Finding my place
Door: KellyvanGrinsven
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Kelly
22 Januari 2011 | Ierland, Limerick
As I have mentioned in an earlier blog, I can’t seem to find the time to write everything I’ve done or seen so far in this blog. I’ll do my best to keep you updated. It’s been almost a week now and I am already a little familiar with the city of Limerick. I don't think Limerick it’s such a dangerous place as Ron, or maintenance guy has mentioned earlier. I’ve been out on my own now a couple of times (just to buy some groceries or to buy some clothes, not going out of course ‘cause that would be pathetic :P) I know what side of the city to stay on and as long as I keep that in mind, I think I’ll be fine. The Irish are really nice here. A couple of nights ago, I believe it was on a Wednesday, we asked some peoples for directions to Dolans (the Irish pub) and when they heard the name Dolans they all smiled: “Sure love, just go straight (which is pronounced as: sjtreeght) ahead, go left at the roundabout and you’ll see it on your left side.” One guy even said: “Ow! I’m from Denmark and even I know where Dolans is!” :) Dolans was a real nice place. We were in about five minutes and all of a sudden somebody grabbed his violin (where the hell did that come from??) an Irish whistle, a banjo a mic and these people started playing! I actually knew a couple of songs! And I heard a song on the radio last night by the way which made me think of Emma’s family because they were singing: “I wish I was back home in Derry”
On Thursday we were expected at Mary I to get our students ID cards. This was the first time I’d seen the University (which is really close to City Campus). It is amazing! We were walking along this huge wall and you couldn’t see anything. When turning around the corner we saw a huge gate and a sign: Mary Immaculate College! Wow! What a beautiful place. It really doesn’t look as modern as it did on their website. It’s beautiful! It’s huge! When I walked inside I immediately had the feeling that I was going to spend a lot of my time in Limerick right here. We met up with Ger (which is a woman! And I always thought she’d be a man. I was so embarrassed because I recall always starting my emails with : Dear Mr Cahillane! – she never told me that was wrong though…)
Yesterday we had our first introduction. We received a lot of information and I was really tired at the end of the day. I was quite happy that I had no trouble understanding them though. Ingeborg and I decided to see dr. Gareth Cox from the Music Department in our break (we had to stay longer afterwards if we didn’t). He showed us around. Ingeborg studies Music so she’s really familiar with all the great musicians. Me: not so much… dr. Cox gave us an outline of the Music programme and soon I found out that not all classes were going to be suitable for me. I’d probably have a lot of trouble understanding them (as we are expected to compose our own pieces as well… which I have never done before) and I therefore made a selection in the beginners courses the Music Department offers and a course for Irish traditional Music (theory and techniques). Yesterday evening the International students decided we should all come together to have a drink. Anthony was so kind as to let us all into his appartment. (In the end, more people arrived then he expected :P) We really had fun and played all sorts of games and chatted away getting to know each other. We have four or five American students and two of them were really drunk and really loud. The other two were embarrassed about that :P “OW MY GOD!, that is Soooooow FUNNY!” :P (typical, you should try the pronunciation out loud and you’ll understand why I've written this down.)
Well that’s basically about it for now. Today I’m probably going to clean my room. I’m going to buy some extra groceries and tonight Caitlyn and I are eating together. She has all the ingredients for a fry-up so that’ll be just fine :P Maybe I’ll go to the Milk market as well, but I’m not sure about that yet. I’m going to sort my schedule out as well, for school, because it’s really complicated.
P.S. I found a Penny’s in town, which is like the Primark, which is (for some of you who haven’t been to England or Ireland before) a really cheap store where you can buy mostly clothes and shoes really cheap! But it’s good stuff and in fashion as well!!
I’ll keep you guys updated and I’m working on my film !
On Thursday we were expected at Mary I to get our students ID cards. This was the first time I’d seen the University (which is really close to City Campus). It is amazing! We were walking along this huge wall and you couldn’t see anything. When turning around the corner we saw a huge gate and a sign: Mary Immaculate College! Wow! What a beautiful place. It really doesn’t look as modern as it did on their website. It’s beautiful! It’s huge! When I walked inside I immediately had the feeling that I was going to spend a lot of my time in Limerick right here. We met up with Ger (which is a woman! And I always thought she’d be a man. I was so embarrassed because I recall always starting my emails with : Dear Mr Cahillane! – she never told me that was wrong though…)
Yesterday we had our first introduction. We received a lot of information and I was really tired at the end of the day. I was quite happy that I had no trouble understanding them though. Ingeborg and I decided to see dr. Gareth Cox from the Music Department in our break (we had to stay longer afterwards if we didn’t). He showed us around. Ingeborg studies Music so she’s really familiar with all the great musicians. Me: not so much… dr. Cox gave us an outline of the Music programme and soon I found out that not all classes were going to be suitable for me. I’d probably have a lot of trouble understanding them (as we are expected to compose our own pieces as well… which I have never done before) and I therefore made a selection in the beginners courses the Music Department offers and a course for Irish traditional Music (theory and techniques). Yesterday evening the International students decided we should all come together to have a drink. Anthony was so kind as to let us all into his appartment. (In the end, more people arrived then he expected :P) We really had fun and played all sorts of games and chatted away getting to know each other. We have four or five American students and two of them were really drunk and really loud. The other two were embarrassed about that :P “OW MY GOD!, that is Soooooow FUNNY!” :P (typical, you should try the pronunciation out loud and you’ll understand why I've written this down.)
Well that’s basically about it for now. Today I’m probably going to clean my room. I’m going to buy some extra groceries and tonight Caitlyn and I are eating together. She has all the ingredients for a fry-up so that’ll be just fine :P Maybe I’ll go to the Milk market as well, but I’m not sure about that yet. I’m going to sort my schedule out as well, for school, because it’s really complicated.
P.S. I found a Penny’s in town, which is like the Primark, which is (for some of you who haven’t been to England or Ireland before) a really cheap store where you can buy mostly clothes and shoes really cheap! But it’s good stuff and in fashion as well!!
I’ll keep you guys updated and I’m working on my film !
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22 Januari 2011 - 13:35
Ons Mam:
Hey kelly, fijn om te lezen dat het allemaal toch wel veilig voelt zo rond campus en de uni! En zo te lezen zijn er al een paar dingen die je daar gemakkelijker doet dan thuis, uitgaan, poetsen, koken ;) ben benieuwd naar elk nieuw berichtje. Als je, je schema ontcijfert hebt dan laat je het maar eens weten. Kunnen wij plannen wanneer we komen.
Vanuit een grijs Zijtaart, groetjes. -
22 Januari 2011 - 16:45
Priscilla:
Hehehe Dr. Cox :P made me think of Scrubs xD but I think it's really nice that you can take any course such as music! :) We only got to choose from 'boring' subjects.. so now I'm going to follow Child Protection, Voice and Body & Theatre in Education. Only those three sounded interesting enough. :P
I'm really jealous btw of you having an Australian friend over there :P Hope I'm going to meet someone from Australia in Wales as well :)
Have fun and keep us posted! :)
xx -
23 Januari 2011 - 10:22
Julie:
Top o' the morning to you! (Cliche - I know) I'm glad to see you are settling in and making new friends. I'm pretty sure Limerick isn't any more scary than any other city so don't worry too much about any scare mongering stories! I thought you might be interested to know that there is a programme on BBC 1 this evening at 9 pm. It is called Terry Wogans Ireland (or something like that!) Anyway Terry Wogan is a really famous TV and Radio personality in UK and Ireland. He actually was born or grew up in and around Limerick so this prgramme is all about him visiting his roots. You might find it interesting as there will probably be places in the progamme that are already familiar to you. Take care - we will be following your blog to keep up to date. Groetjes The Greenwoods (not really a very Irish name is it?) :0) -
23 Januari 2011 - 18:27
Marianne:
Hoi Kelly, goed om te lezen dat het allemaal goed gaat daar.Tenminste wat ik er allemaal van begrijp want mijn engels is niet zo goed.Maar we blijven je volgen hier.
Groetjes vanuit een nat Veghel.
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