A lazy day

Wednesday, 31st August

Today I left CSB SJU. Eric gave me a lift to St. Clud, where I took a bus to Minneapolis. I took Jefferson Bus, which Mattie said is always late (and it was late again). They also expect you to get tags for your bags (which is totally pointless). They also don't tell you this so while I was at the station about 2 hours early, I almost missed the bus because I didn't get tags for the bags (because it didn't say anything about it anywhere on their website or on the ticket). They remind me a little of the Spanish Bus Company, ALSA, who also do things a particular way and everybody is expected to know this without being told anywhere. It is really noticeable that it is African Americans, Latinos and really working class white Americans that take buses. Everybody else drives everywhere. Nowhere in Europe would you see only minorities on public buses.

I got to Minneapolis and I picked up some bus timetables that I may need later. I took the light rail to the airport but I missed the bus so I took a taxi, rather that wait an hour. I arrived at Extended Stay America Hotel in Eagan. This is a great place as it is quite reasonable and you get cooking facilities and a fridge in your room. I decided to make use of these facilities so I went out to look for groceries. I saw 5 restaurants in a row but no grocery store. I finally went to a gas station although they only had pre-made meals. I decided to enjoy my hotel room so I cooked my meal, then took a bath and then spent some time using the wifi connection. Now I'm going to watch some TV. It is nice to have a day doing nothing every once in a while.

SJU

Tuesday, 30th August

Today I didn't do too much. I spent most of the day waiting for the recruiters to call me about the job in Eagan and booking transport and accommodation for the next day in Eagan. In the evening, I went to Mass in the monastery church. The monks chanted a little (though the monks at Glenstal are better, I think). There were not many students at the Mass, which surprised me a little for a Catholic school. We sat in the choir stalls with the monks, which was a little different. Afterwards we went to Mattie's apartment. She was having a little party. Apparently she made ice-cream but unfortunately we got there too late.

Johnies and Bennies

Monday, 29th August

Eric took me on a tour of St. John's campus. We saw the old church (now the great hall), the new church, the monastery and some studenty buildings. It is a very nice campus. We also saw the ST. John's Bible (the first illustrated Bible for hundreds of years). We then took the bus to St. Ben's, where I met with Chelsey, Sam and Mattie for lunch. They then gave me a tour of St. Ben's campus. Afterwards I just wandered around St. Ben's before I met Hanna to go and help out in the Sisters' vegetable garden. We pulled up white carrots. Afterwards, we got to sample watermelons from the gardens (really tasty). We then went back to Hanna's apartment where they were cooking the fresh vegetables from the same garden at a little party. We ended the night by going to one of the other bars in town. This was very different from Sal's. It was very quiet, which was nicer (and they had better beers on tap).

Driving through Minnesota

Sunday, 28th August

Today I woke up in Duluth. Megan kindly made me and her friend, Michael, some breakfast. Michael had offered to drive me to Brainerd as he was visiting his family there. Me and Michael had an interesting chat along the way, with topics such as religion (by the way he is a seminarian in Rome), Rome, travelling, economics, politics. I also got to see lots of trees and lakes on the way (typical Northern Minnesota). He dropped me in Starbucks in Brainerd and I stayed there for about 2 hours. It was perfect. They had free wifi and it was very quiet so I could put all my bags in a corner easily. I was happy to be in Brainerd because of the film 'fargo'. It is one of my favourite films and was mostly set here. The accents of the staff in Starbucks weren't have as funny as the characters in the film. (for those who haven't seeing the film, here's a clip - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-XEHwUBubk&feature=related). However I didn't see the famous Paul Bunyan statue as they moved it.

I arranged to meet Eric in Starbucks as he was making his way down to St. John's University for the start of semester. It was great to see Eric again. He had the apparently famous purple van. Only the way, we passed the train above. We arrived in St. John's University at around 5pm. I helped Eric move his stuff to his new room and met his housemates.

The atmosphere was so different from UCC, mainly because almost all students live of campus. There are two campuses, a men's one, St. John's University (next to a male monastery) and women's, College of St. Benedict (next to a female Benedictine abbey). All the guys live in St. John's and all the girls in St. Ben's (although classes take place on both campuses). They are 8 miles apart. It is also a very small school (4000 students between the two campuses) so you are constantly running into people you know. Even I, who only knows about 10 people there, often bumped into people I know while wandering around. The monasteries are actually on the campus, which is interesting and the monks eat in the same place as the students (which is why, I think, the food is pretty good in St. John's).

We ate in the reef at 7pm. It's a lot nicer that the main rest and is all you can eat. This is a good thing if you are hungry but there is no option of just taking one thing from the menu. The cost for guests is $10.75, which is a little steep. But Eric was able to use his card to get me in. Hanna kindly organised a little party with all the Irish crew in her apartment. It was nice to see everyone again. Some of us went to Sal's (the local 'party pub') afterwards. It was a dingy pub/bad nightclub. I ordered Killian's Irish Red out of curiosity (it wasn't too bad). I met some people who studied in Galway last year, who wanted me to sing 'The Wild Rover' with them. I politely declined.

Goosberry Falls

Saturday, 27th August

I woke up at 5am today. I first had to walk to the light rail station, which was a 30min walk through a dodgy area. Walking through this area with all of my bags at 5am in the morning, I got a lot of strange looks. I then had to take a train to the airport. I got there very early, which was good because it took me a long time to find the place where the bus to Duluth leaves from. There were four of us on the shuttle bus to Duluth.

I arrived at 9.50am and I met Megan. She was going to Gooseberry Falls, where I had actually been last year, with a few friends and she invited me to come along. It's a really nice place. While driving though, we missed the turning and went about double the distance we should have. I think it's because everyone in the car was so polite (as most of us noticed signs for the place) and I thought of Tim's story about Korean Airline staff being so polite that the co-pilot often doesn't correct the pilot (even if he is flying into a mountain).

The Falls are very nice. There is an unusual rock formation and some nice waterfalls. There are lots of hiking trails along the way. We had a nice lunch (peanut butter and jelly sandwiches) on a little cliff side. On the way back we went to Betty's Pie. I had the Great Lakes crunch (which is all the berries you can think of).

When we got back to Megan's place, I went to Mass at the church of the parish where Megan works. Afterwards Megan made us a nice dinner and we chatted for a while and played cards. I also met her nextdoor neighbour, a priest from Mayo. He has been in Minnesota since 1959. I chatted to him for a little bit but when I looked down at my leg, I noticed about 30 mosquitos biting me so we had to cut the conversation short.

Twin Cities

I went to Minneapolis on Thursday night for a Friday interview. I stayed in the very nice Best Western hotel downtown. I walked in to the interview at 1pm. It went fine (but still don't know the final outcome). Afterwards, I discovered that the hotel was full so I decided to go to the hostel (rather than spending $300 for another hotel room downtown).

Meanwhile I met up with Mattie and we walked together to the hostel (which was a lot further than it looked on the map). The hostel looked nice enough until I saw my room, which had 14 other beds in it. It was all they had available. There was only one bathroom. The night before I was staying in a palace with 2 TVs, a living room and massive bed. The next night, I was sleeping in an attic. It was $28 for a camino refuge-type accommodation. It's really annoying that there is nothing in between. There is either a really nice hotel downtown for $200 or a dirty attic. They don't have anything like a B&B.

We then walked around Minneapolis for a while, chatted and stopped off at a cafe in a theatre that Mattie often goes to. The photo above is the view from the 5th floor of the building. It is the Mississippi river. After that I had dinner in a Greek restaurant with Mattie's parents. I haven't had much Greek food before and it was pretty good.

I went back to the hostel early to get some sleep as I had to get up at 5am to go to Duluth the next day.

The Calm before the Hurricane

I will be leaving for JFK airport in less than an hour. I may be back in Long Island next week or I could be in Minneapolis for the year. I have enjoyed my time in Long Island. It was very relaxing and I had a great time with Concepta, Sal, Christi-Marie and Caraiosa. I'll probably be back at some point during the year for a few days hopefully.

Above is a photo of the back yard. The weather has been very good so I have made use of it by swimming in the pool or relaxing in the garden. Hopefully the garden will look that same after Hurricane Irene, which is expected to hit Long Island on Sunday.

I get into Minneapolis at around 10.30pm tonight and I have booked into a hotel downtown. Depending on how my interview goes tomorrow, I could have a very busy weekend ahead of me.

A busy day

What did I do today? I was on my little netbook and at the desk taking assessments, talking to a recruiter in Minneapolis, Minnesota and booking flights and accommodation in Minneapolis. I hardly left the basement all day, despite the fact that it was quite a nice day.

I decided to take a flight to Minneapolis where I will have an interview on Friday for Wells Fargo Bank. If It works out, I'll probably stay there for the rest of the year. If not, I'll return back to Long Island. I am taking all my stuff with me. I specifically applied to jobs in Minnesota because I loved it so much when I was there last summer. Added to that is the fact that I know quite a few people there, which always makes things easier. So hopefully it'll work out.

One of the reasons why I decided to fly so soon after finding out about the interview is because there is a hurricane forecast to hit Long Island on Saturday/Sunday. I don't know what this will do to flights so I thought it best to fly out before it's supposed to hit (if it does).

I will be travelling tomorrow night and I don't yet know where I will be the following night so I may not be able to post for a few days.

Sanctuary

Today I went to the Quogue Wildlife Sanctuary about 10 mins drive from the house. It was a beautiful day (not too hot) so was perfect for exploring a park. Christi-Marie had a day off work so she drove there. We saw some birds, such as eagles and falcons. Then we walked a beautiful wooded trail past lakes. It was very quiet in the park, which was nice.

While there, the earthquake in Virginia happened. My cousin noticed something but she didn't say anything and then she heard from someone about the quake. It was felt all the way up as far as Boston. I thought this was cool as I had never experienced an earthquake before but then I was a little disappointed because I didn't even notice.

Afterwards, we went to Westhampton Beach, a nice little touristy town. We had dinner in a Mexican restaurant. I has quesadillas, which were okay but a little bland. The waitresses were extremely friendly, it was unnatural. I also noticed that waitresses hardly do any work in many places. All they have to do is take the orders, bring the bill and chat to you every now and then. They have separate bussers to set up the table, bring out the food and clear up afterwards. And they hardly get any credit (or tips). I prefer the bussers because they don't chat to you. I feel pressured to be overly and falsely nice to the waitresses because they are so friendly to me and that is really not in my nature.

After the meal, we went to see a car that Christi-Marie was thinking of buying. The car had a lot of strange noises coming from it that she thought it was better if she didn't get it. Then we went for ice-cream, where the junior size was the equivilant of a large gelato in Italy. I got a medium, which was massive. It was pretty nice. Then we finished off the night with a few beers from the America's oldest brewery called Yuengling. Guinness still predates it by about 70 years.

The Big Apple

Concepta and Sal were going into the city today for meetings and they asked me if I would like to come along. I wasn't really doing much so I said 'yes' straight away. They were going to 58th Street so I decided that I would just explore that area, rather than going too far as their meetings weren't going to last that long.

I noticed that St. Bart's church was pretty close (and Concepta recommended it) so I decided to go there first. I noticed a cross of St. George flying outside so I knew then that it was an Episcopalian church. It was in Romanesque style outside with Byzantine inside. It was quite nice, though it was very dark inside so I couldn't see the mosaics very well.

Next I went to St. Patrick's Cathedral, which was only about a block or two away. I got the guide and went around the church. I expected more Irish saints (only St. Brigid and St. Patrick made an appearance) as far as I could see. But I couldn't see the high stained glass windows or information about them (so maybe St. Finbarr was hiding all the way up there). It is a very impressive church and really gives you an idea of the massive Irish immigration to New York. It's nice that the cathedral of one of the largest and most important cities in the world is dedicated to an Irish saint.

After touring the cathedral,I decided to stay for the 12 noon Mass. There were a lot of people attending, including a number of business men on their lunch break. It's great to see people from so many different walks of life coming together for Mass. I don't anywhere else that you could find poor African Americans, Spanish-speaking Mexicans, Philipino immigrants, elderly Irish Americans and a variety of businessmen together. In NY you can really see the universality of the Church.

After Mass, I just wandered around for a bit before I had to meet up with Sal and Concepta. It was interesting to just wander around random streets. I came across the central synagogue, which looked impressive. It said that it was open but I find any open doors so didn't get inside. Afterwards I had a refreshing 99c ($1.09 with tax) cup of iced tea from Dunken' Donuts. Afterwards I went with Sal to Brookyln before heading back to Long Island. One thing I know for sure after the trip is that I really don't want to drive in NYC.

St. Rosalie's R.C. Church

This morning I went to 11am Mass in St. Rosalie's Church in Hampton Bays (about 1 mile away). I cycled there in about 10 minutes and the had a place to park your bike (a rarity in the States). I was the only cyclist attending Mass. There is a sign on the front that says 'St. Rosalie's R.C. Church welcomes you'. I have never seen the letters R.C., to denote Roman Catholic, used before.

It was a really professional setup that really put most parishes in Ireland to shame. The church was completely full and there was a choir. They have what looks like a sound proof room for families with small children at the back of the church (a really good idea, I think). They had ushers in red sports jackets that guided people to free seats (shortage of seats is not a problem that we have in Ireland). It was a mostly elderly population attending. A funny thing that I noticed in their newsletter was the ammount taken in at last week's collection and the previous year to see if it went up or down.

After Mass, I took some photos of the inside of the church. The photo above is the window above the altar. Christ is surrounded by various kinds of food. Nature was a big theme in the church. All of the windows had images of trees, animals or food.

After Mass, there was a reception with biscuits and bagels. I met a couple with ancestors from all over Ireland (they had been to Ireland many times). They usually live in Manhatten but have a summer home here (this is a real summer area). I then met the priest, who is from Goa, India. He is a very friendly man (very outgoing) and a funny character. He told me that almost everyone in the church had Irish connections. As I left, he gave me a blessing and wished me the best of luck in my job search.

An immigrant

Today I cycled down to the local supermarket. It is huge and every product is bigger here. It is impossible to find a normal sized anything. Shopping for one person is very difficult. It is also not that cheap. Even when you convert it to euro, Tesco is way cheaper for many of the staples.

Something struck me as I saw the British/Irish section in the store (as you can see, they have quite the selection of Barry's tea). It was the realization that I was an immigrant here. In Cork, you can see Polish sections in Tesco and here was I shopping in the section for Irish immigrants.

My new home

This is a photo of my aunt's house. It is my temporary home while I search for work. It is situated in a quiet wooded street near East Quogue in Long Island. It is nice to have a homely place to stay for a while.

There is a pool in the back garden that I haven't used yet but I am sure I will as it is quite warm here (late 20s) - bearable, but still warm.

The area is very residential and has no public transport. My cousin lent me her bike that I will make use of, going to the towns and the beach over the next few days.

Welcome to the blog

Hello and welcome to my photo blog. This is a blog that I have set up while I am in the U.S. I hope to post a photo everyday with a short explanation. I would like to thank Tim Howard, who gave me the idea. Feel free to subscribe!