Hi everyone! Ed here!

I saw an announcement for the Dublin Christmas Market, which is starting on Dec 12, so I thought I’d pass on the information about it on to all of you! It will be going on right at the IFSC (Irish Financial Services Centre) in Dublin, and is just a 5 minute walk from Connolly Station! Here is a link to their map and here is some information about what they will have there. It sounds like it will be pretty good, or at least as good as the one in Belfast! I hope to go and find out for myself!

As many of you know, we have decided on our final design for our T-Shirts, and we thank you all for voting! The final winner on the contest was the Globe/Bus/Pint design. We are happy to say that the order for the shirts has been put in, and we’re hoping to get the shirts here as soon as we can. We were told they will be ready perhaps as soon as this Friday, and no later than next Wednesday. We will let you all know as soon as the shirts are here, and we will do our best to give everyone the chance to buy one, particularly those of you that won’t be back after Christmas. We have ordered what we hope is a good mix of sizes, and we have got have of them in black and in ‘Kelly Green’, so there will be some choice for you too! We’re still not sure of what the final price will be, as we haven’t gotten the bill for the t-shirt company yet, but as I mentioned before, they will cost either 8 or 10 Euro each. We will let you know when the shirts arrive.

The film this weekend is the Irish Christmas film Evelyn, starring Pierce Brosnan, Aidan Quinn, and Stephen Rea. It’s based on the true story of the first case ever to reach the Irish Supreme Court, and is about a man who has to fight regain custody of his children after his wife abandons the family. It’s a great holiday film, the perfect film to show right before Christmas time in Ireland! We will shot it as usual in theatre 1 in the Arts Block, this Sunday evening, starting at 7:30 PM.

That’s all for now; I hope everyone is working hard to get all their essays and assignments finished in time! All the best and hope to see you all soon.

Ed

Hi everyone!  Ed here!

Quite a few things to talk about in this email

Belfast

First, we just wanted to say thanks to everyone that went on the trip to Belfast!  It was the largest weekend trip that we’ve ever done, and we hope that everyone had a good time there.  Also, we wanted to say sorry to the people who were in the two rooms with the broken heating; I’ll get you some drinks to make up for it!  Also, with regards to the Giants Causeway day tour — we did call the hostel in advance to tell them that (the majority of the people in) our group was interested in doing that tour on Saturday and that they should let the bus company know about this. I rang the hostel about this more than a week before we arrived, but either the hostel did not forward our request or the tour company ignored it.

We are now considering writing a formal complaint to the owner of the hostel about both problems.  As we’ve never had any problems with them before (we’ve been staying at the same hostel for several years now) we were very surprised to encounter these issues.  Hopefully everyone that wanted to see Giant’s Causeway got to go, even if it was on the express tour on Sunday.

Newgrange

Just as a reminder, the details for the two trips to Newgrange are as follows:

Saturday-group

Our booking is for 11:00am.  We will leave from Maynooth at 9:45am.  The tour lasts about 2 hours, so we will return to Maynooth at about 2:30 in the afternoon.

Sunday-group

Our booking is for 10:00am.  We will leave from Maynooth at 8:45am.    The tours is 2 hours, so we’ll be back to Maynooth at about 1:30 in the afternoon.

We still have spaces available for both days, so if you’re interested in signing-up, you can e-mail us, or text me at 087 6761959.  Also, we will hold a second chance to sign-up this Thursday evening in the Arts Block.  I will be in the corridor by the computers between 6 and 7 PM for anyone that still wants to go!

Film

Our film this weekend, due to ‘popular demand’, will be the film In Bruges, starring Colin Farrel. The film will be, as usual, in Theatre 1 in the Arts Block, this Sunday evening, starting at 7:30 pm.

That’s all for now; hope to see you all soon!

Ed

Hi everyone, Ed here!

And here… comes the Belfast trip! There are a few things that people need to know when going to Belfast, just some basic information that I should bring to your attention.

1. For those of you from outside the European Union (like myself), please remember to bring your passport or other documents with you, as we are technically going into another country.
2. Remember that they use British Pounds up there (Sterling), not Euros! If you have a bank card from a bank here in the Republic of Ireland or another EU country, you should be able to use that card in the cash machines up there to withdraw pounds with no problems.
3. Please remember to stay together with other people when you are there; don’t go wondering out alone! I don’t imagine there will not be any problems, but please remember that Belfast is not a place you want to start trouble in! And please, whatever you do, do not go into West Belfast by yourself!! The people there won’t necessarily be happy to see you!
4. Our hostel does not provide breakfast, but there is a Tesco and several other shops close to the hostel. There is a kitchen at the hostel for you to cook something!
5. The buses to go to Belfast will leave from in front of the Student’s Union building, this Friday 3:00pm. We will leave from the hostel in Belfast to come back to Maynooth between 4:00 and 5:00pm. We will decide as the weekend goes!
6. If you decide to go on the Giant’s Causeway day tour, which I’m sure most of you will, please go on the Saturday! The tour does not finish until around 6pm, so you won’t make it back in time go home on our bus if you do this tour on the Sunday! Remember, you can sign-up for The Giant’s Causeway and Black Taxi Tours right at the reception desk of our hostel!

Here’s a few of those links again for you to look at about the city and other things (1, 2, 3, 4, 5).

That’s all for now! See you all tomorrow for the film!

Ed

The facts again:

Where to

Belfast City

Date

Friday to Sunday, 28—30 November 2008

Departure

3:00 pm on Friday from Student’s Union

Important

Do not forget to bring your passport!

Return

Leave Belfast on Sunday at 4 pm

Cost

55 EUR per person

Includes

Transport & accommodation

Hello, everyone! Ed here!

I should have sent this information to all of you in the last email, but I forgot to do it! It must be my old age catching-up with me…

Anyway, I want to announce sign ups for our last trip of the semester, to Newgrange! Since I’m really bad at explaining exactly what Newgrange is, here are several links that will tell you all about it (1, 2, 3, 4).

We have 2 bookings for Newgrange; each booking allows only a maximum of 48 people per visit! The 2 bookings are for Saturday, December 6 at 11:00am, and Sunday, December 7 at 10:00am. This means we will have to leave Maynooth early to get there!! I will let you all know next week when we will have to leave for each trip. The cost for the trip is 12 EUR per person, and this covers the bus and admission into Newgrange.

Sign-ups will begin tomorrow evening before the film! I’ll be in Theatre 1 in the Arts Block from 7pm! Remember the cost is 12 Euro per-person for everything!

Hi everyone! Ed here!

Just a quick announcement for the film this weekend. It will be ‘Intolerable Cruelty’, Starring George Clooney and Catherine Zeta-Jones. Here’s a link about the film.

As usual, the film will be at 7:30 PM in the Arts Block, Theatre 1, this Sunday evening.

For those of you going on the trip to Belfast, we will send an e-mail early next week giving all the information you’ll need to know for the trip.

All the best,

Ed