Wednesday, September 15, 2010

But Jaffa Cakes...

Today, I went to the store and discovered the best thing ever: Jaffa Cakes.
Important men talking about Jaffa Cakes
Diagram of a Jaffa Cake
That's right, this is not only a hilarious nickname for Jaffar (courtesy of Aladdin and the Cave of Cheeseburgers) but a delicious cookie! Described as: "a golden sponge cake base with an orange flavoured centre half coated in plain chocolate" Jaffa Cakes are all that is good in this world!
Off Brand Jaffa Cakes
sports dude presumably eating a jaffa cake!
In the past three days I have consumed a grand total of 54 Jaffa Cakes. Molly thinks i'm addicted. She's planning on holding an intervention. I told her I wasn't going to attend unless she was serving Jaffa Cakes.

(a very informative and weird video i found concerning jaffa cakes. P.S. i DO NOT eat them this way. at all.)


What is this crazy jaffa cake??

HOSTILE TAKEOEVER!!!

Hostile
Cons:
-They didn't even hose us down! Don't know how they plan on keeping out disease.
-I was forced to be in close contact with 34 other human beings for over 48 hours. Must of whom were hipster/indie kids.
-"Molly, does this bunk bed seem stable to you?"
-ratio of 3 showers to 28 girls is a 'cause for panic.
-no running water from 8pm-8am = no flushing the toilet.
Pros:
-I didn't have to pay for it
and it makes for great puns such as "Hostile Takeover" that you can endless giggle about during class.

Quintessential Ireland





A little summary for those who want to read about my life:
The many fields of Inisheer.
Last weekend, Molly and I went on a field trip to Inisheer (the smallest of the three Aran Islands) for our Folklore class. The island itself was fairly small, with a population of around 700, and by the end I was definitely experiencing cabin fever and ready to punch my 34 other class mates. Yet, it has definitely been my favorite trip thus far! The entire island was my ideal Ireland, all the cliche things you think of when you picture the Irish countryside were present (plus a ridiculous amount of rocks. Even if you imagine a multitude of rocks in the first place, I assure you, there were far more then you thought possible). First of all, all the land was split up into small fields by man made rock walls, the only parts that weren't fields were the small town center, the 4 roads, and right along the coast line. Speaking of the coast line, IT WAS SO TOTALLY WICKED! Parts were cliffs, there was a light house and a ship wreck, but the majority was just a lot of rocks, but still really cool. Other great sites included the ruins of a castle up on a hill and the wild life (and by wild life, I mean the random apperance of domesticated animals). The castle was cool, not to mention totally climbable, and the view was quite spectacular. The animals were always entertaining. There were horses, and cows, and this sheep that fell off a wall, but the best were the dogs that would follow you around!
Besides forcing Molly to hike around the island approximately 2 1/4 times, we spent way too much time cramped in a hostel with 34 other people. We took over the hostel (HOSTILE TAKEOVER!) so there was no one else to worry about, but still, there only so much of other people that I can take. We played a lot of cards and bananagrams.
The ferry ride there was awesome 'cause we got drenched and saw a seal. The ferry ride back sucked 'cause I got sea sick and then had to endure about 3 more hours on a bus. But overall it was awesome, and I shall post more of the fun little stories and pics from the trip in another post...'cause i'm lazy and this post is getting too long!

Meet Margaret!

May I just start off by saying: there are way too many Margarets in my life!
First, we got Mrs. B, or Poggy, future gardener of by English estate. Then Magz, my joyful freshmen roommate. And now, two more Irish Margarets. The first being my land lady Margaret. She is quite the interesting lady. Upon moving in she gave us bedding and offered ethernet cables, hair dryers, hair straighteners, converters, blankets to our heart's content. Then she insisted on making our beds. She literally would not let me make my own bed. We later found out the reason for her being able to offer us all these goods. Turns out she's kinda a horder. She basically keeps what ever students don't want at the end of the semester, which is very economical of her, but kind hilarious to see the office and "The room of spare chairs".  The office holds just about anything, tons of books, purses, blankets, sweatshirts, even a guitar, all for the taking. The room of spare chairs is a place that only my roommate Amadea has gotten to venture so far when her chair broke and Margaret brought her down to get a new one, but we all see it on our way out of the building since one of the walls is made of glass...it's kinda reminiscent of abstract art really.
The second Margaret is our Folklore professor, who insisted on being called Margaret by everyone. She seems like she might be in her 60s and is outlandishly sexist at times. Once she asked the class if we would be concerned if a women were to drive our bus. Apparently, she feels women are not competent drivers and was shocked when few in the class felt the same way. She is also very laid back. In general she is about 10 minutes late to everything, gives us a half hour coffee break every class, and then lets us out about an hour early. Except for this one time. Our first night on Inisheer we had just arrived to the Hostile drenched after a lengthy ferry ride, and after quickly changing, she herded us all out the door, told us to follow her, and then began to run. And there went our tiny 60 something professor off into the winding, nondescript roads of Inisheer. It was pouring rain, dark, and we all had no idea where we were going, so we had no choice but to take off after her. Let me tell you, this senior can book it if she wants to, and as one of my class mates pointed out afterward "Not to be creepy, but Margaret has a well built body".

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Top (not quite) Ten Count Down!

1 of the 10 thrilling channels that our little TV gets is called "The Chart Channel". It is what MTV used to be: music videos 24/7. This was amusing for the first couple days, and arguably is still good for background noise, but one can only stand seeing the same music videos so many times. A majority of the songs are also the ones that they play on repeat on KDWB back in Minnesota, some are big up and coming UK artists, and ALL of them are fantastically mockable. So with out further ado, I present my Top 8 Favorite Music Videos Of General Awesomeness Count Down!

8. Coming in at #8 is Kickstart by the Examples. The plus to this one is that it's so much better then the band's other song that also frequents The Chart Channel! And, it's pretty creative. The appearance of the ride on horse toy always cracks me up!
 Kickstarts

7. So Creepy. So Catchy.
 I Was Drunk

6. Double-Dutch hasn't been depicted as this bad-ass since Sesame Street.
 Gold Dust

5. And the award to the song that is in my head the most HAS to go to this little diddy. The whole "emerging from a suitcase" thing though is a little strange, yet convenient.
 Pack Up

4. There's a ninja with a keytar.
 Stop Giving Me Choices

3. 'Hmm, well this is a pretty catchy tune....dumdadadumdada...'k, some artsy pans of city life, band's sporting the trendy hungover look.......wait...wait, hold on! Is that Emma Watson?!......well, that's just weird. I mean, she's dressed like some model and being chased/lead around by this dude now......oh look, and know he just ran around a corner store. manly......................................WTF!?!? DID HE JUST LICK HER!???!
yeah, it's pretty great. And if you're wondering about the dogs, I have no idea.
 Say You Don't Want It

2.  It was a close run for first, but take condolence in the fact that if this was showchoir we could call this one "first runner up" and confuse everyone :D
We No Speak Americano

1. And now, Apartment 11's song of the semester: All Time Low, by The Wanted! Playing with flares in an abandoned warehouse. Genius.
All Time Low

Hope you enjoyed a little taste of Ireland and the UK's topnotch music. Apparently, you can switch your i-Tunes store's country setting, a helpful hint, that will allow you to browse all of Ireland and the UK's up and coming music, and look at actual Music Charts!