It's called Autumn, not Fall.

Welcome to November and Happy Belated Halloween!  It's been fun to see pictures of costumes on Facebook, lots of them are totally "savage" (a common Irish term on par with our "awesome").  I did not put nearly as much effort into mine; in a last minute decision George, my American friend Rebecca and I organized some costumes to attend the Traditional Music Society's bash at Dolan's pub downtown.

Rebecca and I went as something we North Americans know quite well, snow, and George went as some strange combination of the scarecrow, tin man and lion from Wizard of Oz.  We were teasing him that he wasn't a very good catch considering he had no brain, heart, or courage.

At the pub we met up with my classmate Jen and she furthered my Irish education with a shot of Baby Guinness, which is a combination of the coffee liqueur Tia Maria and Baileys.  Not sure if shots are commonly described as "cute," but this one is the closest I've seen.

For being on the fence about going out for Halloween I was sure glad I did because the band at Dolan's was brilliant (another commonly used term in Ireland declaring awesome-ness).  Considering the host was the Traditional Society I was expecting Trad music, but wow did I get a surprise.  Imagine a big band, playing all the classic dance tunes like Mac the Knife, Stevie Wonder and even Thriller, but with the Celtic instruments fiddle, flute, Uilleann pipes and button accordion.  They also had a drum kit, electric bass and guitar, and main vocalist accompanied by three back-up singers.  It reminded me of the Big Band Dance at Brandon University, but with a authentically Irish twist.  The night was great craic!

Overall I'd say that October was a pretty good month for me, and it was not nearly as awful in weather as I was led to believe.  While many Canadians are facing freezing temperatures and their first snowfall, I feel pretty luck to still have green grass, albeit a bit of rain.  We had one really cold day here, which got to a nippy -2 Celsius!  That's almost enough for me to invest in a winter coat!  Here are some campus pictures of autumn (because fall does not exist here):

 

Although that is an authentic Irish rainbow on the right, I did not have the time of day to search for the pot of gold. 

Next post will be about my weekend trip to the Cliffs of Moher, one of the most beautiful natural formations in Ireland!

Cheers,

Shannon