just a quick note..

to say that i think i have learned the most about irish culture by having the loudest room in the hotel. i'm on the first floor, directly above the busiest area of night-life in the city of galway. it stays busy until about five in the morning or so, and only gets increasingly louder as dawn approaches. yes, i have learned many a fine thing about the irish people by trying to sleep in this prime location.





:)

Our trip is almost over

I spent the entire day yesterday in bed, recovering from what was apparently a vicious 24-hour stomach bug. My illness was not at all helped by reflecting on the typical Irish cuisine. Eck. But that's over, I hope. I felt well enough today to get up and go to the Aran Island of Inishmore, and I'm very thankful for that. The island was absoultely beautiful. We went to the Seven Churches (of which only two were actually churches, and the rest domestic buildings according to our driver), which were ruins about 1200 years old. They were surrounded by graves (or memorials, as seems more likely, since the island only has about three inches of soil on top of limestone), some more recent and some so old their faces had been weathered blank. I was particularly struck by one such stone, which had only the faintest traces of lettering remaining, yet was adorned with fresh flowers. Very odd. We walked up a long, rocky hill to Dun Aonghasa, a fort that was built in 1500 BC or so. Hard to believe something from such an ancient time could still stand--you don't get that kind of historical perspective in America. Another interesting thing about the islands is that it is one of the few places in Ireland where the native language of Gaelic is still spoken regularly.

On Sunday we saw the Cliffs of Moher, which were absolutely soul-shaking, though a little overcrowded and touristy. We also drove through the Burren, which is like being in a completely different country, as the majority of the landscape is made up of limestone plates. I'm shocked at how diverse the landscape is here. At some points I feel as if I'm in a jungle. Other times it looks like a wasteland. But always beautiful.

Today we went to Blarney Castle which was just awesome. I couldn't believe we were walking up (very steep, windy, WET, stone) steps that were constructed hundreds and hundreds of years ago. It was like being in another world--everything all crumbling and made out of stone. I kissed the Blarney stone, which was a more involved process than I would have imagined. You have to hold onto some iron rails and lean WAY back to get to it. Pretty exciting, I thought--though I don't feel as if I have been blessed with eloquence. I bought a picture of it which is just hilarious. After that, some of us (myself included) went to the beautifully quaint little port town of Kinsale. I couldn't believe how nice the weather was: it was actually warm enough to take off my jacket. In May! Imagine that. Tomorrow morning we leave Cork and head to Galway for four nights.

A few photos...

Here are a few photos from Photobucket...I'll get them in order later today or tomorrow. But, this gives you a quick view anyway! I must get ready to go to MAss in Ireland! YAY!

http://s63.photobucket.com/albums/h155/mollykerby/

Catching up!

I am trying to catch up a bit because I have had trouble finding time to upload photos. I also am having problems with Snapfish so you may have to wait for the albums. We have learned quite a bit about the history of Ireland over the course of the last few days both from tours and talking to the local folks -- non-stop for those of you who know me well. On Thursday we went to #29 museum/house, which was a home owned by woman in the last 1800's giving a glimpse of what it was like to be a woman in the time period...including middle and lower class. Then we visited the General Post Office -- the headquaters of the Easter Rising in 1916.

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Later Thursday afternoon, we visited Kilmainham jail where the officials in charged of the Easter Rising we sentence to death and shot for their role in the rebellion. Many women fought as well but were sentence to life because of their gender :) Sometimes it pays to be a woman! Here is a photo of two jail birds (Sandy Peterson and I) holding a Red Towel.



The highlight of my trip, personally, was our trip to Glendalough to visit St. Kevin's 6th Century monastic community. It was totally awesome! I wandered the grave yards and walked by the two rivers for a couple of hours -- what a magnificent experience.

The whole crew left Dublin Friday for County Cork. We stopped at Cohb and toured the site where many Irish immigrants left for the US during the rebellions and the Great Potato Famine. It was way cool but was closing as we got there (long story) so we did not have much time to spend there.
Saturday, we went to Blarney Castle and I got to kiss the Blarney stone! I will either have good luck or and STI when I come back :)


We will be heading to Galway tomorrow, so I will try get some photos to you next week!

Cork

Well, we left Dublin today and spent all day on the coach bus. (I'm GLAD I brought some Dramanine on this trip.) We went to the coastal town of Cobh, which was previously called Cove and Queenstown, and was the last port call stop of the Titanic before it set sail, and also where the survivors of the Lucitania were taken. It was also the port that tons and tons of ships set sail from to take Irish immigrants to other countries during the famine, and to take convicts to Austrailia and Britian. The place we went to there was called the Cobh Heritage Center. Pretty interesting. The coast was gorgeous. Yesterday we went to Glendalough and saw the ruins of an old monastery. It was absolutely amazing. It was in a valley in the Wicklow Mountains and there were two lakes. It was one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen in my life. We've also been to two gaols (jails): Wicklow Gaol (not that impressive) and Kilmainham Gaol in Dublin, which is where all the rebels associated with the 1916 Easter Rising were executed. It was really awesome, if a little depressing. Now we're at our hotel in Cork. It's really nice! As you can tell, I've been learning a lot. Hard to believe the trip is half over.

Just a day in Dublin!

If you read down you will see what we did today from the students perspectives. I am really humbled as an instructor teaching in another country. I feel a little over-whelmed on the one hand, yet so charged by what I have learned as a new student (myself) of the world. Doing such in-depth "research" on the "streets" makes me wonder how much I really know about my own country and culture. Do I "really" know who or what I am as an American? Some of the young folks we have met here know more about us than we know about ourselves.

More later...

catch-up

not sure if the others are blogging today or not, but i thought i would at least just so i can remember things. on monday we went on the Molly Malone tour and learned a little bit about Irish history and culture. We ended up at this really neat little pub where we talked to an older local man who knew a lot about literature and was really interesting to talk to. We went to the Gaiety theater to see "Year of the Hiker," which I really enjoyed--I was really impressed with the production quality. Yesterday was more of a laidback day. We went shopping at the Dundrum Shopping Center not too far from where we're staying, and then Kanya, Megan and I just went back to the hotel to hang out for a little bit. I discovered that trying to wash clothes in a tiny sink is not something I want to have to get accustomed to. Later we went to see traditional Irish music at this place called Taylor's Irish Nights. It was really neat, even though the musicians didn't play the song we requested. Today we went to an old Georgian style house that had been restored and took a tour through it. The movie they showed us beforehand was a little cheesy but the house itself was pretty cool to look at. I don't think I would have wanted to grow up during that time, since the children's rooms were up about 87 stairs. In a little bit we're going to the jail. Tomorrow is our last day in Dublin. I'm ready to get out of the city and into the more rural areas. I wish we had more time to spend in Galway and Cork, but I'll try to make the best of the short time that we do have there. Adios!

Days 2 & 3

We have had some great experiences the last couple of days. I have begun to realize that picking a text was the worst part of this. We read the text, talk about the text, then went out into the real world and found that most of our text did not accurate depict Irish Popular culture and the current political environment. Our true classroom on this trip has been the streets and pubs of Dublin. We attended the protest at |St. Patrick’s for the hunger strikers and learn more than any text could ever tell us. The Afghans were physically removed from the church yesterday by the Garde (The Irish “unarmed” police. Owning a gun in Ireland is totally illegal and if you are caught with a weapon, you go to prison for a lengthy stay).

The photos will help give you an idea of where we have been and what we have been doing. Click here for the tour.

Saturday and Sunday (days 2 and 3)

I have a lot to say since we didn't blog yesterday. On Saturday after we blogged we went into a few shops and four of us got seperated from Molly Kelli and Megan so we went to eat lunch and wander around on our own for a little bit. We went into an Amensty International Cafe which was pretty cool, and saw a lot of awesome sights in the city. Then we made our way to St. Patrick's Cathedral to see the protest, which I thought was just awesome. We talked to some locals who told us a lot about the issue and Irish culture in general. It was weird because of the few people who showed up to the protest that opposed the hunger strike, the majority of them were children, who were no doubt put up to it by their parents. They were throwing out racial slurs and stuff, and we saw one little kid hit a camera man with a stick. It was nuts. The hunger strike is over now so St. patrick's is open. We met up with everyone there and then some of us went to this coffee shop and got something to drink. We found out that there was a little pub underneath where they had music at night so we decided to come back there later for Kanya's birthday. We did, and it wasn't too bad, though it was pretty dead. We did meet one Irish guy though who felt compelled to tell us that he trained a horse who won the kentucky derby, that he dated a girl who was in Wayne's World, that he had met Donnie Osmond, and that he knew Bono's private number and was calling him. I told him to tell bono that u2 sucks. The second place we went to was more like a dance club. Wait, check that, it was TOTALLY like a dance club. It was absolutely a dance club. It was loud. After that we went home and had a hard time hailing a cab but finally made it back to the IMI. On Sunday I went with Hannah and Katie on a bus tour of the north coast and Malahide castle, which was all really pretty, even though I almost fell asleep on the bus. I think my body is still adjusting to the time change. It was raining all day and really cold and we got thoroughly soaked. after we got back to the IMI and changed into dry clothes, we ordered pizza and all just hung out for a while before i went to bed. molly got a tattoo and it turned out looking really nice. today we're going on a molly malone tour at two, then at night we're going to see a play at the Gaiety theater called year of the hiker with the rest of the CCSA group. It should be interesting. I'm having a good time although the weather has not been great...it's even colder today than yesterday. But i'm dressed to face the elements and ready for the day ahead.

Our first Day!

Well, we had a long, rough day traveling to Ireland but we are here, got some sleep last night, and found an Internet facility this morning to blog. I forgot to bring my journal with me but I think I can still fill you in.

We got right off the plane and headed for a tour bus -- lasted forever! Saw the Book of Kells at Trinity...pretty cool. It was a very tiring day -- not really a blast or anything.

We are in the Temple Bar are at the moment, which is the tourist area of Dublin. Pretty cool, but not the same as the little pub we found last night. We meet the locals at a little place called Eagle Pub in the suburb we are staying at...well, meet three older guys who sang Irish folks songs for us while we enjoyed our pint.

I am going with Kelli (at least) for a protest at Trinity this afternoon at 2/half or 14:50 this afternoon. Still learning how to tell time Irish style :) If you are keeping up with CNN, 40 men from Afghanistan have locked themselves in the famous St. Patrick's Cathedral on a hunger strike. They are seeking asyllum in Ireland but the government has not granted them permission to stay. That's what the protest is for at Trinity -- the students wish for the goverment to allow them to stay. Sound familiar???? Also, plan to room the seedy side of town a little in search of true Irish pop culture and my tattoo artist to interview.

Today is Kanya's bithday!!!! We might do the literary pub crawl with Dr. Flynn tonight but have mad no definite plans.

I only have a few pictures, so I'll wait until tomorrow to post photos...

So far so good though :)

mary-day one.

We made it to Dublin yesterday morning, after a reaaaaally long day of planes and airports. Everyone was completely exhausted by the time we finally arrived, but they forced us to stay awake by putting us directly on a coach bus and taking us on a tour of the city. I was a little too grouchy and groggy to enjoy it as much as I might have otherwise, but it was pretty amazing when I stopped to think about where I was. We went to Trinity college and saw the Book of Kells exhibition and the Long Room--a huge library with thousands of old books. I've been really impressed with the architecture here, it's amazingly beautiful. After we finally got to the IMI where we're staying, we had dinner (salmon with mashed potatoes seems to be a popular dish...I haven't had much luck with European food yet) and some of us walked to a shopping center from the IMI, and eventually found our way to a pub, where I had my first authentic Irish Guiness. I wasn't dissapointed. Exhaustion finally took over and we headed back to the hotel (getting a little lost along the way and inadvertantly taking a LONG hike. Fortunately we got some help from some Irish kids and a drunken elderly man.) to get some sleep. This morning I feel much better. We ate breakfast and caught the LUAS (railway system) into the city. There's a hunger going on right now in St. Patrick's Cathedral. Some Afghani workers are seeking asylum there because they want to stay in the country and don't have citizenship. There is a protest there today at two and I'm going to check that out. I think my project is going to involve comparing Irish views on the war/American politics. I'm really excited about the things we're going to be seeing and doing and can't wait to see what the day brings.

The anticipation!

We will be leaving for our journey -- WS 400 in Ireland -- at 1:30pmCST from Nashville, TN on May 18, 2006. We will start posting as soon as we get settled. Our best to all of you who care for us so much!