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.