Being Cultured

Yesterday a few friends and I had the afternoon off because our class was cancelled, so we decided to go to the National Botanic Gardens of Ireland.  It's located in Glasnevin, the same neighborhood that DCU is in, but it was about a half hour walk.

One of the greenhouses.  They were huge and had really cool architecture.

Some cacti and desert plants.

The way these succulents are planted reminds me of a mandala. 

Right now, the Gardens are having a special exhibit called "Sculpture in Context," which is Ireland's largest outdoor sculpture exhibition.  Sculptures are placed throughout the Gardens, some mixed in with the plants, some on their own.

Little mushroom sculptures and a larger sculpture on the left.

Huge flower sculptures on the wall of the greenhouse.

I really liked this geometric sculpture mixed in with the plants.

Yes, this is a sculpture of a banana.

The weather was really nice (not raining and not chilly!), and it was a really relaxing way to spend the afternoon.

I really like succulents.

A really pretty garden of dahlias and chrysanthemums.  

Besides that, I have just been having class during the day.  I have now had all of my classes at least once, and I think they're going to be interesting.  Unfortunately, because they are condensed, I have them for 2.5-3 hours at a time, which I really don't like.  Even though they give us a good break in the middle, I find it hard to concentrate and sit (in the super uncomfortable chairs) for that long.  Also I have to write papers which I am not looking forward to.  But overall, I think I will learn a lot in these classes, and will have a very different experience than what I am used to at BU (namely, no labs or hard science classes).

Also I've been having major phone issues, but I think I have maybe kind of fixed it (*crosses fingers*).

And I've officially been here over a week, making this the longest I've been out of the US!  A week went by super fast.

Some more things I've noticed:

• Irish people say "half seven" instead of 7:30.
• They also say "14 euro" instead of "14 euros," whereas in the US we always pluralize dollar to dollars when talking about more than one.
• They pronounce and spell a lot of words differently here.  When taking notes, I am finding myself writing in a mixture of American and British/Irish English.  For instance, I may write color the American way (instead of colour), but then spell organization with an s (organisation), which is how they do it here.  

I'm super excited because tomorrow I am going to monastic settlements in Glendalough in Co. Wicklow, and then on Saturday I am going on a bus tour to Limerick City in Co. Limerick and the Cliffs of Moher in Co. Clare!