More Craic and Daily Outings

Thursday March 12th
So Thursday night we were supposed to go on a pub crawl, starting at the Globe which is just around the corner from Mount Charles. I had a fantastic dinner with Linda, Torsten, Clarissa and Bryan beforehand. We walked to the Tesco Express and bought tons of food stuffs. I helped cut up some veggies for a salad which was arranged buffet-style so we could get our own toppings; they included carrots, cauliflower, orange and red pepper, chicken, mushrooms, and some small roma tomatoes. Amazingly I put all of that on my salad and LIKED it too! (Well, except for the tomatoes. Still don't like them fresh like that.) We all had different dressings and I used my second and last packet of Ranch dressing which Mom sent to me. I savored Ranch dressing, too... ah. Nothing else like it.

We went to the Globe half an hour later than we planned, and couldn't find anyone else there but decided to hang out anyway. Some of the girls bought pitchers of mixed drinks which we shared at 5 pounds a pitcher, which was really cheap. The pub was pretty empty and quiet but soon started getting more business. The girls started dancing a bit and then a big group came to join us, coming from Tony Roma's restaurant across the street after celebrating someone's birthday. By that point, the majority of our crew was there and we took over the dance floor. Karaoke started at some point and most of the singers were actually pretty good! The only thing I didn't like about the place was the poor ventilation. It was humid and sticky and stank of BO from all the hot people dancing. They should have propped the doors open. I went outside a couple times to cool off and was struck by how nasty it smelled when I came back in. Yeesh.

After that, Torsten and I were pretty hungry, so we went with an Irish guy who knew the birthday boy to a place down the street and got a really DELICIOUS cheese pizza! I was so hungry still when it was finished that I cooked a frozen pizza and ate that too!

Friday 13th
Tonight Clarissa organized another pub crawl since the one last night failed to actually crawl anywhere. (We never left the Globe... heh.) We went to some pub downtown and took over an entire corner in the room upstairs. The place was very old, everything made out of wood, with only a few electric lights and candles on the tables. A group of men sat around a table by the bar and played some traditional Irish music. I wish I could say what instruments were in the band, but I didn't recognize some of them. From what I could tell, there were two Irish flutes, a guitar, a violin, and two other small, identical instruments that looked like a combination of a harp and recorder. Their music was fantastic but it was extremely hard to hear them over the loud sounds of conversation and merrymaking.

We never went to another pub after that one, either. Heh. At least I didn't. Don't know about the ones who stayed longer than I did.

Saturday 14th
Today I got up with hardened intentions to begin my homework, and it just never happened. Eoghan invited Arne and me to the Globe to watch a big soccer game between Liverpool and Manchester United. I wasn't a huge fan of soccer, but decided it might be fun to watch a game there and have some lunch at the same time. The place was pretty packed, with people cheering for both teams, but mostly for Liverpool who kicked butt. They were doing well by halftime, when we ate some lunch. Arne and I shared two dishes--sausages on mashed potatoes with onion gravy, and pasta carbonara with bacon and mushrooms. Both were delicious! I need to go back there sometime for the pasta... The meals were cheap, too--5 pounds for the food and a pint. We drank Carlsberg since they were the sponsors for the game. The final score was 4-1; the crowd went wild!

I spent the rest of the day getting German lessons from Arne, listening to music, and watching movies. We watched Love in the Time of Cholera which was based on the book by the same name. I read that book for one of Waggoner's classes back home and vaguely remembered the story; the movie was nearly as good as the book from what I can remember. We also watched the Illusionist which I had seen before, so I didn't feel too badly when I fell asleep.

It's Sunday now and I'm determined to spend the rest of the day working on homework. I'll get started on my essays and get everything organized. Yup.

~Catherine