It Feels Like Today

Holler people. Can you say WEEKEND?! Can you say one week until SPRING BREAK?! Wowzers.

So much has been going on over here lately. We are slowly getting busier with school work and as I look at the assignments for when we get back from break, I’m starting to realize that some mild stress might be in my future. But hey, that’s what the pubs across the street are for, right?

The rest of the day on Monday was pretty tame. Like I said, we had a Lit Review for our Literature Class Midterm and we turned in our papers for the class. I’m so grateful that we can type our papers and that we don’t have to write them out. Makes things a lot easier. I took a walk down to Tully because it was a fairly decent day and bought a few minor items for the cottage. That night, Jake, Ken and I grabbed a pint at Sammons and chatted, and then we went over to Coynes for the usual Monday live music from Aiden in which Beth again participated. After a while we called it a night and went back to the cottage.

Tuesday during the day, we mostly worked on homework as we didn’t have anything going on until later in the day. Mike and I walked to Tully again to grab a few items in the afternoon. I enjoy that walk a lot. It’s an easy walk and it’s a good way to simply clear my mind or to enjoy someone’s company. Once we got back, we made dinner and then I went to the Study Cottage where I saw an e-mail from Matt that said Jenny was in labor. I quick called Matt to get the details and after a minor panic attack since Matt sounded like he was crying (he had lost his voice the night before) realized that everything was going okay. I got to say hi to the parents really quick and then headed out with everyone to learn some Irish Dancing. The dancing was a lot of fun, but my mind was of course back home with Chris, Jenny, and Carson. I called my dad at the end of the lesson and got some awesome news...I had a NEW NEPHEW! I was so overjoyed, and everyone was extremely happy for me.

After the dancing, we made our way back to the cottages and Mike, Ken, and Jake poured us some wine and we drank to Carson before heading to Coynes to celebrate the little guy’s birth. The three of them each bought me drinks and each cottage bought me a drink as well to celebrate me being an uncle, again. I made a few toasts and thanked everyone who was able to make it out. I think over all, I had at least 10, if not more drinks that night. I had a lot of fun and was so happy and blessed to be able to celebrate that night with my Ireland family. The roommates ended up having a few drinks as well, because later that night all of us went down. Carson John Abid single handedly took down Cottage 7. Kudos to you little man. I can’t wait to meet you.

The next morning was rough to say the least. We were all in rare form as we tried to pull ourselves together and people realized that yes, I was still alive. We pieced the night back together while we attempted to study for our History Quiz which was that afternoon. I think I managed to do pretty well on the quiz, all things considered. I spent the day trying to get information from home regarding Carson and simply trying to seek forgiveness from my body for the night before. That night was pretty low-key and spent studying for our Literature midterm the next day.

Thursday Ken had to wake me up as it was going on 11 and there was still no sign of me in the cottage. I think my body was making up for the lack of sleep the night before. I spent all morning and afternoon studying for the midterm, which I think I did fairly well on…we’ll see. After the midterm we finished the season of Scrubs that I had brought with me. The guys weren’t too happy since there was basically no resolution in the season. I might need to get the next season shipped to me (Mom and Dad ☺ ). After Scrubs we did some of our homework and then some of the students headed to Sammon’s for a pint after a long and academically demanding week.

Today looks to be a “work” day. I’m heading to Sammons for lunch with Mike and then I’m planning to get my presentation mostly finished which is due on Sunday and some other items for the Culture Class done. Saturday evening there’s a double birthday party down in Tully; there’s supposed to be over 200 people there, so that should be a lot of fun. Sunday we have our presentations, Monday is our History midterm, Tuesday is our Literature Class, and Wednesday we head out for Dublin for three days before we begin our Spring Break. I’m booked for Barcelona, Rome, and Paris. Aside from the fact that I have a lot of flying ahead of me and I don’t know Spanish, Italian, or French, I am so extremely excited. The language barriers might be a problem, but we’ll figure it out.

No pictures this time. I’m sure I’ll have another update either before or during Dublin.

Peace. Love. Ireland.

Rob

Cheers To The Freakin Weekend

Hey everyone! Happy Valentine’s Day (or Single’s Awareness Day, whichever you prefer to celebrate/recognize).

Long time no update. I’ll apologize in advance for how long this is going to be.

Going off of my last post, the rest of my day on Monday was pretty low-key. The roommates and I have taken to having “Family Dinner” together and watching episodes of Scrubs (I brought a season with me…go figure). We are slowly working our way through Season 6. After dinner we worked on homework and then went over to Coynes for some live music from Aiden, one of the locals. Beth got up and sang a few songs with him as well. It was a relaxing evening and afterward we all hit the hay.

Tuesday some of us wanted to go for a hike down near Kylemore Abbey. In the mountain behind the castle, there is a Jesus Statue that we wanted to go up and try to get to, so Vaughn, Bailey, Sarah Robinson, Allison (Dr. Dawson’s niece), Bridget, Heather and I set out on our mission. However, the staff at Kylemore Abbey told us that we couldn’t use their trail because it was being worked on and wasn’t safe to hike, so we had to find an alternate route. Heather and Bridget used their common sense and decided to head back while the rest of us hopped barbed wire fences and did some trespassing to get to the mountain. We finally did and we ended up having to hike through the Amazon Rainforest basically. It was a little scary at spots, but we eventually made it out of the forest and continued up the mountain. We couldn’t find the Jesus Statue, so we had to call it a day and resolved to try again another day because it was getting late. We again made our way through the frightening forest and found flat land. The hike took us about six hours and was easily 10-12 miles long. Overall, it was probably both the dumbest and coolest thing I’ve ever done.

That night we had a brief culture class and then Dr. Dawson had a paper workshop with us for a paper we had due for her in her class. We then did homework, or tried to. Most of the night was spent just relaxing in our cottage talking and then we called it a night.

Wednesday I slept in until almost noon because I was worn out from the hike the day before. My legs were extremely tight…no pain, no gain, right? Wednesday we had our history class and then afterward our cottage met with Dr. Duncan to discuss our history presentation. I’m presenting on the jail in Dublin that has been turned over into a museum. I haven’t done much research on it yet, but from what I’ve gathered it was the jail in which most of the people associated with the uprising were kept. We’ll get to see the jail when we go to Dublin next week, so I’m excited. After we worked on more homework, talked, and again called it night. (Starting to see a pattern here?)

Thursday was our Lit class. Nothing special there…We studied poetry from the “Cromwell period.” Cromwell was a ruler who came to Ireland and sort of exiled a lot of the Irish people and took their land from them. The poetry from that era is extremely depressing since it all revolves around Cromwell.

Friday was an interesting day/night. We started off our day hiking Diamond Mountain, something that I’ve been dying to do since we got here. The mountain is part of a national park, so we had a trail all the way to the top, but the hike was still a lot of fun. We reached the top and had a remarkable view of Connemara and the Ocean. After the hike we went to the pub in Letterfrack (where the mountain is located) and had a pint to reward ourselves. The hike took about 3-4 hours, and none of us had much to eat yet that day, so we were pretty well along after one pint. We walked back to the cottage and got things ready for the night ahead. Sammon’s was holding a disco for Gretchen’s birthday which was two weeks prior. That was probably her third or fourth birthday party; I’ve lost count. Anyway, everyone came over to our cottage before we went to the Pub, which was a lot of fun. Rian made another toast which everyone enjoyed. After everyone left our cottage, the roommates and I made our way to the Cottage Café and got some burgers and chips (fries) and then went to Sammons. The students were basically the only ones there, but we made the most of it and danced the night away.

Saturday was a very low-key day as everyone tried to recover from the night before and remember the night before. Most of us worked on homework. My cottage went to the Café again for dinner and then we invited Brittany and Hannah over for some card games and a chill evening.

Sunday I went to church across the road. It’s really convenient. I can wake up at 10:40 for 11:00 church and still be early. I do enjoy going to church over here. There’s not too much music included in the mass which I don’t like, but a different setting helps me to focus more on the mass, so I appreciate it more. After mass, we went over to Sammon’s for brunch. I had the full Irish Breakfast. So much food, but so delicious. After we let our food digest, we continued our Sunday tradition of playing a game of soccer, or football rather. Then we prepared for the Valentine’s Day party that evening at Cottage six. There was so much food; it was so delicious. My stomach was so full. We experimented with some drinks and discovered that Bailey’s and Ice Cream is awesome. Just in case anyone wanted to know. From there we partied in the cottage where too much fun was had and where Ken and I dominated at some games; and then finally made our way to the pub. Overall, it was a much needed night for everyone and a successful night.

Today has been spent primarily working on homework. We had a short review for our Lit midterm which is later this week, but other than that I’ve been doing homework and working on papers. This week and next will be a big test academically before we head on Spring Break. We have both of our midterms, a few papers and my cottage has its presentation due this week. Time to get down to business.

Here are a few pictures from the past week.

This was the view from the top of Diamond Mountain. Minus a little haze, it was a spectacular view. I'll definitely be hiking that again.

From the mountain behind Kylemore Abbey where the Jesus Statue escaped us. Drats.

Cottage 7 Picture during the Valentine's Day party. Note Jake's boxers and Ken's wife beater. We're classy like that.

Check Facebook for more pictures, and I'll have another update before we head to Dublin next week.

Peace. Love. Ireland.

Rob

Life In A Northern Town

Hey everyone! Today is the beginning of week five. We've been in Tully Cross for about a month now. Time really has started to go by rather quickly here.

Our time in the north was amazing. Friday we went to Belfast and saw the town. There were a lot of murals there as well which were interesting to look at. It's so interesting to look at these murals that contain so much history and really display the sentiments during the time of the troubles. After seeing the murals in Belfast, we did a quick loop in the bus of the city and then we had a few hours to explore. We found the mall and I found ANOTHER Starbucks, which accepted my American Gift Card that I had. Downside was that the barista apparently didn't understand that she needed to mix my Iced Mocha for me, so I shook it at her violently to mix it up. I think she got the message... After I got my fix, we went window shopping (I almost bought out an entire store, but I restrained myself). After that we boarded the bus to head back to Inch, had dinner, and then we had a class discussion about everything that we had seen and experienced that week. A lot of us are still trying to process everything. It was so much to take in that it was almost overload, but I can honestly say that I've never learned so much in one week. We had an awesome discussion and worked through some of our questions and general comments from the past week and called it a night.

Saturday we went to Giant's Causeway. It is without a doubt most beautiful sight I've ever seen. According to Irish Legend, there used to be a Causeway that connect Ireland to Scotland. There was a Scottish giant that wanted to fight an Irish hero. The hero duped the giant and scared him away, making him run back across the causeway and as he ran, the causeway crumbled under him and fell into the sea. The view was spectacular. I could have simply sat there and watched the waves crash on the rocks all day long. And, we were just 11 miles from Scotland. I could SEE the country across the ocean. It was awesome.

After the Causeway, we grabbed lunch and did a few more scenic stops on our way back to Inch. Those of us that wanted to go to mass did, and then we returned to an awesome dinner that Tony provided us. Candles, wine, table cloths, and a harpist. It was pretty stellar. I think we all ate our weight in food that night, and then some. The rest of the night was spent packing and playing Euchre until the early hours of the morning so we would be able to sleep on the bus ride back.

Sunday we left Inch around 9 and headed back to Tully Cross. We got situated in our cottages and had some dinner. The guys in my cottage hung out for a few hours before we made our way to Sammons where I spent way too much money, unfortunately. Lesson learned. They played the first half of the Super Bowl and then closed the pub so we didn't get to see the rest of the game, or any of the commercials. Bummer. We headed back to the cottages and called it a night.

Today I went into Clifden with Dr. Dawson, Beth and Heather to shop for our respective cottages. It was quite a mission; I really dislike not having a grill because I don't know how to cook otherwise, but I'm learning. We made our way back and I worked on some homework and then decided to walk down to Tully because the sun was back out! I saw an awesome rainbow over the OCEAN. It was simply amazing. No other words can describe it. After getting slightly rained on, I went back to the cottage, made fish and chips for us and we continued making our way through Season 6 of Scrubs. Tonight's episode was the musical which we found (and I always find) amusing and hilarious. I made a quick visit to cottage 9 and interrupted their dinner and we had some good conversations.

For the rest of the night, I'm planning to get my paper mostly finished that is due on Friday for Dr. Dawson on the novel we just read, and then most people are heading out to Coynes, where I'll be grabbing a cup of coffee so save myself from spending too much money again. Tomorrow a group of people are going for a hike down near Kylemore Abbey again, so I'll be joining them for that, and then Friday we are hopefully going to try to hike Diamond Mountain again. Friday is also Gretchen's Birthday party part three at Sammon's, so that will be a lot of fun.

Here are some pictures from the past week.

This is at the Causeway. Unfortunately, my camera died and this doesn't do the picture justice but I did manage to get a video, so I'll post that on Facebook eventually.

Murals in Belfast.

Our group got to meet the Mayor of Derry. He was the youngest Mayor in the town's history, 27.

That's all for now. I'll put more up on Facebook later.

Peace. Love. Ireland.

Rob

Give Peace A Chance

What up February? That’s weird…

I hope that everyone back home survived the “Groundhog Dump Day Snowpocalypse Death Storm of 2011” and enjoyed any snow days that resulted from the storm. At least the weather peeps got one thing right this year.

This week we have been up in Northern Ireland studying about the conflict of the past forty years and meeting with people who were involved in some way in the conflict or have studied the conflict.

A brief explanation for those not aware: Ireland was under British Rule until the early 1900s. The Easter Uprising occurred in 1916, and then Ireland opted for “Home Rule” which essentially meant that six Northern Counties in Ireland would remain part of the U.K and the southern part of Ireland would be the Republic of Ireland, an independent country. This, clearly, divided the country. The North was mainly comprised of Protestants, and the South with Catholics. The Catholics were mistreated by the Protestants in the North and severely abused. In the 1960s, the Nationalists who wanted a united Ireland took up arms again, and during the next thirty to forty years, Northern Ireland saw much unnecessary violence as Nationalists tried to unite the country and Unionists resisted their attempts. It was a war and it had a profound effect, especially on Northern Ireland.

We arrived in the North on Monday evening and we made our way to the Inch House on Inch Island in Donegal County, a county still part of the Republic. We had a full meal for once, which was awesome, and big rooms with HEAT and fairly good access to Wi-Fi. From there we got acquainted with the manor that we were staying in and went to bed for the night.

Tuesday was filled with lectures from people who lived during the “Troubles” as people in Ireland call the past forty years. We heard from Nationalists, Catholics, and Protestants, and even a man who fought in the war for the Nationalists. Their stories were incredibly moving and eye opening. There’s a lot of hurt and so many recent wounds in this part of the country. We quickly realized that we weren’t in Tully Cross anymore.

Wednesday, we went into county Derry, a county that is part of the U.K. They even use the pound in Northern Ireland; my wallet wasn’t happy. Derry is divided itself. Part of the county is called “Free Derry” because it is composed of Nationalists who didn’t want to be part of the U.K. but would rather have a united Ireland. Derry underwent a lot of Violence during the 1970s. Car bombings were a daily occurrence. Regular street violence was the norm, whether you were Protestant or Catholic. Free Derry built walls around its area to keep the British army out when they were invading the area. We walked around the walls with Jon, a Nationalist who was involved in the fighting. He took us to the area where the first shots during “Bloody Sunday” were fired. Bloody Sunday was a day in which the Catholics and Nationalists of Derry had organized a Civil Rights March, much like the Civil Rights March in America. Yet the British fired shots on the marchers and the Ireland Republic Army retaliated. Fourteen died. The Battle lasted less than half an hour. That walk and talk with Jon was one of the most moving experiences.

Today, Thursday, was spent in Lectures again. Today we learned again about the past century from a different perspective, one that said that the IRA was hugely out of line in their violent efforts for a United Ireland. We were given statistics that the IRA killed more Protestants and British than the Brits killed Catholics and Nationalists. It was interesting and eye-opening in a different way. We also learned about Irish Politics and how their congress and legislature is set up – I’m not going to try to explain that because I couldn’t understand it myself. We also met the Mayor of Derry who seemed like a very genuine person, although the Mayor in Ireland doesn’t seem to do much at all. He’s more of a figure head than anything else. The rest of the night was spent in our Lit class and simply relaxing.

Tomorrow we are heading to Belfast, another area that saw a lot of violence during the Troubles. I’m not sure of our agenda for that day, but if it’s anything like the past few days, I’m sure that it will be amazing. Saturday we head out to Giant’s Causeway, and then Sunday we return to Tully Cross in time for the Super Bowl.

Haven’t put the pictures from the North on my computer yet, so I’ll have pictures next time!

Peace. Love. Ireland.

-Rob