Snogged: An Insatiable State of Mind

For my own sanity's sake, I'm choosing to keep all my Ireland pictures in one place instead of trying to fill an LJ post with tiny images because I am incapable of just picking a few out of the bunch.

For those who are interested in seeing the set (currently: 179 Photos), you can mosey on over to my flickr page and view them:

RIGHT HERE

Here's a teaser shot for you of me successfully climbing the rock wall around Trim Castle.



I hope that some of you will go take a look :)

Day 10

We had a group meeting in the morning to talk about our experiences with the trip- what we liked, what we didn't, suggestions for next year, etc. Then we all went to lunch at the Buttery (where we'd been eating almost everyday for lunch because its the on campus restaurant) and people had the afternoon free.

I spent my afternoon with Jenn by going to the National Gallery of Ireland (which was free) and seeing all kinds of paintings and sculptures. There was quite an amount of Italian Renaissance artwork on their second floor and I got to see three Rembrandts...but they were tiny and dark and I can't remember their names.

After the museum, we walked around Dublin and finished souvenir shopping before heading back to campus and meeting up with the group for the final dinner.

With yummy food in our bellies, a group of us headed over the Brazen Head, which is the oldest pub in Dublin. It was a different atmosphere from the Temple Bar district but it was one that fit my style more! You could hear the person you were trying to talk to, the acoustic didn't suck so the band was easier to hear, and I got to chat with an older gentleman who was well-versed in International travel and thinks I should go to Turkey on my next big trip.

After the Brazen Head, we caught taxis and headed back to Trinity to get some sleep.

Day 11

I stumbled out of bed at the crack of dawn, finished packing what was still left over, and headed out to the bus that was taking us to the airport.

When we got there I found out my flight was being delayed an hour and my connecting flight out of Chicago had been changed for the adjustment. I read a good chunk of my book, Julie and Julia (the memoirs that inspired the movie), and finally boarded my plane.

All luggage arrived safely and my mom was all smiles when she picked me up.

As much as I miss it, it's good to be home.

Today we had more time in the classroom and talked about our interview experiences. It was really interesting to hear the stories and what other students got to do. Then, we talked about what careers look like in Ireland and how the work ethic is more laid back then the US. There was also a presentation on religion in Ireland and then we watched a video on how to counsel deeply religious clients.

But!

I did step outside the walls of Dublin today by taking the DART to Dalkey with six other group mates. It's a beautiful sea side village and I got to spend some time on the pier taking in the smell of salt and water and feeling the spray against my face. Sadly...I met no cute Dalkey boys but I did get to see the outside of the castle that belongs to the ambassador from Morocco.

I am feeling a bit worn down tonight though so I'm not going anywhere else except the computer room and bed.

And I really can't believe that in slightly less than 48 hours, I'll be on a plane for home.

It's amazing how fast the time flies and I'm really going to miss this place.

In the morning, I got to sleep in a little bit and then I headed over to the Buttery (the campus restaurant where the food tastes like college) where I met up with about four of my group mates and one extremely awesome counselor in Ireland who works with gays and lesbians. We got to talk and explore the issues they face here and he gave us a ton of information. I think one of the most interesting things was a study he did that showed counselors who have lesbian and gay friends and experiences in that community are more likely to want to seek further training than those who are less familiar (because they don't think they need sensitivity training even if they know nothing about that culture). That feels pretty unethical to me, in my opinion.

In the afternoon, we had a lecturer come into talk about credentialing (which was kind of a big snooze. No offense to her). And one of the faculty on our trip presented on intersexuality. She did a great job with the material and I felt like I was back in my Sociology of Gender class again :)

After lecture, we took the group picture and headed out to see the play, The Rivals, at the Abbey Theatre. It was a great romp through the Georgian era and the characters were interesting. There were a few parts that seemed slow but overall, I laughed a lot.

We had a full day trip on Sunday to three different places that are rich in Ireland's history.

The first was Trim Castle, which is located in the Boyne Valley. It's in ruins now, except for the keep, which is still in fairly decent condition. Much of our tour was in the keep and we got to climb spiral staircases, feel the chill wind of the Irish air as we moved up the floors, and be flooded with the stories our tour guide shared about what life was like for the people here. I was a bit disappointed that they didn't have a gift shop we could pop into but other than that, I'm quite excited about the experience.

The second was Loughcrew where we visited the gardens for lunch and hiked up to see the cairns. Cairns are basically tombs that were built into the side of hills and the thing I liked most about them was the links to pagan spirituality and the emphasis on using the sun to illuminate the images in the tombs. I think my favorite part was when we got to squeeze inside one and see the sun designs and criss crosses and all such nifty things.

The third was the Hill of Tara where I got to say hello from my two good Tara friends *waves at Mezz and IO* It was a lovely place and there were sheep everywhere :) I think though that its important to see the audio visual before the tour because you get to see the aerial view of the ridges and truly take in the power of their designs. The tomb of the hostages was probably my favorite.

For dinner last night, I joined a group who was heading out for Italian and it was delicious. I had marscapone, gorgonzola, and spinach ravioli. And then I headed out with my two wonderfully crazy friends to the pubs where I taught a Czechoslovakian man how to belly dance. LOL. It was almost funnier than watching my boyfriend do his white boy dance.

Today was a free day for the group so I did what I always do on a free day...I slept in :)

Then I got up and headed to the tourist centre to get my ticket for the ghost bus tour and headed back down to our meeting place for the Guinness tour. The Guinness Storehouse, for those who don't know, is celebrating 250 years so there were a ton of people there. It was really neat though because they had Irish dancing and I even got up to join the fun when they asked for volunteers. I think I did okay. Much better than the drunk folks. *g*

At the retail store, I picked up some gifts for family members and friends and then our group headed back.

Because of the time though, I was unable to go to Dalke as that would have made me late for my ghost tour so I spent two hours doing some souvenir shopping...and trying not to freak out about locking my key in the room. D'oh! Thankfully, there was a very sweet guy at the main gate who helped me out and got me in. Thank goodness for Irish hospitality.

The Ghost Bus Tour was amazingly awesome and our storyteller was brilliant and funny and scary. I nearly jumped out of my seat a few times from the ghost stories. On our tour, we had two stops. One was at St. Kevin's cemetery for a lesson in body snatching at this beautiful monastery that is only open to the general public two days a year. We also stopped at the Forty Steps and learned about the underground tunnels of Dublin and how the wealthy men would do whatever they wanted. I'm so glad I went on it. It was a great way to learn about Dublin's darker side.

The plan for tomorrow is a full day trip to Boyne Valley to see the Hill of Tara and a castle. WHEEE!

Two for the price of one :)

Day 4: Belfast

Yesterday we did a full day trip to Belfast and took the "Bullets and Bombs" tour. This means we drove around on a bus and went to Falls road and Shankill Road and the Peace Lines. It was intense to see the murals and the cement wall and to hear the history of such an intense civil war between the Catholics and the Protestants. It was definitely a different world than what I've been seeing in Dublin but I'm way thrilled that we got a chance to see that. Our tour guide was truly amazing.

We also got to go to NICIE, which is the Centre for Integrative Education and learned that since the Good Friday agreement (60 schools, or 6%) have chosen the integrative model. I thought that was wonderful that they've at least been able to get that far. I'd say that's a picture of hope but I guess I might be an optimist...sometimes...when I feel like it.

After Belfast, I headed out with Tara, Jennifer, and Brian to the Temple Bar District. The Temple Bar itself is damn cool. I love the courtyards and the music but the craziness felt a little much at times. We were often shoulder to shoulder, which made it hard to go anywhere and I'm not really a club person so it took some getting used to. We also visited Oliver St. John Gogarty's pub and that was neat too. They had a great Irish band playing upstairs and I even knew the words to a few songs (Whiskey in the Jar and Leavin' of Liverpool).

Around midnight, I went home and crashed :)


Day 5

I'm gonna say it -Thank Heaven for Starbucks!! I really don't think I've been sleeping that well. I mean, I've been sleeping but I don't wake up feeling refreshed or anything.

Today we had five of the doctorate students on our trip present on issues, such as mental health, substance abuse, gender roles, and sexual orientation. We had a really great discussion and I was totally on top of the class participation :)

Then, we went to County Wicklow to visit Glendalough. OMG!!! It was amazing. It's the ruins of an old monastery and you could just feel the ancient thrum of it all in the stones and the grass and the wind and the water coming off the two lakes. It was a heaven for a deeply spiritual Pagan girl like myself. And our tour guide was amazing.

Tonight we took in a concert at the National Concert Hall for the band Alton, who were backed up by the RTE concert orchestra. It was a truly stunning experience and I loved it massively. The singer's voice was so soothing and so beautiful, it was hard not to feel entranced and mesmerized by the power of the strings and songs.

And tomorrow I have a free day...which I plan to spend going to the Guiness factory, visiting Dalke, and going on the Ghost Bus Tour.

Also...I can't wait to show you all pictures when I get home!!

Here's the recap for the day!

1. We had some more lectures yesterday and the woman who came in to talk about the Counseling field in Ireland almost put me to sleep! Her voice was just so soothing. LOL. One of our fearless leaders presented to and he was much more animated even though it was a repeat of stuff that Dr. Okocha had taught me during my Social and Cultural Foundations class last summer.

2. I got to watch the film "Once" (which is set in Dublin and apparently one the Oscar for Best Song) and the music was gorgeous. The end wasn't quite what I had hoped for but it's possible that it was more realistic than the classic Hollywood ending. We also watched a short film about a boy from Japan who comes to Ireland. He taught himself Irish for six months but quickly found that wasn't the dominant language in Dublin. It was also a bit sad when he went to dinner and couldn't figure out how to use the knife and fork so he transformed them into slightly awkward metal chopsticks. He did find someone who spoke Irish though and headed off to Connemara where it's much more predominant.

3. I spent a few hours on a bridge outside Temple Bar last night, watching the water and the distorted lights and loving that more than any pint out there. Temple Bar district is damn cool though. I found a hippie shop! And got a clauddagh ring and almost bought myself some Nag Champa incense (my favorite!) but wasn't sure how well that would go through customs.

Yesterday got pretty busy so here's your update :)

1. We had two lectures yesterday. One on the history and one on the language. The language one was definitely my favorite. Probably because the professor was exuberant and animated and helped me feel a bit more awake.

2. Then we did a tour of Dublin by bus, which took us the St. Patrick's Cathedral where I got to see the grave of Jonathan Swift (author of Guillver's Travels) and then back to the Trinity College to see the Book of Kells. As terrible as it probably is to say, I was more impressed by the National Library of Dublin (rows and rows of old books. WIN!) then I was with the Book of Kells. I mean, it's pretty, it's just not my nirvana.

3. I found two group mates to eat sushi with me :) And it was delicious :)

4. We went on a Literary Pub Crawl and I tried Bulmer's Hard Cider and Guiness! And believe it or not, I liked the Guiness. It didn't have the intense Hops flavor that always turns me off from beer. In addition, I came in second place for the Literary Pub Crawl quiz and although I would have rather had the t-shirt, I did get a bottle of Irish whiskey. To its credit, I'd say it's pretty freaking neat sovenir.

Until tomorrow!

(And if any of my RP friends would be so kind as to send me a summary of what's been going down since the weekend, I'd love to get an email)

I made it to the great country of Ireland today so I wanted to give you all a short update.

I'm really not sure if I'm gonna be able to stick with my check LJ once a day thing as we only have computer access in the labs and socializing is a high priority :) Plus, I'd rather make these updates for ya because it's fun to recap my time here :)

So if there's something you really want me to see, please let me know. I mean, I'm gonna do my best of course but I know how you all go crazy with the postings sometimes :) *huggles*

That being said, my flights were successful (although the 8 hour one was pretty damn boring) and as I got off the plane, I randomly struck up a conversation with a cute Irish boy named Michael who ended up being my superhero and got me through immigration, baggage claim. Helped me find my meeting spot and when no one was there, willing walked around the airport with me for about two hours.

Unfornunately, my trip to the ATM machine proved to be an epic failure when my card got rejected (likely because I made the epic fail of not calling my bank.) But Mr. Superhero stepped in and paid for my call back to my parents and gave me 20 euro to get me through the night. Happily, my ATM card is now working thanks to the awesome power of my parents back in the states who pulled their strings for me.

This counselor insitute looks like its gonna be pretty damn awesome. Lots of stuff packed into these ten days but I'm sure it'll be totally worth it :)

However,...even in Ireland, I found I'm more excited about a Game Stop than I am about a department store. I was in a Penney's for nearly three hours today with two of my group mates and it drove me out of my mind. Luckily the guys of the workshop will rescue me with geeky discussions of Harry Potter philosophy and Lord of the Rings chatter.