Hi everyone!! Ed here!!

As I mentioned last week, there will be a film this weekend! We will show the film Transsiberian, starring Ben Kingsley, Woody Harellson, and Emily Mortimer. As usual, the film will be in Theatre 1 in the Arts Block, starting at 7:30 PM, this Sunday evening.

And, as many of you know, our first trip of the semester will be to Cork! We have all the arrangements made, and we will begin sign-ups this Sunday evening before the film. We will be in Theatre 1 from 7 pm on for you to come by and sign-up! The trip will be from Friday to Sunday, 13–15 February. We will announce departure times closer to the day of the trip. The cost of the trip is 60 EUR in total, and this covers 2 nights in the hostel with breakfast, as well as the return trip in our bus(es). And just to mention it, depending on how many people sign-up, we might have some people go there by train, so keep this in mind in case you would be willing to volunteer to go there by train. We will let you know then if we need some volunteers for this!

Here are some links tralking about what there is to do and see in and around Cork (1, 2, 3, 4). I definitely recommend that everyone go to Blarney Castle, as it is only 20 minutes by bus from the city, and you can get the bus to go there from right in front of the hostel! Also, the small town of Kinsale on the south coast is very nice, and you can get the bus to there from the city bus station, just 10 minutes walk from the hostel.

That’s all for now! Hope you’re all doing well and hope to see you this weekend for the film and trip sign-up!!

Ed

Hi, everyone! Ed here!

Welcome back to Maynooth, my friends, and what will (hopefully) be another great semester for the International Society! I trust everyone had a great holiday and got to go home and enjoy them with friends and family.

I’ve heard from a few people that I’ve run into on campus that they were going crazy without getting their weekly email from the International Society! It was only 3 weeks — did you miss us that much? And a few others have been asking when will we begin showing films again; we don’t technically have the room booked for showing films during the semester break, but enough people were asking that I went to the Conference Centre yesterday to see if I could get the room booked, and they agreed to let us have the room on Sunday, Jan 25, but not this weekend, because they use all the class halls in the Arts Block for people to study. But since exams end before Sunday the 25th, we can have the room then. So, this means: There will be no film this weekend (Sunday, Jan 18), but there will be a film on the following Sunday, Jan. 25. We will make an announcement next week to let you know what film we will show.

Also, we wanted to tell you all that our first trip of the second semester is provisionally booked! We will be going on a weekend trip to Cork! The trip will be from Friday to Sunday 13–15 February. We don’t have the final prices for the trip worked out yet, but we will let you know soon!

That’s all for now; I hope everyone is doing well, and we’ll be in touch again soon! All the best!

Ed

Hi everyone! Ed here!

First off, I was asked to announce that some people from the Residence Office will be hosting a Christmas Lunch in Erne Hall, Apt 5 on Christmas Day, beginning at 1PM in the afternoon, for any and all people who will be here on Christmas Day. There will be plenty of food to eat, but please bring your own drinks, plates, and cutlery, as they won’t have enough of these things at the apartment. Also, you can bring along a dessert or vegetable dish if you like.

Second, I’d like to thank all of you who made it such a great semester for the International Society. I hope that everyone had a great time, and that in at least some small way, your participation in out trips and events made your time here more memorable. We had our largest ever Day trip and Weekend trip, both in this semester, so it really was a huge success for us. To those of you who aren’t coming back, I’d like to say that it was great to meet you all, and that I wish I could’ve known you all better, but this is the way it goes; there is never enough time to get to know everyone, at least not as well as we would like. But meeting you all has been an honour, and I thank you all for making things go so well and be so much fun.

I hope that all of you have found yourselves in the company of those who are most important to you, where ever you are, and that you enjoy yourselves during the holiday season. All the best to you, and may good fortune smile upon you.

Sincerely,

Ed Niedbalski

Hi everyone!!  Ed here!

As some of you know, we got a new order of t-shirts made, because the first order didn’t turn out the way we wanted.  The ‘Globe’ on the first order turned out very different than how we would have liked, but the new ones look perfect!  The new order arrived this morning, so we now have them available for sale!  The new shirts, because they turned out perfect, will be selling at the cost of 10 EUR each.  We will still have the older t-shirts available for 7 EUR each.

Here’s a look at how the new ones turned out:

If there are any of you that have already bought the older one, but would really like to have the new one, what we will offer is this: Return the older t-shirt (as long as it is CLEAN!!!), and pay the extra 3 EUR, we will take back the old one and give you the new one!

I will be at home for most of the afternoon, so if there are any of you that are leaving today or tomorrow, and would like to have a t-shirt before you go, you can come by my apartment on campus to get one!  I’m in Avoca 7, River Apartments.  Or you can ring/text me at 087 6761959 and we can arrange something!

That’s all for now; All the best to everyone for a great holidays, and a well-deserved rest!  Talk to you soon,

Ed

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