Web Programming in Ireland

Well... it looks that no one else has posted a final post yet, so I shall. Our web programming course in Ireland is over. It was a lot of fun! We'll see if I still find it so after I get my grade back. ;P No, I enjoyed the company of everyone on the trip, I learned a lot about the beautiful country of Ireland, and I learned a lot about web programming.

In the future, and I think Paxton is with me on this one, I think we should focus on PHP instead of JSP, despite the MSU program's emphasis on Java. PHP is just SO much more widely supported, used, documented... and I think it's a bit better suited for web programming. S'what it was built for after all. Everything else was Jake though. The final project taught me a LOT (granted, about a JSP, but still), the presentations were informative, and the labs (with some refinement) were reasonable and useful.

Galway was a nice city... but... meh. NUI, the university, ended being very accommodating with the wireless internet (and we got a VERY good speech from the head of the CS dept), so that was nice. You can see all you'd want to of Ireland and have time to kill in two tree day weekends though. What's left is to chill with the locals, which were hard to meet while staying in a hostel, being in a class with no Irish people, and doing homework... also without Irish people. I made all kinds of friends, none of them actually Irish. (until I started hitchhiking: that was good) So... I would change the living arrangement, or try to integrate the class with NUI students. Or I would have the class in Amsterdam, or Rome, or Paris. Or I would take it in Bozeman and save enough $$$ to do a two week trip to Ireland and see the same things. Just something to think about. I really did enjoy Ireland, and the course, and I have no regrets in any way, but those are my thoughts I've had.

My advice to future people if this course is offered again, is to make a concerted to meet people. The Cliffs of Moher are pretty, and more so in person, but honestly what's made the trip worth it to me was when I got ride with some Irish people and they bought me lunch at the South Pole. It was wandering, lost, around suburban Galway with an Irish panhandler and his puppy. It was going to a houseparty with some other Americans. It was meeting the german girls I'm now enjoying the great hospitality of here in Germany. So... meet people.

Also, as long as you are in Ireland, GO TO CORK AND KISS THE BLARNY STONE. It really IS cool, along with being mandatory. I think only three people on the trip got down there. Shame! Shame! ;P

So, I guess I'd do it all over again, but maybe just a little different. I am now beginning the rest of my travels however, Ireland is over, so I will no long post to his blog, and I say to all of you:

Guinness is Good.
Cheers!
Evan

*big thumbs up*

Well, our last day of official class and lab was today. Tomorrow we start presentations, which go to Thursday. Then William and I hop the channel to Amsterdam for a raucous weekend (we leave Thursday night, get back Sunday night!). Then... a day of showing off the sweat and blood we've poured into the final projects, and we're out of Galway! A few days in Dublin sees the course to completion. Six weeks seemed like so long, but it's gone fast. And I still have a fair bit of coding to do on the project tonight (can't do it this weekend!), so that's going to speed up our remaining time even more.

The weekend before last a friend of mine came over from England, where he's studying, and we partied it up from Saturday to Tuesday. Good times. Some pubs, some house parties. Good times indeed. Then, just this past weekend, I headed down to the South of the country. Peter and Ryan accompanied me to Cork, where we kissed the Blarney Stone (really cool, you're upside-down about six stories above the ground!) and crawled around the Beamish dispensing pubs. Beamish seemed to be the Guinness of the South. Highlights of the night were a banana-flavored wheat beer, the Galactic Meal Deal at burger king, a view down on the city at night from a hill, meeting some fat Cork girls, and following them to a hopping pub that played really good music.

The following day we saw the sights, ate a Tesco lunch in the park, played hacky-sac with a Lithuanian and had an Irish Coffee (we're in Ireland, after all). The coffee was actually really good. Then Ryan and Peter caught the bus back to Galway. I decided to stay and give hitchhiking a try, however, to see the Ring of Kerry and the Dingle Peninsula. I'm glad I did! Hitchhiking is one of the coolest things I've ever done. I saw pretty much every place I wanted to, some placed I didn't know I wanted to, and met lots of nice people. It was good to talk with Irish people too, as most of my social interaction has been with foreign hostel guests. Highlights of my trip were a free drive past the Lakes of Killarney, a dance club in Killarney, Ross Castle, the town of Dingle, everyone in the 10 or so rides I caught, and one surprise in particular: (if you've read below in the blog) we saw a storyteller speak about Tom Crean, the antarctic explorer. Well, at the end of his life he ran a pub called the South Pole. It was mentioned in the story. Such was my luck that it's on the way to Dingle, and my ride wanted to stop for lunch there! Funny coincidence. They even bought me lunch!

But now I must work so that I can rest up for the debauchery ahead. Night, and cheers!

That is what I am doing on the Friday after we get back into Bozeman. I am going to Western Cafe for a Country Fried Steak and Eggs. Today marked the official end of lecture. We have presentations, and projects the rest of the week. We then slowly make are way to Dublin, and then home. I can't quite believe that we are almost finished with this trip. It is sad to say goodbye to Galway, and Ireland. The trip was fun, and I learned a lot during the course. I am glad I came.

This week has been a pretty exciting one. On monday evening John took us to see an irish storyteller tell a story of the expeditions to antartica. It was a great way to experience some irish culture. I enjoyed it. On tuesday John met us at the hostel before class, this is not a usual happening. Then told us because of the nice weather we would ditch class and go to the Aran Islands. We rented bikes and toured the island in style. Wednesday and Thursday about as normal as our trip has seen. Friday we had nice weather, and Kevin and I decided to be spontaneous. We jumped on a bus down to Cork for the night. In Cork we toured the city on foot, stopped at a few pubs, and sleepily watched the sun rise. Then jumped the return bus at 7:30. After a much needed nap, Kyle, Jack and I went to see Kingdom of Heaven at the Eye Cinema in the luxury theater which was a hefty fee of 12 euros. Afterwards, we generally agreed that it was more or less worth the money.

My idea for next friday is swimming in the ocean, which probably will not be widely liked, but sounds good to me. Especially if there is a nice beach.

-Rob

It is hard to believe that today marks the midpoint of our adventure in Ireland. Tempus fugit!

The course is well underway and we have already done the three standard tours of the area: The Burren (including The Cliffs of Moher), Connemarra (including Kylemore Abbey) and the Aran Islands. Now we need to decide upon an appealing outdoor adventure for next Friday. Ideas, anyone??

Tomorrow and Sunday are the first two consecutive free days that we have had thus far. I plan to travel by train to Belfast in the morning, spend the night, and return late on Sunday. I am hoping to find accommodations when I arrive, but I just learned that this coming Monday is a "bank holiday" and consequently, it is a very travel heavy weekend. That should make tomorrow night an adventure. I also hope that the university will be open on Monday ...

For no one particular reason. I'm just having a bloody good time. The cliffs of Moher were sweet last week. We have proper classroom facilities now. The course subject matter both fascinates and challenges me. The Irish are still nice. It only seems to rain about every other day (spread out over two days, in alternating hours that is...). Connemara was sweet as well (Kylemore Castle was a delight, and the starkness of the barren landscape up there really hooked me). I continue to meet new people to party with. The only words for last Friday are not blog appropriate, I'm sure. Tonight, we all went and saw a fun play/act of an excellent thespian/storyteller relating the trials and tribulations of Thomas Crean, and unsung Irish hero of three antarctic expeditions (Endurance, most notably). It was great. Guinness at the intermission too. The day we check out of the Sleepzone (even with the "rules") will be sad one. It's the little things too, tacky as that sounds. Like going to buy food, and figuring out what's good and cheap. Loud school groups next door. Hackysack on the sunny patio. Runs out to the hurling fields. A little Joyce before bed most nights. Just a good time. And I, personally, have a whole summer yet to go!

Cheers

After a few long days of working on the beginning of our project, I have finished most of the front end of our e-commerce site. I have learned some really interesting stuff about css and how powerful the include function in jsp is. This week has been much calmer. Not because of the room changes, which are great, but because I have been able to do the labs without much trouble. It is official friday now, tgif.


"I got the Asiatic flow mixed with disco"
-ODB (Wu-Tang Clan)

After an eclectic week of locales last week, this week we have settled much more into a routine regarding the class.

At 9 a.m., we meet in the McMunn Theatre for a lecture. This room has a projector that I can hook my laptop into, although there is no live internet connection. To compensate for this, I have been keeping a current copy of the course website on my laptop.

After lecture, many of us stop off at "Java City" for a coffee treat of some type (cappuccinos, lattes, tuxedos, americanos, etc.). There is no such thing as "decaf" and a "double shot" seems to be the standard for all drinks!

We then head over to the Arts Millenium Building where we conduct a daily lab that accompanies the lecture. Generally, most people are finished by noon, although occasionally some people have stayed as late as 1 p.m. This lab is sunny and provides us with PCs that we can use, courtesy of our "conference" accounts. There is enough desktop space to set up laptops alongside the PCs. For people fortunate enough to have a good wireless card, a nearby wireless signal can sometimes be picked up.

After class, a stop off at the "Campus Bar" restaurant (located in the same building as the student fitness center) is a fairly common occurrence. For 8 euros, one can get a heaping plateful of food. A typical lunch might consist of lasagna, carrots, potatoes, gravy, salad and a beverage of choice.

As I was doing some work on my laptop in the common area of the Sleepzone yesterday, a large high school group checked in. I was very amused to hear the leader of this group proclaim the following rules:

(1) No food or drink in personal rooms. OK, maybe water.
(2) No congregating in the halls.
(3) No banging on the doors.
(4) No loud noises between the hours of 11 p.m. and 7 a.m.
(5) No visitors to any personal room.

Several MSU students were also listening, each with "the cat that swallowed the mouse" expression on his face! Enough said ...