Bad Shakespeare Takes Ireland: Taxis, Ferries, and Busses, Oh, My.

Firstly, a programming note. As of this moment, I really haven’t posted that much in the past week. There’s a reason for that: we’ve been on the tiny island of Innis Mor and we have very little wifi. However, I still wrote several editions of Bad Shakespeare. I’m uploading them all today, and they’ll run this week. Enjoy!

Leaving Galway was an interesting event. Firstly, because we ended up taking a taxi to the bus, and the bus went right by where the taxi first picked us up. It seemed very redundant. But we said goodbye to that tiny coastal town and hello to our even tinier island town. I mean tiny. I mean there are more cows that people so far. And don’t believe what anyone tells you, these are mean looking cows. I would not want to mess with them.

But I should back up a little bit. We took our coach (or as we saw in America, bus) down the Irish Coast. It was beautiful. I don’t mean run of the mill beauty like a sunset or kittens playing in a basket, but real beauty. Awesome beauty. Unlike anything I’ve ever seen before in my life. I couldn’t believe it. The bus zigged and zagged down the road and we were treated to all the colors of green that I never thought I’d actually see. It was amazing. 

Then, we got to our Ferry and unloaded our bags for the second of many times this day. This was probably why they told us to pack light and no one listened because hey, we’d just have to put our bags on a plane twice, right? At this point I’m beginning to think I should shun all my material possessions and live as a hermit with nothing. At least for this trip. then I want a lot of stuff again. 

Anyway, we were greeted by a con artist dog who apparently lives around they ferry and acts cute for food. I could tell he was a con artist because he had shifty eyes. Or at least they appeared to be pretty shifty. I knew he was up to something from the first moment I saw him. After he hit us up for some snacks we all shuffled onto the roller coaster ferry. 

You could say the seas were a bit rough. That’d be like saying the Kardashians sort of enjoy being in the spotlight. I swear, at one moment  we were traveling almost vertically. It was kind of nice, actually, a bit of a change from all those times I’ve been on a boat and felt like I didn’t anger Neptune. Actually it was a little bit nice, the scenery was amazing. 

After we all praised the god of the land, whoever that is because he doesn’t have as good representation as Neptune, we unloaded our bags (again) and then loaded them (again) in the last leg of our journey: The tiny town of Innis Mor. We’re currently (or we stayed by the time I’ve uploaded this) staying in the Kulmurvey House, which is near an old church and as I mentioned once before: some cows. Yep. There was a cat roaming around at one point, but he didn’t want to be my friend.

That’s were our adventures are leaving us for right now. I’m interested to see what this week will bring. 

Bad Shakespeare is going to London. You've Been Warned.

When I made the switch earlier this year from High School English Teacher in Training to English Master… getter… I’m going to need a bit more direction before I assign a title… I decided to take more advantage of the opportunities in front of me. Not that there weren’t plenty already, but I had to completely switch gears. I was on a pretty set track. Take classes A,B, and C, you get an “elective” so long as it’s this class, take an internship, and then here’s your Masters. Also, quit any full time job you have. 

Then I made the switch, and a whole new world of possibilities opened up in front of me. For one, I had a wide variety of classes, which is now why I’m studying Cinema in addition to 19th Century American Literature… and that’s just to start. I can take almost any class! And I have those popular electives, which are awesome. Which is also why, just for fun, one day I went to see what I could study abroad.

I’m very fortunate that my father was in the military, so going overseas wasn’t anything I thought about, it was just something I did. I was actually born in Germany, which explains my affinity for pretzels and good beer, and I actually was able to live in Korea for a few years which explains why I look so much like Kim-Jong Un. I was in the south, but I’d like to think that we connected on some level. Not because I’m a monster, but because I like wearing a uniform and being adored for no reason. 

So when I was looking at the information to study abroad, it was just to see if there were any programs that catered to me, a Graduate Student. I never really look advantage of the fact that I could have tried studying abroad when I was an undergraduate because, again, despite studying English, I was a “focused” individual that didn’t think too much outside the box. 

Then I found it. A program to study Theatre in London. London. Despite my overseas adventures and my love of traveling, Shakespeare, Doctor Who, Sherlock Holmes (Before he was Cumberbatched), and giant clocks, I’ve never been to London. I always wanted to, mostly so I could see if I could find Hogwarts. So, just for fun, I decided to see if they’d cater to me, a Graduate Student that had a little bit of time saved up in his Vacation fund.

A few emails and an application later… I’m going to London. To Study Theatre. And I can’t wait.

It’s strange, really, that I never considered the possibility of what studying overseas would entail. I still really don’t, because right now I just sort of have a flyer and the class that it will cover (Yay, electives!) But to me, it’s about taking risks. No, not because I’m flying on an airplane during a time period when people have discovered a spider the size of a dog in the rainforest. (BURN IT. BURN IT WITH FIRE.) But because to be honest… it’s unlike me.

I talked about earlier this year making this big switch. I’ve referenced it a few times since then, but I haven’t really “talked” about it too much. I mean, it’s a big switch, but at the same time I said my piece and I don’t want to appear ungrateful for the time. But I have to reference the fact that I spent two years planning testing, and working hard to get a degree. Then I said, “naw… I’d rather do this.” Part of that was taking risks like going to London, because I’ve never been, and the bottom line is, I want to. I wan to go. I want to study Theatre under one of the best professors i had in Undergrad. It’s an interest of mine.

I’m excited to finally go to a country I’ve wanted to visit for a while now, and I only thought I’d visit in some quick trip. All in all, with some vacation time I have saved up, I’m going to end up spending about a month overall in London. I promise I’ll keep the Doctor Who jokes to a minimum while I’m there. I can’t make the same claim about James Bond jokes. Those are actually kind of funnier. 

My point to this whole story/inspirational quote/post/whatever it is I’m talking about, is that I spent a good two years of my life studying to go down the straight and narrow path that will contribute to society. Now I’m going to London for no other reason than I want to. It’s a big difference for me, and it’s a lot to process, but sometimes we have to do what we want to. Life is short, despite the fact that they’ve found new and exciting ways to extend our lifetimes, so long as it doesn’t involve downloading our brains into machines with ironic consequences. (Novel Idea: we can download our brains into machines with ironic consequences. Dibs.) But we have to take advantage of what we want to do, not what we think is expected of us. 

That’s a lot of words to pretty much brag that I’m looking forward to riding the lorry and eating crisps with the Queen. She’s pretty easy to get to talk to, right? I mean, there’s like a form I have to fill out or something. I can only assume. If not her, then Emma Watson. You've been warned!

I guess I’m just saying it’s an exciting time for me. And All I had to do was take a little bit of time to decide what it is that I really want. And for now, what I want is to go to England. And possibly visit the Ministry of Silly Walks.