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.