car, I was about to mention that Nicolas (my Belgian friend whose house we are staying at in Brussels) lives somewhere down that street, too, when I turned around and happened to see him walking behind us. Haha! He was going back to his place to grab a sweater and then meet up with some other people, but we kidnapped him instead. Hehehe
The actual McDonald's part turned out to be very disappointing, though. First, I was going to order a Big Mac - as I had been craving one for quite some time, now - but Ally really wanted the toy out of a Happy Meal, so I said I'd get one for her and just have a regular hamburger. Well, apparently the hamburgers in Happy Meals are not the same as regular hamburgers. It was literally a patty smacked in between two dry buns. Aboslutely nothing else. I was not the happiest of campers. Plus, the toy turned out to be pretty crappy, as well, so Ally was disappointed, too. Furthermore, THEY DIDN'T HAVE SHAMROCK SHAKES!!!! What kind of McDonald's - ESPECIALLY in Ireland - is it that doesn't have Shamrock shakes in March, or at least on St. Patrick's day itself! Sniff sniff. My hopes were utterly dashed. It wasn't a total loss, though, but the car ride itself was fun, and Nicolas let me have a bite of his Big Mac. Yumm! That was pretty much my excitement for the day. :)
Today I went to accounting tutorial, met with my group about our project, went grocery shopping, visited the Science Library to research and study a while on my new Mathematical Investigations project, and then came home to finally have internet access. It's very nice to feel connected again with the rest of the world. :)
I have an excursion planned with interstudy (my study abroad program) this weekend. I believe we will be visiting Killarney and Cork and also going kayaking and hiking or something along those lines. It should be a nice break. Hopefully I won't feel too guilty about all the work I could be doing so that I can actually enjoy my time there. It'll be good, though. I'm looking forward to it. :)
That's it for now. I'll write again when I have more or when I can, whichever works. Sorry it's been so long!
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
The Developing Nest
So, last night we had a meeting of The Nest... part 2. We had started a French movie last Wednesday, but the subtitles got screwed up, so we met again last night to finish it. It was really funny. I liked it a lot!
We only had probably 20 minutes of the film left, though, so it was still rather early when we finished. We decided to watch another, and once Jurassic Park III was chosen, Laurent (Belgian) proposed a drinking game for the movie-watching. He and a couple others went out to buy some cider, and when they returned, we began. The idea was to take a drink every time you saw a dinosaur. Haha. Wow, right? No worries; nobody got drunk or even remotely close, as far as I could tell. It was just an excuse to have some alcohol, which they do here. A lot. Haha.
There was a particularly funny part, though. For those of you who haven't seen the movie, there's this part where the people are trapped on the island with the dinosaurs, but they have a satellite phone. The main guy calls a trusted friend of his, but it's her three-year-old son who answers the phone. He scampers off to "give the phone to Mommy" as he's told. In the process, he is distracted by the television in the next room. What do you think is on? Barney. Of course, everyone in the Nest was then like, "Oh! It's a dinosaur! It counts!" Haha. Silly silly. It was a fun night, though, for sure! :)
I have plans to make dinner with my friend Iris tomorrow. I'm looking forward to that. I'm a big fan of hers. She was born in the Netherlands but lived most of her life in France. She's my Grey's Anatomy buddy - we watch it together online. We've had some pretty fantastic conversations, too. I really appreciate her. For reals! :D
Well, I desperately need to go grocery shopping. I've been putting it off for so long because I had so much to get in the first place (because I let it go too long since my last trip to Tesco). Funny thing, though. The longer I put it off, the more things I run out of and need to buy. Geez. If I really want to re-stock my cabinet, I'll need to make 2 or 3 trips, I am sure. Today, I think I'm just going for the essentials: milk, bread, noodles, frozen pizzas, etc. Lol!
Well, so long. Farewell. Auf wiedersehen. Adieu.
Adieu, adieu, to yieu and yieu and yieu.
beet deedle-deedle-deet deet deet deeee,
beet deedle-deedle-deet deee. ;D
We only had probably 20 minutes of the film left, though, so it was still rather early when we finished. We decided to watch another, and once Jurassic Park III was chosen, Laurent (Belgian) proposed a drinking game for the movie-watching. He and a couple others went out to buy some cider, and when they returned, we began. The idea was to take a drink every time you saw a dinosaur. Haha. Wow, right? No worries; nobody got drunk or even remotely close, as far as I could tell. It was just an excuse to have some alcohol, which they do here. A lot. Haha.
There was a particularly funny part, though. For those of you who haven't seen the movie, there's this part where the people are trapped on the island with the dinosaurs, but they have a satellite phone. The main guy calls a trusted friend of his, but it's her three-year-old son who answers the phone. He scampers off to "give the phone to Mommy" as he's told. In the process, he is distracted by the television in the next room. What do you think is on? Barney. Of course, everyone in the Nest was then like, "Oh! It's a dinosaur! It counts!" Haha. Silly silly. It was a fun night, though, for sure! :)
I have plans to make dinner with my friend Iris tomorrow. I'm looking forward to that. I'm a big fan of hers. She was born in the Netherlands but lived most of her life in France. She's my Grey's Anatomy buddy - we watch it together online. We've had some pretty fantastic conversations, too. I really appreciate her. For reals! :D
Well, I desperately need to go grocery shopping. I've been putting it off for so long because I had so much to get in the first place (because I let it go too long since my last trip to Tesco). Funny thing, though. The longer I put it off, the more things I run out of and need to buy. Geez. If I really want to re-stock my cabinet, I'll need to make 2 or 3 trips, I am sure. Today, I think I'm just going for the essentials: milk, bread, noodles, frozen pizzas, etc. Lol!
Well, so long. Farewell. Auf wiedersehen. Adieu.
Adieu, adieu, to yieu and yieu and yieu.
beet deedle-deedle-deet deet deet deeee,
beet deedle-deedle-deet deee. ;D
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Nothing to Report
I'm not neglecting you all, again. I simply haven't really done anything the last several days except sleep and homework. Bleh for the homework! (Mmmm for the sleep).
I hope all is well in your corners of the world!
I hope all is well in your corners of the world!
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Move!!
It is official! I am moving to Mt. Charles in about two weeks! Hooray!
I told Melissa - my German neighbor - about how I was trying to move but that I was really sad to leave her, and she was just like, "I'll move, too!" She moves in next week into a place in Mt. Charles 26 I had been offered. It's an en-suite room, tho, so it is more expensive. I told accommodation that I would prefer to not have to pay more, if I didn't have to. Melissa actually will prefer the en-suite (personal toilet and shower, I believe), so that's good. There is a guy from the Czech Republic living in Mt. Charles 38 (where my friends Jen, Ally, and Rosie live.... oh, and my French friend Maeva lives there, too!!) who is only here for a couple more weeks because that's when his studies finish. Once he moves out, I move in. :D I'm really excited!
I'm thinking I may just start moving my stuff over already, unofficially, of course. It's just that I spend most of my time over there anyway, including spending the night, and it's so much closer to my school building, it'd just be easier to have my bathroom stuff and such with me already. Plus, the more I gradually move now, the less I have to lug all at once when the official day arrives. But oh man, am I excited!!!
Last night a group of us got together and made supper. I offered to make tacos for everyone, but when I went grocery shopping, the pickings were rather slim. It ended up being a sort of wrap/fajita/taco thing, but I guess it tasted fine, so that's good. After that, we went to what we are now calling "The Nest." Basically, Ally has the hugest bedroom in house (probably the size of two regular rooms), and she has inherited a great deal of people's pillows and comforters and such from when they moved out. So, every week we set it all up into a comfy nest and watch a movie. I think I mentioned this before. (Last week we watched The Princess Bride). We watched a French movie last night, but we were unable to finish it because something got messed up with it. I didn't really understand what. The half we did see, however, was very good. It was so funny! I think we're going to try and insert an extra meeting of The Nest before next week in order to finish it. Tonight, perhaps? I don't know. But yes. That's the fabulous Nest. Be jealous. ;)
Talk to ya soon!
I told Melissa - my German neighbor - about how I was trying to move but that I was really sad to leave her, and she was just like, "I'll move, too!" She moves in next week into a place in Mt. Charles 26 I had been offered. It's an en-suite room, tho, so it is more expensive. I told accommodation that I would prefer to not have to pay more, if I didn't have to. Melissa actually will prefer the en-suite (personal toilet and shower, I believe), so that's good. There is a guy from the Czech Republic living in Mt. Charles 38 (where my friends Jen, Ally, and Rosie live.... oh, and my French friend Maeva lives there, too!!) who is only here for a couple more weeks because that's when his studies finish. Once he moves out, I move in. :D I'm really excited!
I'm thinking I may just start moving my stuff over already, unofficially, of course. It's just that I spend most of my time over there anyway, including spending the night, and it's so much closer to my school building, it'd just be easier to have my bathroom stuff and such with me already. Plus, the more I gradually move now, the less I have to lug all at once when the official day arrives. But oh man, am I excited!!!
Last night a group of us got together and made supper. I offered to make tacos for everyone, but when I went grocery shopping, the pickings were rather slim. It ended up being a sort of wrap/fajita/taco thing, but I guess it tasted fine, so that's good. After that, we went to what we are now calling "The Nest." Basically, Ally has the hugest bedroom in house (probably the size of two regular rooms), and she has inherited a great deal of people's pillows and comforters and such from when they moved out. So, every week we set it all up into a comfy nest and watch a movie. I think I mentioned this before. (Last week we watched The Princess Bride). We watched a French movie last night, but we were unable to finish it because something got messed up with it. I didn't really understand what. The half we did see, however, was very good. It was so funny! I think we're going to try and insert an extra meeting of The Nest before next week in order to finish it. Tonight, perhaps? I don't know. But yes. That's the fabulous Nest. Be jealous. ;)
Talk to ya soon!
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
First Almost-All-Nighter
So, I have this rather large project due for my Mathematical Investigations class tomorrow. Well, the written report is due tomorrow, and the group presentation is due Friday. Basically, we were given this really vague problem and told to "expand" it. We've been investigating and researching the problem for the past two weeks, plus this week to write the report and form a presentation.
I had not really started compiling my work and/or thoughts for the report by last evening, as I had been focusing most of my time since this weekend on Accounting. Last night, I was talking to my friend Laura (my former roommate who is studying at Oxford this semester) online, and she said she had a lot of work to do, too. We made a deal to break apart for half an hour of dedicated work, and then we'd meet back up again to see how far we each had gotten. Well, usually getting started is the hardest part for me, but once I get going, I'm on a roll. I guess the same thing happened with Laura because we each only gave a quick update to the other and then went back to work.
I think I was hashing out the report for about 6 hours last night. All I remember is that it was some time in the early morning when decided to call it a night. Thankfully, I have most of the work done, now. All I have left to do is edit, make sure my proofs are justified, and email the finished document to myself so I can go print it out in the library. Hooray!!
So, it was almost an all-nighter (which would have been my first thus far this semester). In fact, I was trying to get my brain to calm down so I thought I'd read a bit before going to sleep. I ended up lost in the story until 5:00 am, and I had a 9:00 class this morning! (I'm currently reading Mansfield Park by Jane Austen. My brother gave me this amazing Jane Austen volume containing all her wonderful tales, and I've been going through that this semester). It was probably not the best of plans, but I do have most of my report to show for it. All in all, successful night! :)
I am still waiting to hear about moving to Mt. Charles. I've been told by several different people that the key is persistence. While I feel rude for slightly nagging, I figure it must be necessary to accomplish my goal. I just hope they know I don't mean to be rude or a pain. :/ Oh well.
I think the group from last Wednesday is meeting again tonight to make dinner, so that will be fun. I offered to make tacos. We shall see what people think. Afterwards, I think we're starting a tradition of watching a movie in Ally's room. Last week it was The Princess Bride. This week we asked Herve, a Belgian guy, to pick a famous French movie for us (Princess Bride was in English, we American's language, so it's only fair we rotate).
Oh, here's some big news! I found out a few days ago that my friend Morgan from CCU (a former roommate of mine who got married last summer) is now pregnant! How exciting! I'm hoping to be able to make it back out to Colorado in time for her baby shower this summer. I've never had a pregnant friend before. I'm so excited, and I'm not even the one having the baby! Woo hoo!! Congratulations, Morgan! :D
Alright, I hope I can continue to update you all more frequently. Sorry the blog has been so sparce the past couple weeks!
Love to all!
I had not really started compiling my work and/or thoughts for the report by last evening, as I had been focusing most of my time since this weekend on Accounting. Last night, I was talking to my friend Laura (my former roommate who is studying at Oxford this semester) online, and she said she had a lot of work to do, too. We made a deal to break apart for half an hour of dedicated work, and then we'd meet back up again to see how far we each had gotten. Well, usually getting started is the hardest part for me, but once I get going, I'm on a roll. I guess the same thing happened with Laura because we each only gave a quick update to the other and then went back to work.
I think I was hashing out the report for about 6 hours last night. All I remember is that it was some time in the early morning when decided to call it a night. Thankfully, I have most of the work done, now. All I have left to do is edit, make sure my proofs are justified, and email the finished document to myself so I can go print it out in the library. Hooray!!
So, it was almost an all-nighter (which would have been my first thus far this semester). In fact, I was trying to get my brain to calm down so I thought I'd read a bit before going to sleep. I ended up lost in the story until 5:00 am, and I had a 9:00 class this morning! (I'm currently reading Mansfield Park by Jane Austen. My brother gave me this amazing Jane Austen volume containing all her wonderful tales, and I've been going through that this semester). It was probably not the best of plans, but I do have most of my report to show for it. All in all, successful night! :)
I am still waiting to hear about moving to Mt. Charles. I've been told by several different people that the key is persistence. While I feel rude for slightly nagging, I figure it must be necessary to accomplish my goal. I just hope they know I don't mean to be rude or a pain. :/ Oh well.
I think the group from last Wednesday is meeting again tonight to make dinner, so that will be fun. I offered to make tacos. We shall see what people think. Afterwards, I think we're starting a tradition of watching a movie in Ally's room. Last week it was The Princess Bride. This week we asked Herve, a Belgian guy, to pick a famous French movie for us (Princess Bride was in English, we American's language, so it's only fair we rotate).
Oh, here's some big news! I found out a few days ago that my friend Morgan from CCU (a former roommate of mine who got married last summer) is now pregnant! How exciting! I'm hoping to be able to make it back out to Colorado in time for her baby shower this summer. I've never had a pregnant friend before. I'm so excited, and I'm not even the one having the baby! Woo hoo!! Congratulations, Morgan! :D
Alright, I hope I can continue to update you all more frequently. Sorry the blog has been so sparce the past couple weeks!
Love to all!
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