Let us begin in Frankfurt...

Happy New Year! I hope everyone has had a wonderful holiday and feels refreshed as school and work begins again.

This past Monday marked the end of my four weeks traveling around Europe. I am enthused to report that the trip went remarkably smoothly and was filled with great people and places. I have come away with countless memories and pictures which I am happy to share with you! My next several blog posts will divide my trip up into digestible sections for you to peruse at your leisure.

Let me start from the beginning. I caught an early morning flight out of Dublin to Frankfurt on the 12th. My cousin/travel partner, Garnet, was waiting for me at the gate with one of my Brandon acquaintances, Everett, who is studying in Frankfurt. It was wonderful to have Everett show us around the city the first day. It was the perfect way to settle into our new German environment.

Frankfurt is one of the main financial centers of Europe; for instance it is the home of the European Central Bank which prints the Euro. It is also a major airport hub for the European continent. Its architecture is modern and professional, due largely to the rebuilding required after extensive damage sustained in the Second World War.

Everett led us to see the major sights and we shared a traditional German breakfast of assorted meats and cheeses. I came to learn that most meals in Germany are exclusively meat and potatoes, but more on this in later posts. Here is a picture of Garnet and I outside the Concert Hall.  Do I look cold?? It was maybe -5 Celsius.... Ireland is making me weak.

By far my favourite part of Frankfurt was the wonderful Christmas market spread around the downtown. In terms of vendor selection I think it was the best we saw in our travels. Everett introduced us to mulled wine, and Garnet and I tried the apfelwein or apple wine flavour. Delicious! The wine is served in souvenir mugs, which you pay extra for at purchase. If you don't want to keep the mug you simply return it for part of your money back. Thanks to Everett I also began my addiction to roasted almonds, an item which I would seek out several times in other countries.

The German Christmas market was a wonderful surprise because each vendor stall was its own small, wooden building lit up with lights. The market had an amazing selection of goods for sale, including loads of sausages, pretzels, crepes and waffles, chocolates and sweets, wooden crafts and other giftware, knitted outdoor wear, and even a carousel.

Garnet and Everett with their mulled wine.

In the picture below you can see the carousel on the right. The buildings in the background have been designed in a traditional German style which would have been prevalent in buildings destroyed in WWII.

After we parted with Everett, Garnet and I visited the Natural History Museum, one of the largest in Europe. It had an impressive display of dinosaurs and their bird collection was the largest I had ever seen. There were a couple Egyptian mummies, a copy of "Lucy" the human ancestor who lived 3 million years ago, and a neat display of various bugs. Here are some pictures:

Garnet and I only spent one day in Frankfurt, so we obviously accomplished at lot in that short time. The next day we were off by train to Munich. The recounting of our Munich adventure must wait till another blog, so stay tuned for more posts in the near future!

Shannon

My December Adventure

Holiday Greetings Everyone!

I have officially finished my first semester, just in time to head off on more adventures.  This Christmas I will not be returning home to Canada. Instead, my cousin Garnet and I will be traveling during December.  I head to Dublin this evening in order to catch an early morning flight tomorrow.

Our travel plans include touring Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic before heading to the United Kingdom to spend Christmas and New Years visiting family and friends.  Garnet and I will both fly into Frankfurt, where we will meet up with my friend Everett.  He will take us into the city and show us some sights.  I've heard amazing things about the German Christmas markets and cannot wait to see them in person.

After Frankfurt we will head south to Munich for a few days, then into Austria to see Salzburg and Vienna. By December 20th we will arrive in Prague, and on the 23rd we will fly to London. Next it is down to Plymouth to see our cousin Tom and his family for Christmas. While in the UK we will also visit relatives outside of Cambridge and acquaintances in Exeter who own The Big Sheep tourist farm.

Our big splurge is to spend New Years in central London. Very Excited! Our travels in the UK will wrap up on January 5th when Garnet and I fly to our respective countries from Heathrow airport.  While Garnet heads home, I will stop briefly in Belfast to visit even more relatives before returning to Limerick.

It will be a whirlwind trip with many sights to see. I will do my best to blog throughout, but may not get pictures up until January. School does not start for me until the end of January so I will have lots of time to blog, fiddle, read and relax then.

I wish everyone a safe and enjoyable Christmas, and all the best in the New Year.

Shannon

How Irish Am I? Part I

Welcome to December! I hope everyone is getting in the Christmas spirit as we get closer and closer to the day.  My holiday season was brought in by the annual Christmas "Toy Show," on Ireland's Late Late Show with Ryan Tubridy. The two hour special hosts children from all over Ireland to test out and share their opinions on the newest toys. According to my Irish flatmates it is a Christmas tradition to watch the Toy Show. It put me in the holiday spirit!

Last week I had my in-class assessments and my class ensemble performance. The concert went really well. We had the audience line-dancing to an American fiddle tune, doing body percussion to African drumming, singing along to the Ramones, and parading outside while we played Brazilian Samba. My friends think I have the most entertaining degree on campus!

Today, I get the joy of printing out all my written work and submitting it for the semester.  It is a great feeling! All I have left before my holiday break is performing in the UL Community Orchestra concert on Saturday and playing a fiddle jury on December 11th.

As my first semester comes to an end, I thought that I would share how Irish I feel I have become. I've tallied up my Irish and Canadian traits for comparison, and I must admit they are fairly amusing.

How Irish am I?

• As mentioned several times before, I like Guinness ... a lot actually.
• Every once and awhile I say "Grand," I even used it in my most recent essay.
• I am thoroughly addicted to tea. That's what happens when you get two tea breaks each day during class.
• In terms of music I have to think in crochets (quarter notes) and quavers (eighth notes), which I still feel is weird.
• And strangest of all ... I like boiled cabbage! One evening I cooked myself a meal of baked fish, boiled potato and boiled cabbage. It was quite Irish of me.

How Canadian am I?

• Either than the odd word added to my vocabulary, I have not acquired any Irish accent.  Still Canadian in that sense.
• I cannot read the Irish language for the life of me.  My friends made a game out of listening to me read the sugar packets in the pub last week.
• Sadly, I am still a Canadian classical violinist when it comes to fiddling. I'm doing my best to remedy this issue. My teacher has recommended I get "the Trad disease" like Irish musicians.
• The bipolar weather here still surprises me. If it is sunny in the morning, it will pour in the afternoon. I've also never seen so much rain falling from sunny skies.
• Some of my favourite shows to watch on TV are still the American-made Big Band Theory and Criminal Minds. I have yet to become interested in Irish soap operas (for good reason).
• And I saved the most important for last... I still say "Eh!" My classmates get a kick out of catching me.

The conclusion?  Besides the obvious label on my passport, I would say that I am still a full-fledged Canadian. I definitely feel Canadian, but it is an amazing experience to be surrounded by a new, exciting culture. My favourite parts of Ireland are the Trad music, and the cosy, intimate atmospheres of pubs. These aspects set Irish culture apart from any other around the globe. The downside is the country receives no snow, which is problematic at Christmas time!

Best of luck in this busy time of year!
Shannon

Promised Irish tidbits!

I've spent some time thinking of juicy Irish tidbits to share with you.  To start, I'd like to pass on this picture which I quickly snapped while going downtown on the city bus one day.

Yes that would be a pony, in the middle of the street, clearly on the loose judging by the lead hanging from its halter.  I have a feeling this scenario is more common than you might imagine in Irish cities. I had a good laugh because no matter where I am, whether at home in Ontario, at school in Brandon, or living in Ireland, I can never seem to escape agriculture.

My second tidbit is indeed a fascinating one!  Over coffee one day, my classmates were informing me that red-headed people are slowly breeding out their ginger genetic traits because red hair is a recessive gene.  According to online articles, the unfortunate red-headed kind only have about 100 years left to prosper! (http://www.news.com.au/top-stories/gingers-extinct-in-100-years-say-scientists/story-e6frfkp9-1111114243424).  I recommend that you warn all the Gingers you know as soon as possible. I've already notified my cousins.

I also want to share some tidbits about the Irish accent and diction, because I have not touched on the topic for awhile in my blogs.  One of the most common words around is "Grand" which ranges in meaning from fabulous to downright awful.  Also dangerously similar to "grand" is "fine."  Much like in North America, if someone says they are fine, they could be perfectly happy or inches away from a fistfight.  My class has had some good laughs over these words because they turn up in many Monday morning greetings.

In terms of pronunciation I've found it interesting that words such as appreciate or negotiate have a "see" (appre-see-ate/ nego-see-ate) sound rather a "shee" sound like I would use.  I've come to identify with different terminology as well.  Cell phone are mobiles, and sweaters are jumpers.  There is no such thing as a city "block" and zucchinis are referred to by their French title Courgettes.  Confusingly, chips are called crisps because chips are really french fries.  Don't even bother mentioning toques because you only get blank stares.  I believe warm headgear is called a beanie or simply a hat over here.  I am pretty proud that I have convinced my Greek roommate to call them toques instead.

My life is still school-focused at the moment with only two weeks left before all my written assignments are due.  I should have another blog for you soon.  I hope to report on how Irish I have become over the past three months.

Happy Thanksgiving to American readers,
Shannon

Prepping for Ensemble Concerts

It is now under a month till I am done my first semester in Limerick.  As we race down the back-stretch to Christmas, I will find myself rather busy with assignments due, recordings to be made, concerts to perform, and holidays to plan.

I am most excited for our class ensemble performance in the last week of November.  All through the semester we have had three hour rehearsals every Wednesday to compose and arrange a 30-45 minute performance which depicts how our class perceives community music.  With two weeks left before the concert we are in crunch time to fit all our ideas together.

Our class has incorporated music genres from all over the world to emphasize the cultural diversity of community music.  We are performing everything from American bluegrass to Samba, and African drumming to traditional Chinese and Irish singing.  We dip into modern music with some jazz and rock, plus sing in multiple languages and play a variety of instruments.  This ensemble performance will be my debut performance on the electric bass!  I'll be rocking out to some Blitzkrieg Bop by the Ramones.

Our ensemble performance will also have many opportunities for the audience to participate.  Participation is really the key element in community music.  In one of my course texts Joining In, author Anthony Everitt claims "Music is too important to be left to the musicians: it belongs to all of us."  Our class agrees with Everitt and therefore will have people singing, clapping, performing body percussion and dancing in our performance.  There is still much organization to be done, but as long as it comes together it will be a blast!

Tonight I must brave the rain to attend my weekly University of Limerick Community Orchestra rehearsal.  Every Tuesday over the semester I have enjoyed these rehearsals because it keeps me playing classical music and motivates me to practice more repertoire.  We have a concert on December 8th which will feature various Christmas carols, March Slave by Tchaikovsky, Trombone Concerto by Rimsky-Korsakov, Farandole by Bizet, Finnegan's Wake by Potter, a Cole Porter Suite and much more.  I've had quite a positive experience with this group thanks to the friendliness of orchestra members and energetic style of the conductor.

As my semester wraps up I will do my best to continue posting regularly.  Unfortunately I do not have any travelling adventures planned in the next month, but I'll keep my ears posted on interesting Irish tidbits to share with you.

All the Best,
Shannon

Cliffs of Moher

A couple weekends ago I was getting the "travel somewhere" itch so my roommates George, Chris and I decided to make a day trip to the iconic Cliffs of Moher.  My apologies for not posting this sooner, but school is starting to become a bit demanding considering I only have three weeks of classes left.  Regardless of my timing, the beauty of the Cliffs is worth sharing.

The Cliffs are located about a 1 hour and 20 minute drive northwest of Limerick, in County Clare.  You will probably be familiar with some of the images because they have been seen in films like Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, Princess Bride, and countless Irish tourism advertisements.

 

The Cliffs are absolutely stunning and incredibly massive.  They stand 214m/ 700ft  above the water below.  They are composed mostly of shale and sandstone and stretch for 8 km/ 5miles along the coastline.  The name Moher comes from a historic fort "Mothar" overlooking the water, which was demolished during the Napoleonic wars.  Today, there is a visitor center on site, as well as O'Brien's Tower which was built in 1835 as a viewing point for tourists.

We were extremely lucky on our visit because the weather was clear skies with no wind.  Apparently the wind can swirl around the cliffs and make it quite dangerous.  There is stone barrier denoting the walking path along the cliffs, but in typical human nature everyone chooses to walk on the other side of the barrier to get closer to the drop-off.  People enjoy living on the edge, pardon my pun!  You want to be really careful getting close to the edge because of loose gravel, erosion, etc.  I would go nowhere near if it was raining, for fear it would be slippery.  Warnings of these hazards are pretty clear along the walkway because several people have previously lost their lives.

A good example of the nicely worn path on the wrong side of the barrier. 

The closest I dared to get.... so far down....

 

The Cliffs of Moher provide a spectacular view of the Aran Islands as well as some of the interior landscape.  The west coast is fairly barren and composed of little vegetation and lots of rocks.  Hence why Irish farmers made fences from stone rather than wood.  Most of the land seems to be used for beef or sheep, though the Cliffs support a great variety of bird species and at some points in the year Dolphins can even be seen in the water.  Sadly the only animals I saw were the cattle roaming the tops of the hills.  The country-girl in me took the following photo. I suppose "bull warnings" are internationally understood.

I highly recommend the Cliffs if you are ever in Ireland.  Our trio only made a quick day trip, but it would be wiser to make multiple stops in the area at other places such as Aillwee Cave, Caherconnell Fort, or Pulnabrone Dolmen (a tomb dating to 3200 BC).  You could also take a ferry over to the Aran Islands, or continue on your way north to the artsy city of Galway.

Happy Remembrance Day,

Shannon

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