Category / Life in Dublin

by shannonchance

Jettisoned into Architecture

View eastward on the Liffey, looking toward the Ha’penny Bridge. Taken walking to my 10 am meeting….

Everything started peacefully enough.  I arrived to my research meeting with a few minutes to spare and stopped in to see the church ruins located beside my office in the electrical engineering department.  Up until now, I’ve been working almost exclusively with engineers here at the DIT.  During this morning’s meeting with an engineer and a physicist, Sima called and asked me to lunch….

And then, quite suddenly, everything sprang forward into warped speed. The day melted into a slew of events and activity — lunch with Sima at the Hungarian place, rapid discussion of construction and philosophy with newfound colleagues, a new place to work (a second office, located in the architecture building).  I got slurped into the excitement of it all.
I wound up, midday, at the opening meeting of the whole School of Architecture at the Dublin Institute of Technology.  I was formally introduced at the very first all-school meeting they have ever held!  I asked them to wave “hi” to you, which caught them completely off guard.

This School is part of the College of Engineering and the Built Environment. It offers degrees in architecture, architecture technology, and construction.  It has, in Architecture alone, 457 students.  That’s huge.  And there are another 200+ architecture students at the nearby University College Dublin.

View towards Four Courts (the round dome to the right), which is Ireland’s version of the US Supreme Court.

This School just got its own newly renovated building (mostly complete), called Linenhall. They are using all of this as an opportunity to redefine themselves.

My office in the electrical engineering department is just north of the church. The building is referred to as “Church Street” and now I know why! The desk man at Ireland’s Higher Education Administration (HEA) office, where the Fulbright staff work, told me to look for the church in the park….

As such, they are discussing issues of social relevance, identity of the building professions, and the purpose of education. So, I ended up attending a lecture tonight that was part of their “Schools of Thought” lecture series on “critical practices.”
The speaker, from the arts program at DIT, shared a global perspective on trends in education and knowledge-making world-wide. It’s so interesting to look at the events of the world from a perspective where Ireland is at the center, and we’re looking over at the US, observing what is going on there, and comparing that to other places in the world.  I’m so used to looking “out” at the world from a point of view centered in the USA.  It was fascinating and I’ll definitely be back for next week’s lecture.
I came home, finally spun up the juicer, and reflected on the day’s events.
It feels great to be alive!  And, my mom arrives in the morning!

The DIT School of Architecture says “Hi!”

by shannonchance

Wilde Fun at the Gaiety

Inside of the Gaiety Theater, mentioned in Oscar Wilde’s “Dubliners.”

It’s hard to feel lonely when you have a Facebook community to lean on. Being five hours ahead of the time at home can make me feel a little isolated on Sunday mornings, when the people I love most are still asleep.  But what do you know, another Fulbright living in Ireland jumped right in this morning via FB and offered solidarity.

Scene from Wilde’s story about the characters of Dublin, set in 1848.

I perked up after heading across town to the Gaiety Theater for a Sunday matinee.  Oscar Wilde’s stories were  delightful due to some great choreography and skillful acting.  Perhaps he didn’t mean it to be so comical, but nevertheless, it was a highly entertaining theatrical production. It was delivered entirely in third person to keep true to Wilde’s text (which wasn’t penned for the stage). The stories involve a bunch of off-beat personalities, but most of them are lovable enough. I’m sure the book itself could get depressing, but the play seldom did.

Anyone care to join me?

There was even a singer in the play who reminded me of my Dad’s cousin, Robin Massie.  With her beautiful curly red hair, super-cheery personality, and incredible soprano voice, Robin could definitely find a place on stage here.

Sunday afternoon streets are always full of people — as long as the rain holds off.

The design of the Gaiety Theater is itself a treat.  Inside, it looks a lot like the Olympia (which I posted a picture of previously), except that this theater is bigger.  It’s where Riverdance performs, for instance.

I also finally sought out the Cornucopia restaurant. It specializes in vegetarian, wheat-free, gluten-free, vegan, and sugar-free options.  And, believe it or not, they also specialize in delicious dishes!  I wonder:  How on earth did it take me so long to find this place? Mark (at the Kildare Street Hotel) told me about it weeks ago.

Shopping for light bulbs, a bell pepper, and ginger root on the way home… along with everyone else!

The play and a warm bowl of soup did wonders for my day.  The rain showers melted into sunshine.  The afternoon streets filled with people.  I even found one of the light bulbs I needed to purchase while I was on the way home (even the light bulbs are different from what we have at home, and so keeping each light fixture aglow offers me new challenges.)

Shopping successful, tummy full, and Shannon happy, I returned home to reflect and transcribe.

PS — My new URL is shannonchance.net to save you a few keystrokes.  If you receive my blog posts by email, I recommend you click the title of the piece when they arrive, so you can read the online version.  That way you get a better graphic experience (and sometimes a few less type-os). Now, if only I could figure out how to control this crazy template’s layout.

An urban reflection from today.

by shannonchance

Necessary Evil

I felt pretty good after an hour of transcribing.

The veggies I had for lunch were wearing off. I’d polished off the goat cheese Dave left me in the fridge.

I’d spent two hours transcribing interviews — and that puts a real strain on the back!  All told, I put in about five hours transcribing today. (I have so much more of it ahead of me this year. Manually transferring voice recordings into word files is excruciating — but it’s a necessary evil of qualitative research.)

Feeling wilted, I decided to treat myself to some veggie nut loaf at Mulligan’s Grocer, a restaurant I’ve mentioned before.  Yum!  This is one of Dave’s favorite meals in Dublin.  It perked me right up!

Returning home, I conquered the interview tape by 10:30 PM and found reason to celebrate when I got some good news from Google Alerts.  William and Mary just published a story about the class I taught this summer.  Check it out!

by shannonchance

Mixing Soup Under a Fine Dublin Sky

Fulbrighting is in full gear here!

The weather is grand — chilly but sunny.  And, surprisingly, it was a day without rain.  That hardly ever happens.  We usually get at least a few drops every day.  As they say, “if you don’t like the weather, just wait five minutes” … it’s certain to change.  They also say Ireland has four seasons in a day.  Dave and I have definitely experienced that.

I’ve learned never to leave the apartment without a small umbrella and a waterproof jacket of some sort.  There’s little humidity in the air here in Dublin.  Gavin joked yesterday that humidity tends to fluctuate between 0% and 100%.  (Scientifically speaking it’s probably more like 30% and 100% since 0% would be unGodly dry, but the idea is right on.  A hundred percent is, of course, when the air can no longer hold the water and it rains or snows.)  I’ll include a few random photos of the Dublin sky, snapped as I walked to various buildings at DIT today (the buildings are spread out all over town).

In the past couple of days, Sima, Gavin, Brian Bowe (their doctoral supervisor), and I have been trading articles on design theory, design process, and qualitative research methods in preparation for our work.  We’re exploring differences and similarities between phenomenology and phenomenography.  Fascinating, eh!?  Well, fortunately, we think so!  (I’m trying to make time to read a stack of articles and chapters while also preparing to give a conference presentation next week and making final reviews of the article that will be published next month by SCUP, the Society of College and University Planners.)

Among other activities today, I met with Gavin to discuss definitions of “design” and their relationship to epistemology (the way individual understand “knowledge” and what it means “to know”).

Computer Science lecturer Damien Gordan walked past and joined the conversation (see photo).  I’m looking forward to talking with him again soon.  So energetic!

Chatting with Damian Gordon from Computer Science, who, like us, also does educational research.

Everyone here is amazingly welcoming.  Gavin’s office-mate, Kevin, gave me a his own personal HP printer (his wife has just purchased a new one).  The librarian at Bolton Street, Brian Gillespie, checked me out a book using his library card, since mine’s in the works. The Head of Mechanical Engineering and Product Design asked me to submit a paper for his upcoming conference.

I could go on… but there’s even more exciting news.

In a few days, Gavin, the Dean of the College, and I will all fly to Thessaloniki, Greece for a conference sponsored by SEFI (the society of European engineering educators).  Gavin will be presenting two papers and I will be presenting two as well.  One of the papers we wrote together, so we’ve got a total of three presentations to deliver between the two of us.  Strangely, all three of these presentations fall in the same time block.  We’ll get to see exactly how many places we can each be at one time!

When the conference ends, Gavin will zip back to Dublin mid-week to teach classes.  I don’t have to be in a specific class next week, and my flight choices all required a lengthy stop-over.   So… I took full advantage of the opportunity.  I chose Rome as my through destination and I scheduled a stop over for three nights on the way back.  I’ll return to Dublin in time to work Saturday and Sunday.

I have a huge amount of homework to complete for the following week (the same week my Mom and her two neighbors are arriving for a visit).  But I can’t fall behind in my work.  Gavin and I must stay on our toes in order to complete our study in time for the January 7 journal deadline.

Oh, yes, Sima phoned today to discuss lecturing schedules and research plans.  She’s been following the blog and she called with a very excited tone.  She’d not noticed the BYOF sandwich board right outside their building, and neither had the other lecturers.  They learned about it from my blog and got a big laugh.

I should have taken a photo in the window of that pub yesterday.  The students were just back and they hadn’t packed lunches either.  So, there were plenty of students in the pub, but few had BTOF (Brought Their Own Food).

On a parting note, I also had to stop for some produce today and I leave you with the following delightful image+thought=idea.  The veggie assortment pictured below was labelled as “soup mix.”  How cool!

‘Course I’m gonna steam my veggie assortment instead… and I think I’ll do that right now!  Apologies for any typographical errors… but I need to go eat… and work on that SEFI presentation… YIKES!

Soup Mix — Irish Style!

by shannonchance

B.Y.O.F. (Bring Your Own Food!)

BYOF (Bring Your Own Food) — a novel concept!

People told me things move slowly in Ireland. I’ve never found that to be true. I’ve always seen energy and innovation. Take this pub, for instance. It lies between the architecture and engineering buildings at “Bolton Street.”

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My Hungarian lunch — chicken stuffed with prunes.

See how innovative they are!?!! I hadn’t packed a sandwich, so I’m down the street eating lunch at one of my old favs. Perhaps it’s me lacking innovation today (though my chicken stuffed with prunes was a bold new choice).

Turns out my old fav is now owned by Hungarians… so there’s a much different menu but a lot of enthusiastic hospitality.

by shannonchance

Hijacked by the Kitchen

Shopping for kitchen supplies on Henry Street.

I had to ease myself back into reality a little today.  Tomorrow will bring the first day of classes at Dublin Institute of Technology!  I’ll be resuming work on my research project: meeting with my collaborators at DIT, settling into an office, and hopefully securing a library card and putting it to good use.

I did some work today to gear up.  Although I didn’t complete as much as I’d intended, I did get moving in the right direction.

I also forced myself to start using the kitchen in my apartment… which means that I discovered all kinds of things I’ll need in order to accomplish any degree of cooking here.

Up until now, Dave and I have been living like we’re on holiday (and eating out for every meal!?!!).  We hadn’t really gotten to see tourist sights when we were here in March 2011 and March 2012 because I was busy laying groundwork for the upcoming project.  We’ve tried to make up for that oversight by spending quality time together before our fall schedules consume us.  Dave and I throughly enjoyed exploring Dublin and “beyond the Pale” (the Pale being Dublin).  I’ll soon post more about what we’ve seen.

Over the past three weeks, Dave and I also put a lot of effort into creating our home away from home.  Nevertheless, today’s foray into the kitchen revealed the need for yet another shopping trip.  And fortunately, great shopping is just a few blocks away!

Throngs of people shopping on Henry Street today.

I must note, though, that great restaurants (like Mulligan’s Grocer and Seven Social and Cinnamon Cafe) are just as close.  Will power is going to be a critical aspect of eating at home.  In any case, I was very hungry today since I also took my first yoga class in Dublin.  I’d registered online last night with The Elbowroom (which is also just three blocks away) and ventured there for class this morning.

After class, I wrapped up some final editing for a journal article that’s “in press” and I sent everything off to the editors.  Then I headed out for kitchen supplies.  In this blog, I’ve posted images I took after I was loaded down with purchases — which was exactly when it dawned on me that you’d probably never imagined shopping like this.  Shopping here is so very different than shopping at home (with a car and with a sea of asphalt and plastic shopping bags).  Here, I have to carry everything back to the apartment… on my own back.

You’ll notice (in the top photo) that I’m covered with straps.  They’re from the Envirosax bags I tote along with me everywhere I go.  In Europe, you bring your own bags to the store with you.  Many department stores here are happy to supply bags, but grocers and discounters (like IKEA and Argos) charge extra for bags.

Moving on to evening hours:  since I don’t have a TV (by choice) and (sadly) couldn’t watch Downtown Abbey, I opted for a play at the Dublin Fringe Festival.  It was a superb two-woman play called “Payback!” at Bewley’s Cafe Theatre on Grafton Street.  Tickets are just 10 Euro each — a real bargain!

I couldn’t take photos of this play, so I’ll explain the image (I posted previously) from a Fringe Festival play I saw with my sister Heather.  That play allowed photography because it was an outdoor production billed as “boutique street theater.”

Play I saw with my sis at the Dublin Fringe Festival.

It was a very high quality production, lots of fun, and absolutely free!  I enjoyed it immensely even though I didn’t know most of the theatrical references (including A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Alice in Wonderland… I’m quite rusty with regard to both).

Thanks to my sis for helping me realize that Dublin theater is phenomenal, not to be missed, and not all that intimidating.  Now I’m gaining skill at selecting and booking tickets.  I’ve already purchased a ticket for a play in the upcoming Dublin Theater Festival — which is completely different from the Fringe festival that is currently underway.

by shannonchance

It’s All About the Light

Dublin was awash in sunshine today!

We awoke this morning for breakfast with two of our house guests–Amanda Bernhard and Jonathan Kennedy–who are in Galway for the year studying Irish.  They have a very interesting blog going and they manage to post it in Irish and English.  I invited them to stay an extra night after the Fulbright Orientation, so we could go to the Cobblestone Pub that’s just down the street.  It’s known far and wide as the best place in Dublin to hear traditional music.  Amanda and Jon each play instruments and they joined in with the other musicians playing at the pub last night.  I’m hoping Dave will provide images of Amanda with her fiddle and Jon with his pipes, so I can post them for you.

We are absolutely loving city life.  Everything is right here… no need for a car day-to-day.

Following breakfast (which included a tasty bowl of porridge with rhubarb at the Cinnamon Cafe), I visited a photo exhibit while Dave enjoyed the weekly outdoor market and the wine festival in Meeting House Square.  Then we both headed over to the Oxfam Home store (which sells used furniture) and the Dublin Food CoOp.  Yelp has proven quite helpful in locating local favorites such as these, which came highly recommended by Peter and Mark at Kildare Street Hotel.

As we ran our errands, we also stubbled across one beautiful place after another.  I’ve attached a snapshot of the park beside St. Patrick’s Cathedral that we strolled through.

After a quick bowl of soup for lunch, I dashed off to see a play with my sister, Heather Massie, who is visiting for the Dublin Fringe Festival.  The play “Guerrilla Days in Ireland” was performed at the beautiful Olympia Theater.  It was a nice complement to the play we’d each seen last week called “The Plough and the Stars.”  Both relay twentieth century Irish history.

Amazingly, Heather has seen ten shows in the week she’s been here–in addition to taking a bus trip to Kerry, meeting us in Galway and Connemara for three days, and coming along on one day of Fulbright orientation with me (to see the Hill of Tara and Trim Castle).  Today she visited the Goal (former jail), art museum and its gardens, the Queen of Tarts….

In other words, it’s been quite a busy week.  I’ve just reported about the tip of the iceberg!  I’ll have to tell you about our other adventures in future days.  I do enjoy the comments you post and emails you send….

by shannonchance

Shannons (?)

Shannons in Swords and a Guinness….

Evidentially the word Shannon is plural (in Swords, Ireland) as none of the signs we saw downtown today included an apostrophy.  After snapping some pictures of Shannons in Swords, we slurped down some soup at the pub.  Then we headed to the suburbs of Swords (to pick up a used chair I’d secured on http://www.adverts.ie).

 

It’s not the most comfortable office chair… I have to admit that on-line viewing leaves much to be desired.  But, I took it anyway as we’d made quite an effort to get there.  If it doesn’t suit for long stints at the computer, perhaps I can re-list it on Adverts.

We had rented a car–to use for our trip to western Ireland–and to make a few errands.  After our chair purchase, we found we had a couple of hours to spare before we needed to pick up my sister, Heather, at the airport.  We decided to make a quick trip to IKEA.  I was thrilled to find the same model of desk I use at home… it will fit snuggly in the corner of my living room and I can transform into a cafe table for use on the balcony in good weather.

Heather was surprised by coolness of the weather here.  She just spent a sweltering 16 days in drought-ridden Italy.  The mountainside across from her Spoleto lodgings went up in flames and burned for two straight days.  In Rome, she stayed with the hostellers I use on my student trips. Our friend Monti showed her around the city… including some hair-raising rides on the back of his motorcycle.  Glad I wasn’t there to see that!  Dave and I enjoyed a ride with him in his car and that was hair-raising enough for me!

Here, she’ll be borrowing sweaters.  She’ll also have to dig that umbrella from the depths of her suitcase.

After collecting Heather outside customs, we all hurried back to town to meet some people I’d hired to help clean the apartment.  They know a bit more about this particular job than I do.  The place feels much cozier now!

Horse-wash in progress.

Sadly, though, I still haven’t figured out the sizing for the beds.  I keep buying sheets that don’t fit.  Two twin beds zip together to make one “super king,” but these are longer-than-normal twins and I can’t find anywhere to buy long twin (i.e., dorm) sheets.  I’ve learned all this through trial and error and I still lack some of the bedding I’d hoped to have in place before Heather arrived.  Dave and I will huddle together for warmth tonight.  If, of course, he ever finishes editing and comes to bed… people keep ordering new images.  They all want to enter an architectural design competition that closes soon and they need exceptional images (that he’s previously shot, was smart enough to bring with him, and now needs to edit).

Even though we’ve been intensely busy the past few days, we’ve stumbled across some interesting sights along the way.  There’s movie filming going on all across the city and a Notre Dave versus Navy football (!?!!?) game in Dublin this weekend that has brought in throngs of Americans.

We also spied the stable for a old-timey horse-drawn carriage.  I posted a photo (at the top of this blog) of the owner washing his horse last night.  We were walking to find a place recommended by Peter (from the Kildare Street Hotel).  I’m so glad to have his ideas… this funky little restaurant pub is quite close to where I live.  It has fascinating accouterments (such as the menus in the photos above).  You’ll notice that Dave got a little wet on our walk there.  He dried, eventually!

What we haven’t found yet–sorry Morgan–is Lucky Charms.  Despite having a large section seemingly devoted to Kellogg’s, the Fresh Market has no sign of such Charms.  We did locate readymade pancakes in the refrigerated section, however.  They’re available in either “American” or “French.”  As Morgan’s dad would say “Who’d a thunk?”  Certainly not me!

by shannonchance

Some Things Are Easier Than Others

Getting moved into an apartment hasn’t been the smoothest process.  The size and location of the one I’ve selected are great.  The price is reasonable for the market ($1200/month furnished).  But the landlord is difficult.  He believes the apartment was already “professionally cleaned,” but the carpet hasn’t been vacuumed let alone steam cleaned (which it needs even by my not-so-high standards).  In any case, I’ll be taking on a fairly dirty apartment and cleaning it myself.

The good news is that I should be able to move in tomorrow.  Dave and I will haul all our bags across town… somehow.  I’m hoping to arrange a large taxi.

Fortunately, most everything else about this move has gone much more smoothly than securing the apartment.  The people at the Kildare Street Hotel (most notably, Peter and Mark) have been absolutely the best!!!!  They are full of helpful information and insight.  They’ve helped step me through this move.

Vegetarian, gluten-free lunch

Vegetarian, gluten-free lunch.

My iPhone now has calling capacity and roaming Internet connection.  Today, the apartment management company and I were both paid.  That means I was able to apply for a bank account, since I can now claim to have a home address.

By Friday, I’ll have access to Euros instead of having to spend US Dollars.  That means I can buy things and pay in Euros.  I’ll be able to avoid paying the fees associated with buying Euros (due to exchange rates and international transaction charges).

Something else that has made all this easier: delicious food is readily available!

Lest you think all the meals here are laden with calories, I’ve attached a photo of the lunch I had at 4 pm today (after many meetings).  It was vegetarian and gluten-free.  There are many gluten-free options in the restaurants here. That’s because, unfortunately, Ireland has the highest number of people, per capita, who are celiac and can’t eat wheat proteins.  Many can’t even eat from a kitchen where wheat has been used.  I fear that we’ll see a rise of gluten intolerance in the States, because our standard American diet today is so high in gluten.  I think people are likely to reach their thresholds at some point — like I did with formaldehyde.

In any case, the open air market here is full of summer vegetables at amazingly low prices (5 red bell peppers for €1).

Restaurant food nation-wide is quite expensive, however.  My lunch (as pictured) cost about $12.  Looks like I’ll be eating at home a lot!

by shannonchance

Curved Streets

I captured a few more images of curving streets on our walk to dinner last night.  I mentioned yesterday that Camillo Sitte recommended the urban designers include non-straight streets.  The urban design students I taught this past summer used Sitte’s principles to guide their designs for a new (theoretical) plaza in Rome.  You can see their proposals at Urban Push.  Two of the images below feature landmarks around the bend in the street.

In the photos below, you’ll also see that Dublin has bike share.  If I find the drop-off locations to be convenient, I’ll join the program.  I’ve heard it’s just €10 per year.  Remembering to drive on the left is pretty difficult for me when I’m not in a car, though, so it may be a while before I’m up for riding a bike in the city.  I actually had no problem driving a car on the left side when I rented a manual transmission auto for two weeks in 2003.  The most difficulty I had that year was remembering to convert back to right-handed driving when I got back home.