witnissing the making of an album...

well Im really getting into living in Dublin. For my next living abroad session, Im already planning on spending a year in London in a few years. Life has been pretty normal along with hanging with friends. The last few days have even almost felt like summer. I can tell that its just around the corner. A big shout out to my brother Justin! Today he turns 15. The other day, a Sunday, Jess and I were walking to her house when all of a sudden we started hearing bass and drums. Right away I knew it was live and that it was coming from someones appartment. So we managed to get ourselves into the appartment and that was when we witnessed our first recording session ever. I am sooo inspired right now. All of the members of the band, the Blood (somethings) were also visual artists. The music was very cool and something that I have never ever heard before. They also had keyboard-like instruments from the 70s. Another good thing about where I live is how there is an amazing vegetarian restaurant right down the street. Guess What?- I made it into Print Media. I am sooo happy. Ill major in Art History and minor in Print Media at Concordia U this September. I want to cry but I wont because my roomate is sitting right next to me. Still touching up on my Spanish. peace out

Commission!!!

So another week has passed by, Dublin is still amazing. I have 150 CAN dollars left. You know, just living very comfortably... I have been hanging out with a lot of people lately and kinda sorta possibly made some Irish artsy friends my age. Hahah I love how this is a mission. Im on a mission. So today, a miracle happened. Well actually Im not to sure. But I think I mini-launched an art career. Basically I told God that watever happens with my time is pretty much in his hands. Im not worried about my futur and am pretty open to watever happens. I just asked that watever happens that somehow if I need it Ill be helped under any way. Im open to radical ideas. And if Im not helped, well then its ok, it just wasnt meant to be. Ive landed here and have made it happen. Now Im ready to just fallow my path. So, behold, today I kinda went looking for a job but only handed one CV because it was waaay too beautiful outside. I really just wanted to walk. So I walkedfor 2 hours and handed out one CV. I was thinking with the possibility of a second job I could really go and have a wild time this summer. Anyhoo my favorite co-worker Paula asked me to do a live portrait of her and her boyfriend and my boss asked me to paint a 20 foot canvas for the cafe which is now being changed into a wine bar. They are both on commission. Im trying to not get my hopes up but if this does truly happen well then thanks God for your super artsy and creative way to help me with my dream. A traveling artist :)

im really upset right now because i wrote the longest post of my life and the computer somehow published it but didnt. So Im sorry your just gonna have to wait longer till my spirit get back up about loosing my first novel. Now im going to go stuff my face with a cupcake and cradle myslef to sleep. not

just life you know

WOW Laurence is really good at this whole blogging thing :) hahha not. Well life hasnt been extremly eventful lately. Just little bits and pieces. I had another week at work which was nice. We had some amazing weather this week but now that the weekend has presented itself good weather has shyed away. Shell be back soon. For the first time since Tofino I had a reading party. You know, just two people sitting on a couch enjoying eachothers presence while reading. And then I fell asleep... My friend Jessica tends to stay over at my place on the weekends and thats how I like it. On Saturday we went with my flatmate slash friend Marcos to an International BBQ. It was a bunch of young people in a penthouse. It was really fun except for the part of me not being able to eat hamburgers. I had pringles and coke... oh joy! But anyway from way up top we could see the entire city. Dublin is really cool to see from an almost aerial view. The old city is just bustling. After that we went to our friend Felix (the housecat)s house for the most amazing pasta and crepes ever. ( For some reason peanut butter and pancake syrup are like nonexistant over here. And they put coleslaw and sweet corn in their sandwichs, its actually really good). So basically just hanging out with friends. On a boring note, I now have an Irish bank account. On another note, I recieved a fine from the Tram system over here. Ill get back to them. Oh, and my cubard and fridge are empty. Im sooo hungry.

An Unsaintful St Paddys

On Monday I went with Jess to Dun Loaughaire, which is south of Dublin. At first I hated the village until I found the ocean. And all was well again (haha Edward). So I bet your all wondering how St Paddys is over here, eh? Well its awesome. Except for the caotic amount of people here, its pretty darn good. The parade was so brilliant. It totally kicked Montreals knok-off parades butt. It was filled with Cirque-du-Soleil-like costumes. It brought back the passion within to become a costume designer. Then the City went nutts. In all of Ireland there were 3000, yes 3000 ambulance calls. Two people were stabbed to death here in Dublin. I saw ladies beating up bodyguards and what not. GONGSHOW. I saw little teenage boys kissing eachother. There were actually black people in Dublin this weekend. Otherwise its pretty rare. It felt right having more colour in this pasty city. On another note my manager is a pothead. Literally he comes to work stoned and leaves to take naps or something. Its pretty ridiculous how over the map he is. I bet he takes our pay-cheques and rolls joints with them or something. haha

saturday, saturday night

hmmm so I have absolutly no clue whats up with Laurence. I really want to know. All I can say is that she is really liking Paris. Anyhoo St. Paddys is coming up and this city is buzzing with enthusiasm. The population has doubled. Two nights ago we had an Indian food feast at my flat. So a bunch of young peeps; Canadian, American and Spanish. Im still sooo stoked on having an Indian supermarket around the corner. Today, with my friend Jess, we went to get piercings. I got my third holes done in my ears. I now have seven piercings.

...

Well lets see... tomorrow Laurence is peacin to France to volunteer for WWOOF. I no longer work at Q of Tarts. This past week I have been working at Cafe Wolfs which is a cafe (duh) and wine shop. The interesting thing is that I happen to live 3 blocks up the road from it. So I only work weekdays which is pretty dope. Meaning I can travel on weekends as soon as I have a lil moola. I'm, one again stating this, really enjoying my time here in Dubs. It is definatly an intresting city with no lack of weirdos but you get used to it fairly quickly. The weather has been gorgeous over here. And Im about to meet Laurence in the park. Last night, with Jessica from Van city, we went to a cool rockin diner and had milkshakes. Pretty good HUGE ones I must say. One thing about Dublin, that is absolutely breathtaking! Not.- Is everybody smokes over here. Like a ridiculous amount.

My mailing (hint;) address is:

Chantal Premont
Flat 4
57 Capel Street
Dublin 1
Ireland

Life

Im sooo stoked on life right now. Im pretty sure I live in chinatown haha. There are about 15 Asian markets and restos on my street. And, heaven, is just around the corner. There is an Indian food market. Yup, Ill be eating and cooking a lot of that stuff :) My work is also on my street but by pure coincidence. So I am flat out broke. I have 800 hundred Canadian. Which, here, means I should be borderline homeless. But fear not! I shall prevail. And live... in an appartment. Im gonna take Spanish lessons. Which is going to be pretty sick. Laurence comes back to Dublin today. Which is fantastic.

Belfast

So this weekend I went to Belfast. Belfast is in Northern Ireland but its apart of the UK. I dont like Belfast, its very British. Not that thats a bad thing. It just wasnt my vibe. They have a budding Burlesque vintage scene but asides from that its a pretty bussiness oriented city. So, pretty boring. But I went on a trip and reunited with Laurence and we went to Giants Causeway!!! It is one of the Wonders of the World. It is very cool. Basically its a formation of thousands of large geometric rock hexigons that have invaded a part of the northern shorleline. Its pretty epic when the Atlantic waves are crashing upon it. I also went on the Carick-E-Rede rope suspension bridge and saw 2 ancient castles. This morning it was hailing and snowing. Belfast is so friggin cold compared to Dublin. I love Dublin. I was on the bus from Belfast back to Dublin and it was sooo cold and in my head I was saying 'I want to go home, I want to go home'. Home being Dublin. Im back here and Im feeling it.

Belfast aka the UK

So right now Im in northern Ireland which happens to be apart of the United Kingdom. So in other words, right now Im using the sterling pound instead of the euro. Im here for a few days before I officially beyond officially start work on Monday. (I have yet to decide between two different full time jobs... and the world continues to spin) Laurence is here right now. Its nice to have a reunion now after 3 days. Shes playing guitar upstairs right now. Ireland is mostly Catholic except for the northern part which belongs to the UK and thus being Protestant. I am really liking Dublin and honestly this place is growing on me more and more everyday. I really have a fun apartment, so far. And my roomates are the funnest Spanish boys ever. Im definatly catching up on my Spanish. I still do not have an Irish friend. The quest continues. Dublin is a very international city. And we are proud to say Vancouver and Montreal are... well you havent seen anything yet. There are also a lot of handicaps here. Im really confused on that. Im thinking it has to do with the huge drugs problem...

PS I made it to University. Major stokage going on over this side of the ocean :)

new flat

Sooooooo today I quit one of my jobs. And have not responded to the other. But I'm working at this cool cafe-resto in Temple Bar (apparently the cool part of town). Its called Queen of Tarts. Its run by too sisters who studied pastry making in New York City. I'm a waitress slash potential baker. I just hope I don't get fired!. I'm the youngest and I said I had experience waitressing... but I didn't! hahaha well I got the job right? we will see if I can keep it. The only draw back is I have to cut off all my hippie hemp bracelets. I'm sooo sad. They just don't understand that it is a part of me you know... like Tofino. I guess some people weren't born sentimental. Right after this Im moving into my new apartment. It with two Spanish dudes and one French chick. Its freakin tiny but so is everything here in Dublin. So you know since I'm here I'm gonna live the way they do- via expensive rent. But i couldn't care less, because I'm here to have fun :)

The blog! Right! Okay, so sorry about my three week absence, I guess I used up all my sick days by now... Yes, I am in Belfast. And I have a double bed all to myself! And I ate meat for supper!!! I'm staying at my dad's cousin's place, which is a really nice house with a view of the ocean and a lot of things that don't exist in hostels. My laundry smells so good. This afternoon, we went to the nearby village (so I'm not exctly in Belfast) and to a tower that overlooked the country and the ocean. Typical Irish sheep-filled beauty! Tomorow, I'm going to Belfast to see museums and what not. My dad's cousin just gave me a private seminar on Belfast tourism (so I might not get lost). Interresting fact: in some protestant neighbourhoods, they painted the sidewalks blue, red and white to make sure the Catholics got the message to stay away. Thankfully, times are changing and these painted sidewalks are now grey again...

Settling in

Well today was the day. Laurence has peaced to Belfast (northern Ireland aka UK). I dont know when Im going to see her again. But I know I will see her again in the not-to-distant futur. So I have 3 jobs. YES, 3 jobs. In other words, 2 jobs 2 many. So the last few days I have been trying them all out. The one that I did today, I realised that I had to quit,... the day I started. Ill quit tomorrow. haha The job that I am the most keen on partaking and wanted to do all along is at Queen of Tarts. Which is a really cool cafe run by two sisters. Its basically a cafe full of tarts. And there gonna get me waitressing and baking. I really hope I like it. I start tomorrow. So tonight I checked out the first of the appartments. And I like it a lot except that its 355 euros. EXPENSIVE! But the people are cool and young. Sooooo, I said yes. But well see. I still almost have 24 hours.

Today was a good day

Well here is a little history... the Irish dont really like the English. Go figure, thanks to the English a vast majority of the Irish population perished, once upon a time. The famine. Soooo because of the devastating past RUGBY is truly important here in Ireland. Especially when it comes to a match against the Brits. Meaning the whole town was drunk and there were no more vaccancies in the hostels. I, being my Ill-think-about-it-later attitude, didnt reserve any hostels. And, thus found myself, homeless. But I really didnt care, and wasnt worried. I just had no place to stay. Actually thought it was pretty funny. I ended up sleeping over the last two nights at two different friends house. OH, and the Irish one the Rugby game. Soooo Happy Days. People in Ireland say Happy Days when things are looking up or just going well. Jolly people they are. By the way, Leap Year! Today Laurence and I went out in surch of the harbor. If I wanted I could take a ferry to Liverpool. I think thats a pretty cool idea. I also went, with our new friend Jessica (I have no Irish friends!- its on my to-do list ) to the Irish Museum of Modern Art. Sweet times. One thing that I love about Dublin is that everything is in walking distance. I really love to walk. I always have but now even more. And yesterday for the first time that I can remember, I rode on a double-decker bus. I could see everything. It was actually quite entertaining. There were also people riding horses in the streets, you know, in traffic. Tongiht I went to CORE, the v happening church with pretty good music. From now on Im calling Dublin, Dubs. Just because I love giving everthing Im found of a short pet name. So Dubs, I love you.