Seventh Day - Eighth Day - Ninth Day - Tenth Day

THE BOG BODIES! Check out the hair!

The Townies in front of the Dail

Dublin Castle, the center of English domination over the Irish

The House of Mercy, established by Catherine McAuley. The beginnings of Mercyhurst University! Notice how the door is open!

Dublin night life

Oscar Wilde :)

Irish famine statue

the second bar in the hostels pub crawl, there were some scots wearing kilts but it might be hard to see!

 

As the first week of classes at Mercyhurst University in Dungarvan came to a close, the 32 of us, plus professors and families traveled to Dublin, Ireland's capital city, for one tiring, fun, crazy weekend.

I've decided to combine my weekend in Dublin and the Monday back in Dungarvan all at once, so bear with me!

Where do I begin? Unfortunately, because I didn't have my laptop, I couldn't update my blog each day, so we'll try and see how much I can remember off of the top of my head. We left early Friday morning, arriving at Jacob's Inn which was a hostel right near Talbot Street on the northern side of the River Liffey that runs through Dublin. I have to admit, I was so uncomfortable with the idea of a hostel, but if you put that thought to the back of your mind it becomes a lot easier. The sheets looked/smelled/felt clean, and I'm not suffering from any skin disease or sickness so I will take that as a positive sign. We had a cold, cold, cold weekend, and despite all my layers I was still freezing, although the hours and hours of walking helped to marginally warm me up. It was so cold here, that in fact it was snowing a few small flakes on Sunday and today in Dungarvan there have been some flakes (but there's also sunshine, finally!) Back to the hostel: Sarah and I lucked out and got a room to ourselves with our own bathroom which also appeared to be relatively clean, whereas some of the other girls were stuck in rooms of 10. We were on the third floor, though, which meant we had to walk up quite a few stairs...this would become a pain after walking around the entire city (and on my part, for two nights in a row, doing it in heels...beauty is pain, everyone). There were lots and lots of other people staying in the hostel. I saw a few people who appeared to be older but for the most part everyone was around my age. Other international kids looking for a cheap way to get by. Everyday the hostel provided some breakfast which included corn flakes, coffee/tea/juice, bread and a toaster, but it was packed full of people from all over the world, literally, all speaking different languages. Side note: the Oxford boys' rugby team was staying there...and they were a sight to see!

All we had time for at the hostel was to drop our bags off because after that, we were whisked away by Dr. Billy O'Brien, a history PhD and just about the fastest walker I've ever met, to the Dáil Éireann, or the Irish parliament located in the former palace of the Dukes of Leinster. When we got there, we had about two hours until the first tour started (because there were too many of us, we were split into two groups) so the townies (Sarah, Nikki, Lauren, Danielle, and I) along with Rachel, Lindsey, Suzanne, Mackenzie, and Maire our neighbors went to Grafton Street which is located just across from the Dail (pronounced like Doyle) basically to look for food! We found a four-story Bewley's, the same restaurant we ate at the first day we were in Ireland, and had a nice lunch. We ate on the James Joyce balcony, which probably has little to no significance, but the food was good.

When we were done with lunch, we headed back to the Dail, but we still had time to check things out. The interesting thing about the Irish parliament is that the building is surrounded by some of the more interesting places to visit in the city like the National Library which has a nice Yeats exhibit that I got to see. There's also a sizable art gallery, but most importantly, there's the national museum. As a former archaeology student, I studied the Bog Bodies in my Intro to Arch class. My first day in Dublin, we went to the National Museum of Archaeology and History, and guess what I saw. THE BOG BODIES! (Yes I was actually this excited.) Just a little background info: bodies and other organic material including cloth decays, and it decays rapidly. But when bodies end up in peat bogs, the lack of oxygen combined with the right kind of minerals preserves the bodies really well. Several of these bodies still had organs intact, hair that was even kept in the same style that was worn (the age of the bodies was between 400 B.C.E. to 300 or so C.E.), teeth, skin, fingernails, and even jewelery was preserved! Unfortunately for these folks, they all faced brutal ends including dismemberment, (one of the bodies was just a torso, poor guy had his head chopped off, but you could see his spine was completely intact which was nice) decapitation, strangulation, multiple stab wounds from axes and impaled with spears! The bog did its job so well that the scientists determined that one man, whose diet typically consisted heavily of meat actually had some grains and milk as his last meal! Sarah, Maire and I wandered around the rest of the museum and there were plenty of awesome things to see, but the bodies were by far my favorite.

At last we got into the Dail. If anyone is interested in learning about the Irish system of government, which is a parliamentary system, check out this website: 

http://www.oireachtas.ie/parliament/about/dail/

Something that's interesting is that in my comparative government class I've been reading about our government compared to those of other democratic nations. There has been an overwhelming trend of democratization, moving more and more toward some elements of direct democracy such as referendums, one person with one vote, electoral systems decided by popular vote, and more recently, eliminating unequal representation in government. For the Irish, this is the Senate, which there has been discussion to abolish. Similarly, the UK has been wrestling with getting rid of the House of Lords. Both houses are essentially pointless anyway, since the majority of the power resides in houses where members are directly elected by the people. The Irish Senate is made up of about 60 members, 6 of which are actually picked by graduates of Trinity College and the National University of Ireland, can you believe that?! None of the Senators are elected by the people, but the Senate is practically pointless, so I wonder if the Irish will become a unicameral legislative system in a few years. The inside of the building is gorgeous, of course, and our guide had plenty of interesting stories about it. For instance, one of the staircases was built entirely for the purpose of President Kennedy's arrival there, but he ended up going around it! So much for that. The copy of the Irish Proclamation of 1916 that hangs in the entrance to the Dail was actually found in an attic. There are only about 30 original copies left out of the 1,000 or so that were issued. Also, one of three flags of the New York 69th, aka the Irish Brigade which fought in the Civil War on the Union side is being kept there. The Irish have held on to it, despite the U.S. consistently asking for it back. In fact, President Clinton was shown the flag, and when he asked when it would be returned, the guide merely said, "Not today, sir." 

When we got back to the hostel, we all got ready for the evening. A large group of us went to O'Sheas for dinner, then we separated, and Lauren, Danielle, Maire and I wandered into Mother Kelly's pub. There was hardly any room there, so we went back to Molloy's which was just down the street from our hostel, where we ran into the education majors. That's what we call them, because it's a lot easier to say than all of their names. After that, the four of us tried to find Sarah, Lindsey, Rachel and some others who were supposedly at The Pint. When we left Molloy's, however, we were disoriented and started heading in the wrong direction. I will be the first one to say that certain neighborhoods of Dublin are SO SO SO sketchy in the evening. When we stopped to ask a man where The Pint was, he must have thought we said The Point, which was a 30 to 45 minute walk away, and the Pint was only a few minutes from our hostel. After walking around in some uncomfortable areas, and me nearly being pickpocketed, we ended up at the Pint just to find out that our friends had moved on to Lanagins. Good thing, too, because I was happy to leave the Pint. I'll leave it at that. The rest of the night was unremarkable, but I managed to sleep easy in the hostel.

The next day we got up bright and early for a lengthy 3 hour walking tour led by Dr. O'Brien. I had some blisters on my toes from heels the night before and my rainboots weren't making it any better. We crossed the river to see Trinity College, which was amazing, we saw the old parliament building, up to Dublin Castle where the English ruled over Ireland, the Christ Church cathedral, through the Temple Bar area. Unfortunately I couldn't hear the professor for the most part and it was so cold that I got really distracted so I for the first time can't give you too much information about all of the things that I've seen in Dublin. We also went to see Daniel O'Connell's statue on O'Connell street, continued up past the Abbey Theater to the Garden of Remembrance which commemorates the lives of those who were sacrificed in the pursuit of freedom.

Following a group photo at the Garden, we were set free for the rest of the day. Danielle, Lauren, Maire and I did some shopping around O'Connell street. We went to Carrolls, the main store to do all your Irish souvenir shopping; they have everything from the classic Irish wool sweaters to nice guinness tankards, from shot glasses to goofy t-shirts and celtic jewelry. I got myself a nice McDonald crest keychain, an Ireland scarf and a sweatshirt to keep warm while in Dublin! (yes, I also got some stuff for the fam :)) We also went to Penneys which is like Forever 21 and JC Penneys combined, and it's very cheap so I also bought some goodies there. After, we decided to try and locate the National Leprechaun museum, a sort of goofy joke museum a few streets down from O'Connell because we didn't have time to get to the Guinness factory and back before we were going to meet up for dinner. When we got there, we found out that we'd have to wait until 4 to get a tour, and it cost 10 euro to get in, which is pretty expensive and we'd all already spent so much money. We nixed that idea and when we turned away from the museum we looked across the street and found ourselves in front of an indoor shopping mall. GREAT! We went inside, found a little Irish soccer shop that was playing Harlem Shake on repeat (WHY?!). Yes, the Irish call soccer soccer, not football, because they have their own sport called Gaelic Football, which is also called hurling I think. We then wandered into a 3 story Forever 21, but we saved each other and got out without going broke!

When we got back to the hostel, a large group of us headed to Molloy's for dinner. We sat and chit-chatted and watched the big rugby match between Ireland and France that was taking place in Dublin. There were TONS of French people wandering around the streets in morph suits with the French flag, wearing berets, shouting and singing, wrapped in capes colored like the flag. I really thought they were asking to get beat up, but maybe it's not as big of a deal as I think it is. The match ended in a tie but it was crazy right up until the end. After dinner, I headed back to the hostel and we all got ready for the impending hostel pub crawl. OH YES, that's right, a pub crawl. Starting at 8 and for some, lasting until 2 or 3 am, although I got back to the hostel around 1 am because my feet were killing me and it was getting sketchy, but more on that later. Just before 8, a massive group of us who had signed up and paid 5 euro into it headed into the Temple Bar area to our first pub. We were led around by James and Paul who took down our names and gave us wristbands. Lots of other kids our age were participating which only made it more fun. The crawl entailed discounted drinks, a free Guinness, free shots, and some games of beer pong at one of the pubs. Unfortunately, the discounts weren't too great, and I swear they watered everything down! Also, the free Guinness was less than half of a pint, and the shots were apple schnapps and bailey's with caramel. Don't get me wrong, they're delicious, but they don't contain much alcohol and they weren't even full shots. After spending over 10 euro I decided to give up on trying to get....nevermind. Enough of my complaining though, I had a grand time, it was some great craic! There was live Irish music, I met all sorts of people from all over Ireland and even the world since it was a hostel pub crawl. I actually met a few guys who were studying abroad in Florence from Kent State in Ohio. The second pub was my favorite because Kellie and I decided to go upstairs (the entire hostel group was shepherded downstairs so it was practically like a college party so it was a little boring). Upstairs we heard some classic Irish songs like Molly Malone and the Irish Rover, and there were a group of about 6 guys from Scotland who were decked out in kilts. They were absolutely hammered. One man had a song dedicated to him, and he got in the middle, with two different beers in each hand, and he half-sang half-slept on the floor. One of his friends leaned in toward me and shouted, "you've just met the Justin Bieber of Scotland!" When we headed to the next pub, it was absolutely PACKED. It was impossible to move. Again, there was music, and they played a mix of Irish and American songs. As the time passed, I was really starting to feel my feet and how much pain they were in. Furthermore, there were suddenly some older foreign men following us girls around in the crawl. Also, Christina, one of the girls from Mercyhurst, had her wallet and iPhone plucked right out of her purse. So Kellie and I made an executive decision for the two of us to cut out early. The rest of the group went on, but we were happy to head back. Unfortunately, we were smack in the middle of Temple Bar past the point of the evening when it becomes rather shady. Luckily, we only had to walk through one alley to get back to the River. From there, we knew our way back. I was never so happy to see my bed!

I got to sleep in a bit on Sunday while some of the girls went to mass. Lindsey, Lauren, Maire, Danielle, Nikki, Sarah and I went to this place called Rasher Behans (pronounced beans) after running into Paul from the bar crawl of all people! There, I had one of the best chocolate muffins of my life, hands down. After that, we met up in the lobby of the hostel to check out while a group of about 15 of us went with Dr. Reed to Baggot Street to find where the Sisters of Mercy began. To be honest, I didn't even originally want to go because it was absolutely FREEZING outside and my feet still hurt, but I didn't want to get left behind so I went anyway. I am so glad that I did. As it turns out, I learned a little bit more from Dr. Reed who wasn't a professional on Dublin than I did from the pro the day before. We saw the statue of the Irish famine, whose sister is in Boston. The faces are so vivid (see the picture above). Dr. Reed took us on a longer route, which he was sneaky about and didn't tell us because he wanted to see the chemist/drugist spot Sweny's that's referred to in Joyce's Ulysses and snap a picture in front. He also brought us to see the Oscar Wilde statue. Although it meant more time in the cold, it was actually really amazing to see. When we finally got to the Mercy International Center and I took a picture with the statue of Catherine McAuley, the great founder of the Sisters of Mercy, we found that the door was open as it always is! The large group of us walked in to find one woman, shocked. A small mass was being carried out entirely in the Irish language, so we tried to stay quiet. The woman was so kind. She brought us to the back of the house to see Catherine McAuley's grave which is rarely shown to visitors at all. Downstairs, there was a small museum depicting McAuley's work and the spread of the Sisters worldwide. She also showed us Catherine's room which is almost NEVER open. We saw the pages sent from around the world to the International Center, including the one from Erie, PA! The sisters of Mercy, especially Catherine, set out to try and educate the underprivileged and they focused on educating women in particular, and they did so much work for the poor. It was humbling to see exactly how they spread across the world and to realize that my University started right there in that spot! If there was no Mercyhurst, I certainly would not be here in Ireland now, so I can't help but be so grateful. After our little tour, we met some of those who were in the mass who spoke fluently in Irish. Everyone was so kind to us, and we tried to explain how we ended up there at the center, and even in Ireland. I think they were a little confused about why 32 Americans would be spending 2 and a half months in Dungarvan.

When we left the Mercy center, Dr. Reed brought us to St. Steven's green, a beautiful park in Dublin. There were ponds and swans and everything was green and there was even a little sunshine! The best part was snapping a picture of the bridge from Leap Year where Declan tells Anna about his former fiancee and his mother's ring! When we got through the green we were right at the beginning of Grafton Street which is a walking area full of shops. Rachel, Sarah, Maire, Lauren, Danielle and I found ourselves in another mall where we stopped and got lunch and I went to Carrolls again to get more souvenirs. Here's a side story: before I left, Maggie asked me to get her, and I quote, "the official sweatshirt of Ireland." I told her that I didn't think there was such a thing. So when I walked into Carrolls, and I didn't really find anything official of any sort, I went up to some of the workers and asked, "This may sound like a stupid question, but do you have any official sweatshirt of Ireland?" Both looked at me incredulously and replied no, they did not. I told them of my sister's request, but I was limited in my choices, since a lot of their sweatshirts were crew necks and didn't have hoods and Maggie is picky and has to have a hood. The other sweatshirts had weird designs on the front and weird strings and I was certain Maggie wouldn't like those either. One woman who worked there was nice and patient with me and said, "As long as it says Ireland and it's got a shamrock on it, it's as official as it can be." Finally, I found one, and she's happy with it, thank God.

At 5:00, we all piled onto the bus, and it took us no time at all to fall fast asleep. The entire weekend was fun, but a little disconcerting especially with some uncomfortable situations. I wanted to be back in my little Dungarvan, and many of the others felt the same. We got back, headed immediately to the pub at the Park for dinner, and sat and listened to some live Irish music. When the Townies and I were done eating, we ran back to our townhouse. Danielle and Lauren were a little slow, so they got back a few moments after us. When they opened the door, I saw that someone was standing behind them, and who should walk in but Tom Keith! We all came to talk to him. He told us that he was at a dinner with some acquaintances and he meant to meet us at the Park at 7:30 when we got home, but like a typical Irish person, he fell behind. He asked us to be patient with his tardiness, and I found it easy to forgive him. He welcomed us back and asked us about our time in Dublin. I told him it was fun but I was so glad to be back home. He gave a great big smile and said, "I can't tell you how glad I am to hear you say home." He stayed for a little while, told us the history of the land where the Park was built, and offered to spend an evening with us to explain Dungarvan's history. I hope to take him up on that offer some time!

Monday morning, we woke up to sunshine but there were flakes of snow! UGH. It was funny to see all the Irish people running about. For them, this is unbearable freezing cold weather! We had a nice long day of classes, and nothing much happened. This evening, while sitting by our fireplace and reading some Yeats, Sarah made me an egg and cheese sandwich with tea. My favorite poem so far is The Stolen Child because it's so sad but it's beautiful at the same time, and it's part of the old Irish culture that Yeats was trying to revive. The egg yolks here are dark orange which I've discovered means that the hen has a very good diet, and these eggs are especially delicious! Finally, my legs are still in pain from walking around Dublin for three straight days, two nights in heels, so hopefully the pain goes away soon. It should be a relatively quiet week from here on out but Sarah and I are hanging around Dungarvan for St. Patrick's Day, which should be plenty of fun...looking forward to it!