Last Day

Today is my last day in Ireland..! I can't believe 3 months have passed already. It's weird how time works sometimes.

I just finished cramming everything I've accumulated during my stay into 2 bags. I'm going to have to say goodbye to a few pairs of shoes (I brought them knowing full well I was going to destroy them wandering around muddy fields and walking in the rain.) but I had to make room for new ones =) haha. I'm going to have to wear about 4 layers of clothes tomorrow - but as I remember it's cold on the plane and absolutely freezing in the Philly airport, so perhaps it wont be so bad.

I had an amazing experience here. I have learned more in the past 3 months than I have in the past year - but that's what a good job will do for you. Not only did I learn about design, but I also learned a great deal more about Ireland and Irish culture. I've decided to compile a list of some of my observations:

- According to American standards, everyone here is a raging alcoholic. (at least everyone I met)

- All of the students wear uniforms and get to freely wander around during lunch

- The most common style for guys is a track-suit, and they all have pretty much the same haircut. The men wear button-down shirts and sweater vests.

- The women get fake-tans to go out

- Every bathroom is the nicest bathroom you've ever been into - especially at the pubs/clubs. They all have marble-color tiled floors and the doors are floor to ceiling.

- Heating is expensive, so people just wear a lot of sweaters and blankets

- The phrase "your man" is commonly used, but not necessarily meaning someone that you know - it's more of just another way to refer to someone without saying their name.

- They say call me "on" instead of "at"

- In the suburbs there are groupings of houses that all look the same and are called estates. Each estate has it's own name like The Maples or Avalon. The address for each house is a number followed by the estate name instead of a street name - Example, 23 Avalon, Arklow, Co. Wicklow. Houses that are on their own in the middle of no-where usually have a name instead of a numbered address like "Mary's House"

- Food goes bad very quickly because they don't use as many pesticides here

- It's totally socially acceptable for older adults (over 50) to go out to the club and dance and have fun with people half their age. I met a guy at a club in town (Sally's) once who was 81!

- The majority of people are obsessed with X Factor

- Everyone talks about the weather. All the time.

- The men drink Guinness. The women drink a lot of girlie drinks like Mike's Hard Lemonade

- Irish people are not big fans of the British

- Everyone travels around Europe. It's very common to take a weekend holiday to Spain... lucky bastards

- Most people who have visited America go to New York. The next most common city is Miami

- Everyone seems very politically aware and want to know your opinion

- Guys buy drinks in rounds for everyone in the group and take turns paying

- They say "ya know that kind of way?" or "that kind of thing" instead of just "ya know?"

- Rain, Rain, Rain, Rain, Sun, Rain, Rain, Rain, Rain, Drizzle, Rain = your weather forcast for the day, everyday

Now I'm heading back to the midwest without much but some vague ideas of what I'm going to do when I get there. I'm not worried about that though, on the contrary, I'm quite excited that at this point my possibilities seem pretty endless. A new beginning to make my life whatever I want it to be. That's not something most people can say...

Farewell land of Eire. I hope we meet again soon.

Fashion Shows

As of last night I have now been to 2 fashion shows around town and I thought I can't put off sharing the photos any longer.
The first fashion show I went to was a couple of weeks ago at the Arklow Bay Hotel in Arklow. It was a charity event for a high-school. (secondary school? I'm not sure what they call it here to be honest but it's not 'high school') It cost 10 euro for a ticket and we each got a free raffle ticket for the chance to win a variety of gifts ranging from candles to gym memberships. I didn't win anything, but I don't really need candles and a gym membership in Ireland wouldn't do me much good...

As we walked in we were given a free glass of wine and some cheese. The room was packed! There were a lot of families and kids from the school. The show started with a brief introduction from school members and the mayor of the town - then of course, fashion!





The show was really long. It was almost 3 hours long - but I had a really good time. The models were all local people - including a lot of kids from the high school. There were clothes from shops in town to try and promote shopping local. They had also handed out the shop local voucher books that we designed. It was really cool to see so many people looking through a book with my illustration on the cover of it.

I took a lot of photos from that night - most of which didn't turn out because the models were bookin' it down the runway and didn't stop long enough at the end to get a clear picture. I think they were all just nervous, which is understandable. But I did manage to get a few less-blurry pictures. I know I could've just used the flash but I hate the way that looks - at least from my camera. There were a lot of male models - mostly high school boys, but they were impossible to photograph without the flash. They didn't bother to stop at the end of the runway they just turned around and quickly walked back off stage.. haha.

Anway - here are some photos. There are from Dunnes Stores (equivalent to Target) Oxygen & McMullans (both local boutiques,) Warehouse and a Bridal collection. I can't remember now every store they had represented there that night, but I'll point out the outfits I do remember.

This first set is from Dunnes.










Oxygen




McMullans








Warehouse




Bridal






The rest I can't remember exactly where each dress is from - but aren't they so cute? The overall theme for the night really was "Christmas Parties" so that's why it's mostly party dresses.











Last night my co-worker and I went to Gorey, which is about a 15 min drive from Arklow, to attend a small fashion show at a boutique called Contra The store is the perfect size, I think. Not too big, not too small. It was all decorated for christmas and for the show. The clothes were really nice and I saw plenty of things I really wanted, but it's a little bit more on the spendy side (especially for someone who is about to be unemployed as of 5pm today...)





When we walked inside we were greeted by a nice saleswoman handing out free glasses of champaign. We wandered around the store looking at everything while we waited for the show to begin. I was hoping I could find some christmas gifts for my sisters - a nice shirt or some accessories, but like I said, it was a bit spendy and I didn't see any purses or necklaces that I could see them actually wearing.

After about a 1/2 an hour, the show started. It was another long show - probably 2 hours, but it was really fun. And after 3 glasses of champaign I got really camera happy and nearly filled up my memory card with photos. I won't share them all because that would be ridiculous - but I do have a fair few.

These are all of my favorites outfits from the evening:




























After the show there was a frenzie of woman trying on clothes - including my co-worker, who walked away with 3 new adorable dresses (at a 10% discount) They also had the make-up artists who did the models' makeup in the back of the store so you could get your eyes and lips done for free! I didn't part-take but I thought that was a really cool idea.. Buy a new dress - get made over - and have a night on the town! Fun fun fun!





Our evening ended at a pub down the street (of course...)





It was a great night. I've decided I much prefer watching fashion shows than being in them.. even though you sometimes do get perks like getting into the venue for free or discounts on clothes..

Cheers!
Karen

Full Moon

Last night was absolutely gorgeous. The sky was clear and completely lit from the moon and stars; a phenomenon to those of us jaded by city life. It was a bit chilly (or 'crisp' as they like to say here) but I had to go out and take a few photos to share. Of course photos never quite do it justice.. unless of course you are an amazing photographer like my dear friends over at T-K Studios, but I thought I'd share anyway.

Update

It's official. It's my last week here in Ireland (this time around) and it's already 1/2 over! I haven't been very exciting the past couple of weeks - just work, work, work. We've been working 12-14 hours every day and 1/2 days on the weekends.. which explains my lack of posting, because frankly I've just been lazy. Lazy and tired.

We're rushing to put together a 200 page yearbook for the GAA, and by "we're" I mostly mean "I'm" because the other designer has been working on the magazines and a different GAA book. The yearbook is, if I may 'toot my own horn' a little, looking really solid - and about a million times better than last year's. I can't take all of the credit for that though, I've had a lot of constructive criticism from my co-worker and her idea's have really helped. It has been a bit of a grueling process though. I think we're almost done and then "they" (the people from the GAA) keep deciding to add stuff - which results in lots of time consuming rearranging of pages/re-numbering of pages.

It will be worth it once it's all finished, which should be Friday, considering that is my last work day.. ahhh! I won't have any pictures to share with you for awhile though because I'm not sure when they'll be getting it back from the printers and how long it'll take for it to be mailed to me back in MN.

I have had an amazing time here. I do wish I could've traveled a bit more, seen more of the country, but I didn't come here for a vacation. I came here to work. And work I did. I've helped put together 6 magazines, about 30 or so adverts, 4 restaurant menus, several random flyers, a brochure, a shop local voucher book, 2 t-shirt designs, 4 program booklets, a fixture booklet and a 200 page yearbook for the GAA... whew! I'm sure there is something else in there that I'm forgetting. Now I have the fun task of making all of the prints fit into my suitcase.. haha.

Well I suppose I better hop back to it. I'm not sure if I'll have a chance to update again before I leave, but I'll try.

Cheers,
K

Rockin' the Suburbs

Happy Thanksgiving!

This fall hasn't been the best for me as far as Holiday's go. I missed everything to do with Halloween - the pumpkins, the haunted houses, the Zombie Pub Crawl, the costumes, the parties, the costume parties... and today I missed Thanksgiving. The Irish don't celebrate this particular holiday, as I'm sure all of you know.
I just got home from working 13 hours.

Then I realized, this is the first Thanksgiving I have ever missed. Last year's was a little weird too because I didn't go home to the fam, and although we were eating with new friends, (who just so happen to be amazing chef's,) the food wasn't what I had hoped for. I'm a turkey, mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie kind-a-gal. And Olives. Lots and lots of olives. Instead we had an array of fancy Hors d'oeuvres, pickled carrots, sausages, lard-encrusted turkey and mini peacan pies. Don't get me wrong, it was delicious, just different...

So then I got to thinking, is that all Thanksgiving is about now? Eating turkey and mashed potatoes? I can do that anytime. No; it's a time to slow down and take one day out of our busy, chaotic lives to really appreciate everything we take for granted. For most, it's a time to come together as a family - thankfully in my family that's usually not a stressful situation as we usually don't have many relatives over anymore; it's just us.

It's not so bad to be alone on a holiday like today. It's not about the food (although, who wouldn't love a slice or three of pumpkin pie?) It's about self-reflection, which, maybe you can't do with a giant house full of relatives anyway... so perhaps I'm not missing out after all.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone.

Moneylands Brochure

This past week (Thursday night) I went to a local fashion show, and I wanted to share with you the photos I took, but I uploaded them onto the computer at work (as we might put a little ditty about it in the next issue of the Messenger) and I forgot to put them onto my hard-drive to put them on my own computer.

Instead, since I still wanted to update my blog with something now that I have a moment of free time and my internet started working again after taking a few days to go on strike, I have a brochure re-design that I made for Moneylands Farm; the place where I'm currently staying.

First, the original. It's actually not a bad brochure, it's just a bit dated and the photos aren't the best.











Below is the redesign. I think the most difficult part was trying to choose which photos to use, since I took about a million for this project. I plan on giving them a c.d. with all of the photos so they can use them for their website as well. They have some nice ones already of the interior of some of the rooms, but not many of some of the views around here, which are pretty amazing.











Well, I'm off. I'll try to update with those fashion show photos soon - so long as my internet continues to work.

-k