Philosophy 101

Well, not much has happened recently in Ireland..just a lot of class and hanging out. I head to immigration this coming Monday and once I’m all registered with that, I’m able to go in and out of the country…can’t wait to explore more of Europe. Any suggestions?

For lack of post-worthy material, I thought I might write down some things that have gone through my head recently while I’ve been here. Last night I walked home from campus along the river at about 8:30pm. The sun had set, and it wasn’t too cold out…warm enough for just a pair of sweatpants and a long sleeve shirt. Not many people were out, and with my iPod in it just felt like it was me. So I walked out behind one of the shops on the river and sat on the stone ledge looking out on to Galway Bay - Just me and all the docked boats in the harbor. I’m sure half this stuff we’ve all heard at one time or another in our lives, but why not write it down and see where my stream of consciousness goes?

First and foremost, even just being here three weeks, you start to understand the people in your life that mean the most to you. Now I know that may sound weird, seeing as when you go away to college shouldn’t you realize all that stuff? But it’s something about being thousands of miles away from somebody that really makes you miss them. Knowing I can’t send out a text to say what’s up, knowing that phone calls cost extra money…only interaction you get is if you happen to cross paths on Facebook or something. The things I would do for dinner with the whole family, slice of Nirchi’s with Jaske, soccer tennis with Bru, SuperSmash with the roommates, a party with the 54^th girls, watch Jake’s football games…but at the same time, being here makes you appreciate those things just a little bit more, and I know I’ll enjoy them that much more when I get back to the states.

I’ve learned that in order to truly live your life, you’ve got to be vulnerable.  For anyone reading this that was a part of the Orientation at St. Joe’s last year you’ll probably get a laugh out of this next phrase but it’s so, so true. You really have to lean into discomfort to get the most out of life. We all have certain things about ourselves, our personalities, our appearance…or certain situations that simply make us uncomfortable.  We all just long to be connected…to each other, a team, ourselves…but it’s, I guess, the fear we have towards certain things that stop us from being connected. I’m not smart enough, good enough…and it’s weird to think that we all have these feelings about something…to not have this feeling, I’d think, would mean someone doesn’t even have the capacity to feel connected in the first place…but ANYWAYS. Vulnerability undermines all of that feeling…in order to get over those feelings of I’m not smart enough, not good enough, etc. is to lay out on the table everything that we see as an imperfection, or in other words I suppose, become vulnerable. I’ve also heard it before as having the courage to be imperfect…let go of the person you think you should be and just be the person you are.  We have to be willing to invest in something that might not work out, something that doesn’t have a guarantee. Very small example is signing up for the basketball team here at NUIG. I’m not the best at basketball, and personally don’t think I’m very good…but then back in highschool or modified basketball I can’t say I really ever shot, or tried hard…because there was no guarantee that the ball would go in, or the effort would pay off…I didn’t want to be vulnerable to failure and so I was never vulnerable to success. So here’s to hoping that putting myself out there and trying out for the team here may pay off haha.

But all these things we’re afraid of, we try and numb it out…fear, shame, rejection. But it’s impossible to just selectively numb these things. Instead we not only numb those things, but you numb happiness in the process. Furthermore we hate uncertainty and therefore try and make everything a certainty, or only get involved in something that has a certain outcome.  So I guess to wrap that all up I’ve learned to become vulnerable, put yourself out there, put everything you have into something despite the uncertain nature of everything we do and you’ll be happier. Dang that got real philosophical, real quick and I hope that makes sense when I go back and reread it hahaha.

Lastly, I thought about the feeling of regret. You hear a lot of people talk about living life with no regrets…and I suppose that’s a sound theory and all but is it really possible? And if it was, is that really how you want to live your life?  I’m extremely happy with the way my life has unfolded thus far, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have regret. And to me, regret’s not a bad thing. I actually welcome it. If it wasn’t for the regret I have of not getting involved very much in organizations during highschool, I don’t think my college experience would have been this rewarding. If I didn’t regret skipping out on my brother’s basketball games in years past, I don’t think I would be appreciating all the ones I enjoy going to today.  It’s that sense of missing out from years past that has propelled me to do all that I’m doing, have done, and will continue to do in college and beyond…and so I’m glad I’ve had regret in my life because it’s what has shaped me.

There’s my two cents for the month haha. Hope all’s well with everyone and look forward to seeing you all soon.

Luke

Random..

I'm almost through my third week (I think?) in Ireland. This is the week that majority of people say you kind of hit a funk so to speak? I feel like I'm sort of hitting that, but not even close to the degree I know some have in the past. 

Well..not so much a funk, but you just start to miss your family, friends...Jake's sports games, not feeling like a foreigner, buff chick pizza, tavern wings, hawk wraps, sportscenter and not having to stay up til 5AM to watch the Jets (too bad my Mets JUST missed the playoffs...) haha. As I believe I've wrote in the past, we've had so much downtime these past few weeks that you don't really know what to do with yourself. No more tours, community day meetings, weekly service, etc. But the good news is that classes fully started this week, and the clubs fair just wrapped up on campus. I wrote my name down for the basketball team, co-ed softball and kayaking. Lord knows I probably won't do all three due to time constraints but at least I followed through with doing something. When I approached the basketball table I thought for sure I'd be meeting short Irish kids but they're monstrous...like how-do-I-post-you-up kinda big. So, from what I thought might be a shoo-in to being on the team, it might actually be a good things I signed up for more than one thing haha. We'll see, can't hurt to try. 

The societies fair is tomorrow..that's where we'll be able to learn about different service opportunities in the area and whatnot so I'll stop by that, too, and report back. So hopefully between one of the clubs, and a society or two I'll get back into that old rhythm I'm used to on Hawk Hill. 

Got a package today from my mom. (Thanks Trish for getting that sent out and organized...and extra thanks for the tabs explaining everything...what gave you the impression I'd need things literally spelled our for me? ;) haha) Inside was exactly what I was expecting..a card with a bunch of little encouragements and stuff. For any of you who read my Moms comments on the blog, basically that haha. Too funny...thanks Mom.

This weekend we're planning on going to the Aran Islands...I think. 

We never do anything until the last minute haha but I look forward to showing you all pictures from the trip. Cheers.

Luke

Commenting

I've heard a lot of people have been having issues with the comments. So hopefully this will not only work, but be easy to follow...

Make your way over to www.livejournal.com
Once you're there, you'll find a link that says 'Create an Account' on the top right of the screen. Click that.

Create a username and password. Note that whatever you use as your username is what will appear on the comments section. So, if I created a username of 'LukeGuinan', the comment I write on the blog would read 'LukeGuinan said...', etc. Make sure you uncheck the little box at the bottom that reads 'Yes, send me LiveJournal announcements via email.' so you don't get anything sent to the email you're using.

Click 'Create Account', and on the next page skip over everything and continue. The next page should congratulate you on your new LiveJournal account.

Now come back to the blog, and write your post in the comments section. I'd copy what you wrote the first time just in case it goes screwy on erases it. But anyways, in the 'Comment as..' drop down box, click on the LiveJournal one. A box will pop up asking what your user name is. Just type it in, and it will direct you to the LiveJournal page once more, just to ask if you're sure you'd like to post with this username. Accept that, and I'm hoping that after you do this once, you'll be set from there.

It'll kick you back to my blog and just hit the 'Post Comment' button.

Now I know that seems like quite a bit, but hopefully it's easy enough and you're only going to have to do that once. After that, everything will be created and whenever you want to post a comment you'll just have to type in your LiveJournal account on the comment section.

Hope this helps/works!
Luke

First Day Tour

Today was our first tour out into Ireland. We paid 13 euro for the trip and it was worth every cent. 

Everyone got up to meet the bus driver outside our apartment at 9:45. He took us out to the larger station where we switched into a larger bus and took off from there. About 10 minutes in, our bus driver/tour guide came across the loud speaker and immediately we knew the trip was going to be awesome. He had more than enough Irish wit and humor to satisfy (and keep the attention of..) 20 odd college students. We were laughing quite a bit down the west coast. Aside from being comical, he really knew his stuff - so we learned quite a bit about each place we stopped. When we left Galway, it was raining (..shocker..) but by the time we approached our first stop, it was really nice out.

Our first site was the Aillwee Caves. For a few extra euro, we got to get out of the sun, sadly, and go down into the caves and wind our way around. The tunnels were formed by an underground river thousands upon thousands of years ago. Inside, we saw some bear remains from when they'd hibernate inside during the winter. Pretty neat stuff.

After the caves, we drove through the Burren. Its an enormous area of land that's just covered with massive amounts of limestone. That was pretty neat too. Everywhere you drive you see these stone walls. They're not to high, but they literally go for miles. Some, God knows what they use for. Others keep in locals sheep, goats, etc. They were built by hand (well, obviously..) but they aren't held together with anything, just literally stacked rocks. Crazy to think how much time that took to make haha But it was clear where all the rock came from. The main stop was actually to see the Poulnabrone Dolmen, or, 'Hole of Sorrows'. Its a burial site that dates back to about 4200BC. After excavating the site, they found like, over 20 people (men, women, children) buried there along with some various other items like a polished ax, some jewelry, etc. Weird to think how old the thing was, and also wondered how they got the large rock atop the other two way back when.

As you can see, the weather started to get a little overcast. We literally when into the cave with sun and came out to rain. The longest Ireland has ever gone in it's entire history without rain was 12 days. Crazy..

Anyways, out next destination was the Cliffs of Moher. They were amazing, and reminded me of the cliffs of Normandy my dad and I saw in France. Our first 20 minutes or so at the cliffs felt like a hurricane. The wind was whipped and the rain was literally traveling sideways. Nobody wanted to be there, despite how awesome the cliffs were. But thankfully, the rain seized for the last 20 minutes or so and we got to take some better pictures. The wind, however, was still nasty so I look awful in the picture I had someone take of me. Therefore, it's not going up here haha. Enjoy the view, though..

Left the cliffs, and went to a local pub in this really small village. You went up to the carvery and asked for whichever main dish you wanted..chicken, beef, sausage, etc. Aside all of them were boiled potatoes, mashed potatoes, baby carrots, and an assortment of onions, peppers, zucchini, squash, etc. At first I assumed you picked what you wanted but the guy just scooped on everything and covered it all with gravy. I gravitated towards the scones at the end of the line and was told by the cashier that I had to get some of the homemade raspberry jam with it. For like, 10.50 euro we got all that. We all devoured it, and I would say it was my best meal since I've been here. Sooooo good, and the jam was awesome too. 

As we left the village, it was getting very very windy out. So our tour guide decided to take a risk and drive us down to the coast. The small, narrow road that leads to the coast had been closed for the past few weeks because a French movie company has been filming there. Lucky for us, it was open for the first time that day. Our tour guide texted the other buses behind them to let them know, but they had already passed the entrance, so we were literally the only people there. This was my favorite part of the trip. The waves were violently crashing down on the rocks and we were literally standing right on top of the rocks getting splashed. I snapped a few photos, and then my camera died. It was the last stop on the trip though, so..(Should have listened to my Mom and charged it last night haha but I felt that two bars of battery was good enough...I know you're shaking your head right now Ma :) 

We then rode the hour trip back to Galway, basically all asleep. We didn't even do much walking the entire day but for some reason everyone was so tired. I, for one, got back and hit the bed for a nap. Here are a few other random pictures from the day and I'lllllll be blogging again soon. Cheers.

Luke

Sun?!

Today was one of those days that you had nothing going, but turned out to be really fun.
We all slept in quite a bit, but when we finally woke up we looked out the window and actually saw sunlight. It was awesome out. Few of the guys went golfing, few others had class, and the rest of us went out and walked the streets to find a good lunch (fish and chips..again)

Once we returned, I got on the phone and started calling some tour companies for different rates to the Cliffs of Moher (they're what you see on the background of my blog). One company lowered their price to 13 euro/student and they're going to pick us up right in front of our apartment complex. I'll be sure to post pictures tomorrow.

After arranging that, we went down to Galway Bay to play some soccer with our Italian friends. The weather was still awesome, despite raining a bit earlier in the day.

The end of the bay was filled with swans (just like you told me, Joe). We were all standing right there and they all swam over to us thinking we had bread or something. This little Irish boy was there with his mother and he was having a ball with the swans - yelling and chasing after them. So funny.

Then we played some soccer on these enormous Gaelic Football fields. In the middle of our game someone looked over and noticed a rainbow out over the bay so I snapped a few pictures. I wish it'd stay like this the entire time we were in Galway, but..the rain is part of the experience I suppose.

Hope all's well and look forward to showing you all pictures from the Cliffs tomorrow. Cheers.

Luke

Classes

Officially started school yesterday. I've mentioned it before, but the classes are really difficult to find, or to even figure out if they count for credit at SJU. But anyways, I know at least four of them:

Topics in Microeconomic Theory
Comparative Economic Thought
Climate Change &
Marketing Principles

Still looking for a fifth .. might stick with Ancient Philosophy but class was excruciatingly boring so, we'll see haha

Today was actually pretty nice for awhile. I've said it before but I'll say it again .. the weather is nuts here. One minute the sun is beaming, the next a torrential downpour, then just overcast, then sun, then a light mist, then 50mph winds -- all in a matter of 20 minutes.  For my walk to class, it was thankfully sunny so I took some photos to show you my route to school everyday.

Not a bad deal at all.

Luke

Dublin

Just got back from our trip to Dublin. We heard mixed reviews on the city before we went but I thought it was pretty sweet. The bus we boarded was thought to be a direct to Dublin, taking about 2.5 hours, but we accidentally got on the one with 10 stops in between, so it ended taking us 4 hours to arrive. It was torture but, in the end very worth it.

When we arrived, everyone went their separate ways. My roommates and I bought a cheap ticket for the Hop on Hop Off bus that went around the city. We sat up top, with the open roof. It was a little overcast and chilly but not too bad. The River Liffey runs right through the city, which was cool.

The first place we stopped was the Guinness Storehouse. It was a neat tour, showing how the beer is made and stuff. You work your way up the building and you get to the "Gravity Bar". Here they give you a free pint, and get a 360 degree view of Dublin. (I only had one, Mom..)

After that we went to Kilmainham Gaol, which is a historic, old jail in Dublin.  Here, many of the Irish Rebellion leaders were held and executed. It was a neat tour .. one wing of the jail was very old and the other pretty new. Eerie looking in either wing, but .. here's a picture of the new wing.

After that we went back to our hostel. It was my first experience in one so it was kind of neat. Ours was called the Four Courts, and as soon as you walked in it was crawling with students. My roommates and I shared a room with 2 other people .. never even said hi but what can ya do. Pretty sweet, comfortable beds right? That night we went out to Temple Bar which is this huge strip of pubs and what not. It was so crowded on a Saturday night in Dublin, but it was a neat experience. Saw plenty of Irishmen in their native form haha

The next morning we stopped to see St. Patrick's Cathedral and Trinity College. It was a Sunday so we just saw the outside of the Cathedral but it was really nice.

Trinity College was really cool too. Outside the walls it's very noisy and has a lot of traffic, but as soon as you walked through the gate it was extremely quiet. Would be neat to study a bit there, too.

After that, we walked to the bus station and traveled back to Galway. It was surprisingly nice to show up to Niland House after the weekend in Dublin. It felt kind of like home and we all hit the beds to nap.

Tomorrow I start classes. No clue what I'm taking yet .. they give you a 2 week period to go to whatever classes you want to find out which you enjoy most. Sounds neat, but no one seems to know how to figure out class times or location or if they will even give us St. Joe's credit for them haha. It'll be an interesting and stressful next few weeks. Aside from that, we're not allowed to travel outside the country until the end of September, when we register formally with the immigration office. So we'll probably be planning another trip inside Ireland soon.

Luke