Thursday:

-Arrived mid-morning, checked into hostel

-First ride on the Underground (which was quite exciting—the whole subway system is brilliant)

-A quick visit to the Sherlock Holmes museum: This turned out to be a bit of a disappointment. While it’s on Baker Street and tries to maintain a sense of the world’s favorite fictional detective, it’s really just a giant tourist trap. We wandered the gift shop for a few minutes, then skipped on the tour because it was so overdone.

-Madam Tussaud’s Wax Museum: We spent much more time here than I anticipated. The displays go on forever, but they were really well done. I think Amy’s favorite parts were the celebrities and the movie stars, but there was a room of English royals and famous English writers that I loved. Since it was Halloween time, there was also a really good haunted house. The attached gallery featured a brief history of capital punishment (and displayed the actual guillotine blade which cut off Marie Antoinette’s head—ugh). At the end of the trip through all the galleries, we got into little black taxi replicas on a track and went through a ride that featured London’s history over the last seven centuries or so.

Friday:

-Tower of London: A castle that dates back to William the Conqueror in 1100. This was fantastic, and we could easily have spent an entire day or two here. We got to see the crown jewels, King Edward I’s living quarters, tons of old armor, famous prisoners’ graffiti in the Bloody Tower, etc.

-Tower Bridge: We didn’t go over, but we walked nearby and snapped a few photographs.

-Buckingham Palace: Unfortunately, the palace was closed to the public, but we walked around most of the perimeter and took pictures. It’s not the biggest building, but it is impressive, with wrought iron and gold and expansive gardens all around. In front of the palace is a large statue garden with really stunning fountains.

-Westminster Abbey/Big Ben: We just walked by and took some pictures because we were planning to spend more time here the next day. The architecture is so detailed!

-London Eye: Another tourist trap, but worth the money and the wait. This giant Ferris wheel takes about 30 minutes to complete one cycle, and from the top you can literally see all of London. We timed it perfectly and watched the sun set from above the Thames River.

Saturday:

-Piccadilly Circus: Well, we’re poor college students, so we didn’t take time to walk around and shop here. We wanted to see the area, though, so we hopped a bus (as the Underground line we needed was under construction and closed for the day) to the square and took a couple pictures.

-Westminster Abbey/Big Ben again

-Trafalgar Square: Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t fantastic when we went here, but I can imagine that it is really gorgeous in the sunshine. The square is located in the heart of the city, just a minute’s walk from the House of Parliament. There are fountains, statues, and a really pervasive sense of age and grandeur.

-London Bridge: I wouldn’t want to be on it if it fell down. I always thought it was a small bridge, but it’s not! We didn’t go on it, but we did walk along the river nearby.

-The Clink: We didn’t go in, as it looked like a touristy area to rival the Sherlock Holmes museum, but since it’s a famous jail, it was worth checking out the building and area.

-Shakespeare’s Globe: Not the original Globe, naturally. Several decades ago, a Shakespeare enthusiast from America discovered a plaque commemorating the spot where the original Globe had been located; he then spent his life working to build a replica of the stage. It was one of the highlights of the entire trip for me just to walk inside and see for myself what Shakespeare’s stage looked like. Our tour guide was hilarious and a real Shakespeare buff, so nearly every comment she made included a reference to one of the plays or a witty quotation.

-“Wicked” in the West End: On a whim during a walk through the city the day before, Amy and I stopped by the West End theater showing this musical to see how much tickets would be. We ended up getting them, so we headed over after dinner to see the show. The show was fantastic—I would recommend it to anyone who has the opportunity to go to a performance. Plus, how many people take the time to see a play in the West End while on vacation to London?

Sunday:

-Marble Arch: A little anti-climactic, but still very pretty. The arch used to be the entrance to Buckingham palace, but it was moved to allow space for an addition to the palace.

-Harrods: This is a famous shopping center. Amy and I were both expecting something like a Macy’s or some other department store—we were so wrong. It’s a gigantic building stuffed to the brim with high-end designers’ work: Armani, Prada, Louis Vuitton, etc. We walked through a few floors, feeling very out-of-place, then discovered the Harrods souvenir shop and stationery area. I bought Christmas cards and Amy got a coin purse, I think. Everyone has started putting up giant Christmas displays already, which is a bit disconcerting, but it’s kind of fun to get in the mood early.

-St. Paul’s Cathedral: Since it was Sunday, there were no tours or anything, but we did get to walk around in the main reception area and through the grounds. If we had planned better, we could have gone to a service, but there just wasn’t time. The cathedral is enormous, beautiful, and so peaceful. Just after we left, we turned down an empty side street and met—of all people—Lindsey Perry, a girl with whom we grew up in Montrose. It’s a small world.

-A drink in a pub: with a friend of Amy’s, Austin. He recently moved to London as a computer consultant and was quite happy to swap stories of life as an American abroad.

-Dinner at the Hootenanny Hostel (where we were staying) and mambo lessons!

Monday:

A daytrip to Stratford-upon-Avon, where Shakespeare was born, courted his wife, etc.

-Shakespeare’s birthplace: the guides dressed in period costumes, which was great. A sweet little spot right in the middle of the main street.

-A traditional English meal of bangers and mash (sausages and mashed potatoes with dark gravy)

-Anne Hathaway’s cottage: Anne Hathaway was Shakespeare’s wife and the mother of their three children. This was a lovely (big!) cottage with a thatched roof, gardens and orchards all around, and a lingering sense of still being a home.

-Tea and a scone with clotted cream and jam: Why don’t Americans have tea like this? It’s wonderful. I fully intent to buy a tea service when I get back and make it a daily practice.

Then back to the airport, where we stayed overnight to catch our very early flight to Dublin. It’s amazing that we fit all this in!

Amy and I travelled to Belfast a couple of weeks ago to visit Northern Ireland and to see the northern coast of the island. We stayed one night in a hostel in central Belfast then took a tour by coach up the coast which featured a stop at the natural formation known as Giants’ Causeway.

While there, we had the opportunity to chat with a few locals, and what stood out the most was not the difference between citizens of the Republic of Ireland and British-ruled Northern Ireland, but the similarities. The main element of belonging to this island is a sense of Irish-ness. Irish nationalism of earlier generations has instilled in natives a sense of pride, but this remains tempered by a troubled past of oppression and sometimes brutal foreign rule. Thus, with this identity comes the Irish identity crisis. Though the Irish have strong personalities and are quite proud of it, they are also still struggling with the aftermath of being the bouncy ball of government and religion; while the bouncing has stopped, the shock is still being absorbed. When we in America hear reports of religious conflict in Ireland, this is not conflict resulting from actual religious beliefs, but resentment of governmental imposition of a common religion. Language also contributes in many significant ways to this issue. British oppression of the Irish language left a lingering sense of shame to speak Irish. The Irish government has worked long and hard to maintain this tongue, and it has been remarkably successful. Irish is present on signs, posters, in shops, in novels and poems, on television, in all the schools. English, though, remains the dominant language for conducting everyday business.

Even as the Irish share this struggle to accept the good of their heritage as well as the bad, their tendency as a people to internalize true conflict and understand each other through silent empathy renders foreigners incapable of truly grasping what it is to be Irish. I suggest that our inability to communicate via innate understanding of national identity as the Irish do necessarily leads to the creation of a sort of muted anthropological Other—an Other with whom we might converse openly, share drinks, and understand in terms of societal structure and superficial culture, but one which eludes our tendency toward global empathy.

First, a bit of housekeeping: I created a Photobucket account so that I can put up all my pictures for you to access if you’re interested. The URL is: http://s434.photobucket.com/albums/qq64/kellyanninireland/

The past week has been focused mainly on getting settled with course schedules, etc. On Saturday, though, the Erasmus students all went on a field trip to the Boyne Valley. Early in the morning, we boarded a charter bus and headed about 20 miles north-west of Dublin to an area of Ireland which is treasured for its history. The field trip was a sort of extended, interactive lecture by one of the geography professors. While on the bus, he lectured about the history and value of the places we visited, and when we were walking around, he would stroll with us, commenting on various art, architecture, landscape, and the like. His focus was centered on “reading” the landscape–that is, using physical features and history in conjunction to gain an understanding of the various peoples which inhabited the space. Instead of writing this as one long entry, I’ll break it up into our stops.

1. Monasterboice

This is an old abbey with evidence of the Celtic and Christian traditions beginning to reconcile. Several large stone crosses stand in the churchyard. On the front and back of the crosses are depictions of the Old and New Testaments. On the sides, however, are intricate Celtic designs. At one end of the site stands an old bell tower; in the center of the yard is a later-constructed chapel.

2. Newgrange

This is a megalithic passage tomb dating to about 3300 B.C. (before the Egyptians!). Essentially, it’s a huge, round mound, set inside a ring of boulders that are carved with all kinds of early artwork. Inside was a burial area for the cremated dead. At some point in the past, the dirt mound collapsed around the outsides of the stones, so they were undisturbed for thousands of years. Because of this, the artwork has been really well preserved–on some of the stones, you can still see the individual chisel marks. The main mound is surrounded by 17 satellites, all of which bear the same basic structure and have remained remarkably sound over the centuries. The most interesting part of Newgrange, though, is the evidence of four distinct and separate populations: those of Stone Age, the Bronze Age, early Christians, and Normans.

3. Battle of the Boyne site

This is a really unique experience, for this battlefield has been closed to the public since the actual battle took place in 1690. William of Orange fought the deposed King James II of England for the British throne, beating him soundly and eliminating any chance of Ireland being able to legally practice Catholicism in the near future. This has been a source of shame (and of fighting, particularly between the north and the south in Ireland) for centuries. The battlefield was just opened this year, and its ambiance is something similar to Gettysburg.

4. Trim Castle

This castle is probably best known in America as the location for much of Braveheart. It was not my favorite location because it’s a very popular tourist attracting and thus fairly altered from its original state. Stairs have been widened, white plastic ceilings have been added, etc. It was interesting mainly because its purpose was solely militaristic: it was really built as a fortress, not as a home. Much of the original outer wall still stands; the castle itself is a mass of stone and mortar. I was rather fond of the tour guide, a surly old fellow, but my favorite part of this site was the view of Jonathan Swift (Gulliver’s Travels)’s grammar school.

We also visited another old monastery, but I don’t remember the name. Whoops. It was really picturesque, out of the way, and rather untouched by the business of modern life. We had to trek through a field with grazing cattle to get to the site, then scamper over walls and up stairs and such to see the place. It was lovely, with crows flying all around the top. Anyway…

I’ll get more pictures up as soon as I can. The internet here is slow and a bit unreliable, so it might take a little while. Hope all is well.

Swift

Christ Church Cathedral

A busy week, really. All the international students have been wading through the muddle of class registration, and (hopefully) my first classes are tomorrow. In the meantime, I’ve been busy touring the cities of Dublin and Cork.

O'Connell Street

Last weekend, I went with a group of St Pat’s Erasmus (the international program) students to explore some of the more touristy sights of Dublin. After walking through the main shopping areas downtown (O’Connell Street is the main one, with a famous spire), we

functions as a government building. Perhaps the best part of this tour was actually walking into the area where the moat once flowed.

This weekend, a friend from Montrose (who is studying at a different college in Dublin), Amy, and I took a bus to the city of Cork. This is the second largest city in Ireland, but it has about a million fewer people than Dublin. We arrived around noon on Saturday with no real plan in place for the rest of the day, so we checked into our hostel and spent the rest of the day walking around town and stopping at places recommended by a friendly local who took pity on us at the bus station. We bought tarts at the English Market, an indoor market with everything from butchers to yarn suppliers to joke shops. After that, we walked around the University College Cork campus, which is reputed to be the loveliest in the country (and it’s a fair claim). That night, Amy and I met up with a friend of one of her friends for a few pints at a local pub. She had quite a bit to say about the American economy, which has been impacting Ireland and the rest of Europe more than we realize in the States. As one professor told the Erasmus students during Orientation, “When America’s economy gets a cold, the rest of the world gets pneumonia.” Anyway, we parted ways when she had to leave for work, and since we were getting up early the next morning to go sight-seeing, Amy and I just went back to the hostel and tried to get some sleep.

Blarney Castle

The next morning, we headed back to the bus station to catch a 15-minute ride to the little village of Blarney, home of the Blarney Castle. Blarney, is quaint, picturesque, and serene. Of course, we were there early on a Sunday morning, so few people were out and about. Blarney Castle is a short walk (5 minutes) from the main street, down a quiet lane and around a corner. Amy and I were the first ones through admissions. There’s a little path from town that meanders through the castle grounds and winds around the castle itself, which stands on a rocky outcrop. There are no tours of the castle, but the signs guide you through the different rooms on your way up to the stone, which is part of the battlements. The castle is in rather good shape, though there is some natural wear (it is, after all, 600 years old). The staircases are incredibly narrow and steep, and both Amy and I had to remove our backpacks and carry them sideways in places just to make it up. The view from the top is absolutely worth it. Amy and I both kissed the stone, which was a bit anticlimactic but fun at least for the bragging rights, then we made our way back down the castle and into the grounds. The forest around the castle is said to be enchanted, particularly by a witch who is trapped in a stone by day but roams the woods by night. There are druid circles and a fairy glade, as well. When you wander through, you really do get the feeling that there is something spiritual or magical about the place.

Castle House

Kissing the Blarney Stone

It’s cold in the canteen where I’m writing this, and I need to get groceries from the Tesco across the street before it gets much later, so I’ll wrap it up for now. I hope everyone is well. Talk to you soon!

Kelly

Thursday, 25 September 2008

As I write this, I have been in Dublin for about 40 hours. Though cliché, this city really is charming. It’s also dirty, crowded, curious, lively, and eclectic. Whatever expectations I brought with me about Dublin have been quickly supplanted.

The flight was long and uncomfortable. After my layover in Chicago, I flew straight to Dublin, and I was lucky enough to sit next to an Irish man who has been living in the United States and Canada for the last decade or so. (He was taking his four-year-old daughter, Jordan, home for her first Ireland visit.) He seemed nearly as excited about my study abroad trip as I was, so we talked for most of the flight about his experiences growing up in Ireland, different places I should visit, drinks I should try, etc.

We went through Customs together, during which time Jordan and I established our “girl power” and she informed me that since neither of us had been to Ireland before, “we gotta stick together ‘cause we’re girls here for the first time.” The trip through the line took about 45 minutes because four flights arrived at the same time and only three lanes were open to non-EU passport holders. After that, I found the cab driver, who was waiting with one of the other UNC girls (Anna) and we were off to St. Patrick’s.

St. Pat’s is located on Drumcondra Street, a suburban area of Dublin. It’s encircled by large trees and a grey stone wall. The campus is well-kept, but it is built around an old monastery and it maintains that sense of tranquility. Anna and I were met by the study abroad coordinator, who showed us to our rooms in the Moville dormitory. These are simple: a large window, a small built-in closet, sink and mirror, bookshelf, desk and chair, and a cot (a wooden platform with a three-inch foam section on it). There are shared bathroom facilities for each floor of seven or eight rooms. A few differences that I noticed right away included the room numbering (it starts at the top floor with one and the lower floors have the highest numbers), the light switches (metal fixtures which flip up to turn off), and the toilets (the bowl is separated from the flushing mechanism, which is located overhead and uses a tug rather than a handle).

Once Anna and I got our bags into our rooms, we had a quick tea with the coordinator and two Lithuanian girls, napped for a couple hours, then headed to downtown Dublin to get our bearings and pick up a few essentials. We had general directions from the cabbie (“Walk down this road for a mile or so, then turn left where a lot of the traffic turns”) so we decided to wing it and see what we could see. After about two miles of walking on the main road, we figured we had definitely missed the turn to go downtown. We were in a sketchy area, and it seemed to be getting less populated as we continued. After a random left turn led us to a deserted Smithfield market, we found a bus station map and were able to slowly make our way back toward Mary Street. It was shocking how just two or three blocks made such a difference in our environment. We had left behind the trashed streets, graffiti, closed shops, and staring passers-by for a vibrant, bright, active shopping area. I suppose the closest thing I’ve experienced to Mary Street would be 16^th Street in downtown Denver, but Mary Street is definitely more eclectic in its shops and the population it draws. There are a number of department stores (we visited Penneys, which is a sort of mix between Target and Macys), charity shops, phone stores, cafes, restaurants, pubs, gift shops, clothing boutiques, hardware stores, fresh food markets with fruit in bins out on the sidewalk, virtually everything. The American presence is limited, though established: there is a McDonald’s on one end and a Burger King on the other; in the main shopping area we found a Mac store, The Body Shop, Gap, and a few others. Anna and I made a few quick purchases and then decided to work our way back to the school before it got dark.

Once we got back, we met up with the two other UNC students, Courtney and Kristie, and the four of us eventually walked back toward downtown to grab a bite to eat. We were a bit surprised to find that most of the restaurants were closed by eight, but we ended up at the famous Temple Bar, which is known for its beer and ambiance but has fantastic French fries with nearly every dish. By the end of dinner we were literally wilting onto the table, so we hustled back (as much as we could without getting run over by insane drivers or impatient ambulances) and went straight to bed.

I don’t plan to write a detailed account of every day, but this one was crucial in setting the tone of the experience. Thanks for bearing with me!

-Kelly