failte romhat

So here I am in Dublin, Ireland. Capital of Ireland, home of the storied Trinity College and certainly many things I don't know about. I've been here two days now and it's nice. The weather, people keep telling me, has decided to be particularly welcoming. The people, I gather, are simply always welcoming. A little anecdote for Tristan: as I was crossing the road from Grafton St. (where that Once movie was situated) to St. Stephen's green (a big deal park) I was stopped by this trio who wanted to take my picture...for a fashion blog. It wasn't even for the don't section! I attribute this entirely to the jeans.
Here's the link. Pavement Fashion

Sorry for everything, we'll try and remedy it soon.

So since the last time I posted here, the President of the Republic got himself married, Slovenia took over the Presidency of the EU, Heath Ledger died, and the race between Hillary and Obama has only gotten tighter. There we go. Also I have had about a month of holidays. Speaking of holidays my next break from school begins tomorrow. 2 weeks. No holds barred. I am going to be spending some time in Dublin and some time in Leeds. It should be wild.

Something Strange in the Neighbourhood

Belgium is going through a rough time. The two major linguistic groups that comprise Belgium, the flemish and the french, have had enough of each other. In fact apparently when you travel through Northern Belgium you are forbidden from speaking french. On June 10th of 2007 an election was held in Belgium and since that time Belgium has been without a government as none of the parties can come to an agreement to organize. The Flemish seperatists see this as a sign that the end of Belgium is nigh. Others see it as a need for serious federal reform. As always in cases like this there is an economic disparity between Flanders and Wallonia. I don't really understand exactly what is going on but it sounds dramatic. I shall see for myself next week.

Let 'em in. Or not.

The funniest part starts at about 3:13, especially for non-french speakers, the rest is dealing with the rugby world cup and an insider trading scandal. Nikolas Sarkozy the President of the Republic, has been cracking down on illegal immigrants in the country. There have been cases where people have jumped out windows to avoid the police. He is even considering implementing a program whereby people who want to immigrate to rejoin family members must undergo DNA testing before being accepted in the country. In fact there has been an increase in police presence recently in Strasbourg, any one I have asked about it simply shrugs and says 'Sarkozy'.

Veuillez Patienter.

So the other night...Sunday night to be precise, I went to see a movie. It was called 99 Francs it's an adaptation of a book I picked up a couple of weeks ago. The movie was good. It was a bit heavy but in a sort of lighthearted way. It was about how advertising is destroying our lives, a topic that sort of lends itself to being both lighthearted and heavy at the same time. The process of going to a movie was as interesting, though, as the movie itself. First we went and got our tickets that was rather normal. After that everything worked differently though. Firstly they didn't have a food counter just one person with some chocolate bars, a popcorn machine and vending machines. It quickly became apparent why, these were concessions offered up to make foreigners feel comfortable. In fact they ask that you not eat or drink or smoke (which is exceptional you can smoke anywhere here) in the theatre. There were two other surprises. The bathrooms for the the theatre are actually in the theatre. Not off the lobby or outside but right there beside all the seats. Which is a problem due to the next unique character of french movie theatres. The last thing that was surprising, your movie starts at 18h10, like it says on the ticket and the program. The movie prior ends at 18h09...18h05 at the earliest. The cinematic experience is an efficient one. So to go to the bathroom you have about half a minute before the movie or afterwards. Admittedly the commercials prior to the feature presentation are awful...so bad. Worse even than that Snickers one set in the middle-ages.

The village square.

I read somewhere, always an inauspicious way to start a sentence, that Strasbourg is a frenchification of the German Strass-burg. Which roughly translated would make it that town of streets. An apt title indeed. Squashed all together, like I'm sure most of Western Europe, Strasbourg seems to surprise me daily with new routes to get from A to Z. There are countless roads spiraling out from 'les places', little squares of open space. Like light columns for the city, so that no one gets too claustrophobic running to and fro down the alleyways. This has the unfortunate side effect of making navigation difficult. The other night I discovered this pleasant little late-night eatery which I promised myself I would return to. After days of searching I still haven't rediscovered its location. It is like the idea of the disappearing store in children's literature, one day it is there but when you need it next poof its gone and no one has heard of it. In Strasbourg that seems less a flight of fancy then a reality of every-day life.

Ah, so very disappointing.
Polaris Music Prize Winner 2007