My Soapbox on Shaming

I am just so excited for certain things in this world that don't directly have an effect on me.

source: irish times

First, as you may have heard, Ireland had a vote on the 22nd of May that proposed to add this brilliant amendment to their constitution:

"Marriage may be contracted in accordance with law by two persons without distinction as to their sex."

Guys. That's big. It means a lot of fabulous things (pun not originally intended but I'll leave it in there).

The second is something that honestly means very little to me but I know that it means the world to so many people afraid to speak up, and that is Bruce/Caitlin Jenner's transformation. Honestly, I was worried after the original Diane Sawyer interview that it seemed very out of the blue and, due to her association with the Kardashian family, it seemed almost like a publicity stunt. Then I started reading statements from ex-wives saying that it was always something they knew about but just kept quiet, so I accepted that maybe the timing was more coincidence than anything.

Now that the Vanity Fair cover has been revealed, completely overshadowing Kim's baby announcement (is it bad that I feel a bit of social justice just happened?)--- and she's fabulous. It's real, and it's awesome.

All that being said, there's something I've been thinking about a lot lately. R and I have had multiple conversations about it, and while we don't agree on everything here there's a general thought that's the same.

62.7%. That's great. However, it means that 37.3% voted no. Honestly, had it not been for Dublin the vote would have been much more 50/50. I'm not saying this to imply that the Irish are still about half stuck in the stone age, instead the complete opposite.

The people behind the "no" campaign were very vocal about some very incorrect misconceptions on the effects of the referendum. However, not everyone who voted "no" has those specific reasons in mind. Some voted no because they didn't feel Ireland was quite ready for a constitutional amendment and some voted that way because they were afraid of the implications it could have in the future for their religious sanctions among a myriad of other reasons. Just because someone voted no doesn't mean they hate progress and it certainly doesn't mean they're homophobic.

Most of all, it doesn't mean they should be shamed for feeling the way that they feel, no matter where it comes from. 

Why am I seeing so many people condemning those who think differently than they do in the name of equality and understanding? Assumptions are being made, insults are being thrown, and all to say, "I believe that everyone has the right to believe their beliefs, but because yours aren't the same as mine yours don't count."

I saw it after the results were in, when it was announced that a pretty rural area, Roscommon/South Leitrim, were the only ones to vote "No" and only by about 51%. Immediately the message went from "yay equality" to bashing of the area as a whole. Seriously? I completely expected a "well, hey, it's incredibly impressive that we got 49% in such a conservative area... well done!" but witnessed the complete opposite.

Ironically, the news about Caitlin Jenner came the same way. The only negativity I've seen is those criticising people for using the wrong gender pronoun, when even those in the know are struggling to keep up with what she prefers. For the record, while it was Bruce she preferred "he" but now that she's made the physical transition she prefers "she" but that was just announced in Vanity Fair. Why are we attacking the people who just haven't caught up yet?

The effort now should be put into showing the love and understanding that we preach. It should be put into educating others on the distinctions between actual and perceived implications of change, and most importantly promoting acceptance and patience with those who can't quite grasp the difference.

Change is hard, even when it's positive, and we should all be in this together.

An Evening in Laytown

I hope everyone had a magnificent St. Paddy's Day! Ours was full of parades, good food, and Guinness. I'd share photos, but not only did I forget to bring my actual camera to Dublin but honestly alcohol and the iPhone camera don't always mix! So instead, this post will be a picture dump from our walk along the beach last week. 

Along with being Ireland's capital city, Dublin is also a job mecca. Because of this, it is really expensive to live in the city and out of necessity quite a few "commuter towns" popped up along the coast both North and South of Dublin for those who preferred a cheaper and quieter life.

 Closest to us are Bettystown, Laytown, and Julianstown. Though they're not tourist hubs like Dingle, they're still gorgeous little towns in their own right. It's so nice for us to be able to pop in the car (or on the bikes once the weather gets a bit warmer) and ride along the coast on a whim! 

So without further adieu... onto the photos! 

this is why I'm not a fashion blogger. the only photo where my hair isn't completely covering my face from the wind!

that sunset though...

Do you have a favorite spot to go to relax?

Irish Soda Bread {Recipe}

With St. Paddy's Day only a week away, it seems like most of the blogging (and pinterest) world is gearing up with projects and foods of various shades of green and levels of Irish authenticity. I figured it's the perfect time to showcase one of the foods most of the island can agree on. 

Soda bread, while traditional, is only a more recent invention of necessity. With the invention of baking soda/bicarbonate of soda, it was created as a cheaper and quicker substitute to yeast breads. It is dense and has a slightly acidic taste but pairs very well with fried eggs or a huge pat of butter and jam. Conventionally, it is cooked on a griddle over an open turf flame, but as my apartment complex generally frowns upon that I'll share the oven method instead.

low lighting in the cottage makes for a grainy photo, but you get the gist. Shoutout to my friend Ashley for taking this photo during her visit last year!

I was originally going to share some links to recipes for it, but most of the recipes I came across included added sugar (most people in Ireland would call that a cake...) and one even had yogurt in it. I'm sure that makes a lovely loaf of something, but don't call it Irish Soda Bread if you're using completely changing the recipe. Call it "Betty's Yogurt Bread" or something. I don't know. Any who... 

The recipe I'm sharing is based on the recipe I received on my visit to the Ulster Folk Museum where a lovely older woman cooks it in the traditional manner in a cottage on the property. I have converted the measurements into things I understand (unless you want to measure out pounds of flour, in which case be my guest...), halved the recipe (because quite frankly the two of us can't eat a whole loaf in one go) and used a loaf pan instead of a cast iron skillet because it's what I've got. Please feel free to double the recipe if cooking for a family- just increase the baking time.

Irish Soda Bread

You'll need (yes, this is it):

3 cups regular flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup buttermilk  + extra to get dough to consistency

First, combine the dry ingredients in a medium sized mixing bowl, making sure there are no lumps. Use a sieve if necessary. Next, make a well in the centre of the flour mixture and pour in the buttermilk. 

Mix ingredients until a thick dough ball forms. If you've mixed until you can't mix any more and there's still flour left over, add in a little extra buttermilk at a time until it is all incorporated. The amount of buttermilk completely depends on the quality of your flour. The dough will be very dense. Ignore my whisk in these photos and pretend it's a wooden spoon. I learned the hard way so you don't have to. 

Now the method changes depending on how you want to form your dough, a "choose your own path" if you will.

Method 1: Turn your dough onto a floured work surface, flour the top, and gently knead the dough by folding the corners into the centre. Then either roll out to a half an inch thickness and cut into 4 parts (farls), or shape into a ball and mark an X with a knife in the centre (to keep the demons out). Either way, place onto either a cast iron skillet or floured cake pan.

Method 2: If you're like me, you'll sprinkle extra flour on and knead the dough lightly in the bowl because you don't like cleaning up flour from your work surface. Then shake it somewhat into a loaf and place in your floured loaf pan.

smiley has been added to protect the dirty stovetop.

Bake at 425F/220C/200C Fan oven for about 25 minutes, or until the top is browned and it sounds hollow if you thunk it with your finger (technical term). If making a whole loaf (doubling my recipe) increase time to about 45 minutes, but watch it from 35 because ovens are weird and unpredictable. Make wise choices. 

It won't be pretty, but that's ok. The uglier the better, I always say. Serve it with tons of butter and jam, make yourself a huge Irish breakfast and add in some back bacon, Irish sausage (theirs is served in links and doesn't have tons of seasonings in it like American breakfast sausage does), fried eggs, fried mushrooms or tomatoes (or both), and either some black and white puddings or potato farls, depending on what part of the island you're claiming your breakfast hails from. Or be boring and serve it with butter, scrambled eggs, and back bacon because that's what your mail order boyfriend requested. Either way, they'll be appreciative because you just cooked them a hot breakfast.

 

... and then i got so excited about the smiley I got a little overzealous with the stickers.

So that's it! Love it or hate it, it's tradition. We're spending St. Patrick's Day in Dublin (for the drinking festivities, not parades) and I'm so excited! Do you celebrate St. Patrick's Day? What do you do?

Pros and ( Cons ) of getting a Master’s Abroad (from an American's perspective) part 2

CONS

*Disclaimer: I'm just going to jump right in here. Also, sorry this is so long but it’s my blog and I’ll ramble if I want to.

+ // The grade scale makes it more difficult to get in with average undergrad grades Despite what I mentioned in the last post about the pro’s being that they’re more lenient, standards are still very high to get in. For those of us that didn’t have stellar grades in our undergrad you better hope you did something else to make up for it. I went to a small liberal arts school, which like many others had a set of core classes all students were required to take regardless of their major. In the UK, that doesn’t really happen. That’s why their undergraduate degrees are 3 years instead of 4 and the marks you receive really do matter. Unfortunately for me, it didn’t matter that I did really well in my major because that D that I got in Ecology (despite being a Theatre and Accounting double major) counted just the same as my A in Individual Income Tax.

+ // The grading system will freak you out Seriously. I can’t remember where exactly I found this conversion chart, but it was a lifesaver. After receiving my first paper back, which had generally positive comments from the reviewer but what I thought was an awful mark I had my first breakdown of the semester. I thought I had failed, and was incredibly embarrassed to share my grades. I had a couple people tell me that it wasn’t actually that bad but I thought they were just being nice, until R and I had to sit down and talk about it. Let’s just say, it fell within the ‘B’ range on this chart, but it took me a couple more essays (and slightly improved grades) to come to terms with the fact that if you get a 70 you’re pretty much exceptional, and as long as it’s over 50 you’re doing well and there is no cause for concern.

+ // Must have financial backing I am very fortunate that my family is in the financial position that they are, because the most challenging requirement for the Tier 4 student visa was the proof of funding. Basically, not only did I have to prove I had enough funds to cover the cost of the course (which I did through a US student loan), but I had to also prove I had enough to cover living costs, which they deem to be £820 per month (outside of London) for the duration of the course (9 months in my case). So I had to show that I had access to £7,380… or roughly $11,250 at the current exchange rate. You can do this through bank statements (yours or your parents/guardians), loans, or scholarships- or a combination of those. So you’ve either got to save up, or have a very good plan. This money doesn’t necessarily have to be spent while in the UK… they just want to make sure that you have money to fall back on since they don’t allow you access to public benefits. Although my expertise is just in UK requirements, most visas are similar. For example, Ireland has a requirement that you show access to €7,000 (about $8,000 currently) but additionally you have to have your own medical insurance which can get pricey (the UK lets students on courses longer than 6 months have full access to the NHS which was truthfully a God-send for me).

+ // Work restrictions If you’re like me, you will get bored out of your mind without something other than class to occupy your time. The UK is very generous in that it allows international students to work up to 20hrs/week during term time, including volunteering and 40hrs a week during breaks. This is totally different wherever you study though. The main reason I chose Northern Ireland (the UK) versus a similar course in Ireland was that Ireland doesn’t allow international students to work at all (unless of course its an unpaid internship). Places like Australia have similar requirements to the UK but are a bit more lax with regards to how they’re counted, since they restrict to 40 hours a fortnight (so if you work 30 hours one week but only 10 the next it’s no big deal) during term but there are no restrictions on holidays.

*If you do get to work and you want to feel like a rockstar even if you’re just waiting tables part time, convert your weekly take-home into dollars. It’ll make you feel better all the time.

+ // If you’re going a couple years after you finished your BA, a majority of the other students will make you feel ancient I know it sounds silly, but there I was starting my master’s at 26 (a perfectly commendable age in the US) surrounded by many students who were fresh faced and 21. I know, to some of you the 5-year age gap isn’t a big deal and generally, it isn’t. I know many people younger who I respect and admire and get along really well with, but lets just say many of us were at totally different points in our lives and it was a bit disconcerting to be on the upper tier of the age range for me. I mean, many were still in school learning about planets when Pluto got demoted.

+ // It will take a while to get over the homesickness Here’s another area where I completely lucked out, but was still not completely immune. I came to Belfast the first day I was legally allowed to, but it was a full month before my classes actually started. I was lucky in the sense that R had an apartment all set up for me and thanks to him I already had a support network when I got here. I also happen to be abnormally close to my mom and was able to chat with her daily. However, a month in a new city without a job or classes was pretty taxing for me. I missed my friends and being able to call someone up to go for lunch or a pedicure, and since I didn’t have a car and we lived just far enough out of town that a walk to get groceries or have a coffee wasn’t completely viable at the time (I have since become MUCH better at walking places I need to go). The busses into town and to school were regular and cheap, but it was all so different from what I was used to that it was incredibly overwhelming. If I wanted to cook I had to convert recipe measurements to the metric system and learn new terms for common items (zucchini, eggplant, and ground beef became courgettes, aubergines, and mince).

No matter what position you come in, the little things will add up and for some it may happen faster than it did for me. The best advice I can give here? Make international friends. Not only will you automatically have something in common with them, among many other benefits (to be covered at a later date) but also there will be different aspects of your new life that will make you homesick. While you may be missing Target and fluffy pancakes, your friends may be missing pierogis or Carnival. The ability to share these foods and traditions, or even just reminiscing about ‘things back home’ to someone who has never been there before is truly the best cure and together you can all celebrate the things that makes your new home special.

From reading many an expat blog, I know sometimes studying abroad all sunshine and roses.  Truly, it is for the most part. I tried to cover some pros and cons that maybe have been overlooked and could apply to everyone (and maybe aren’t so obvious). Here’s the thing: if it’s financially viable and you can afford to take a year off (or were planning on doing the degree anyway) then I 100% say you should go for it. Since my move out of the US in 2013 I have gained not only a Master’s degree, but I’ve also gained so much knowledge that cannot be taught. I was able to make friends that I connect with on a much deeper level, and have been able to distinguish parts of my life that are worth fighting for and parts that need to be let go. Sure these things may have happened eventually if I hadn’t taken the leap, but I can guarantee that I don’t regret a day of it.