Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Sunny Hill Climb
On January 20th I made my 2nd climb up the hill next to the school. It was a sunny day this time, so I got some much brighter views of the landscape around me. Also, this time, on the way down I found a metal chair frame with a rock for a seat. Must have been somebody's project in the past, or maybe they just did it for fun.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Galway
On January 23rd (I think? I can't remember the exact day for some reason), there was a mass trip for students to Galway. Galway is one of the largest cities in the country - not saying a lot compared to big cities in the US I guess, but definitely felt big compared to tiny Ballyvaughan). I can now say I've been in two places that qualify as European "cities" (first was Galway, then after that we made a trip to Dublin - the next blog post should be about that).
What was in Galway?.... let's see... a lot of commercial/consumer-centric stuff, some of it not the most appealing to look at. A lot of people walking around, though, which was nice in a way (the sense of more activity and energy than in a place like Ballyvaughan). There were whole sections of street that were only for pedestrians, and had a lot of shops crammed next to each other. I think I remember seeing, in a video on Galway before we came to Ireland, that there are not a lot of old buildings left in the city (I forgot exactly why - maybe something to do with the British?). The church interior in the photo below - that building was actually only constructed in the 1960s.
Shortly after we arrived, me and Dustin and our friend Ashley (from the school) went wandering. We found a shop where a young woman artist carved jewelry from bone - we all went inside and she showed us the back area where she worked. She had a huge jaw bone from a sperm whale that somebody had given her, just sitting on the floor. The carved jewelry was all neat to look at too.
After that we went briefly to a used book store, then through a shopping mall, where we got some shakes, checked out a book/art supplies store, and stopped for a short time at a comic book store. We then decided to split from Ashley, and me and Dustin went on our own way, walking towards and across the river. I think it was after this that we stopped in a seafood joint and had a small meal. Then we happened to meet up with some friends at a nearby intersection and wandered with them for a short time. We split from them, and went inside the Galway Cathedral, then walked to the University (U of I) campus. There we wandered around, not really looking at anything in particular. It was pretty quiet and deserted, and we later heard there were exams going on. We also saw signs for an anime convention, and eventually found it, but decided not to pay the money to go in.
At the end of the day me and Dustin went to a couple more art supply stores and bought some materials.
That's most of what I can remember of our day in Galway.
What was in Galway?.... let's see... a lot of commercial/consumer-centric stuff, some of it not the most appealing to look at. A lot of people walking around, though, which was nice in a way (the sense of more activity and energy than in a place like Ballyvaughan). There were whole sections of street that were only for pedestrians, and had a lot of shops crammed next to each other. I think I remember seeing, in a video on Galway before we came to Ireland, that there are not a lot of old buildings left in the city (I forgot exactly why - maybe something to do with the British?). The church interior in the photo below - that building was actually only constructed in the 1960s.
Shortly after we arrived, me and Dustin and our friend Ashley (from the school) went wandering. We found a shop where a young woman artist carved jewelry from bone - we all went inside and she showed us the back area where she worked. She had a huge jaw bone from a sperm whale that somebody had given her, just sitting on the floor. The carved jewelry was all neat to look at too.
After that we went briefly to a used book store, then through a shopping mall, where we got some shakes, checked out a book/art supplies store, and stopped for a short time at a comic book store. We then decided to split from Ashley, and me and Dustin went on our own way, walking towards and across the river. I think it was after this that we stopped in a seafood joint and had a small meal. Then we happened to meet up with some friends at a nearby intersection and wandered with them for a short time. We split from them, and went inside the Galway Cathedral, then walked to the University (U of I) campus. There we wandered around, not really looking at anything in particular. It was pretty quiet and deserted, and we later heard there were exams going on. We also saw signs for an anime convention, and eventually found it, but decided not to pay the money to go in.
At the end of the day me and Dustin went to a couple more art supply stores and bought some materials.
That's most of what I can remember of our day in Galway.
Fairy Fort - January 16th
On Sunday, January 16th, me and a few other friends walked to a "fairy fort" that is a few miles from town. The weather was nice and sunny that day and there were turloughs about (bodies of water that form when the water table below the surface rises), so there were some fields full of water and even a temporary creek alongside the road out of town.
The fairy fort area itself was kind of fantastical looking. An earthen ring is all that remains of the ancient fort that was once there, there are trees growing all about, and there was a pool of water in the middle. There were neat nooks and crannies in the trees. In one nook at the base of one tree, my brother Dustin found some coins. Maybe somebody was giving money for the fairies? We left the coins there.
There was one spot on the earth ring that I photographed because I thought it looked like a miniature version of a larger landscape; some kind of cliff side/cave.
This time, since there weren't as many pictures to deal with, I put some of the ones from the beginning of the trip first. So, it's not completely reverse-chronological like it has been in previous blog posts. :P The first eight are from the walk there; I took pictures of some thorny plants and the turloughs off to the side of the road.
The fairy fort area itself was kind of fantastical looking. An earthen ring is all that remains of the ancient fort that was once there, there are trees growing all about, and there was a pool of water in the middle. There were neat nooks and crannies in the trees. In one nook at the base of one tree, my brother Dustin found some coins. Maybe somebody was giving money for the fairies? We left the coins there.
There was one spot on the earth ring that I photographed because I thought it looked like a miniature version of a larger landscape; some kind of cliff side/cave.
This time, since there weren't as many pictures to deal with, I put some of the ones from the beginning of the trip first. So, it's not completely reverse-chronological like it has been in previous blog posts. :P The first eight are from the walk there; I took pictures of some thorny plants and the turloughs off to the side of the road.
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