My Acting Break: La Revancha de Romeo y Julieta

So, I know there might have been some nasty rumors flying around on the internet (mostly started, if not denied by myself) about this mysterious Spanish Version of Romeo and Juliet. I'm here to address most of your questions and concerns in order to create some clarity from across the ocean. So let me just start with a picture.

I don't have enough photoshop skills to make this up

Amid studying for midterms and working hard on the other assorted projects for class, I managed to find some time to head over to my firend's apartment for the classic Pancake Tuesday here (for those reading back home, it's aka'd as Mardi Gras). We ate pancakes, sat around, and talked about the cultural differences across the entire country of Denmark Ireland. While sharing a pancake and a bulmer's with my new friend Thomas, I got to meet someone from Spain. He was in Spanish Society here on campus, who was coincidentally doing an adaptation of Romeo and Juliet. I told him that I was a Maestro of Spanish (3 semesters of B+/A- work and a week in Argentina? Totally fluent), and I was coincidentally a Drama major. He said he was pretty sure I wasn't a maestro in spanish, but they needed guys for the play anyways, and that's how I ended up being cast in this spring's production of La Revancha de Romeo y Julieta.

THE FIRST REHEARSAL
Now, if you know me (aka, have spent any time in a spanish class with me or happen to be a native spanish speaking individual who is a former roommate of mine), you might know my Spanish is the not the most honey-laced language to deliver. You might use words like "jarring" or "grating" or maybe even "catastrophic" to describe it. Trust me, I am also aware of this. Luckily, after showing up at the first meeting, I was assured that not everyone was a native speaker by talking to my new buddy from Poland, who is playing Benvolio. The director gave me the part of Capuleto (capulet + o, clever, non?), and amid all the people coming in and out of the classroom we were using during rehearsal, I managed to somehow win the part. I think it's because I was focusing a lot more on the intent than the words, and it helped my theatricality come out.

Do I know everything I'm saying? Do I understand what's being said to me in the play? Do I even comprehend the major plot line of the adaptation? Absolutely (not)! But I'm going to continue with it, and we'll call it a work in progress. Lines are going to be somewhat difficult, but I think the audience will be awed at the staging choices made.

So, from now on you can refer to me as "Señor Capuleto"and I will respond. Time to bust out the old dictionary!

Notes:

• If you want to check out my other blog for the Ambassadors in Education, click here. It's cool because they took my entry and translated it to UK English!
• I pitched a version of Samual Beckett's Catastrophe today for my Directing Beckett class. I think I wowed the class by turning it into a ten minute experience of schizophrenia. Woo-hoo!

The Northern Lights: County Donegal

(Note, this is a really long post, so I'm going to break it into section. No pressure to read all of it.)

Pre-Departure

Last weekend, after attempting to watch the 6 Nations Rugby game with my friends Erin and Alex, I ended up getting invited to a rather large trip up to the northern tip of Ireland to this place called Malin Head, in County Donegal. There was even a chance we might see the famous Northern Lights (which apparently doesn't happen in Ireland too often). I wasn't up to anything for the weekend, and the group discount was pretty cheap, so I said. Let's do it!

We didn't get to see Santa.

After eating dinner at DCU with the other Tar Heels, I ended up getting back to UCD quite late, and only getting to sleep about 4 hours before I had to wake up/pack/beautify myself/shower or just in general be ready to face a two day trip to the arctic north. I showed up at the bus stop at 8 30, when I was told we were supposed to meet..

Nobody was there.

Day 1: Lurking in Dark, I Wanna Make Love in this Pub

After waiting for the next bus to come, I hopped off on my way around 8:32, and was planning on walking up to the stop for the charter bus, when my bus driver offered to just take me up there anyways because it was on the way to the station. Get to talking with your drivers, and you can find out they'll be the nicest people you know. So, I got to the right stop, jumped on the bus, and had that awful moment when I realized of the 13 people going on the trip, I only knew 3 of them by appearance/name. So, I sat down in the back of the bus, and started meticulously scanning peoples faces to see if I recognized them by the facebook event. Luckily, half of the group showed up and we broke the ice successfully.

The trip was about 4.5 hours by bus, and we steered our way through the UK (this counts as my first international bus trip), and up to the Peninsula via three buses, where we ended up in this small town called Cardonough.

Look what they had!

After spending a couple hours waiting in a café for the rural bus, and getting to know the overwhelmingly large number of people from California in the group, we finally made it to the Sandrock hostel on the western tip of Malin Head around 4:30. But not without being harassed in the thickest northern Ireland accent by the bus driver. This was just a reoccuring theme for the weekend, as it would turn out.

The hostel had a beach. It was a bit cold for swimming.

After warming ourselves in the sitting room with tea and biscuits, we decided to brave the cold and take a 15-20 minutes hike into town to see what the pubs were like. We got about 5 minutes in when the rain started coming in from the ocean behind us. It gave us extra motivation to get to the pub, where there was a roaring fire and drinks to be had.

The subsequent 30 minutes in the bar, we spent alternating between putting our butts to the fire and watching our clothes steam, and talking to the bartender about Ireland (also, another thick accent). We treked through the pitch dark using only two of our flashlight equipped phones to find the next pub, which was up the road and whose claim to fame was being "Ireland's Northernly-most Pub!" There was a child who wouldn't stop running back and forth from one side of the room to the other, and our friend Radhika decided to strike up a conversation with him. He was there with his family, and he kept trying to get the attention of the women. I got his attention by asking him which one he liked the most, and he pointed at our friend Alex. I then told him that she had a crush on him, and it was instantly a game-show love connection.

She was a bit too old for his liking...

We got dinner there, then headed in for the night to wait for the other half of the group who had left after they finished their friday classes.

While we were waiting, we played "cluedo" (the same thing as clue, just with a funny name). Apparently, they call the wrench a spanner here? Absolutely ridiculous. But that's culture for you. The gang turned out to be incredibly superstitious, so thanks to a open door and an automatic timer, my friend Liz and I managed to convince the gang that something was moving around outside. Classic ghost move. It was cloudy, so we didn't get a chance to see the northern lights.

Day 2: The Northern Lights, Hailstorms, and Night Sprints

After waking up around 10, we decided to take a stroll around the northern loop on the island. This included THE northern-most tip of Ireland, and was supposed to take around 2-3 hours. After more tea and biscuits, we left around 11:30 and hiked off up the hill. Photos say a lot more than I can explain, so I'll just post a few. The noteworthy events that transpired here were

1. Getting Caught in a hailstorm and subsequently huddling for warmth
2. Finding a random sheep in the middle of the road who looked like he was going to charge
3. Getting caught in another hailstorm
4. Getting caught in a final hailstorm

SO, yes, that was a pretty good hike. We got all the way around, stopping only to see this small trinket shop called "The Curiousity Shop." After getting back in town, we stopped at the fish market where 4 of the folks in the group picked up a couple of large Lobsters which were cheaper here than on the mainland.

A couple of the group went back, and myself and the two other people who were not from California (affectionately dubbed the Anti-California Coalition) decided to hunker down in a pub and just chat. After emerging to find another heavy rain storm (this, also is becoming a theme), we headed back to warm up some food before we made an attempt at the northern lights.

After eating, heading back to the pubs (where we got into a great discussion with our new friend Leo about the gender spectrum), and running around the village, we got a taxi ride back around 12:30 from a guy on the island who apparently loaned out his car for people staying at the hostel. I was sitting in the front trying to understand what he was saying, and we got into an interesting conversation about IRA members and crazy people in his part of Ireland. Quintessential Ireland, no?

After spending 30 minutes staring at the stars from our beach location (note, Nokia phones can go in 2 feet of sea water and be perfectly ok after spending a night in a bowl of Rice. Thank you, Alex!), we decided to trudge up the northern path to see if we could get a glimpse of the northern lights. By this point, our group of 13 had dwindled down to 6, which dwindled down to 4 halfway up the hill.

But we kept on, and arrived at the location we thought would work best around 3:15, only to encounter another hailstorm. We passed the time waiting for the clouds to pass with bad jokes, and by the time 3:50 came around, we were basically willing to give up on it. After walking no more than 500 meters down the street, some resiliant members of our group started walking back to the top of the hill to see if there was ANY chance we could get a hint of them...

We got to the top of the hill, and there they were. It's not as obvious as all the photographs make it out to be. But essentially, this is what it is. Staring at the north pole, the light becomes incredibly bright in comparison to other parts of the ocean. The lights played a green/blue tint and slowly changed over the 15 minutes we huddled for warmth and watched them pass by before clouds swept over and they disappeared.

It was the most spectacular thing I've seen.

BUT I don't have photos. :( Because I didn't have a lens with a 30 minute exposure. So I'm sorry I can't share that with you, but I'm sure that's just another adventure you'll get to take.

Notes for the week:

• Saw my first play at the Abbey Theatre! They put the students in the front row and made us take notes. I bet the actors loved that, but it was really good!
• Link to my ambassador page if you're interested in checking out my blog for the college. They might be pieced from some of these entries, but mostly they're original.
• Midterms this week. :/, guess it's time to start putting my head to the books.

Emerging from a recluse state?

Hey all you party people. Let me start off with an apology about my lack of posts. I think I got into the mentality that if I wasn't traveling around Ireland/Europe, there was no need to update anyone on my going-ons. Then I realized. WOW. I've become complacent with living in Ireland to the point where the little things like Ballygowan pure Irish Still water mean nothing anymore. So, I'll give a brief rundown in bullet form of things that have been happn'.

• The Superbowl! After much anticipation, I was able to meet up with a couple of friends who were Patriots fans in town at a pub called Portabella's on the Canal. We ended up getting there super early, however, as the game didn't start until 11:30 (we arrived around 10?). It was getting a bit stuffy, so I decided to go on a walk. I was feeling a mighty melancholy that night, so I was planning on just catching a bus back to campus and watching it at the student bar, when all of a sudden, I get a text from my good friend Jani Radhikrishnan (friend from UNC, studying at Dublin City University). She was apparently at a bar called The Bleeding Horse which, after quick research, turned out to be up the street from Portabella's. After running to catch the last bus up to town, I ended up reuniting with my two Tar-Heel buddies at the upper floor. We mainly caught up, as there were no super-bowl commercials here in Ireland. I wonder why? And my team lost. This seemed to be a running theme for the week (see below). 
• Play #2- Walworth Farce, UCD Dramsoc- This was the first authentic Irish piece that I actually saw. I won't go too in-depth with the play, but talk about meta-theatricality (which is markedly Irish, or so I'm told). The entire premise is about a father who makes two sons reenact the same story over every day in a flat in London. The premise is the usual Irish one, man kills brother, man runs away, sons follow, sons forget childhood. So the entire first half, you're a little unsure about what's going on because there are these people switching costumes constantly, a man wearing fake breasts, and people carrying empty boxes that look like coffins. So part one- trying to determine if they were really half-assing it in production, or if there's something deeper. But I was really intrigued by it. After the initial puzzle, the acting was quite good. Although I'm told it should be a lot more comic and a lot less tragic.

Rah Rah, Carolina-lina

• We celebrated the long awaited Duke-UNC game here. Yes that means staying up until 2 AM to witness the greatest game on earth. Yes that means watching until 4 30 AM, followed by a sad, fence-hopping, down-trodden, tear-filled, generally depressing trip back to my dorm from Laura's room. I think I was experiencing the stages of grief. Because after I got back, I started to undergo a fierce anger towards anything Duke-related, including my friends who DON'T go to Duke sending some ill-timed jabs at my expense (Duke Njie, Ellen Reat, I still love you). Then came the negotiation/denial, as I started talking to my UNC friends online begging them to tell me it hadn't happened, and this was some sort of terrible trick by the tv networks. Eventually, I accepted it. And then looked forward to the redemption concept. (Hell hath no fury like an angry tar-heel (which really doesn't make sense, as the heel is not a very emotive part of the body)).
• Juanita Wilson- 2 time Oscar winner- came to talk to the film society here about her career and the industry. I went with a couple of friends to see a couple of her films screened and to listen to what she had to say. it was interesting, as there were maybe 15 people in the room? I wish I had seen Winter's Bone so I knew more of her work. Oh well.
• I wrote a music paper about Björk's "Possibly Maybe". This involved listening to the song extensively on repeat. Let me say this right now. If you EVER need anyone to tell you ANYTHING about that song. I've said it. In fact, I'll weave an audible picture of it without you ever having to listen to it. EVER. ANYTHING YOU NEED. ABOUT THAT SONG.
• Play #3 Motor Town, UCD- About this play...I don't know if I want to say anything about the choices made, but I'll just say I enjoyed Walworth Farce quite a bit more. It might've just been that the Irish actors took for granted that they were speaking to an irish audience, and that the production had a lot of fast-paced dialogue, but I honestly got lost in the words. The protagonist had an entire monologue about musicians, while holding a gun to someone's head. So, I'm sure something exciting was happening, but I felt bogged down in the dialogue. This does have the merit of being the only play I've ever seen to have someone dragged with blood flowing behind them into a body bag...Yup. Never seen that before.
• They canceled the France-Ireland 6 nations rugby match because of "dangerous conditions." There was some ice on the field. BOOOOO. However, my friends Erin and Alex found this really great bar that housed international drafts. I tried the "Old Speckled Hen" instead. Not quite Newcastle, but we're going in the right direction.

 

A quick rundown of the next few weeks now

1. Bookworms at the Gate theatre tomorrow night.
2. Malin Head to see the northern lights this weekend.
3. Dublin to see Dublin the next weekend
4. Barcelona y various parts of Spain for the first week of spring break with Lane Whitman and Mwiti Murungi. (Also, Jason Bastida, Beth Moroney, Emily Braatan, and whoever else we can find)
5. Belfast for the 2nd week (or until my money runs out)
6. St. Patrick's day in Dublin
7. Paris to see Dan Richey and Jason Bastida the weekend afterwards

Thanks for tuning in!

Kilkenny and Frighteningly Large Deer: This Weekend Update

Blogosphere, how are we doing?

SO, I'd say a lot has happened this past week with experiences and events, but I want to be honest to my viewers and tell you that it's been a slow week full of coursework and generally melancholy non-exciting news. For instance, the big thing this week was that my bottom permanent retainer fell off.....I promise to never bore you with anything that action-packed ever again.



WHICH BRINGS US TO THE TRIP TO KILKENNY!
I hopped on a bus this morning in the soft grey drizzle I've become so used to here in Dublin with 3 friends from campus, and we took a two hour bus ride to head down south to Kilkenny.

A UK based map, you can tell because people in Ireland call "Londonderry" "Derry"

After arriving with the bus spending excruciating minutes making turns on streets that were clearly not designed by the Nords for buses, we finally arrived at the famous Rothe house in the middle of the city.

It's a house. And Rothe onced owned it. And it's in Kilkenny

After milling around for a few minutes outside whilst waiting for the majority of the tour group to finish using the restrooms and the tour to start, I was able to get a look around the courtyard where I thought the tour would be starting. I was only mistaken however, to find out that the majority of the tour was the courtyard. After cursing myself for not dressing warmer, we listened to the tour guide talk about the history of Kilkenny from the 6th century on. Apparently, the city started from a monastic order who started a church up on a hill. The Normans came around the 11th century and built a wall and a castle around the city, and laid it out like you would normally see a fish skeleton, with the main bone running from the castle to the cathedral, and the houses being the long skinny ones that get stuck in your teeth. This specific house had a lot of history as it had stood from the last 500 years in some order of disarray or high esteem. We got a tour of the upper rooms, where I found one of the scariest things I've come across in my life.

Deer from your nightmare.

Say hello to our good friend the Irish deer. From where he's stationed from where I took the picture would be where you would see him normally in the wild. Let's just make a few notes here.

1. You can't see the ground from where I took the photo.
2. There is an upward angle from where I took the photo
3. The width of his horns stretch further than the fireplace.
4. The fireplace is almost as tall as the guy standing next to it, who was well over 6 feet tall.

Now, I spent a lot of time among the American deer this summer, and I have no problem with it. But if this guy came up to me in the woods 10,000 years ago...there would definitely be some issues. Any hope I had for upholding the traditional sense of masculinity would melt away right then and there as I sobbed for mother to shoo it away.

But anyways, we continued to tour the house and saw some pretty neat elevated gardens on the 2nd-3rd floor that housed mallards. I think if I had to have a fallacious job for one day, I would tell people that I am a mallard houser. So, we continued onward to lunch, which consisted of a few light sandwiches, soup, and a cup of tea.

We were still kinda hungry, so after some light bookstore browsing/shopping, we found a comfortable café that was serving breakfast all day and jumped on the chance. We only had a little bit more time, so we spent it just walking around the cobblestoned city looking into various shops. I ended up buying a thicker jacket because I was freezing to the bone walking around Dublin. I have high hopes for it. Because we did a castle tour last weekend, we decided to skip the one this week, but I do have a final photo to leave you off with.

Castles on Castles on Castles

I think if I'm going to keep stumbling on these castles. Incidentally. It's called a luxury problem.