Category: Culture

The Emerald Style

Published on by LshotkoskiLeave a comment

A complete guide of how to dress in Ireland:

Let’s face it, fitting in to a new country starts with the appearance. Before you even let people know what your accent sounds like, they might already have an idea based off your outfit. Fool the Irish, and look the part with these simple clothing/beauty trends.

Ladies, start stocking up on leggings of every color. In fact, you only need a pair of jeans if you’re going out, or sweatpants if you’re never going to leave the house. Leggings are the moment, and truly have a chokehold on university students at Maynooth. The next article of clothing is crucial, for you HAVE TO pair your leggings with white high top shoes (usually converse but the girlies don’t discriminate). In fact white crew socks with any white shoes will suffice. Now that we’ve established the bottom half let’s talk about the top. The shirts are pretty interchangeable for they are not the center of the fit. Any crop top will work perfect because the real star of the outfit is the giant cropped puffer coat. It can be any color, but black is the most popular. If you really don’t want to haul a puffer jacket you can wear a sweatshirt with a puffer vest, but that is the only exception. Finally, to complete the look wear a slicked back high ponytail. The chances of seeing 50 girls wearing this exact same outfit in class are high, but hey, you’ll fit in.

Men, it starts with your hair. Your mullet, long hair, or even medium length hair, has got to go. Fade’s are the only hairstyle (with the slight exception of a buzzcut) that Irish men have to offer. Even though it only suits a certain style of hair, it does not stop all the lads from rocking it. To pair with the fade you’ll want to grab a pair of joggers (the more it looks like you’re going to soccer practice the better.) These joggers need to be slightly looser than a pair of skinny jeans. To pair with the joggers you have some options. Option one is the athletic half zip of either a soccer or rugby team. Option two involves the same puffer as mentioned for the girls, but instead of it being cropped it will fall just slightly below your waist. There aren’t really any rules to what color the puffer or joggers have to be, however I am almost certain if your joggers are grey your puffer has to be black.

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Pictured above is Love Island’s Molly Mae and Tommy Fury perfectly representing the day to day outfit choices I see on the regular. (Image source: headtopics.com)

Wine Tasting in France!

Published on by taliafrankelLeave a comment

France! The home of wine tasting, and quite possibly one of the only countries that offers wine tasting as an actual course option for a study abroad semester. I’m sure you can imagine the speed at which I added that class to my schedule. Did it seem a little ridiculous to spend three hours of my Friday getting graded for my ability to identify certain wine aromas and pair it with certain foods? Yes. But when in France, and when it’s offered, do as the French do and taste some wine.

*I would like to clarify that I did not take this class as an excuse to get drunk on wine at 9am every Friday (we spit the wine back into cups). My main goal was to come back to the U.S. with enough knowledge of wine to be an absolute annoyance to all of my friends and family.*

The class is a three hour course from 9am – 12pm every Friday morning, in which the first hour and a half consists of a slideshow on the chosen wines for that day and the second hour and a half consists of the tasting and food pairing. During the second half of class we are presented with four types of wine from the types that we discussed during the lecture. We are offered an array of food to taste as well that is meant to pair with the wines that day. For example, on the day we tasted Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay we also had fish, chèvre, and asparagus. While on the day we tasted Pinot Noir we ate mushrooms and duck.

Aside from the in-class wine tastings, our class got the chance to tour a local vineyard in Provence. Named Château des Trois Sautets, or, “Castle of the Three Goats,” this vineyard is a very new vineyard, opened in 2020 by three brothers. They welcomed us with open arms, giving us a tour of their vineyard, winemaking rooms, and goat farm. We got to see first hand how the grapes are separated, crushed, and sorted, as well as the vinification tanks in which they ferment, before being led to a beautiful stone patio overlooking the mountain side of Provence.

The rest of our time at the vineyard consisted of us trying the three types of wine they grew. They offered us one white, one rosé, and one red, each consisting of a blend of different grape types. To top it off we were served three types of fresh goat cheeses to pair with the wines, freshly delivered from the goat farm just yards away. After a long, arduous day of wine tasting we walked down the hill back to our bus and were shuttled back to our home city of Aix.

Needless to say, I feel incredibly lucky to spend my Fridays getting trained in the art of wine. You can’t complain about schoolwork when the schoolwork consists of traveling to vineyards in the South of France, although it does slightly make me dread the transition back to the American education system. Despite the fact that I may not be able to continue my career as a sommelier when I return to the U.S., I will at least come back with the ability to pick the perfect bottle of wine to go with any meal (and successfully either impress or annoy whoever’s in my company).