The First Day Towards DOoOOooOoom (2/12/13)
To being my study week, I could not stand the thought of studying in my room any longer. So, I moved my study area to my kitchen/living room. I set up this cozy little corner with a blanket, a pillow, and my short, short coffee table. I hope my roomies don’t mind. It seems like a good idea.
Residence’s “Christmas Fair” (3/12/13)
One day in, and I’m already tired of studying. Instead, I decided to go to the “Christmas fair” hosted by our housing team. There was two hog roasts (roasted pigs on a stick) served with a bit of roasted potatoes and a small thing of bread. We were also given our choice of mulled (seasoned) wine or hot chocolate with minced pies. I was thinking pies, like a small quiche-like thing. Nope, it was this sweet pie with raisins it in. Ew.
For entertainment, there was a giant snowball with fake snow and fake snowballs that you could walk into and play around in. Behind it, there was a mechanical reindeer (as opposed to an mechanical bull – that plenty of people had fun going on. There was also a snowboard simulator, supposedly. The worst part was the fake snow that came in the form of foam bubbles they decided to blow towards the direction of the hog roasts, thus people eating the food were easily getting bubbles in their food.
The Fun of Getting Lost (6/12/13)
After a few days of straight studying – and a little procrastinating – I decided to head northbound. I started at the National Botanic Gardens, even though it was rather cold and gloomy. However, I managed to enjoy myself quite a bit.
Then, I had some fun in city centre. It started with a lovely stroll up, down, and around Grafton Street. I stopped by Bewley’s and ordered their Barista Special for the day, candy cane latte. It was quite delicious, I think I rather like a latte. While I was waiting for them to make my yumminess, I looked at miniature replicate of Bewley’s set up by an artist, Paddy Campbell. It was SO cute. Then, I proceeded to get lost for 45+ minutes trying to find the shopping center where Tesco was. It was a little ridiculous, but I wasn’t really in a rush anyways.
Memories of the Past (7/12/13)
So, I had one of those days when I was craving Asian food. Thankfully, I had previously prepared for a day like this, so I made a delicious Taiwanese breakfast for myself. I had some delicious homemade rice porridge with roasted eel, pickled cucumbers, bok choi, and a nice mug of warm soy milk. Life is good, though it’s a terrible week when we’re all supposed to be dying from studying.
After a day of studying, I visited my Brazilian friend in Blackrock to take a break. What did I do? Indulge in one of my favorite games: Ilomilo. I hadn’t played it for years, but it was great to be able to play it again. It really stimulates the mind and makes you think a lot.
The Fun & Frivolous Things (8/12/13)
Further taking a break/procrastinating from my studies, I went to the Blackrock market today. There were so many fascinating and wonderful things there. The first stop, a coin, stamps, postcard collector place sucked me in for at least an hour. The owner had a lovely, large box just full of coins. I sifted through it for quite a while, conversing with him about the different types of coins and how they came about and other random things. I ended up picking 5 coins out of this box to keep for myself. Most of them I picked out due to their beautiful design, but one I picked out due to interest. There was an old American penny, with the wheat head, from 1943 made of a silver material. The shop owner looked it up in his handy dandy “red book” and it said it was made of steel and coated with zinc, due to the use of copper for shell casings during World War II. I thought it was nifty, so I bought it. Though the coins were definitely not worth the pretty penny I paid for all of them, the price was worth the fun. Just some frivolous spending.
There were some other pretty nifty things I found there. There were nice china pieces, some clothes, old books and other curios. One of the things that really caught my eye was a little cat made of lace. The shop owner said it was made in Belgium. Apparently, it’s a Belgian thing to make little lacy things and frame them? There was also this microscope that was barely a foot tall, it was being sold for only €15. The shop owners said that they had just randomly found it in their uncle’s garage while they were cleaning it out, and they didn’t know what to do with it. It was tempting to buy it, but I have enough knick knacks as it is. It was this awesome set with an abundance of pre-prepared slides of samples. However, there was no light source for the microscope, so you’d have to provide it yourself. The ladies selling it had no idea how it was used or how to use it. It was fun and games just to take a look at it.
Things I learned “today”
Alcohol proof is different in the UK and in America. In America, “proof” refers to a value twice the value of the alcohol by volume percentage. However, the UK uses the straight value.
Words/Phrase of the Day
Hen party = bachelorette party
Diverse Shades of Green 