Irish Dancing and "Craic"

Last night I met up with Staci, a girl from North Carolina who is also doing an internship in Cork. We went to the lake where they were playing live Irish music and teaching tourists different Irish dances. Staci and I joined in on a few and it was a lot of fun. I must admit that I looked pretty foolish standing next to the 7 year old girls who knew all the right steps but I had a blast! The older gentleman who was instructing that dances was absolutely precious but he was admit that you stay behind the yellow line! Haha I had a great time. Today I worked more on the Frank O'Connor cards; they are really coming along. I can't believe that I only have about a week and a half left in Cork! It is going to be a bittersweet goodbye. I really love it here. It is such a wonderful place to live and the people are wonderful as well. I can't wait to spend next week traveling and sightseeing. I've got a full itinerary planned: Blarney Castles, Dublin, and a tour of the Cliffs of Moher! I'm so excited and I should have some great pictures to put up.

Until next time...

P.S. "Craic" is an Irish term that can be used interchangeably to mean different things but it is sometimes used to mean fun! It has quickly become one of my favorite Irish terms :)

1300 and Counting

Card # 1300!!! That is the number that I reached today. When I began working on the Frank O'Connor project with Professor Murphy I started with card # 1030. I now it doesn't sound like I have done much but I'm rather proud of completing this many cards. Here is what one reference card may look like (in fact, this is information from a card that I worked on today):

Card # 1278
"The Piper's Band"
"The Cornet Player who Betrayed Ireland" (also, "Solo on Gabriel's Trumpet"-- quod vide)
1) Harper's Bazaar, November 1947
2) Irish Writing, April 1948 No. 4, 11-19.
 HB November, 1947 No. 2831, p. 188, 280-2, 290. United States.
<note> GL, HB beg. 1954
 RL
<note> Michael Frank collection
<note> Have a xerox copy.

To most readers the above information has no significance. However, this is the information that I have been working on since I have started my internship. Each card contains reference information to one of Frank O'Connor's stories (or other works) and the publishing information related to that story.

 I am beginning to think that Frank O'Connor was some sort of Superman-writer because he has done so much. He is best known for his short stories but these notecards also document radio interviews, works he has editied, works that he has written introductions for, reveiws and much more. It is shocking to think that one man could accomplish so much in his lifetime.

Ok, back to the information on this particular card (card 1278). The first line indicates the Title, while the second line is an alternative title for the same story; this is why the line is followed by the phrase "quod vide" meaning cross reference. It was very common for Frank O'Connor to use the same story with a different title depending on where and who it was published by. The publishers are included on the following lines that are labled with a number. Next you will see several initials, these are abbreviations made by Ruth, the woman who spent over 20 years compling these references;  however, now Ruth is gone and it is up to Dr. Murphy, Dr. Lennon and myself to decipher the meaning of these abbreviations. It takes some investigative digging but Dr. Lennon specailizes in Frank O'Connor work and is very helpful in this area. Finally, there are lines labeled <note> which are side notes that Ruth left for herself and we have decided to include them in the referece. Some of these notes may include breif summaries of the plot. So, there you have it, that is what one card may contain. Now try to imagine all of that information on a notecard in barely legable handwriting; its no wonder why I am so excited to be on card # 1300.

Frank O'Connor's work is very interesting and I have learned a lot about him. I am interested to know more about his writing and influences. I hope to learn more about him as I continue this project.

I am enjoying my time here in Cork and I am gaining a lot from this experience.

Until Next Time...

(p.s. this post is dedicated to Charissa who personally requested that I update my blog...hope you liked it Charissa!)

Rain Rain Go Away...

Today was a very rainy day in Cork. Thankfully I was inside most of the day working on the Frank O'Connor project. I continue to make progress! I  am also becoming quite an expert on reading the handwriting on the cards but there are still a few that stump me now and again. I hope that the weather clears up later in the week so Orla and I can go to Blarney Castle. We were supposed to go today but our plans got rained out. I am still having a wonderful time here in Ireland and all is well. I am hopeful that this week Orla and I will begin working on encoding the text for the website which will an interesting experience. Tomorrow evening I am taking a webinar class; it is a seminar that you attend from your computer and it teaches you how to use different websites such as, blackboard and moodle in the classroom! I think that this is going to be very beneficial in my future classroom. I will have to report on that tomorrow.

Until then I wish you all well.

Making Progress

Today was another productive work day. I am going through the reference note cards at a pretty good pace. I am finding that deciphering the content on these cards is much like detective work. I have to determine what is written on each card (and the handwriting is not always easy to make out), I also have to decode the different abbreviations that are used to represent places, people, publishing companies and more! I am very lucky to have Dr. Murphy and Dr. Lennon helping me determine the correct information. Today Dr. Murphy showed me the program that we are going to use to put this text online. The program is called Oxygen and basically what it does is sets up an XML format for your text. We are often familiar with HTML formats; XML is very similar but just a different way to encode text. In a way it is like the back side of the virtual paper that we see online. The codes that are entered in XML tell the computer what each word is (i.e. name, date, place, language etc). As we continue to go through the note cards I will also begin working on the XML and encoding the text. I'm very excited to begin this work because it is a brand new skill that I will be learning. If any of you are interested in looking at XML information or text encoding to see exactly what I'll be working on visit this website: http://www.tei-c.org/release/doc/tei-p5-doc/en/html/SG.html

Until Next Time...

Greetings from Across the Pond

Wow, I haven't blogged in a few days and so much has happened! First, on Friday evening I went with my suite mate, Jane, and a few of her friends to see a musical that was put on by a local theatre. The show was, "I Love You. You're Perfect... Now Change", it was absolutely hilarious! I had such a good time and I was glad to go out with other people. I have a lot of time to myself here and (as you are well aware) I am a people person so being alone has been one of my greatest challenges. However, things are getting a lot easier and I can't wait to have a full week of work with Dr. Murphy this week. The next adventure that I had was on Saturday. I took a day tour of the Ring of Kerry. The natural landscape was so beautiful. Ireland is very mountainous and the sights we saw looked like something out of a tour book...it was typical Ireland landscape. So breathtaking. I don't remember how many times I said "Wow" when we stopped to take pictures and walk around. I was definitely in awe. We were able to see several different towns and natural sights such as, Killarney, Dingle Bay, Kenmore Bay and Ladies View. It was a very nice but very long day. After returning home I was ready to crash. Today I am working on reading the Frank O'Connor Biography in hopes that I will learn more about him and his work. Tomorrow marks the second week of work with Dr. Murphy and I'm looking forward to seeing her and getting more of this project completed. I will keep you all posted on how it coming along.

Best Wishes,
Chels

Work Day #2

Today was my second day of work and let me tell you there is so much to do! There are over 3,000 digital note cards that hold records of works that Frank O'Connor has published, reviewed, interviewed etc. My job is to go through these note cards one by one and decipher the handwriting on each card. Next I have to enter the card number and the publication information into the computer. Eventually this information will be put onto the Internet under Frank O'Connor's bibliography. There are so many steps to this process and it is going to take a lot of time, patience and effort. I am very grateful to Dr. Murphy assisting me and guiding the process. I am also receiving a Frank O'Connor biography to look over while I work on this project so I can become more familiar with his writing...by the time I leave Cork I will be a Frank O'Connor expert! Well, at least I hope so. My work went well today and tomorrow I am meeting with Dr. Murphy's partner on the project, Dr. Lennon. We are going to go over more details about Frank O'Connor and continue to go through the digital note cards. All is well in Cork and I am having a wonderful time.

Peace and Blessings

First Day of Internship

Today was my first day of work with Dr. Murphy! There was a lot of information to take in and I know that this work is going to challenge me but I am looking forward to it. I will learn a lot from Dr. Murphy and I can't wait to dive into my assignments. Today we went over the basic information of what I will be doing while I am here. Dr. Murphy showed me the different tools that I will be using on the web to take records of Irish author, Frank O'Connor, and digitize them on the website headed by UCC staff. The technological component of my work is all new information for me and I think that it is going to be very beneficial. Today I learned about TEI or Text Encoding Initiative and how different texts are encoded to be put on the Internet. I also learned about Mark up Languages and was surprised to discover that the most common Standard Generalized Markup Language is HTML (Hypertext Markup Language). I never knew what HTML was or its significance until now. Dr. Murphy was fantastic, as always, and tomorrow we are going to begin working on the Frank O'Connor project.

Until Then...

More from Cork

Today was another wonderful day in Cork. I made a new friend! She lives in my apartment complex and has lived in Cork for almost 3 years attending UCC. She is a very nice girl and is originally from China. We had a really fun day and she was able to show me around more of Cork. We went on Mardyke Walk and saw very pretty areas of the River Lee. We also heard a free concert in the park where an Irish band was playing. Then we made our way back to the city center and saw St. Peter and Paul's Church and St. Finbarr's Church. I was in awe of both of these churches. Each church is so beautiful and huge. I was able to go inside St. Peter and Paul's because there was no service and the interior was even more breathtaking than the exterior. I really enjoyed seeding these two churches up close, they were lovely. At the end of the day we went to a small fish and chips restaurant and had dinner... it was delicious. Overall it was a great day but I am so tired from all the walking. I am really looking forward to beginning my internship work with Professor Murphy on Tuesday.

Until Then...

This is a view of the River Lee from Mardyke Walk

Me standing in front of St. Peter and Paul's Church

The main Altar of St. Peter and Paul's

St. Finbarr's Cathedral

St. Finbarr's

The front entrance of St. Finbarr's

The Golden Angel at the top of St. Finbarr's Church

The River Lee from Mardyke Walk

Sightseeing!

The National Monument of Cork.

Today I did some more sightseeing in Cork but this time I went by bus! I took a Double-Decker tour bus around Cork and was able to see different sites such as St. Finbarr's Cathedral and Patrick's Bridge. The view was spectacular and I was able to see so much. I also learned that Cork City is actually built over a river called the River Lee and hundreds of years ago the people used channels to get around. Today there have been many roads and bridges built in place of these channels. I really enjoyed the tour because it gave me a better view of Cork, as well as historical information.

XOXO



These are some pictures from my tour....

The River Lee

Hello!

Today I went into the city center and was able to see the different shops. It is pretty busy in the city but I love it! There are so many shops... and we all know how much I love shopping! I ventured into the English Market  to see what it was all about. It was a totally new experiences; there was fresh produce everywhere (fruit, vegetables, fish and meat). You could even eat at some of counters there! I know this is going to sound very cliche but it looked like something out of the movies. I didn't have my camera with me today while I was shopping so I will have to bring it next time and take some photos of the market and city center.  I spoke with my landlady today about different places to see in Ireland and I think I might plan a trip to Killarney, she said that it is absolutely beautiful there and its only a 30 minute bus ride from Cork.

I walked around the UCC campus some more today because the weather was lovely. I took some really nice pictures of the campus that I will put up in this post for everyone to see. I was also told that there is a marathon held in the city on Monday because of the bank holiday and the runners will pass down the Mardyke where my apartment is located so I think I'm going to go out to see it.


Love from Cork...

This is one of the main buildings of UCC campus from the back
side of the building.

This is one of the views from my apartment window!

The same building as above but from the front.

This is a bridge that is just outside the UCC campus gates.

Second Day in Cork

Today is my second day in Cork! I was able to enjoy a walk around the UCC campus today; it was breathtaking. The buildings are all made of beautiful stones.There were students milling around campus today too, it was a very nice atmosphere. The Graduate students are still taking their exams this week from what I heard. I was also able to walk around the city center for a while today which was fun and I am going to the English Market tomorrow where fresh produce is sold. I was also told that this weekend is a Bank Holiday in Cork and that there will be different markets and things in the city each day so that will be nice to explore. I am still getting familiar with my surroundings but I am having a really nice time so far and I can't wait to see more of Cork and begin my internship with Professor Murphy.

More Next Time...

I Have Arrived!

Hello Everyone,

I have arrived in Cork, Ireland today and it is incredible. It is such a nice town and I am right in the middle of the city center. The University College Cork, is only a short walk from my room. I can't believe that I am here, it is so surreal. My flight over wasn't too bad but I am beyond tired and I'm trying to stay awake to avoid jet lag. Tomorrow I am attending a book launching for one of Professor Murphy's colleagues. I think that this will be a great way to introduce myself to more people at the University and hopefully make some friends. Well I need to get unpacked and go exploring! I will post again very soon.

Until Then....