The Year That Was…2009

I know it is up a bit late but found it difficult to upload over the past few weeks as I kept closing the window and stopping the upload >_< Yes you will see a lot of photos of me in America but that is where I took most photos this year but it is still enjoyable to watch with some photos not being in any other photo montage done this year…Enjoy ^_^

Thoughts

Last week I titled the post Thoughts, Emotions and Ideas, which will be a topic for each of the blog posts, this week being thoughts, as we move out of 2009 and knock on the door of 2010. My thoughts are those that have been of 2009 and what my recap of the year that was.

Yes, the past year has had its ups and downs but that is no different from any other of the 23 years being on the planet. 2009 had started out with the thoughts of failing exams, getting projects done and what was on the horizon after graduation if I made it that far. It also held the prospect of a J1 Summer which would allow freedom and experience but the hurdle of exams was always there looming. The time leading up to the exams was going so slow and I thought it would never come.

America had opened my world to getting to know people, to interact with people differently and experience a new culture and change my thoughts for the future that was ahead of me, of where to go, what to do, what to see and espically what I am missing out in. My thoughts of the J1 summer is that everyone should do it and experience a whole new level of freedom (I would say individuality but I do so ligthly). My thoughts of what to do when I returned to Ireland were tested and had to once again make a decision pretty much independtly away from parents and friends with little or no contact from them which did make it harder. My thoughts on what I would do on my return and being a fully graduated student had been altered due to the doom and gloom of the recession and the effects of what I thought I wanted to do. I had the plan to either take a year out and travel and come back to work and “settle” back and look forward then to what to do for my life or to work for 6 months and then travel for 6 months and then return. However, that was changed by the lack of jobs, money and prospects. The change was pushed by the fact that it would involve too much effort to do all that and instead to take the easy option and head back to college for another year and to postpone the inevitable. The Americas did come and go by so quickly that as I look back I cannot believe I was there for so long and I didn’t take the oppertunity to do as much as I would have liked.

Starting of my new college Masters life meant the giving up/passing on the responsibilities of the UCC SVdP Society which I had been involved in since 1st year and never waivered from though at time there were confrontations but these were overcome. I knew it was time to give it up without being sure that I was coming back to college and as a Postgrad, it was up to Undergrads to take it on and proceed with it as they would get more involved being around in college longer than a few months like I was. It was before this I knew though that it was coming to the end. The college course was a lot more intense than I first imagined, maybe due to the fact that it was crammed all in 6 weeks unlike most modules which would be 12 weeks long so that made people think twice of the course which has led to 6-7 people already drop out of the course with only 6 weeks worth of lectures being done. But with 4 years under my belt and I have never failed an exam yet, I don’t intend to start.

This year has led me through thoughts of am I gonna finish the race of college and survive the torments that have been nagging away at me. Yes I have slipped for longer periods than I had thought but I rise to the challenge and not on my own. It has been during these hard times of college, exams and projects that going into these things my thoughts like always turn to Him and ask Him to help me and direct me, to make all the answers to be correct as I seal the papers closed and not fail. This is not the only time I think of Him but throughout the day but mainly at night as I think and go through my head I know that He is listening to me and He drops words into my mind and allows me to grow and have new thoughts, emotions and ideas.

As you can see these thoughts are those of the past with ideas in the coming weeks will be the plans for the year of 2010.

Now with so much free time it has allowed me to think more of what is going on with my thoughts, emotions and ideas which I will continue to blog on… This does not mean that I am not doing any college work, which I am but there is only so much information a brain can handle.

J1 Experience – Final Catch Up

Okay so I am not gonna do a round up of the last 2 weeks but it was a great time and finishing off the sighting seeing of NYC and partying in NY. So here is my ABC 2009 film of pics and vids. Enjoy!!!

J1 Experience – Catch Up #7

Only two weeks left now so here is another round up:

Day #68

Night out on the tiles with a few house mates after we unwind from a busy day working.

Day #69

U2 night at the beach club with the band Unforgettable Fire which were really good and had some great fun and singing along to the songs etc. With us all in a great mood we headed out to wrap up the night.

Day #72

Did the lower Manhatten tourist spots today like China Town, Empire state and Brookyln bidge along with Top of the Rock. Headed home early enough to head out that night also for birthday drinks for someone in the house.

Day #77

We rented out a party bus to bring us to the Mean Fiddler in NYC with great craic at the pub there and brought us back home too…a good night had by all.

Day #82

All the lads went on a pub crawl this night with us hitting nearly 14 pubs which was great but the following day was not so pleasent.

Day #84

Went to the Inn during the night to watch the final of INN IDOL where one of the Valets at ABC was a finalist but unfortunately came 5th out of 8 contestants.

J1 Experience – Catch Up #6

No I have not been ignoring the blog but have been busy with work and trips away. To highlight events that have been done here they are:

Day #5o

Went to Jersey gardens today for a bit of shopping and when I mean a bit I mean a fair bit. It is a great place being a Shopping Mall/ Outlet store with it being tax free and indoors. The only thing is that it takes nearly 2 and half hours to get there, but well worth it. Spent a good few hours there and returned laden down with bags ^_^

Day #52

Half way mark!!!! Another 52 days to go. For those at home, I miss ye all and don’t worry we will be back soon and can’t wait to see ye all ^_^

Day #57 & 58

Went to Boston these both days which required us (15 people in all) tio be up and out of the house at 6:30am and didn’t get to Boston till 1:30pm. It was great craic in Boson visiting the aquarium, Cheers, getting wet under the fountains, going to Quincy Market, the time in the Hostel, going to Harvard and all the stuff in between. Unfortunately we had to do the 7 hour trip back to ABC but slept most of it so wasn’t too bad.

Day #59

After a few phone calls/emails from UCC this week about my Masters I have decided to do Biotechnology Masters which will start the week of 21st of September.

The Heffernan’s arrived in New York on Sunday of this week but with Neil and myself in Boston we didn’t meet up till Wednesday. It was great to see som familiar faces and another chance to say good bye to Bobby as he heads to SA for the next two years. We headed for a bite to eat and also took in some music in Times Square.

Day #65

Only another 35 days left here which I know will fly by so with plans to go to Washington DC, jump out of a plane, see more sights of NYC and do bit more shopping, I will have further updates.

J1 Experience – Catch Up #5

Day #39

Though  I was meant to work a double shift today, I was not needed and was able to get to my first Ball Game! It was the NY Mets Vs LA Dodgers. It was fantastic to be in the Mets new home stadium and even though they lost the whole experience was awesome The stadium is also really close with only a 20 min drive away. 10 of us went so was cramped in the 8 seater car with only 5 seats as the middle seats were removed so had 5 people on the floor of the car, you could feel every bump in the road.

Day #40 – # 42

Work, Work, Work for this week in both Dining room and Terrace with not much else going on with me being exhausted at the end of each day.

Day #43

With a busy week just done of nearly 48 hours, it was time to relax out the back and get my tan up and get some washing done also.

Day #44

To get a bit of culture it to me while I am in NY, I headed to NYC to visit Museums. I visited the Met, the Natural History museum, carnegie hall, St. Pat’s Cathedral and walked many streets and avenues of NYC. It was great to see some amazing paintings, animals and to learn something while I was here.

Day #45

Back to the grind stone again. With only 7 weeks left there is not much laying around anymore and need to get stuff done.

J1 Experience – Catch Up #4

Day #32

Another day of morning relaxtion at the beach before a hard days work in the dining room.

Day #33

Today is a big day at the club with the fireworks display taking place just off the beach for 4th of July. It is a day early due to the fact that the barge for fireworks is needed up in Boston the following day. We were luckily enough to finish work before the fireworks and do the quickest beer run and get to the beach in time. Below is a brief clip of some of the fireworks:

Day #34

My first 4th of July in the US of A!!!! Though I had to work in the dining room today, it was easy enough with it being BBQ Buffet it was over quickly enough and was able to get back to the house for some well earned 4th of July drinks

Day #35

Double shift today and had to work in the Terrace and then had to do Cabana orders. Cabana Orders is where Members have pre-ordered food from the A La Carte menu early in the day and then we run up to the Cabana with the food at time allocated. Luckily I did not get lost once as there are well over 160 cabanas/lockers in the place. With us finishing early meant that our “weekend” could start.

Day #36

With it being a glorious day out, we headed to the beach and the pool, doing our hardest to get tanned In the evening we headed to the Cinema and got to see Transformers 2 which was good but a bigger fight scene and less comedy moments would have made it fantastic.

Day #37

Another greater day with temperature reaching 27oC. Also got a snooze in before heading out in the evening to Warehouse 5 which is a Nightclub. Nightclubs are hard to come by here with many bars having a small dance floor and music on all the time. It was a nice nightclub with it being on the waterfront and two large floor areas, VIP seats, rooms and Cabanas. Unfortunatly,only 2 hours in the fire alarm went off and everything had to stop but they kept everyone inside as it was a problem with a speaker. This also caused many people to believe the night was over and some left. There was a high use of strobe lighting which did not sit well for me after a while

Day #38

Was able to get some sunshine in today before work but a thunderstorm stopped me enjoying a longer time in the sun but you can’t have it all. Shore dinner was on and there was also a party of 34 people also on for a Catholic Charity of some sort that a Member here promotes/donates money to. Unfortunatly, I was stuck behind the times when there set dinners were given out in the Kitchen and therefore my table of 10 were waiting 15 mins for their main course and they were not happy. After work we headed to the beach for a bit of social time, where some people decided to go for a late night swim.

J1 Experience – Catch #3

Day #25 + #26

In the Dining room for these two days which were a Wine Tasting and A La Carte nights respectively. Wine Tasting was a Seven set course meal along with SEVEN wines, one with each course which meant a crazy amount of polished glasses and very cluttered table with many oppettunites of broken glasses when we had to remove them from the table! Fortunately none were broken at the table but when brought into the kitchen and so many people around, one or two trays were knocked around. So many bottle of wines were drunk by members, they were well on their way half way through the night and fairly merry to say the least. A La Carte night meant taking orders from the menu which included Appatizers, soup and entrees, meaning it was like working in a proper restaurant and ensuring that the kitchen knew what was coming, when it was needed and exucution of it all was important to ensuring the members remained satisfied. Headed down to the beach this evening for a bit to relax and listen to the sea and the finale of the awesome thunderstorm that was taking place all evening while we were in the dining room.

Day #27

Worked the terrace restaurant today. Being able to do both Terrace and Dining room allows a greater experience of the whole club and able to get more hours under my belt but both are great fun in there own ways. To relax from the days work, we headed for the life guard tower and had a bit of home.

Day #28

Had  a strange day today working in the dining room with a baby shower brunch buffet event taking place. For specific reasons I have never been to a baby shower but this was nicely done. What I found strange was the fact that the mother- to-be opened up the presents in the centre of the room near the end of the event in front of everyone and those who were there looked on and everyone ooohhh’d and ahhhh’d. Very strange!!! Had to work into the evening also with a family buffet taking place which was poorly attened with the fact that the club has just opened and not many people knowing about certain events. It was nicely done and finshing up before 9pm meant that the night was still young ^_^

Day #29

Headed to the beach this morning to catch the rays and go for a little dip. Not only that but while in the sea I was taking out by a wave and my glasses were lost to Davy Jones’ Locker What better way to enjoy your four weeks in NY than to hit Manhatten at night!!! Leaving in the evening, we headed  into the city and having already booked a hostel we headed for that which was only around from the train station where we arrive, Penn Station. The hostel was grand and sharing a room with 6 others was a scary experience so one of the guys kept me company in the room. Myself and Micheal headed to an Irish pub near by while the girls put there face on and lone behold one of the bar tenders is from Armagh and the other from Youghal, Cork. Both have been her for six  years and both still had there Irish accents. With us all together we headed up to Times Square and went to the Mean Fiddler which is the place to be but with it being a Monday it was a bit quieter than normal. After  many antics, dancing we left and headed back to the hostel. Walking down the streets of NYC at 5am in the morning is some experience to behold but was also quieter than I expected. Leaving the Mean Fiddler I relised I had lost my phone, possibly during the Riverdance tune.

Day #30

With six other people staying in a room with you in a hostel meant people getting up at different times and broken sleep for the 5 hours that  I got. When all were up and ready to go, we headed to Central Park for a picnic with it being a lovely day outside. After that we headed back home to long beach and sleep the rest of the night away.

Day #31

Back to work in the dining room today and still tired from the antics from past two days. Today was the weekly shore dinner and was easier the second time round especially given the table of 8 ladies on their night out who were all very nice

J1 Experience – Catch Up #2

Yes its another catch up, but with so much fun and hardly anytime to blog I think a weekly blog update is the best order of business.

Day  #18

Short day of work today which meant painting the kitchen doors which hadn’t seen a lick of paint in life forever. It was not fun at the end  being told it was an oil based paint and took much scrubbing to remove the paint on my hands

Day #19

The day I have been dreading for like ages….results day!!! However, it turned out not as bad as I thought. Getting a 2.1 from my fourth year results which has been the same every year made me happy ^_^ and very much relieved as I can now enjoy my summer and can graduate with my class which is in September. The plan at the moment is to do the Masters of my course when I return in September also and getting a 2.1 should allow me to get a place easily.

Day #20

Long day today in the dining room with us doing the event which was the formal opening dinner of the club that was on and were told that we did amazingly and then staying around till close to 2am as we had to prepare for the Father’s Day brunch the following day!!!

Day #21

With some of the setup done for Father’s Day brunch done from last night and only getting 5 or 6 hours sleep we were glad of it. The day went well and getting a phone call from my Father saying he got his father’s day card too and opened, it was great that it reached in time also. Some were all glad also that once the brunch was over we got to home and enjoy our weekend espically the fact that weekend started

Day #22

Headed to the beach today for a little dip in the ocean which was a bit warmer than other days The whole of the monkey house headed out also that night which meant great craic in the bars of Long Beach.

Day #23

Another day of chilling like Matt Dillon on Penicillin.

Day #24

Back in the Dining room today with our first shore dinner which offers Lobster or Steak. It was an alright night of serving food and great chance to prepare for A La Carte nights which offer a greater variety in what members can order from the menu.

J1 Experience – Catch Up

Yes, I have let my side down meaning to blog everyday about my J1 Experience and I have now missed the last 15 days which is a long time to not blog but with late nights, early mornings, great days and many mishaps I haven’t had time to blog. I am gonna try now and recap the two weeks I missed….

Day #10 & Day #11

There was work to be done around the Beach Club today to get ready for the weekend with parties and the terrace going to be open again so much of the work carried out was prep. work for these events. Being finshed early enough these two days allowed us to go to the beach and swim in the lovely atlantic ocean With not starting work at 3pm tomorrow allows me to hit the town of west long beach with many of the other house mates here and its great to get us all to go to the same spot.

Day #12

Working again in the dining room again today for a surprise party and with it being a Buffet style meal makes it much easier for everyone. However, it did mean working late into the night with being finished at 1am due to the fact that I started at 3pm, not too bad. This time around I worked on the floor which just means getting drinks and clearing tables, means I am a glorified bus boy :p

Day #13

13 is something of a coincidence today, not only is it the day number but it is also the amount of hours I had to work and my feet were aching by the end of it. There was two graduation parties on today with an hour or two break in between the two  which allowed us to prep for the next graduation party and get a bite to eat. It is very strange to book a room which can hold around 250 people and have a graduation party of only 70 people, just for family. It is more show of status than anything in the beach club.

Day #14

After a long day yesterday I didn’t have to start till 1pm on the Terrace but with after doing so many hours this weeks I finished at 4pm. This is so that everyone will get equal hours at this stage with hardly any work going around in the Beach club. It just meant that I could start my weekend earlier meaning hitting the pubs of long beach

Day #15

Taking it easy today because of a special day tomorrow…SIX FLAGS!!!

Day #16

Yes, today we headed of early to Six Flags which took 2 hours to get to on our lovely yellow school bus but it was great craic and I have visited another state while here already with Six Flags being in New Jersey. We had 8 hours to get around to all the rides, the ones which I got on were:

• King Da Ka….. has a hydraulic launch mechanism to 128 miles per hour (206 km/h) in 3.5 seconds
• El Toro…It is the third tallest (188 ft) and third fastest (70 mph) wooden roller coaster in the world
• Bizarro…New Roller Coster to Six Flags
• Batman…It features a first drop of 109 feet, 6 inches (33 meters) and reaches speeds of 50m/h (80 km/h)
• Nitro…Nitro starts off with a 230 foot climb and then drops 215 feet at 68 degrees, reaching top speeds of 80 mph before shooting up a second 189-foot-tall hill and then diving down to the left through a 161 foot airtime hill

There were many other rides but these are the main rides there were very fast and very scary. It was a  great day out and with Coca Cola doing an offer for Six Flags with Buy One, Get One Free ticket with a Coca Cola can, which meant that we only had to pay $27 each and with a good price on the use of  the school bus, it was a great day

Day #17

It was another day in the dining room with another graduation party this time for a class of 70 students aged 14 because they were going into high school. The parents were also present but in a different room, whom I had to look after meant the alcohol was flowing. It was so strange to see how innocent these students were, with them all dressed in white. I think if you had a bunch of 14 year old Irish  boy and girl students in a room together it would be very different!!!

Day #18 to Day #24 will soon follow…..