Twenty-Eighth and Twenty-Ninth Day

Lauren, Josh (Dr. Peterson's nephew) and I at the Vee

Me standing on the edge of a drop-off in front of the glacial lake.

Butler family mansion - Ormond Castle

Cahir Castle

Classic patchwork Ireland in County Tipperary

After sleeping in, I got up and headed to the gym to get a little work out in. There I saw Dave and he asked me how my exams went. I told him I thought they went fine, but I guess we'll see, and I think he said something along the lines of knock on wood. I'm assuming this because Dave mumbles and I can't understand anything he says, but he was tapping on the wooden counter, so...After that, Lauren, Danielle and I got a small lunch at the bar. We found it strange that everything was seafood and that the alcohol was all covered up, but it's Good Friday, so it makes sense. It's days like these when you can really see how connected the Catholic religion is with their culture and laws. It's another bank holiday, just like the day after St. Patrick's Day, and the schools are all off for two weeks for Easter. No one is selling alcohol anywhere and all of the pubs are closed!

Yet strangely enough the movie theater is open, so Lauren, Danielle, Nikki, and I went to go see The Host. I really liked it, the story was prety interesting. Later that night, Ricky threw a house party so there were a ton of people from the town and our classmates there. I had an awesome time but I got myself to bed somewhat early because we had a TK tour the next day. Those are notoriously rough!

At 9:30 am we piled onto a bus to begin our lengthy day trip. We started off back at Mount Melleray again, only this time we stopped at the grotto. It's down a hill, kind of in a ravine. It is a very holy, sacred place with a statue of the virgin Mary placed in the side of the cliff and at the top of the hill above her there's a large cross. People traveled from all over Ireland to pray for peace in the 1980s when it was placed there; that was a rough and violent time for the country.

When we were done at the grotto, we hopped on the bus and traveled to the border between County Waterford and County Tipperary. We passed these massive hills, which I'm sure the Irish would refer to as mountains. The landscape was doted with sheep somehow moving up and down these steep inclines. On one side of the road were the hills and on the other you could see a deep valleys. It was a nice and sunny day, so that only improved the views. We were traveling to the Vee, which is the point where the two counties meet. It is called that because two hills (the Knockmealdown mountains) cross each other and beyond that in the distance there are some snow-capped peaks and a huge expanse of fields. One of the hills has a glacial lake nestled into its side. TK explained that the lake is actually much deeper than it appears. From the picture above, it looks quite small, close by, and that hill looks small as well, but that isn't the case, it's just that we're standing on our own hill on the opposite side of a valley. The lake is supposedly haunted by a spirit called Petticoat Loose, who was a woman who lived in the 19th century. So beware any of you lustful men, it is believed that she lures such men into the lake to drown. Here's a cool link about her life and the reason that lake has been the location of so many drownings: http://www.vee.ie/page27.html

Our next stop was another cathedral in Clogheen that was home to Father Nicholas Sheehy who opposed the Penal Laws that were put in place to suppress everything that was Irish, including Catholicism. Because he opposed the British, he was accused of high treason and murder, and although he was acquitted for treason, immediately after, he was accused of murder. In a sham of a case, he was found guilty, and executed in a not so pleasant way. Outside of the church is a statue of a celtic cross with detailed engravings which serves as a memorial to him.

Unfortunately for you, the next place we went didn't allow any photography, which is a shame because it was one of the cooler spots I've been to. We went to the Mitchelstown caves. No one ever lived inside there, instead they were left because at one point, some indeterminable number of years ago, there was a river flowing through it. We went down about 200 feet into the ground. Thankfully, the path they take the public along isn't too small, so my claustrophobia didn't kick in. The caverns were absolutely gorgeous with reds, whites, brown and black, and our guide explained exactly what made the colors and how stalagmites and stalactites were made. When, over a long, long, long period of time, the stalagmites and stalactites connect, it becomes a pillar or column. She pointed out one in particular and told us it was at least a billion years old, but because radioactive dating would involve drilling into the core of it and therefore ruining the structure, they don't know the actual age of it. At one point on the tour she told us she was going to shut off the electricity to show us what absolute darkness is like. This was by far the creepiest part of the tour. I couldn't see my hand when it was right in front of my face. It is the type of darkness, as she told us, that your eyes would never adjust to. The man who originally found the caves was trapped in that kind of darkness for 12 hours. I don't know how he lasted through that!

After the caves, we traveled to the Cahir Castle, another one of the castles that would come into the possession of the famed Butler family. It is situated right on the river that travels through the town for defensive reasons. Our tour guide showed us exactly how every inch of the castle was built around some defensive strategy or other. Its defenses were so strong that it was only beseiged twice in its history, and only one cannonball made it past the outer walls (which is still stuck in the side of the building, and I got a nice picture of it!) I couldn't imagine what the times must have been like if everything about your home is designed for defense.

Our last stop of the day was at the only Tudor-style mansion in Ireland, located in Carrick-on-Suir in County Tipperary. Thomas Butler (are you seeing a pattern here?), the 10th earl of Ormond constructed a the Tudor homestead and attached it to the Ormonde Castle that was already there. Again, it was built right on the river, which used to surround the property for defense. Throughout the house are pictures of Elizabeth I engraved into the moldings on the ceilings and along the walls. He was a big fan of Elizabeth, and there's speculation that the two were more than just friends, but that would have been treason to suggest of the virgin queen. He was such a fan of her, in fact, that he killed two of his brothers in her name!

All in all, it was a fun day. I was too tired to do anything else that night. Tomorrow is my last day of rest before we leave bright and early for Berlin on Monday. I will not have my laptop with me, so this is going to be the last blog for a little while!

Twenty-Seventh Day

Two midterms in a row today! It was pretty stressful and I think my wrist is broken, but at least it is done, and then for over a week we don't have much to worry about except experiencing Berlin! During my government exam, Dr. Peterson came up to me, WHILE I was trying to finish his essay and said, "You have been writing vigorously for the last hour and forty-five minutes" and I respond with an abrupt, "Yeah." Well of course! 4 IDs and 2 essays...there was a lot to write about! At least he got some amusement out of the fact that I didn't stop writing once...oh well! 

Today was Dr. Reed's last day in Ireland so we threw a surprise going away pot luck party for him. He really looked kind of shocked when he walked in...we even got Joe in on it to get him to show up. We all signed a Yeats' book for him to keep and Mimi wrote a nice note inside. In other news, Josh (Dr. Peterson's nephew) and I are now best friends. We even have a secret handshake, but he practically breaks my fist every time we do it, and he likes to do it repeatedly. Maybe I will build up an immunity.

After the get together, a group of us went to John Keane's pub where there was some good live music, cheap drinks, and some great craic. I had an awesome time, and I can't wait to have all day to myself tomorrow without having to worry about assignments or exams! Slan!

Twenty-Second, Twenty-Third, Twenty-Fourth, Twenty-Fifth, Twenty-Sixth Day

St. Declan's well

The view from the bridge leading up to Lismore Castle

Lismore Castle

View of the ocean...it was a rough day!

 

 

 

I apologize for falling so far behind on my posts! Here's some pictures to make up for it. It's midterm/final week here in Dungarvan and the professors are really piling on the work for us. On Saturday, a sizable group of us got on a bus to travel around West Waterford. We went to Lismore, Ardmore, all kinds of cathedrals and St. Declan's Walk. Let me tell you, it was a COLD COLD COLD day, though when I skyped my family later they said it was still colder back home. The only difference is that I didn't pack clothing here that is good for cold weather. I was walking around in 40 degree weather with a pair of jeans, thin boots, and a sweatshirt on. It is safe to say that although I saw these really amazing sights, I was too miserable to fully enjoy it (not to sound like too much of a brat!) Even when TK was explaining the history of all these sights my mind just kept shouting: MUST get warm, MUST get warm. My mind was just not in the right state to be traveling all over the country, even though at the most we were about a half hour away.

The area I'm currently residing in is also known as the Deise which I may have already mentioned. The Deise people were a Gaelic tribe settled in Ireland, which is why the region is known as such. It includes all of County Waterford and some of Tipperary. We learned a lot about their history in Lismore and Ardmore, and the history of Lismore Castle which saw a lot of invasions from the Vikings to the Normans. That area was also home to a group of monks who provided an education to boys who would travel from other countries to Lismore.

 Unfortunately I'm blanking right now on what else happened. We saw more churches than I could count, probably more than I've ever been in in my life. We saw another round tower similar to one we saw on the first day in Ireland which was used as a bell tower and as a means of defense and this one in particular was used to keep an eye on the coast for invaders. Also, our bus driver was amazing. More than once we went up some scary hills that were right on the edge of these pretty huge cliffs and we almost got stuck and went off. Luckily, I'm still alive, but on the way to St. Declan's well, I did not enjoy looking out my window into the ocean far below with nothing in between.

On Sunday, some of the group went to a hurling match, but I didn't sign up for it because I was smart and I knew that I wouldn't have my ethics paper done ahead of time. As it turns out, neither did anyone else really, which is why a lot of people skipped out. That is basically my Sunday in its entirety: work, work, and more work. And let's be honest, that was my Monday, too.

Today (Tuesday), I stayed home from Gaelic because he kept the class from 9:30 until 4:30 and I'm auditing, and I have plenty of other work to do. I decided to get up and go for a run to the beach...it's a long way and it was snowing, barely, but still. I'm glad Sarah and I found that nice walking path it leads straight from Dungarvan through Abbeyside and out. Before I got out, TK stopped me in his little purple van to ask me if I knew where Lauren's family was staying, for how long, etc. I couldn't answer most of his questions, so he asked me if I was a part of the mafia because it's so difficult to extract information from me. I replied, "No, I'm just clueless, mainly." That made him laugh! I told him (again) that my parents were coming just after we got back from Berlin, and he's happy to have them come along to the Waterford Crystal factory and the JFK homestead.

After my run, Lindsey and I worked all day on our comparative government study guide. We were actually really productive for a change! I don't regret not going to Gaelic that day. At 6:30, the Literature class went to Dr. Reed's townhouse for a pot luck/poetry session/review night. He made bubble and squeak- it has cabbage, potatoes, and pork. Someone made grilled cheese, pizza dip, a nice salad, pizza, mushy peas, garlic bread, chicken nuggets, carrot cake, chocolate cake, I brought a cheapo package of cupcakes and then hid them in the corner and took them home since no one ate them.....all in all it was a fun night. I had already recited my poem so all I had to do was sit back, relax, and listen. Oh, and eat, of course.

Wednesday! Class, Dr. Reed's crazy challenging and long final, and study sessions ALL night for my two exams tomorrow.

So, as you can see, I've really been living it up here. At least from now on I will have one less class to worry about, and next week we're in Berlin, so cheers to that!

Twenty-first Day

The hurricane continues! I can tell you right now, I will be avoiding going outside at all costs. The weather is absolutely insane. I hope it gets better before our trip tomorrow! Luckily, or not, I have plenty of work to do to keep me occupied, but I'm torn between watching West Wing and actually doing it. 

Since it's not likely I will actually have anything worth telling today, I should mention some small things about living here. Off of the top of my head, you should know that the number one thing that annoys the Irish about us Americans is the fact that we go up to one of them to speak and begin with, "Um, I have a question..." or "Can I ask you a question?" They tell us that we should just spit it out and be done with it, or for the second one, they just say no in response! (they are kidding, of course) Good to know, since I always do that, and so do the rest of us girls at least. We always catch ourselves as we're about to say it.

Also, some more information on my trip at the end of the term: 

We will be leaving Thursday, May 2nd for London. We'll have all day Friday there, as well as Sunday. On Saturday, we are hoping to be taking a day trip to Paris. It's pretty expensive, like 230 euro but it includes the train from London to Paris and back, lunch at the Eiffel tower, a tour of the city, and a cruise on the River Seine, so I think it's actually worth it. On Monday, we will fly to Barcelona and spend all day Tuesday and some of Wednesday there! Our flight from Barcelona is on Wednesday, which brings us to Dublin. From the airport, we will take a bus back to our little Dungarvan on May 8th, so we have all of the next day to say goodbye! Side note: I will probably be sustaining myself on scraps of bread with water by then, since this will cost me most of my money, and I would rather spend 50 euro on the Harry Potter tour in London than eat!

Tonight is the kickoff party at the Dungarvan Sailing Club for the Maritime Festival, which actually isn't until May 3rd, and I won't even be in Dungarvan! I'm going along with a few of the other girls. It was an absolute blast this evening. Two words: OPEN BAR. We sat and chit-chatted with Damien Geoghagan whose birthday it was! He is a hilarious guy.  Dr. McFee and Dr. Reed were also there, and it was nice to hang out with them as well! I had a great time in Dungarvan!

Nineteenth Day - Twentieth Day

Hey everyone! Just a quick post today, since I've got SO much work to do. Yesterday (Wednesday) was a very slow day. Honestly, nothing really happened, except we got the final schedule for Friday's trip to West Waterford. Unfortunately, today (Thursday), the weather was absolutely terrible. It is literally monsooning outside. Therefore, our Friday trip has been moved to Saturday. That's fine with me; hopefully the weather will be better. I plan on using Friday to get some serious work done. I've got a paper for ethics, three exams to study for, and a 16 line poem to memorize. I chose "To Some I Have Talked with by the Fire" by W.B.Yeats:

While I wrought out these fitful Danaan rhymes,

My heart would brim with dreams about the times,

When we bent down above fading coals;

And we talked of the dark folk, who lived in souls,

Of passionate men, like bats in the dead trees;

And of the wayward twilight companies,

Who sigh with mingled sorrow and content,

Because their blossoming dreams had never bent,

Under the fruit of evil and of good:

And of the embattled flaming multitude,

Who rise, wing above wing, flame above flame,

And, like a storm, cry the Ineffable Name, .....(Right here is what I've got down so far!)

And with the clashing of their sword-blades make

A rapturous music, till the morning break

And the white hush end all but the loud beat

Of their long wings, the flash of their white feet.

Dr. Reed was very nice to us today. He eliminated some of the poems, and because Seamus is keeping us in class from 9:30 to 4:30 on Tuesday, our class has become a pot luck! That should be fun. He said to us today, "When are you guys even gonna study?" We all said we had no idea because we're in class LITERALLY all day Tuesday, we have class Tuesday night, and we have two classes before his exam on Wednesday. Oh well, we will see how this goes. 

On the upside, I've just booked my flights to London and Barcelona for the last week we're here in May! I am so excited to travel and end it somewhere warm. I would have loved to go to Greece and Italy, but that will have to be saved for another time!

Eighteenth Day

It was back to WIT with Seamus today! He is one of the funniest guys I've met. Today, Mimi told him that he looks like Corey from Boy Meets World, and of course, he had no idea what Boy Meets World was. Lindsey brought up a picture on her iPad, he studies it for a minute then says, "I can live with that." We learned plenty of Irish today. I have to admit, it's a little awkward for me in class. Because I'm auditing, I don't have to get the book or do homework or take tests, so I am sure I will fall behind in my speaking capabilities since Seamus still decides to call on me for answers! At least I'm not the only one. On the upside, Seamus taught us how to say I like boys in Irish: Is maith liom buachailli! Now watch how I write these out to pronounce them, its kind of amusing since I'm clearly clueless/confused: "Iss mah lyum bohalley" See if you can figure that out! Also, "Would you like a drink?" is "Ar mhaith leat deoch?" or "air (wy? - still confused about the second word) ly-at deeochk." I will probably never ask someone that in Irish.

Dr. McFee came with us to Waterford because he was invited to give a lecture. He's an ethics teacher and I'm not sure what his major was, maybe religious studies or philosophy, but the lecture was on humanism or something like that. Dr. McFee is a hilarious guy...really all my professors here are so funny, we lucked out. He is also a fan of CCR which is a bonus!

After class, I worked on my presentation for Irish Lit. I presented on Modernism, which was a major movement, but I obviously decided to focus on modernism in Ireland specifically. I learned some really interesting stuff about it, actually. Modernism in Ireland was unique because Ireland was still under the rule of the English when it began. The political and cultural movements that sought to gain independence were also the movements that desired to hold on to the Irish past (before suppression) and revive it. Modernism as a movement overall, by definition, was a breaking with the past, which seems contradictory to the very conservative situation in Ireland at that time. Ultimately, Irish modernism appeared to be a combination and at the same time, there was a tension between the old and the new.

Mitchell, Dr. McFee's nephew, arrived today from Dublin. He's from Colorado and he's staying until Friday, so a few of us took him to the pub next door and had a pint. I had water, because I'm 1) getting sick, 2) tired, 3) have class tomorrow, and 4) have yet to finish my homework. How lame is that? Oh well, there's always Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Yes, I am rubbing it in that I have long weekends here!

Sixteenth Day - Seventeenth Day

St. Paddy's parade in Dungarvan!

Us banner girls! Mimi is upset because she's not in the sorority!

Mimi and I. Thanks for the headband, Dr. Reed!

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Sarah and I had spent the weekend inviting fellow Mercyhurst students over for kegs and eggs on Sunday morning, which turned out simply to be eggs because we were too lazy and poor to provide the kegs. Furthermore, a few of us were going to go to mass at St. Mary's, so we didn't want to drink alcohol and then sit in a house of God. But we, and by we I really mean Sarah made breakfast for the two of us, Lindsey, Anna, Sara, and Katelyn. After that, the six of us and a few more from our group went to meet Tom Keith in front of the Park Hotel to go to mass. Unfortunately, many of us believed that mass was optional, but there was a flag-raising ceremony with the mayor. We were under the impression that it wasn't a huge deal, but apparently it was, and not only does it look bad for TK if there are only a few Mercyhurst students, it also looks bad for the mayor. I was horrified! Lindsey, Sarah, and I went in Tom's car to the Civic offices where the mayor was already waiting wearing his traditional garb. Tom had given me a bowl of shamrocks to hold onto, and his driving was causing water to spill all over my pants! Anyway, rather than being upset or angry, (although TK was a little more than ruffled) he and the mayor decided to do the flag raising after mass.

Here's an interesting fact: it's the shamrock, NOT the four-leaf clover that is the symbol of Ireland. Plus, the shamrock wasn't even really the symbol of Ireland (the harp is) but in the later 1800s when Americans were using it as an Irish symbol, it went BACK across the seas where it became more widely recognized in Ireland today. The story is, though, that when St. Patrick arrived, the locals questioned how there can be three beings in one God. St. Patrick then plucked up a shamrock and pointed to the three leaves: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; three leaves connected as one on the shamrock. 

When we went to the mass, we were the only ones wearing green, and in fact, for most of the day, we were the only ones wearing green! The priest welcomed us specifically, of course, and after we got a picture with him and with their figure of St. Patrick. The mass, being almost entirely in Irish, was entirely beyond my comprehension. I had no clue what was going on most of the time. When the mass was over, so many of the townspeople came up to us and welcomed us and shook our hands, saying it was so nice to have us here, which was just awesome. 

After the mass, TK made us run (literally) back across town, through the square where the stage was being set up, to the civic offices where the rest of our group that slept in was waiting. We took more photographs, raised the flags, witnessed some acrobatic stunts from TK and Dr. McFee (not really), and then we headed back to townhouse 8 to pre-game, I MEAN...wait patiently and quietly until the start of the parade. Let's be real here, guys, I'm of age in Ireland on St. Patrick's Day. Ricky, James, Rachel, Lindsey, and Maire came over and Sarah made everyone grilled cheeses again, while I did so much work in grabbing Lindsey a bag of chips from the cupboard. At 2:30 we all met up in front of the Park, I held the banner in the front of the group, while TK provided us all with a bunch of flags to wave. The parade started in abbeyside, went back across the bridge in through the square, where we were announced and people cheered for us! Earlier at the civic offices, TK was handing out the flags, and he points to Ricky (Ricardo) and says, "since you're nice and tall, we will hand you the American flag to wave, you'll be special!" We all start laughing and TK looks at us and says "what?" And we tell him it's funny because Ricky is Honduran, not American. Lindsey screams: "He's Latin American, Tom, he's about as American as you are!"

During the parade was the first time I'd realized how big Dungarvan actually is. There was a whole part of the town that I hadn't even been through yet. The parade was lovely and there were plenty of people there. Lindsey made friends with the small schoolchildren who were marching behind us, and they knew all the American songs and they were some of the best Irish dancers I've seen. At the end of the parade, we were shepherded to the sailing club to have some snacks and a free drink (YAY!) The best part of that was getting to sit with my professors and have a drink. We spent our time persuading Dr. Peterson to move the next day's class up to 9 am instead of 8:30 (we really wanted it cancelled, but TK was going to give a lecture on the Irish system of government) and trying to get the other two professors to cancel as well. It's safe to say we were unsuccessful, but I enjoyed hanging out with them anyway! 

When we were done with our drinks, Lindsey, Rachel, Sarah, and I headed back to the townhouses to change and then we went out to Downey's where there was a group of teenagers playing traditional Irish music. I got a rum and coke, but it was 5 euro (aka 6.50 in U.S. dollars) which discouraged me from purchasing any more drinks. At that point, our roommates Nikki, Lauren, and Danielle, were finally back from the 5K in Dublin. So we went BACK to the Park to get some dinner, and there we met the nicest Irish family: Veronica, Cathall (pronounced Cah-hall), and Fiona, a little 11 year old who is obsessed with Harry Potter). Danielle, Nikki, Lauren and I spent a good hour at least talking to them about where we were from, about harry potter of course, about where they were from, about where we should go in Ireland, about music and about weather and about everything. That night we ordered the Guinness Cake for desert and while we ladies were eating, Cathall said, you ladies know how many calories are in that cake, don't you? His wife then scolded him and said we can eat whatever we want, which we did, and let me tell you, the cake was AMAZING. After telling Fiona what book series she should take up since she's done with Harry Potter, and discussing which characters we like best and who we're most like, we parted ways. After dinner, we all met up at the Anchor, which was packed, and there was a live band, but they were playing all older American songs. There, we danced, and celebrated, but because we had school the next day, Danielle, Lauren, and I decided to head home early.

That brings me to today, Monday! I've got a lot of work to do, but of course I took time to catch up on my blog. It was all work and no play today since I had to catch up, and also sit through three long classes. TK came to lecture in government though, which made up for the fact that we had to be there early. I would just like to mention that TK, while talking about the government and comparing their president to ours, made a reference to the West Wing. I am obsessed with that show, I'm already in the last season! Anyway, he began a quote frequently used in the show: "I serve at..." and I promptly finished it, "at the pleasure of the president" making myself look like a huge nerd. Dr. Peterson actually laughed at me, but it's okay, because he already knew I was obsessed with the show, so did half of the class. It's worth mentioning that our president, who is quite powerful, is nothing like the Irish president, who cannot, as stated in Article 13, section 11 of their Constitution, take ANY action without "the advice of the government" which is just the polite way of saying he does what he's told by the House/prime minister.

I had an amazing weekend, I hope everyone had a good one!