Inisheer

The last field trip my Folklore & Ethnology class took was a two day trip to Inisheer, the smallest of the Aran Islands. The island is a great representation of "the folk" since the Irish language is still widly spoken and the land is hardly touched. I had such a great time exploring the small island of Inisheer as I climbed, crawled, jumped, and ran across the landscape. On this island I was truly at peace.

Here is a castle (or possibly just a stone home) where I ate my packed lunch inside with a few friends to escape the wind. Way better than eating in a pub.

We fed this donkey my apple core and he was quite happy about it.

I mentioned there was lots of hiking during this day and most of it was off the beaten path. We found ourselves jumping over rock wall fences, climbing up castles and rock faces, and jumping across stones on the beach. There was just so much to see, do, and experience.

This was pretty neat to see. I spotted a few cairns (known for marking a trail) when we were leaving the rock beach, and then found a few more in a line as we were nearing the shipwreck. I actually learned about cairns from Nancy Drew: Danger on Deception Island and I was so glad that I knew I was able to use them to find my way across the island. Just another fun fact learned from Nancy Drew!

I'd love to return to Inisheer or explore the other Aran Islands just as I did with Inisheer.

Shannon

Nancy Drew: Alibi in Ashes

I recently finished the Special 25th Edition Nancy Drew game, Alibi in Ashes this week. Now where I can't say it was as great as Nancy Drew: Shadow at the Water's Edge, this game was enjoyable just as well.

In, Alibit in Ashes, we find Nancy back in her hometown of River Heights competing in the Clue Challenge with her friends Bess, George, and Ned. The game opens to Nancy reading a clue that directs her to Town Hall, where she finds a suspicious ice cube on a thermostat. In a matter of seconds the thermostat explodes and Town Hall goes up in flames.When Nancy gets out she becomes suspect number one in the arson case and is detained at the River Heights Police Department. Eager to free her name, Nancy gathers clues with the help of her friends!

Though the game was quick and the puzzles were a bit more simpler than usual, it was fun to play. And it was actually insightful to see River Heights, the people around town (like Ned), and see Nancy's beautifully decorated house. Which FYI is what my dream home will look like.

 Herinteractive started to pick up a pattern of making flops right before their big deal game. Such as the worst Nancy game ever, Trail of the Twister, right before the very best, Shadow at the Water's Edge. This game broke away from the shell a little and I like that. The game showed a lot of improvements in design and organization.

And I also want a point out that Nancy never goes hungry in any game she plays. She's always eating something whether that be an anchovy sandwich or clam chowder. In this game, Nancy and all her friends seem to keep eating ice cream at The Scoop. There was a bacon flavored ice cream too and I had Bess eat them all.

The game is fun, full of inspection, puzzles, and very very Nancy Drew.

Shannon

Bulletin Boards

I'm back at WAC a little early for a days long Spring RA training. One of things the Area Directors really harped on this time was bulletin boards and how effective they are at passive programming (it's super effective). Last semester my co-RA, Caroline, and I decided to do a luau theme. I watercolored a beautiful hula girl (drunk girls later tore it down) and slapped a few flyers on the wall and called it a night. Well, it turned out that about 4 other floors in different buildings did that, so we needed to make a change.

I kept trying to go through some themes in my head. I wanted something original, interactive, and kind of evoking female power since Minta Martin is an all girls dorm. Then it hit me, who is the best female detective? Nancy Drew. So Caroline and I got to work and for seven hours we worked diligently. She cut  out 40 red hands for name tags and I began to draw Nancy drew and work on making files. 

We even hit up reslife.net, a particularly helpful website that provided us with fun facts about alcohol myths, great ways to break up with boyfriends, and amazing women from history. The amazing women from history got their own board, the break up tips were hung in the stalls for girls to read, and the alcohol myths were set to a flap system with manilla file folders so they could "solve the case."

In the end it all turned out really well and I sure hope that this board is not destroyed for at least a few months. I really hope all of my residents enjoy the bulletin board and decide to interact with it and actually read it. Especially that cell phone I made of all the numbers to call if you're locked out after 8.

 I'm looking forward to everyone coming back today, welcome back and happy sleuthing!

Shannon

Nancy Drew Shadow at the Water's Edge

Here's a little nerdy confession, I'm a big Nancy Drew fan. I grew up on my mom's old books and fell in Nancy just became my idol. She's strong, independent, and is an amazing sleuth. It's no mystery that I play the games, and I've played most of them. Over the summer I played the 23rd Nancy Drew Game that took place in Japan: Nancy Drew Shadow at the Water's Edge.

This game was certainly better than the last one where Nancy was storm chasing in Oklahoma. Instead of doing jobs Nancy was sent to Japan to discover the mystery behind a ghost that was haunting a Japanese Ryokan.

The creators definitely upped the storyline and characters in this one. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time. It played like a movie and in fact, it was a lot like The Ring. Especially since the ghost is a girl with long black hair over her face who drowned in a well…

Shadow at the Water's Edge is definitely up there as my favorite Nancy Drew game along with Ghost Dogs of Moon Lake. Give the game a go sometime if you're bored over winter break.