current-location: Inner Amsterdam Stopover
date: 2007-06-12 09:24
subject: More Cork, Leaving Ireland

More Cork, Leaving Ireland - 2007-06-12 09:24 - Entry 934 - TOGoS's Journal

2007-05-31 (Thursday)

I miss YC. That weekend in Chicago spoiled me. <random pictures of eyes and trees> So far I think I like Chicago better than Ireland.

This morning Katie Rowland (she's the gal from NY) gave us her e-mail and said stuff.

They have recycle bins here for cans, glass, and plastic, but not for paper, which is what I find myself throwing out the most.

In the evening A-Day and I went for a walk up north along N20 and through some residential areas up on a hill. A-Day wanted to check out the university, so we then walked back down and across downtown and eventually found it. They had a really pretty path with mossy walls and cool buildings. I accidentally lost my water bottle in the river.

Stuff we've lost so far:

Now that we're in Cork I sort of miss Dublin. When we were in Dublin I missed Chicago. When we were in Chicago...well, Chicago was pretty sweet. I didn't really miss Madison. I guess because I've spent enough time in Madison that there's not much reason to miss it.

2007-06-01 (Friday)

Next comes a page where we list what's on what CD, which is updated as we add new ones, but this is how it reads today

Making CDs

That last day was a bit confusing because of the way I switched memory cards and how my camera creates folders

And then there's some stuff that Nicolas wrote

French Band

The Skatelites

Region: Alsace
Wine: Gewwtzraminen, Riesling

I have reorganized and straightened the pics! (Look at the sub-albums, now)

2007-06-02 (Saturday)

Ireland

+-
Has Blarney CastleNo free water
Palmish treesNo free toilets
Moss and vinesCameras everywhere (so you can't sneak in to use the toilet)
Mountains (that we didn't get to walk on)Too many churches
Somewhat compactExpensive busses
Cheap hostelsEveryone drives on the left
Internet cafes everywhereRains every day
Scary drunk people
Garbage everywhere
Everybody smokes
Randomly pointing signs

Last night as I was going to sleep I had my hand on the ladder to the upper bed. I kept waking up feeling like I was falling and grabbing the ladder on the way down.

It reminds me of my last night in Madison, when I ran face-first into a light post as I was falling asleep.

Today we wandered around, sent postcards, checked out some churches, e-mailed, and checked out the free art museum. During our bus ride to the ferry I tried to invent a function that would approximate a normal distribution given random numbers from -1 to 1. I came up with this:

for x in 0 to 1/2 : tna(x) = x/2
for x in 1/2 to 1 : tna(x) = 1/(2-2x)
for x < 0 : tna(x) = -tna(-x)

"Indicate!"
- Guy avoiding cars near Cork University

"Are you crazy? Do you want someone to hit you real hard?"
- Someone on the bus to the guy that was trying to smoke in the back

2007-06-03 (Sunday)

The bus trip form Cork to London's been pretty exciting so far. At Rossdale Harbour our bus drove onto a ferry (after a long while of sitting in the parking lot and behind a big lorry). We got off and walked up to the passenger decks and explored inside and out. They have arcades and bars inside, and lots of fog and ocean outside. So it was fun to run around out there. We whittled on the UK->US socket adapter that we bought at Tesco. And then we attempted to sleep, first by a stairway (I liked that spot), then moving to a bench because A-Day's spine hurt (this spot I didn't like so much). The ferry arrived at the port in Fishguard much earlier than we expected (we were under the impression the boat ride would take 6 hours and we'd get off at 3:00 AM). The captain told folks from decks 3 and 5 to get in their vehicles. Earlier I had heard someone saying we were deck 3B, and sure enough, after getting around stumbling-down-the-stairs-drunk man, we found our bus there. Right after driving off we had to back into customs area and show our passports. Apparently a guy at the back of the line was missing his ID and was yelling with the police. This red-headed kid ran back to check it out and reported that the guy got pepper-sprayed in the face. A-Day and I were glad to have our passports.

Reenactment based on heresay goes here

Now people are fighting in the back of the bus.

Now there's a bigger fight. This is pretty exciting.

Reenactment of fight which also comes to include the driver goes here.

"You cannah go to the front of de bus!"
- Big African guy

"You are a strong man, but I am strong, too!"
- Trouble-causing guy

Later, while were stopped for a break, the guy (the guy that was causing all the trouble - we weren't sure at first which one it was, but it became obvious later on) tried to slash the bus tires, and after that didn't work he tried to stow away in the luggage compartment.

"I'm going to London!"
- Trouble-causing guy, while attempting to stow away in the luggage compartment

Map of our hostel region goes here.

Sitting in Hyde park, eating really good Braeburn apples from Tesco.

"Whoops"
- Me, as A-Day and I start eating at the fancy Indian restaurant

"We should start making out so that they think this is a special date and not just two dumb guys who walked into the wrong restaurant"
- Same

After getting off the bus we scurried around for a while trying to find an ATM that would accept our cards. After that was finally done (I just spent about 400$ on pounds) we spent some time in the Victoria station trying to figure out how to get on the subway.

"Mind the gap"
- London subway

We finally found subway, took yellow line to Bayswater station. A guy at the door recognised us as looking for a hostel and so lead us to 'Central Hostel', which is messy and crowded, but cheap.

We settled in at the hostel a bit, then went exploring the neighborhood - found subway, Tesco (bought apples, veggies, and some PB because A-Day doesn't like the tihini from Cork), and then walked around Kensington Gardens for a while before getting lost on the way back to Central Hostel to get water.

Eventually found our way back, then jumped on the subway again (we got an all-day pass) to go buy train tickets. After several transfers we ended up at the Waterloo station where I blew 100 pounds (about 200$) on tickets through the chunnel to Paris. We then, after several more transfers, ended up at the park again and convinced ourselves that we fully intended to take the chunnel, regardless of price. So we can say we've been there, I guess.

I think it would be wise for us to start planning our travels with transportation costs as #1 concern, as that's what's bitten us the most so far.

TODO in London

"When my brain gets hit with new stuff it's like ..., but when your brain gets hit with new stuff it's like 'BAAAAHHHH!!!'"
- A-Day

We haven't stayed in the same beds two nights in a row even once yet. I feel like I miss the Kinlay Houses. And Cork. Getting to know a place and then moving on to another they next day is very disorienting.

A-Day got his adapter de-fringed! Now he can plug his charger in.

Fiona here (from Ireland) was telling me as we were walking around looking for another hostel (she wants out because Central Hostel is creepy and sucks, A-Day and I need out because they're booked tomorrow night) about how creepy Central Hostel is, how the manager is a drunk stoner and randomly kicks people out, and how a friend of hers knows someone that got stabbed there.

And she and I and A-Day sat around and talked about how stupid everything was.

We need to slow down and enjoy this trip and stop worrying so much.

Still, I feel a bit empty being so detached from everything I know. My bed, my LJ, my folks, YC and Fizz, talking to friends on AIM, biking around Madison. I worry about money a lot because it is one thing I can relate to life back home. I like to stop at parks and lie in the grass, I think because it feels like lying in the parks in and around Madison and it makes me feel like my old pre-Widen self that I somehow knew what to handle, and what to do with.

Ever since I started working at Widen I've been in this state of not knowing what to do with myself.

Fiona's telling us about aboriginees in Australia and that we should see 'Father Ted'.

Time to go to sleep.

[other stuff here]

Back in present time, I think A-Day and I are going to go check out the Red Light district *again*. I thought it was creepy enough during the day while we were looking for Cannabis College, but he says it's supposed to get really crazy. I should go put my book away and pin my pockets shut.