Woe is me.

So I'm taking this class "Epistemology and Metaphysics" in the philosophy department. Mind you, I'm a philosophy minor. By Mount Holyoke standards, this means I take any 4 philosophy classes of my choosing, as long as one is a 300 level course. So, basically, I can take whatever I want, whatever I find interesting. This allows for the freedom to stray away from the boring, made-up, nonsensical classes like logic. Haha. It's an excellent system, allowing me to take the flowery courses, not really learning anything, just kind of dipping my fingers into what I personally find interesting. Well, here at Trinity, the options are more limited. So, that leads me back to my present predicament. Epistemology and metaphysics. Sounds fancy and intriguing, right? Thought so. Theories of knowledge and truth, right? Well, unknown to me, theories of knowledge are not so flowery as they could be. It's all based in linguistics, logic and semantics. Booooringggg if you ask me. Metaphysics is more of a flowery conception....hopefully. 

I don't know where I'm going with this....But, I've got to write a 2000 word essay on epistemology, more specifically Quine's objection to logical and mathematical truths by convention. Bah, doesn't that just sound so dull and complicated at the same time? Thinking about it gives me a headache. I've had to read the articles multiple times just to grasp half the concepts. Oh my. I've even come across a book, basically 'Quine for dummies', called "Quine for the Perplexed" and its probably one of the only things keeping me going. 

Where was I going with this? Just a rant on my situation. Time to perfect the art of bull-shitting.

Long time, no see

Wow! I haven't made a post in over a month! Funny though, things haven't been busy enough to not make the time to post. I wonder where my head's been...

Anyways, what's been going on since February? Hum. Well, two weekends ago, I went to London to visit my friend Phyllis from Mount Holyoke. It was so much fun! I think London may be my favorite city by far! It's so easy to navigate, extremely cosmopolitan and international. So, I arrived early on Friday morning at Gatwick airport. Then took the train to Farringdon, close to Phyllis' apartment. Met her around noon and we headed off to explore the city! It was a gorgeous day, about 6o degrees even. We walked around Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus, saw Big Ben and Westminster Abbey. It was nice to see them again! The only time I'd been to London before was in 2005 and all my pictures from that trip are gone, because freshmen year of college I broke my computer....oops! Haha. Around dinner time, we went to Covent Garden and had noodles at Wagamama. Delicious! 

Saturday was a bit of a late start, but we were out of the apartment by noon-ish. We went to Portobello Road outdoor market in Notting Hill. There were so many street vendors, selling fresh fruits and veggies, vintage and second hand clothes, crafts, antiques, you name it. The market was down the street about a mile long. Phyllis brought me to this great Falafel place for lunch, called "Falafel King" haha. It was soo yummy! We poked around for a couple of hours and then headed back into Central London. Poor Phyllis, before we could go home, I dragged her to King's Cross station to see Platform 9 3/4 from Harry Potter. Hahah. And of course I took my picture, running into the wall. It was the highlight of my day. Then we went home and chilled out for a bit before going out for dinner and seeing a broadway show! We had dinner in Convent Garden and then went to the 8:30 show of Avenue Q. I bought us great tickets for only about 50 pounds. The show was hilarious and now the songs are always on repeat on my ipod. I'm addicted.

On Sunday we went on the London Eye in the late morning/early afternoon. I bought tickets online ahead of time so we didn't have to wait in any lines. The ride is about 45 minutes and you can see all of London. I took so many pictures, I probably have at least 4-5 shots of the same thing; Big Ben, etc. After the eye, we walked past the London Aquarium and took the tube to St. James Park and Buckingham Palace. Um, what else? We went to the movies that evening, and then had pizza and wine for dinner. It was a great ending to the weekend. 

I headed back to Dublin Monday afternoon. This past week was the last of Hilary term classes. I needed to get one of my 5 papers done and out of the way with, so I finished researching and by Wednesday night, my 1o page paper on resilience for Development and Mental Heath was complete. 

This past Thursday we left for our Institute for Study Abroad-Butler University trip to Northern Ireland (free t-shirts and everything, haha!) We left Dublin around 1:45pm on Thursday and arrived at Jury's Inn in Belfast by 4:30pm. This trip was planned for all Butler students at all schools in Ireland, so there were over 140 of us. After we checked in, Anni, Stephany, Lucy and I went exploring the city. My great-grandparents were from Belfast. It was really cool to think about being in the same place they lived. I tried to find the church they were married at on Shankill Road, but I couldn't find it. Anyways, we walked up to Queen's University Belfast. It's beautiful! All Georgian and brick. Looks a little bit like Mount Holyoke. Belfast is very very different from Dublin. Hard to explain, but it's a nice different. 

Friday we had a long packed day ahead of us. A tour of basically all of the North. We drove along the Antrim Coast road, it was breathtaking! Absolutely stunning weather as well. We stopped first at Carrick-a-rede rope bridge. The rope bridge connects to a small island that fisherman would go to to collect and catch salmon. The water was so clear, green and blue. Walking across the bridge was a bit frightening because it swayed back and forth. But, so worth it. The views were incredible. After spending some time there, we headed to the seaside town of Portrush for lunch. Then we stopped for 20 minutes at the ruins of Dunluce Castle. Much of it apparently collapsed into the sea. Oh my. Last stop of the day was the world-famous Giant's Causeway. The weather started to get really crappy by this point, and we were soaked. Walking around the Causeway was slippery and wet, but quite an amazing experience. If you ever get a chance to go to Ireland, it's a must see.

Saturday was our free day and we did a black cab tour of Belfast. They took us around to all the murals and paintings on the walls, explaining the history of the Troubles. It was so eery to think about the violence that went on only about 30-40 years ago. We went to Shankill Rd, and Bombay street, famous for the most violence of all the Troubles. After the tour, I went a little coffee shop for lunch and then took a bus tour of the city. We went to the Titanic ship yard and dock. I was so excited! I think I've done maybe 3 or 4 school projects or papers on the Titanic. It fascinates me. So, we saw where it was build, the pump house and the type of cranes used to move materials. Wow. So cool. After that, I went shopping-it was great because the pound is not at strong as the euro, so I could buy more and spend less. Haha. Plus it was a rainy, crappy day, another good excuse to go shopping.

Sunday morning and we headed back to Dublin. Now, this week is all about writing another 10 page paper before spring break next week when Sarah and Beth come to visit! Gahhh schoolwork is really a drag here.....