Last Day of Class

This week was the last week of classes here at UCD. Yesterday I finished my last Irish class, and my classes finally came to a close. Even though the lectures are done, the semester doesn't feel over...maybe that's because I still have three more weeks here in Ireland. But, I think this provides a good opportunity for a reflection on my time in class while here in Dublin.

Each class had it's ups and downs. My sociology class was kind of boring. It was intro level, and quite frankly, the subject seems like common sense. It makes me a bit nervous for the final exam where I'll have to write an essay on a sociological topic given. I'm really not sure how in depth I could go, but we'll see what happens. Irish was one of my favorite classes. It was also intro level, but it was fun learning about the language. It's a crazy language with weird pronunciations and spellings, but the class was fun. I made some good friends in the class, and the teacher was a cool guy. Can't imagine I'll ever use Irish, but hey, it was fun, and I can now carry a basic conversation in Irish. Irish Studies was a different matter. We had different lecturers every week, teaching us about different aspects of Ireland. Some of them were good, but others were just awful. Overall, not a good class. It was boring, and worst of all, I didn't really care all that much about the material. Then there was our final which we took two days ago. They told us it was going to be easy, based on our readings, of which there were 30 (and not small ones either...30 looooonnnng readings), and that we should focus on the big, main ideas. Then I open the exam booklet, and they asked about some of the smallest, minute details imaginable. Oh well, what's done is done. Next was Archeology. Now, when I registered for this class, I figured that a class based on two field trips and a final essay would be easy. That wasn't exactly the case. The field trips were fun, I met more people, and got to see a different side of Ireland. But....the essay...5000 words logging our experience and talking about the sites we visited. Again I had the problem of simply not caring very much. The journal was due two days ago...I started it on Monday night and was still able to finish it on time. Last was History. Now this was a great class. It was about International War and Peace from World War 1 through the Cold War/Decolonization. It was a very fascinating class, although I wasn't a fan of reading the writings of egocentric history academics. But I learned a lot about a time period about which I was previously ignorant.

I've got to say, the Irish academic experience is significantly different than the American experience. First of all, at home, I'm literally in a classroom or lab for at least 15 hours a week. But here in Dublin, I average maybe 10 hours a week. On top of that, I have no class twice a week. Another difference is the structure. Back home, my classes are either on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, or on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Here, they're all over the place. Sociology is on Monday and Wednesday. Irish is on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. History is only on Thursdays, and Archeology was just two field trips. Then there is the assessment method. I was so used to two or three midterm exams per semester, but here I had either no midterm, or just an essay. There's almost no continuous assessment (the exception being my Irish class for which we had four assignments total). As if this wasn't different enough, the grading system is totally messed up too. To pass a class, all you need is a 40 percent overall, so an A is above 70 percent. Then again, given how hard my Irish Studies final was two days ago, it makes sense...seriously, that final was as Charles Barkley says, "just turrble".

Now it sounds like I'm bashing the Irish education, but it really wasn't as bad as I make it sound. They simply value self-motivated, outside learning. Reading, learning, and studying outside of class is essential here...probably should have done more of that!

Now, enough of school stuff. Lately, I've been spending time with non-American international students, and I've got to say, I love it! This is why I came abroad for a semester. It's really amazing that even though we're so close to the end of the semester, I'm still making friends and getting to know my current friends even better. I had a realization a few days ago: I'm anxious to come home because I miss all my friends from home and from school. At the same time, I realize that as soon as I get back home, I'm going to miss all the friends I made here. It's a lose-lose situation for me! Thankfully there's Facebook for us to all keep in touch!

Well, now that classes are over, I need to study for final exams (Yuck!). Happy Thanksgiving to everyone back home, and don't go too crazy doing your Black Friday shopping!

Killarney - Cycling in the Park

This was quite a weekend. Left Dublin on Thursday night after class on the train for Killarney in the far southwest of Ireland. I got the the Killarney Railway Hostel late Thursday night and met one of the front desk people, Gerry. He was really cool and very helpful with my room (despite it being freezing cold in there the entire weekend) and with suggestions for things to do in Killarney.

After crashing for the night, I woke up early Friday morning for some breakfast at the hostel, then after getting a bike rental recommendation from Gerry, left to rent a bicycle for the day. There I met the owner of rental place, who was a very cute, old Irish man. He was also really helpful. Originally I planned on going through the Gap of Dunloe, but he steered me away from that, saying that in that valley all I'd see are the mountains surrounding the valley. Instead, he told me to go to Aghadoe, which is just northwest of Killarney. It really was quite amazing. Going up there led to this...

First view from Aghadoe

It was so bright that it almost looks like fog, but it was quite a view...

Basically, I had to get up this huge hill, then along a long road that overlooked the mountains and the lakes. Along the way I stopped at a graveyard, old church, and a viewing point.

The graveyard

The path to the bench viewpoint overlooking the mountains and lakes

The only negative thing about this bike ride was that the sun was too bright (as if that's a problem in Ireland). It was hard to see the great view, as my pictures might show. After this view, I went back downhill to a scenic bike route along a golf course and into the national park. On the way I stopped at another church for some more photos. I have to say, the bike route was just beautiful and picturesque. After getting to the national park, I went along their river walk back into town for lunch.

 The bike path...

 It's pretty isn't it?

A view of St. Mary's Cathedral from the path

The riverwalk

After lunch, I returned my bike, and walked around Killarney. I went into some shops just to see what they had. Saw a few wool markets where they had ridiculously priced wool sweaters, hats, scarves, gloves, etc. Also went into some arts/crafts shops and just wandered around. I eventually came back to the hostel to relax for a bit. Then got some pizza for dinner. After dinner three of my friends arrived at the hostel (they had classes so they came a day later), and we went out to a pub called the Failte Hotel for a drink. I tried Beamish Irish Stout, which was like a thin Guinness. We then called it a night and went back to the hostel for some much needed rest.

Saturday morning we went back to rent bikes for the day. With both the owner's and my suggestions, we decided to visit Aghadoe again. Then take the same bike trail into the national park. The weather was a little better, as there was some cloud cover with which better photos were possible. When we got to the park, we went to Ross Castle and Ross Island. There were some truly spectacular views, and we had a grand time.

Our group outside the bike rental shop

Second view from Aghadoe...a bit of a clearer image

Cycling through the park on our way to...

Ross Castle!

A great view from Ross Island

Now, I know it may seem like I have a lot of pictures on this post, but this is just a small sampling. I have tons more, and you can find them under the Pictures tab above!

So after Ross Castle and Ross Island, we went into town for lunch at a place called Cathleen's Country Kitchen. Because of the amount of time we took cycling, and a long wait for food, we were running short on time, so we decided not to do another entire loop in the park, and instead hit the key points. We went southwest of Killarney through the park to Muckross House. Along the way, one of my friends and I found a little secret passageway that led to a stunning clearing. My pictures don't look all that great, but it was one of those "you had to be there" moments. After Muckross House, we biked up to Torc Waterfall, which was stunning. We climbed a bit up the falls for some photos, ran into a friend from UCD who was there on a Paddywagon tour, then went back to Killarney to return the bikes. We also stopped at an outlet mall and had a scrumptious Nutella and strawberry crepe.

On the way to Muckross House

It's quite an estate

The secret path, leading to...

The beautiful clearing...it's a lot better in person

 And finally...Torc Waterfall!

 

Running into friends

Our group with the wonderful bike rental shop owner

 Nutella and strawberry crepe...sooooo good!

After some relaxation at the hostel, we went out for dinner to this place called "Pay As You Please". Basically it was restaurant where you pay what you think the meal was worth. Of course, they give suggestions, but there's no set price on any items. I thought it was an odd business model that would never work in the US, but more power to them that they can run the restaurant. After some pizza and bruschetta, we went to a pub called Murphy's for some traditional Irish music. There we met an old couple who was visiting Ireland from Florida for Thanksgiving with their family. We also found a partially colored picture of a jungle scene, and of course we had to finish it. Overall it was great craic.

The people before us had kind of messed up the giraffe, so we did the best we could

We then came back to hostel after a long day of cycling to crash. This morning my friends took an early train back. I stayed a little longer in Killarney. Spent the morning walking around town taking some more pictures. I eventually came back to the outlet mall and caught a Christmas market/sale. I bought myself a gingerbread man and a Kerry apple tart. They were delicious! I then got my train back to Dublin, and am now back in my apartment.

I have a final and a big journal due on Wednesday, and as it's the last week of classes, finals are coming up so now it's crunch time, and the crazy studying will commence...

Belfast and Giant's Causeway

Hello Everyone! I hope this past week has been good for everyone. Just a warning, this is a really long post with a lot of pictures. As usual, all the links to my Picasa albums with all of my photos can be found under the Pictures tab above.

This has been a pretty fun week. I started on Monday going into the city center to the Stag's Head pub with my Italian friends for a comedy show. The four comedians were pretty good, but after a while, sex and race jokes get old for me, mainly cause they're all pretty much the same. There was one guy who had some good material though. Overall, it was good craic. Tuesday to Friday was filled mainly with football, and not the American variety. Tuesday and Thursday I played soccer with some friends, and then Friday I went to the student bar to watch Ireland vs. Latvia, and Portugal vs. Sweden.

And now, the main event...

Yesterday (Saturday), I left around 6:30 for the city center to catch a bus up to Northern Ireland. Despite waking up early, I missed the bus into the city center, so I had to shell out 10 euro for a cab. Then when I got to the pick up point in the city center, two more buses passed before the coach picked us up, so I wasted the money on the cab. Oh well, live and learn. Anyway, I met a friend in the city center, and we got on the bus to Northern Ireland. The first stop was in Belfast, where we could either visit the Titanic Museum or take a Black Taxi tour. My friend and I decided on the taxi tour, which was very cool. The drivers took us around Belfast, explaining about the political unrest and violence the city has seen. They focused a lot on street murals, which were very interesting:

Our taxi for the tour

Picasso's famous Guernica

The main highlight is that Belfast's past is full of violent conflict between Catholic Nationalists, who want a free Irish island, and Protestant Unionists, who want to associate with the United Kingdom. After some of these bigger murals, we were taken to a small garden commemorating those who have passed as a result of the conflict. It was there that we got our first view of the wall separating the Catholic/Nationalist and Protestant/Unionist sides. We then stopped and had the opportunity to leave a message on the peace wall. I tried to find the spot where my brother had signed it...thought it would be cool if our messages were next to each other, but I couldn't find it. I remembered the picture, but as the wall is really long, and has thousands of messages, it's no surprise that I couldn't find it. Now, I tried to recreate Abraham Lincoln's famous quote "a house divided against itself cannot stand". Unfortunately, I couldn't remember the exact words, but I got pretty close, and it gets the message across.

The memorial garden with the wall behind it

Just a small portion of the peace wall

Signing the peace wall

Close enough...

The tour guide mentioned something about the peace wall that I thought was pretty profound. Apparently, there's talk of taking the wall down in about 10 years. While the guide was skeptical about that happening, he did mention that the day this wall comes down will be a tremendous event for the Irish and British Isles, similar to the taking down of the Berlin Wall. I'm not sure if it's on that scale, but it made me think that if and when this wall comes down, it will be one of those defining moments in history where you'll talk about where you were. I think it would be one of those things the entire world watches together, like the first landing on the moon, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and September 11. And to think, by signing the wall, we become a part of that history...just something to think about. 

After the peace wall, we had one final stop at another small mural site. It was on the Protestant/Unionist side, and I can't remember the exact significance of the place, but one of the murals was really cool. They call it Belfast's Mona Lisa because from any angle, it looks like the gun is pointing right at you.

First angle from the left

Second angle from the center

Third angle from the right

Final angle from directly under

It's almost kind of scary how the gun follows you as you walk around the mural. After the black taxi tour, we regrouped with everyone who went into the Titanic Museum and continued north to the northern coast. We stopped along the way at a very beautiful spot for some pictures:

 If you look really hard, you can see a faint outline of Scotland in the background

 

A map of our location at O'Kane's Layby compared to Giant's Causeway

After this stop, we got up to Giant's Causeway, where we had a quick bite at a small restaurant that really ripped me off with overpriced food, and a terrible Pounds to Euro conversion rate (12 euro for a single plate of lasagna, fries, and salad?!?!). On the bright side, just outside the restaurant we saw these two adorable ones:

Seeing these two reminded me of this scene from Despicable Me:

So we finally got to the causeway area, and had to hike a bit to get there, but the views were just magnificent, despite some fog and Irish mist that rolled in. The causeway itself is really cool, with the hexagonal columns, and the waves crashing into them. With the backdrop of hills and cliffs, it was just a really cool place. The story of the place is interesting too. The legend is that two giants lived in Northern Ireland and Scotland. The one from Ireland (Finn MacCool) was building the causeway to fight the giant from Scotland (Benandonner) in order to have supremacy. When Benandonner heard of this, he came across the causeway to MacCool's house, where Finn's wife had disguised him as a baby, so as to make Benandonner think that if MacCool's baby was such a giant, then MacCool himself must be enormous. Benandonner then flees back to Scotland, destroying the causeway as he goes so Finn MacCool can't follow him.

Standing at the edge of the Causeway, ready to fight Scottish giants!

The waves were crashing pretty hard, which only made the experience cooler

After the Giant's Causeway, we made one final stop at Dunluce Castle for some quick photos. Unfortunately, a storm rolled in so the view wasn't all that good. But it still looked cool, since the ruins are right on the cliffs. What I thought was particularly interesting about the castle was that at one point, part of the kitchen collapsed over the cliffs and into the sea.

We then drove back to Dublin. Now, I have to say, the tour bus made a lot of stops. We stopped basically every 1 to 2 hours. It's as if none of the people had ever been on a road trip. But that was okay, I like breaks. Also, fun fact I learned on the way back to Dublin. The tour guide was recommending other places in Dublin for the tourists on the bus to visit. He recommended Trinity College and the Book of Kells/Old Library Long Room. What I learned is that the Jedi Archives, seen in Star Wars II: Attack of the Clones, is modeled after the Trinity College Long Room. Being a huge Star Wars fan, this completely blew my mind! Unfortunately, my friend hasn't seen any of the Star Wars movies (WHAT?!?!), so she couldn't join in my excitement. Now let's just take a look at the scene, and my long room picture and compare the two:

 

The resemblance is truly striking

After returning back home, I ran into one of my Italian friends who informed me of another pasta party. Naturally, not wanting to cook drove me to go and indulge in delicious Italian cooking. It was a great time, saw some friends, made new ones (from France, Portugal, Italy, and the US of course). Despite the noise complaint and drunk people, it was grand. But, after a long, long day, I finally called it quits.

Now I'm just catching up on stuff, and preparing for the week ahead. Finals are coming up, and I have some end of the semester assignments due soon too. So naturally, it would be a good time for me to book a small weekend trip to Killarney. The national park there is supposed to be absolutely gorgeous, so I plan to rent a bicycle and go around the park, then at night enjoy some traditional Irish music and good craic in town. Should be a great weekend.