Return to campus

Hi all,

I don't really update this blog too often anymore but I wanted to get in a quick word. I have returned to school at UofM. After an amazing summer in Dublin, it seems odd to be back in A2.

I have gotten really busy, especially from my work at the Michiagn Review. It is a bi-weekly student publication that I write for. I suggest you check it out:Micigan Review.

I am trying to put up a profile pic so here goes.

Cherio, Chaps

Pictures from Top to
bottom: Me on top of
St. Paul's Cathedral,
Buckingham Palace from
Palace Gardens
Big Ben.
No real time to write now
So I hope picture suffice.

A week in Northern Ireland

Pictures: (top left) me at the Giant's Causeway, (top right) a mural in the city of Derry commemerating the events of Bloody Sunday, (bottom) view climbing up to the Carric-a-kee rope bridge.

I just returned from my weeklong trip to Northern Ireland. I spent a week in Belfast and then this weekend in Londonderry (or Derry- that difference in name actually means a lot to people and demonstrates the large degree that everything is polarized by the Unionist-Nationalist divide). Our trip coincided with a rare 30 degree heat wave (translating to about 86 degree F). Although not really all that hot for summer, I must be adapting to the weather b/c it sure felt hot.

In Belfast, I stayed at Queens University. I was a very old looking gothic set of buildings. Our housing accomidations were single dorm rooms with a shared kitchen space. Queens was nice altough a bit removed from the city center. Our program managed to pack a lot of events into the week, so I am a bit exaushted at the moment. We visited Belfast City Hall and had a "reception" with the Lord Mayor (it was really just presenting us with a plaque and then a tour). We took a full-day excursion to the Giant's Causeway and the Carric-a-kee Rope bridge. Both of these coastal spots were amazing. The Causeway is a natuaral phonemon that produces highly regular 5 and 6-sided stones that pattern the coastline. Plus it is surrounded by huge cliff sides. The Rope Bridge, obviously took some effort in design, connects a part of the coast to a smaller island and provides breathtaking views of the Atlantic coast. I never realized that ocean water was really that blue.

No visit to Northern Ireland could be complete without an examination of the pecular events that have shaped its history. Since the partition of Ireland in the 1920's, there have been alternating periods of tension and relative peace. Much of Belfast was bombed out in WWII, so much of the sites, such as city hall have been largley reconstructed. The violence of the Troubles still looms large here. One of our day tours was a visit to local murals. Murals have become a way to express almost any feeling about this violence from calls for peace to continued celebration of IRA, UFF, UDA, etc paramilitaries that caused chaos in the city. I must admitt that the type of neighborhoods that housed Belfast's murals were very run-down. As one of my peers put it "its a bit like a gang war, where you put your gang colors on your house." It was always clear if you were in an Unionist or Nationalist (more commonly and less aduquitely grouped as Protestant and Catholic) area based on either Union Jacks or Irish tricolor flags hanging from lamposts and shop windows. Sadly, although as our tour guide put it "things have gotten much better", there are still clear demarcations of territory made even more acute by the erection of so-called "peace walls" that seperete some neighborhoods.

Not that the story, is all gloom but it has a long way to go. We finished the week by taking a trip to Stormont (the N. Ie. Parliment). It was a beatiful building that hasn't held a single session of Parliment in several years. The UK government at Westminster has been struggling to get a devolved Parliment up and running but hasn't been able to do so. Our round table discussions with members of 3 of the 4 major parties showed why polarization is still a problem.

Now back in Dublin, and have finally moved into my last housing accomidations for the trip. So I don't have to move again. I will be traveling to London next week, I cannot wait.

Dail Eireann, Kilmainham Gaol

Hi all,

In my last post, I commented that I would be taking a visit to Dail Eireann (the Irish parliament) and it turned out to be a fun trip. Our group got to meet with the head of one of the Irish third parties, the Labour Party. Oddly enough, this is one of the few Irish parties that has an English name. The two primary parties (that I am spelling wrong) Finna Fial and Finna Gail both have Irish names. I should know what they mean but have forgotten. We had a Q&A with Mr. Rabbitte, the Labour leader, while he tried to answer our questions, like most politicians he dodged really saying anything concrete. I was shocked to hear him, and later one of our guest lectures, refer to the their "welfare state." Opinions aside, no one in the US would ever self-describe our government as a "welfare state", except as a form of attack against a proposed policy. In Ireland though, politicians can openly talk about the benefits of such a mentality. Sadly, when we took our actual tour of the facilities our guide was a bit boring and we couldn't take any pictures. I wish I had some photos to share because the place was full of ornate design.

Yesterday, our group took a tour of Kilmainham Gaol (Gaol= jail). Its a famous Dublin landmark in the way I would guess Alcatrz is in the States. The most important thing about the jail is its connection to political imprisonments. Charles Stuart Parnell, who was a British MP and argued for Irish Home rule, was imprisoned there. Also the leaders of the Easter 1916 rising were executed at the Gaol. I have been inundated with 1916 right now, both in literature and history class and in seeing the film The Wind That Shakes the Barley (about the civil war that proceeds it).

This will most likely be my last post until I return from Belfast. Sadly, I won't have easy Internet access up in the North. I can get on a bit but I will most likely just be checking e-mail and not writing a lot. I won't be back from Belfast until the end of next week.

Weekend in Galway-Arron Islands

Hi all,

I know that its been a while since I have updated this blog. There simply just doesn't seem to be time to get anything accomplished. In that mindset, I am going to drop straight prose for awhile and let some bulleted points speak for themselves.

This weekend, I traversed the country to the city of Galway on the west coast. Its a nice big-small town. I think it gets a lot of tourists because its the biggest city around. We also went to the Arron Islands (actually just the biggest one Ish Mor) off the coast, one of the last places wher people still speak Irish as a first language. Here's some key highlights. I would like to apolozie to the Arron Islands as I know that I have spelled everything there wrong.

-Ran, I mean sprinted, I mean pushed through a door, to catch a train.
-Listened to traditional Irish music in a pub. Funny because all the locals know the words and the tourists don't
-Went to a club to find that almost all their pop music is the same as ours.
-Stayed in a hostel for the first (and second) time
-Leaned out over a 200-300 foot high cliff
-visited a beehive (that's the picture in the upper right). It's one of the oldest homes in the Arron Islands.
-Was really shocked at how life on Arron really has only gotten a lot of modern convineces in the last 40 years or so. Yet at the same time life expectancy is around 80.

Back in Dublin:
-Had an aweful and grossly overcomplicated move that resulted in getting a much better room.
-Watched the World cup final, surronded by the large numbers of Itialinans who seem to flock to Dublin in the summer.
-Was asked if I had come to Ireland to defect

I am sure more interesting things will follow. Currently, I am really excited to take our tour of Parliment tommorow.

First week pictures

Hi all,

I got my computer access at Trinity, so now I can get some pics up on the web. The one one the right is one of my favorite pictures so far. It's from the monastic settlement at Glendelock (The Glen between two lakes). The second is a friend Julie and myself out by the ocean at the town of Bray about 10 miles out of Dublin. The picture in the upper right is a Statue from the Powerscourt gardens, its a really beautiful place. Also if you look at the background in all the pictues you should be able to get an idea of the amount of sunshine in Dublin thus far. It does look like the weather may start to improve a bit though.

Checking in from Dublin

Hi all,

I have finally found just a bit of time to sit down at a computer. I have been in Dublin now for 5 days. It has been a great experiance so far. I have gotten to meet many people from the program, altough I am still struggling to remember everyones' names.

There hasn't been too much of a culture shock yet, well except for the weather. I has been in the mid 60's since I arrived and has rained constantly since Saturday. Literaly, it rains all the time because it just mists continously. So while I have not experianced and Irish downpour, everywhere I go I just feel damp.

One of the oddest things is seeing everyone drive on the left (or wrong) side of the road. It makes crossing the street a bit more perilous. Fortunately, many of the crosswalks in the city center have "look right" or "look left" printed on them because you have to look the opposite direction for oncoming traffic. I have yet to figure out if this odd driving causes people to walk on the opposite side of a sidewalk, mostly because all the streets are very busy and no on seems to be divided up real well.

I wish that I could post some of my pictures but the computers at the school we are at now won't acept my camera. Hopefully when we move to Trinity College I can post a few. We were supposed to be a Trinity the whole stay but were moved to University College Dublin for 2 weeks. UCD has a nice campus but its about 3 miles out of the center so we essentially have a curfew due to the bus, unless I split an often difficult to find taxi (which are almost never called cabs here).

I took a trip this weekend to a 6th century monastary at Gledelock that had amazing mountian views. There was also a stop at Powerscourt, a huge mansion with acres and acres of magnificant gardens. Have to go get ready for a theatre (that's right- just how the Irish speel it) trip tonight.
Peace

Day -1 Packing tension and The "scourge" of plastic bags

Today is the final day before I leave for my trip. I realized today that while a piece of luggage may seem huge when its empty, it fills up a lot faster than one would think. I am going to get by for seven weeks on about a week's worth of clothes. I may have to do laundry more often than expected.
I can't belive that I am finally off to Dublin, Ireland. I can't wait to get there. At the same time I am a bit apprehensive about flying on my own. I am sure that I will make it out ok but being a first-timer to international travel my nerves are getting the better of me.

On a much funnier note, an article in today's Irish Independent, entitled "Cost of plastic bags to rise 4c" reveals a level of government control that even the US government wouldn't yet dream of trying. The article (http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=9&si=1637244&issue_id=14232) begins by stating:

THE plastic bag levy will rise to 19c this summer.
Shoppers will have to fork out the equivalent of a 26pc hike at the till. Bags currently cost 15c.
The Government move comes after the scourge of the Irish countryside started to make a comeback.
Some stores had stopped charging the levy and were giving plastic bags out for free.
Shoppers are expected to pick up some 130 million plastic bags this year.
Environment Minister Dick Roche has instructed his department to bring in the increase, the Irish Independent has learned.

Seriously, the government has a tax on the plastic bag. I was floored to find that out. The article continues to describe how plastic bags are a horrible thing for landfills in the country. I guess thats one of the problems with being a small island, there is not place to put garbage. Unlike Michigan where we are actually selling Canada garbage dumping space, Ireland seems to be running out of places to dump. Beyond the fact that such a tax exists, it generates about 20 million euro a year for the Irish government. While I recognize that I don't have an in-depth knoweldge of the Irish political scene, I think I am qualified to say that a tax on plastic bags is plain outragous. Taking "sin" taxes to a whole new stratosphere, I guess its wrong to not carry your groceries by hand.

Well, at least I won't have to worry about hearing "paper of plastic?". Instead it will be "Would you like to buy a plastic bag?"

Day -5

Began packing a bit today. Trying to get everything in order so that leaving happens as a good experiance and not a horror.

I got myself a guide to Dublin this week. Trying to skim it before I go to get some idea about the city I will be spending 6 weeks in while I study.

I have been checking out some contemporay Irish music online tonight. I just guess that the musical scene always gives a good impression of a place. So far I recommend, Bell X1 (http://www.bellX1.com) and the Frames (http://www.theframes.ire). Both are softer rock but seem to have good sound. I recommend listening to " what happens when the heart just stops" off of the Frames Set List album. The mp3 file has a moderately funny intro story that is just interesting because it gives a ok look at the dialect.

Day -8

Only eight days until I leave for my trip. I cannot believe its that soon. As of now, I feel very unprepared but equally excited. I realized from getting questioned about it that I don't now a lot of information about Dublin. I have been trying to get a taste for the city over the web and by perusing various travle guides at book stores. I need to get a map of Dublin before I leave.

I have also been reading as much of the Irish Times (http://ireland.com) as I can get for free. I have noticed a lot of odd spellings in that paper, including "organisation."

A good education story in the Irish Times today (http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/breaking/2006/0613/breaking80.htm) was about Orange Parades. These parades hosted by the Orange Institution, or Orange Order, celebarate the existance of this Protestant group. The organisation (note new spelling) has been accused of anti-Catholic sentiments and its demonstatrations have often led to tensions in Ulster, the Irish city where their events capstone. Some members boycott St. Partick's Day by wearing orange rather than the traditional green. The Irish government decided this week not to prohibit such parades.

Before setting out

I intend to use this Blog to track my summer trip to Dublin, Ireland. I hope to use the Blog to keep in touch with family and friends back home while I am away.