Farewell with a Bang

Today was a very fun and busy day. It's a Monday, and there is a little less than two weeks until my semester is done and I'm boarding the plane back to America--hard to believe how quickly these three months have flown by! Things are slowly winding down here on campus, and I'm starting to have to prepare for my departure.

Tonight, Arcadia organized a farewell party, where me and the rest of the Arcadia program students got together one last time. The party started at 7pm in Dublin, but I decided to head into Dublin several hours early. After going to my class at 11pm, I hung around for a bit and then left for Dublin aboard the 1:30pm train, arriving at Connolly Station at about 2:20pm. From there, I had a bite for lunch and then headed toward the movie theater, stopping to admire some of the shops along the way. I noticed that Dublin had fully decked itself out for Christmas--there were lights and decorations all along the main shopping streets, and many of the stores themselves had things like painted snowflakes on their windows and whatnot. Heck, some areas even had music playing.

A huge Christmas Tree right next to the Spire. You can tell Dublin really gets into the spirit of Christmas.

So I arrived at the movie theater and watched a matinee showing of Rise of the Guardians--which I only saw because it looked fun and I had a friend who promised me it was worth going to, even though it was geared toward children. And it WAS fun. The animation was spectacular (magical, even. I wish I'd watched it in 3D) and the story and idea behind it was neat. Anyways, so that was an enjoyable way to pass the time. By the time I'd gotten out it was dark outside, but that wasn't a surprise since it feels like these days the sun is setting by the time I wake up in the morning.

I started to make my way towards the Arlington Hotel, where the Arcadia party was being held. Along the way I attempted to go to a comic book store that I'd finally located in the city, but it closed about 10 minutes before I got there! (grr...). Alas, I had to continue along my way. I found the Arlington Hotel, although it took me awhile to locate it in the dark. I found it ironic that it was named the Arlington Hotel--like I was back home.

The Arcadia party eventually got into full swing, and it was fantastic. The Hotel actually served us a good three-course meal. My main dish was Bangers & Mash (or herb pork sausage and mashed potatoes with gravey, super yum!) and for dessert I had cheesecake. It was great. While we ate, we had live music perform. It was fun listening to these three guys do some classical Irish tunes, as well as some more modern popular songs. After the live music and our plates had been cleared, a troupe came up on stage and did some Irish Dancing. I think that that, by far, was the coolest. The dancing just looked like so much fun (not to mention exhausting to do! I think my feet would fall off if I tried that!).

After it was all done, Arcadia hired us a taxi to take us back to Maynooth. I said my last farewells to the Arcadia staff, since I wouldn't be seeing them again before I left. I was kinda sad to say goodbye to them--Arcadia has done a fantastic job of being with us during this semester-long trip, not to mention providing the field trips to places like Belfast and the Giant's Causeway.

I got back at like 11pm, and now I'm exhausted. I'm going to collapse, and in the morning I have to start working on my final essays!

Irish Word of the Day: dance -- damhsa.
There was some fun dancing and music tonight. -- Bhí roinnt damhsa spraoi agus anocht ceoil.

A Sojurn into Dublin

So today was the start of a weekend in which I have nothing planned and everyone whom I would normally talk to is gone. So, with me here all by myself, I decided it was time for me to plan out my own adventures. I started by planning out a trip into Dublin today--the SOUTH side of Dublin. Dublin is divided by the Livvy River, and there's a train station on either side. Normally I get off at Connolly Station, on the north side of the river. From Connolly Station it's an easy walk to the Spire, which is at the heart of a major shopping district that has pretty much any kind of shop you can think of (except a comic book shop! Grr...I haven't found one yet!). Anyways, instead of going into Connolly today I got off at Pearse Station, on the southern side of the river.

I started out my journey, however, with a rather neat surprise in Maynooth. I set off on my trek to the train station at about 10:20am--I was running late, of course, and so of course I miss the train by about 5 minutes (grr!). I had 45 minutes to kill until the next train, so I wandered around. I went by the river and noticed that there was a large flock of birds hanging around. I soon discovered that a mother and her child were throwing bread into the river, which was what was attracting all the birds...and ducks, and swans! It was a huge congregation of birds! I got my camera out and took some nice photos of the beautiful (but feisty  swans and the very cute ducks! They didn't seem people-shy at all.

One of the swans that came up for the feast. They're so beautiful, but be careful, they bite!

So many ducks! They were so CUTE! I just wanted to hug this one, which came right up to me like he was totally cool with it.

After I had my fun with the ducks I got on the train and arrived at Pearse Station at approximately 12:30pm. From there, I immediately headed right across the street to Trinity College, a very famous college in Dublin that also happens to be the oldest college in Ireland. It was founded in the 14th century. Talk about history! Trinity College has several libraries and even its own museum. I walked around the college for a bit, totally blending in with the other college students that were heading to and from their classes. Then I went toward my primary destination--the Old Library, which housed the Book of Kells. This book is one of the oldest and most-well preserved books from the Middle Ages in Ireland. It contains the Four Gospels. I went on a tour of the Old Library and the Book of Kells was one of the first things I saw, in its special high-preservation room. It was so cool being able to read an actual page of the book. The book was written in Latin, and it was a bit hard to read because it was (a) faded and (b) written in a very elegant script. BUT I could pick out a few snippets here and there. I could actually translate some of the Latin!

After the Book of Kells the tour took me into the Long Room, which is, well...a very long corridor-like room FULL of really, really old books. It was a library, like something straight out of a Gothic novel (remember Disney's Beauty and the Beast and the library that the Beast showed Belle? Yeah, it was totally exactly like that). Most of the books were, unfortunately, roped off, but they did have several display cases full of old book for you to read. It was cool because I could actually read the page of a book written in, like, 1875 or something. But oh, what I would have given to spend a whole day in that library, picking out some of the books off the shelves! It was such a shame that we weren't allowed to take photos of any of it.

Once I was finished at Trinity College I grabbed lunch, and then headed off to the Natural History Museum of Ireland, which was just around the corner from the college.

The entrance to the Natural History Museum of Ireland, set with a nice rotunda.

The museum was pretty neat. I walked around and saw lots of old tools and stuff, but they also had a huge "treasury" room FULL of gold. Gold torcs, gold crosses, gold brooches...you name it. It was a very glittery room. The museum was laid out chronologically, so you started at like 5000 B.C. and then gradually progressed, through the Vikings and then Medieval Ireland and so on. Oh, and then they did have one side room dedicated to Irish Bogs--apparently, the bogs of Ireland are pretty famous. They're unique and rare, and are full of archaeological finds. Perhaps the coolest (and most disgusting!) thing was that they've found thousand-plus-year-old bodies in the bog. The nature of the bog acted to carefully preserve the bodies with their skin and hair intact (although most of their bones and organs had eroded away). They actually had a few of the bodies on display. It was so freaky! I remember thinking that one guy's upper torso kinda looked like a shirt you could wear, only it had hands attached to it (*gulp*). But it was kinda neat because you could actually see the guy's hair and face and whatnot.

After the Museum it was, unfortunately, starting to get late. I could not stay in Dublin for as long as I wanted, because it gets dark so early! Before I left, however, I did drop by the National Library of Ireland, because it was literally right next to the Museum. I wasn't able to explore the whole library, but I did see a nice exhibit that talked about famous Irish poets, with a feature on William Butler Yeats. I love Yeats! He is by far one of my favorite poets.

I managed to make it to the train station and hop on a train around 4pm. By the time I got off the train just before 5pm, it was completely dark outside. I felt like I had a lot of fun getting to know more of the history of Ireland today, and exploring the south side of the river. Some other time this weekend, however, I plan to head into Dublin again and have fun on the north side!

Irish Word of the Day: book -- leabhar
I saw lots of very old books. -- Chonaic mé go leor de na leabhair an-sean.

Onward to Tara and Newgrange!

Today I had another fantastic day on my second field trip of the weekend. This time, I went with my Irish Studies class. The destinations were the Hill of Tara, Mellifont Abbey and Newgrange. The field trip was actually required if you were in the Intro to Ancient Celts class (which I was), but it didn't matter to me because I would have happily gone along anyway. Considering how fickle the weather is in Ireland, we were very fortunate that the weather was gorgeous, partly cloudy and sunny (although it was very cold, in the lower 40s).

The gorgeous gently sloping hills of Tara are untouched by civilization and rife with history.

We started off promptly at 9am, arriving at the Hill of Tara just before 10am. Tara is a series of rolling hills that are very sacred to Ireland from a historical, archaeological, mythological and spiritual standpoint. In ancient Ireland, the King of Tara was said to be the most powerful king in the land. Tara was also where most of the important religious ceremonies were performed, including animal sacrifice and burial rites. Tara was also featured most prominently mythological stories, and was said to be a place of great power where the ancient Celts could commune with their gods. Geographically, part of the reason Tara is so gorgeous is because of the view. It is only a few hundred feet above sea level, but it's position allows you to stand on the tallest hill and see (on a clear day) far across the land of Ireland in any direction.

Just look at that view!

After Tara we went to two brief stops at the old and new (well, new relatively speaking...) Mellifont Abbey. The older abbey had been converted primarily into a graveyard. However, surrounded by all the dead people are two very ornate Celtic Crosses. These crosses, carved out of stone, have symbols and scenes from the Bible etched all over them. It was very spectacular to stand in front of the 1,000+ year old cross and still see the faded etchings of the scenes that the ancient artists wanted to depict.




After viewing the crosses we then hopped back on the bus for just about 10 minutes before stopping again to move to the much-more sophisticated Mellifont Abbey, which is a well-preserved ruin. You could actually see the whole floor plan of the abbey from the low cliff that we stood upon. I would also like to note that it was just a little bit warmer in this location, which was nice.

Finally, we got back on the bus and headed toward the place I had been truly looking forward to the most--Newgrange. It is properly called Bru na Boine (that's brew-nah-boyne) in Irish. Let me tell you a little something about Newgrange: it is the location of the oldest historical ruins in Europe. The area around Newgrange has many different interesting points of note, but the most noticeable thing (the thing you can see for miles as you approach) is the burial mound. A huge, circular mound embedded into the earth. The mound alone covers a whole acre and was built with over 100 million tons of material (according to the tour guide). The mound is also over 5,000 years old. It's older than the Egyptian pyramids. It is older than Stonehenge by at least a millennium. The mound was used for more than just burial--apparently it was a popular place for elders to meet and commune, perform religious services, and possibly even track the movement of the sun and moon.

Our approach to the Newgrange burial mound -- a large mound that you can see for miles coming up.

The entrance to Newgrange was designed with a unique and special "sun roof" -- a window above the front door. The window is carefully placed so that, during the winter solstice (Dec. 18 - 24), when the sun rises the light will pierce through the sun window all the way deep into the center of the mound, lighting it up for approximately 20 minutes each morning. Our tour guide took us inside the mound itself (unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take photos inside). The front door led us into a very narrow passage with giant slab rocks on either side of us. The passage gently rises up approximately 2 meters as you walk (so the floor becomes level with the sun roof). The inside of the chamber is shaped like a cross and once contained the remains of some very wealthy and influential Celts from a long, long time ago. Once the rest of the group and I were safely enclosed at the center of the mound, the tour guide turned off the electric lighting. We were plunged into absolute, complete darkness (it was a bit unnerving, to have your eyes wide open but not be able to see your own hand). Then, the tour guide turned on a special light that mimicked the effect of the sun entering the chamber during the winter solstice. It was a beautiful light. It may have been artificial but...it was a magical moment.

The entrance to Newgrange, guarded by giant kerb stones etched with Neolithic art.

After we left the burial chamber that was it, tour over. We boarded back onto the bus and headed back home. It was a very cold day, but the weather was absolutely gorgeous. Saying that Ireland is beautiful just doesn't do it justice. I don't think I can even put into words just how simply gorgeous these historic places in Ireland are...the rich green hills, the quaint cottages and landscape dotted with centuries-old ruins...I keep taking all these pictures in hopes to capture some of the beauty, but sometimes I feel like a picture just pales in comparison.

Irish Word of the Day: winter -- gheimhridh
Winter is coming. -- Geimhridh ag teacht.

The Giant's Causeway - Belfast Trip

ALL RIGHT. So I just got back from the whirlwind adventure that was my weekend trip to Belfast. Friday and Sunday were mostly about getting there--we boarded up on a big coach bus from Maynooth, picked up fellow Arcadia students from other universities around Dublin (Trinity College and University College of Dublin) and then went on the two-hour drive up to Belfast, enjoying the pretty Irish countryside all the while. Sunday was pretty much that, but in reverse. SATURDAY, however, was SO BUSY that I seriously don't think I can easily fit it all into one post. SO I think I'm going to divide it into the morning and the evening. This post is going to be about my morning events--namely, The Giant's Causeway

Saturday Morning - The Giant's Causeway

After eating a lackluster breakfast at the hotel, me and the other 80 or so Arcadia students boarded the buses and went on an hour-and-a-half long drive to The Giant's Causeway, which is right at the coast of Northern Ireland (facing the North Atlantic Sea). First of all, the countryside is gorgeous up there--lots of green, rolling hills...steep cliffs...the sound of surf in the background. Very nice.

The shores of Ireland's Northern Coast, at the Giant's Causeway

A tour guide took us through the Giant's Causeway, which is an amazing natural formation that many say rivals Arizona's Grand Canyon. The major fascination is the wonderful rock formations. The main part of the Causeway is broken up into hundreds and hundreds of tiny column-like hexagonal pillars that are all stacked together like sticks. Looking at it, it's hard to believe that it's a natural formation. There are a lot of myths and legends surrounding the Causeway--most involving the giant, Finn McCool, who gave the Causeway it's name. The legends say that the Causeway was once Finn's home, and you can see traces of his presence everywhere--Finn's giant boot lies discarded on the beach, his pet camel slumbers beneath the cliffs, and you can see the rise of his chimney in the distance (if there' smoke coming out of it, that means the giant is in!).

Finn's Camel sleeps at the bottom of the cliff after a hard day's work.

Finn's boot lies discarded on the shore.

After the tour was over the guide set us loose among the many pillars of the Causeway, which were both perfect and dangerous stepping stones! Lots of people tried to climb them to see how close to the shore they could get (which wasn't a great thing to try, since the waves were ferocious pounding against the rocks).

The pillar formations of the Giant's Causeway

When we had explored the Giant's Causeway thoroughly enough, we hopped back on the bus and headed out--but we didn't go far! After just about a 10 minute drive we stopped again, at Dunluce Castle.

Later Saturday Morning - Dunluce Castle

Dunluce Castle is an ancient medieval castle that was built in the 13th century and remained in use until about the 16th century. The ruins are now all that remain. o.o Still, the ruins are surprisingly well-intact and you can make out much of the layout of the castle. Dunluce is still a part of the Giant's Causeway area and was the center of what was once a thriving village. Now, it must suffer the indignity of being overrun by Arcadia students.

Bridge to the Dunluce Castle's Inner Ward

Inside Dunluce Castle

Dunluce Castle was a beautiful historic sight. Unfortunately, we only got to stay for about 20 minutes. The ruins were established enough, though, that I could see how the layout of the castle once was and I could just picture the ancient kings and lords and all their servants and peasants living and working in it. And it's location on the northern cliffs was prime real estate. Today it would cost thousands for that sort of view!

After Dunluce Castle we loaded back onto the bus and headed back into Belfast, where the second part of my day took place...

First Irish Word of the Day: Beautiful - álainn
I saw some beautiful sights. - Chonaic mé roinnt sights álainn.