Ireland Old and New

Ireland has an interesting blend of old and new, which is not found in American culture. On the island Inis Meain everyone, young and old, not only embraced traditions, but integrated the traditions into their everyday lives alongside new-age pop culture. At the pub, the adults were teaching the children the Irish style of dancing in Gaelic, and everyone was enjoying it. In America the little boys would not have wanted to learn how to dance because it is considered too girly, but that is not the case in this culture. Then, during the dance lesson one girl started texting. It was interesting to see someone embracing the past and present at the same time because that does not often happen in the U.S. One of the groups of people in our country who embrace traditions is the Amish, but they hold on to the past in exclusion of the present. Most Americans are opposite, in that they discontinue many “old country” practices, like language and other aspects of their former culture in favor of the greater American culture. It was refreshing to see a people who maintain their respect for the old ways while also accepting newer ones.

Irish traditions were such an integral part of life on Inis Meain that they also seemed to be part of the landscape. The most prominent example of this is the ancient fort on the island. It is called dún chonchúir, and it dates back to pre-Christian times. Evidence suggests that it was in use through the Medieval Ages, so it witnessed around 2000 years of island history, yet the people use it and the surrounding land for cow pastures. In the States, a monument with that kind of history would be protected and sealed off from the rest of the world, and the government would charge people to see it. On Inis Meain, however, I was free to roam around and even climb the walls. It may seem to some that the people do not care about their history if they let cows do their business on it, but the people keep traditions like dancing and language very much alive. Perhaps the parts of their culture that can be brought with them are maintained, while other parts, like buildings that stay put, are left behind.

The West of Ireland

We visited Galway and the Isle of Innismann these past couple of days. I was actually really resistant to leave Dublin because I have fallen in love with the city. I feel like I can navigate Dublin pretty well by now (maaaaybe thats a stretch) and feel pretty connected to it. Overall, Galway was beautiful and much more urban than I imagined. The city was really busy when we arrived and was bustling with activity. The crowd looked really young (college aged) in general, and the public park in the center of the city was packed with people enjoying the warmth and sunshine. I especially loved the market on Galway's main strip. I bartered with a man from Argentina for a silver ring. I talked to him for a bit and he said he came to Ireland to find work. He missed home, but he said he had a much better life in Ireland. Immigration seems to be a really controversial topic in Ireland; some native Irish seem to think that the immigrant population is eroding traditional Irish culture. In ways, this predicament mirrors America's own political and cultural tensions with immigration. However, the problem is magnified because Ireland is such a small country and they have had such strong national traditions with ancient history.
The Isle of Innismann was entirely rustic. Exploring was most fun when we were able to interact with the local people. It seemed that many people left this teeny island in their young adult years, and returned in their older age. Specifically, Sara and I saw a couple of middle aged alcoholic men at the island's only bar. It was sad to see, but rather telling, because there isn't much to do in the form of entertainment on the island. The island was mostly what I expected after seeing a movie about the Aran Islands in class. The stone fences covering the entire island were amazing. They looked like they wouldve taken hundreds of years to make. It was wild to see the sacrifices the people of Innisman made to made the land livable.

If I have ever told any of you what I plan on doing with my life, please discredit everything I said. Going to grad school at Northwestern, living in Chicago with my sister, working for some kind of newspaper, magazine, or other publication-- all of it. What I'm actually going to do with the rest of my life is live in a small, sleepy seaside town in Ireland, just outside of Dublin. There I will spend all of my euros in adorable cafes and write books at the top of my own tower overlooking the water. I'll travel by bike during the day and take a bus into the city by night, and maybe even jump off the rocky shore into freezing water to swim. Yes, life will be perfect.

That said, my favorite part of the week so far has been our short trip to one of the suburbs of Dublin near the sea. We visited Joyce's tower and walked down the shore, which was cold but beautiful. Definitely a great break from the city. Everything seemed so relaxed and quiet there, unlike the crowded streets in Dublin. And while part of me felt like a huge creep for looking at a wax mold of Joyce's head made shortly after his death, seeing his tower was fantastic. It's just unreal being that close to one of the most important writers the world has known. I mean, we even saw his vest and bed!

Don't get me wrong, I love Dublin, but having a short change of pace was refreshing. I'm hoping our weekend trip west will feel the same way. And, considering the girls received a noise violation the other night, maybe a soothing adventure is exactly what we need.

So I guess the most important things to take away from this post are:

a) I'm going to live in Ireland.
b) Charming sea towns > huge cities
c) I'm a creep. Stalking James Joyce was great and Seamus Heaney is next.

Terty Tree

I decided to rewrite this blog, as my original post was written a little to early in the trip for me to really write something accurate about Ireland. First of all, I LOVE Dublin and Galway, so much so that I think might actually want to live and/or study there sometime in the future. I'm a city girl for sure, but the cities I've been to in American haven't really seemed to capture my interest as well as those in Dublin. I'm not sure exactly what it is that makes them so appealing, it might be the people who are amazing to talk to and they are very welcoming. It was interesting getting to know the people, we met a few..well I guess more than a few Irish boys, who seemed very interested in teaching American girls the "ways of Ireland".
Dublin is a pretty big city, but I was surprised how easy it was to find your way around...at least it was for me. There are a lot of art museums, churches, and other touristy attractions that we were able to visit. I really enjoyed seeing Kilmainham Jail, it was interesting to learn about the history and the fact that it was still standing after hundreds of years Galway is kind of like Dublin, but it's more condensed which was a nice change from the huge city. We went on a Saturday, so there was this cute little street market that I loved. It was fun chatting with some of the local people, however, it appeared that a lot of people were tourists. I was also surprised at how much the girls dressed up to go out to the pubs. I mean girls dress up in America, but this was a little extensive. I don't remember seeing a girl who wasn't in a dress or a skirt, besides Lainey and I. ha. so we felt a little out of place. The guys even dress up, very fashionable men on the other side of the pond. :)
But anyways, I'm definitely seriously considering spending a large amount of time in Ireland so I can see more of the country, and experience more the city life on my own. The Irish people are very proud of their country and it's traditions, however, they are very cohesive and the blending of new traditions through immigration doesn't seem to be as accepted throughout the country. We came across a few immigrants which actually surprised me, I wasn't expecting to see people from Asia, South America, and Africa in a place that I thought was mostly a single culture. I'll talk more about this in my little paper. Cheers :)

Dublin

Hey all,

Dublin has been a blast so far. I can't really think of one particular thing to write about so I'll just write about my general experiences so far. Trinity college was beautiful. The pavements are made out of old cobblestones and the student population seems exciting. The beer here is unbelievable. Even if you don't like beer you would find an Irish beer here that you would enjoy. I've noticed that any tour that we go on the tour guides end up telling you the same things that you're tour guide from another tour just told you. Dublin is surprisingly a very ethnically diverse city. Before I came to Dublin I pictured it as a primarily Irish/Anglo city with only sprinklings of indo-pakistanis and asians. Turns out that their are a lot of different ethnicities living in Dublin. Also, we saw deer in Phoniex park that were the same species as the baby deer that came to lloyd. Thought that was pretty cool.

Joy's Adventures of her First 2 Days

When I first arrived in Dublin I was a bit nervous, since I was alone, but it turned out to be just fine. I met a girl from Canada named Aviva, and we wandered around the city. We saw Christchurch, St. Patrick's, St. Paul's, St. Catherine's, and St. Augustine's cathedrals. We did not go inside them all, as that would be quite expensive, but we took lots of pictures. These churches are also in very different parts of the city, so we got to see a lot of the area, which helped today because I knew where I was at all times. The nice thing about the churches here is that they are the tallest buildings in the area and can be seen several streets away. That helps with directions a lot. In order to fight the jet lag, Aviva and I also strolled down the Liffey River and around the Temple Bar area. We had a nice dinner at a Chinese restaurant before falling asleep in the hostel.

Today I woke up, had leftover Chinese for breakfast, and walked to the apartments everyone is staying in for the trip. Upon returning, I checked out, got into a conversation with the man at the front desk at the hostel, and somehow ended up pointing out the location of the apartments on a map of the city and how to get there so that he could visit his parents when they stay there in a few weeks. Less than five minutes later I was horribly lost. I took a wrong turn on Dame Street and ended up walking with my duffel bag through a deserted residential area of town. I was wandering around for about a mile when I spotted St. Augustine's Cathedral, which I knew was very close to the St. Augustine Apartments. The only problem was that when I turned on to a street I thought would take me there it ended up winding away from the cathedral. Some minutes later I found myself on a street with some interesting graffiti, and then a taxi pulled up and asked me if I wanted a ride somewhere. Then, I looked around the corner and saw the street that the apartments were on, politely declined the taxi driver's offer, and finally made my way to the apartments.

After finding out that check in was not for a while, I decided to walk around the city some more. I walked by St. Aoudin's Cathedral and noticed that it was free admission, so I walked in. When I was looking around the church a nice old Irish woman asked me if I would like a tour. She assumed that the other girl lookning around the church at the same time was with me, so she told us about how it was the oldest church in Ireland (about 800 years old), about its importance in the community, and about all the symbolism found on the monuments. When the tour guide left to get us maps, Roberta introduced herself and we decided to walk around together. Next, we went to Trinity College, down Grafton Street, and around Stephen's Green. She wanted to know all about America, and she told me about Italy as well. Then we went to Temple Bar and shared a pot of Irish tea. After that I met up with the rest of the group, had an orientation, and went back out into the city with them. I'm pretty excited for eggs tomorrow for breakfast, which we got at the supermarket while we were out. We also went to the Brazen Head, which is a pretty old pub and enjoyed a pint of Guinness while the Norwegian choir at the next few tables entertained us with drunken singing (which was still way better than I could ever hope to sing). We saw the Norwegian choir again at a hotel pub later on that featured Irish music and dancing. All in all it has been an interesting experience so far, and I look forward to tomorrow's tour, which features the book of Kells.

we're here!

Hi everyone--

We've just arrived safely into Dublin. Look for daily postings.