School and Parliament

Monday was a pretty crappy day all together. Not that anything serious just kind of a lousy day. 

The first two buses drove by, I was late for school, did the wrong reading, found out that they changed the dates of the Paris trip so not only will Laurel and I not be in Paris at the same time, but we can't go to Dingle now... LA-AAAME!!! Oh and I was ironing my white shirt and someone must have burt something on it because when I steamed the shirt black soot shot all over it. 

This I must say has been the only bad day, and bad though it was, I think the fact that I've had a amazing 26 day run is pretty impressive. 

Today was good.  My bus broke down on the way to the Dail, but there was another bus behind it and I got to work on time. Work today was really interesting. I researched what the Irish delegation had to say at the UN General Assembly and made up critics and responses to what they had to say. That was pretty cool. Then I looked up what the Minister of Foreign Affairs - what my guy would be if his party was in power - discussed at a recent EU meeting and thought of questions for my TD to ask him in the Dail. 

The Prime Minister was in the Dail today answering questions about a huge thing that the Financial Regulator guaranteeing all deposits in Irish Banks. The opposition dug into the poor guy. He didn't do much in the way of answering questions, but its not as if the guys asking them did a very good job. 

Got home for an excellent chicken dinner! Ann had to leave so she said I could make my own cup of tea and asked if that was ok. I said no, I've become to a certain level of spoilage. We both laughed. 

Ok TV TIME! 

London Calling

What a weekend! 

Woke up early early early - 3:40 to be exact - friday morning to catch the 5:00 bus to Dublin Airport to get there by 6 for my 8:00 a.m. flight to london. three hours in travel for an hour flight... I just don't understand mass transit anymore. 

Laurel was still at work when I got there, so I decided to walk around. She had given me a list of places I could go for free. So I headed off to Buckingham Palace from the train station that took me from the airport to the city. It was beautiful. The best part was I got there right for the changing of the guards. I got a place right in front of the big gates. A brass band played some classical songs and then played a 007 medley! Then the red coats formed a marching band square and marched out one side of the rotunda followed by a drum and flute corps that went around the other side. Then the guards marched out and new guards marched in. It was quite the scene. 

Then I walked down the mall past St. Jame's park, which is this huge park by the palace. Ended up at Parliament/Big Ben, The London Eye (giant ferris wheel), and Westminster Abbey. It was beautiful. Couldn't have had a better day out. Then I went to Laurel's Flat. I got off the Tube stop ok, but got horribly lost. She lives in south Kingsington, which is probably the wealthiest part of the city. It's the area next to Hyde Park. She wasn't home yet so I hung out with her roommates who are amazing. When she did get home we stayed for a bit and then she showed me around. We went to the Victoria and Albert Museum (free and open till about 12:00am) and saw Harrods which is this crazy Dept. Store where you can buy everything... literally everything, for example and elephant if you so desire. The next day we slept in. Went to Camdon Lock Market which is a big hippie/punk market. SoHo, Liecster SQ (times square of London) The book store capital of London (no idea what the name is) China Town and then back to the parliament, the Buckingham, and the abbey because my Camera wasn't working the day before. 

The big news though is that we went to Kings Cross Station and visited PLATFORM 9 3/4!!!!!!!! (Harry Potter Reference for those non nerds out there) They have it labeled as well as a luggage cart that is half going into the wall... needless to say a must do photo opp. 

That night we were exhausted and I had to be up early for my flight back so we made a pizza and stayed it. Also ate Aero Chocolate - best chocolate in the world. It's full of holes in the middle which makes it look like a wafter, do not be fooled it creamy and melts in your mouth. 

Today Ann wasn't home until late, and she locked a door we don't have a key for so we came back late. I went to Phoenix Park - the giant park in Dublin, with two friends and then wen out for one of their birthdays.

Got back home and there was a girl in the house! Who KNEW! Apparently Ann's nieces (two of them in nursing school) stay here during the school year. She didn't feel the need to tell us though. Needless to say I was a bit surprised  when I walked in, and the young girl I though through the window was Amy was not. There names are Parissa and Laurie. They both seem really sweet. Parissa is a first year nursing student, and Parissa is starting her third year. I told Ann I'm going to have to hang sports memorabilia all over my room to assert my man hood in, what has now become, a hen house. 

Great weekend overall. Time for a long awaited, what will be much to short of a rest. Night 

My First Day

Hey All

Just got done with my first day in the office. My TD is great. We didn't talk much cause he was on the Dail floor all afternoon, but he seems like a great guy. 

He doesn't have a secretary or an assistant like a lot of the other TD's so he's busy all of the time. Litterally has two phones going and talking to me all at once. I made country profiles all day, filed some things and read, highlighted and then filed news paper stories that might be relevant. 

He tried to have me look up a speech that he gave but neither one of us knew how to look it up using the search thing the Dail has so I failed there. 

Pretty calm day over all. He said he's going to have some kind of project for me next week, we shall see. 

I'm going to London tomorrow morning! I'm SOOOO EXCITED! Seeing Laurel will be great. Her flat mates sound great fun. I'm excited to see where she works too, hopefully I can get there. 

More later 

-Will

P.S. I rocked out my three piece 10 dollar suit today! Dressed to kill

Exploring Alone is Great... Until You Get Lost

Today was my last tuesday off before my internship so I planned to go to Killmanum Goal, Phoenix Park, Dublin Zoo, Arbor Hill, and if time the National Gallery.... This did not happen. 

I woke up late. Then I got off my bus walked three miles to the Gaol (from now on Jail) and promptly got lost for another hour and a half, walking about another three miles in circles. I asked for directions like 8 times but not once did they get me the three blocks away that I needed to get (I swear on my life that the map I had was wrong! If I had any drive I'd write to Lonely Planet).  

I eventually gave up and decided to walk to Phoenix Park. On my way to what should my wondering eyes should appear? But a 18th century prison! Just what I was looking for. 

Killmanum (Sp?) Gaol (Pronounced Jail) was built sometime in the mid 18th century. It was then rehabbed in the mid 19th century. It housed just about every rebel in modern  Irish history from 1798-1926. Crazy stuff. If you've seen the original Italian job or Michael Collins you've seen the jail. It's amazing. The tour pretty much was the best history lecture I've had yet!  Getting to see the place where so many people I've learned about spent so much time - not to mention the 9000 held there during the famine ( this in a space that was meant to house 200) - was incredible. It really gave life to history. 

The creepiest part of the whole tour was after going through the inside of the prison they brought us out into the yard. They had it subdivided into three sections. The first was for women and children, the next the mens exercise yard, and then the stone breakers yard. 

What really freaked me out was that the second I walked into the stone breakers yard I felt like my soul was going to die. I mean the jail itself isn't uplifting but this was crazy. Then I found out it was where the leaders of the Easter 1916 rising were executed. They were all executed by firing squad. They had two little black crosses in the yard opposite of each other. They marked were they all had been shot. 

 

The Easter Rising was bound to fail, in fact it was meant to. It was a blood revolution meant to spark the revolutionary spirit in the people. It didn't really work though. They had managed to destroy most of Dublin and there were a lot of civilian causalities. It would had failed for it not been for these executions. 

The british, instead of killing them all at once, decided to make an example of them. They killed one or two a day for about a week ending in James Connolly. James had been shot during the battle and was bleeding bad. He was going to die from blood loss, but the British wanted them to die on their own terms. Problem was that English law demanded that a prisoner couldn't be executed unless they were in perfect health - kinda vindictive if you ask me. So they attempted to nurse him back to health but by the end of the week it was clear that James was going to die. So in the middle of the night they brought him to the stone breakers yard on a stretcher because he was too weak to walk. They tied him to a chair because he was too weak to sit up by himself and twelve british soldiers fired, breaking every humanitarian rule of the day. 

The public was out raged. Had the long drawn out executions not been enough, this caused an out rage that lead four years latter to all out war ending in independence eight years six years latter. 

I walked about a mile and a half to their grave (they were all thrown in an unmarked mass grave afterwards). The Irish Government now has a big thing. It's called Arbor hill. They have a big raised paved surface with flowers running up the sides with a green patch in the middle where they are buried. On one side of the grave are their names in Gaelic the other in Irish. Then there's a giant wall behind them with the text of the proclamation they read that day declaring independence in Gaelic and in English. 

Walked back home afterwards - another 2 miles to the bus. thought I might die when I got back home. I hadn't eaten so I was starving and my legs were killing me. Ann made me a great dinner though - lasagna, fries, and triffle for desert. 

I meet my TD tomorrow!!!! Can't wait 

Night

TD Assignment!

FINALLY!!!! I GOT MY TD!!!!

His name is Billy Timmins. He's the Fine Gael rep from county Wicklow. The director of the program is very good friends with him and says he's one of the nicest people that there ever has been. I've researched him a little and he seems like a nice guy. 

He served in the millitary around Ireland and then also in Lebanon and Cyprus. His dad was a TD and when he abandoned his seat, Billy - one month away from getting an Army Pension - gave up his army job to run for his dad's place. He was the spokesman for defense, housing, agriculture, food and humanitarian aid in the past. Currently he's the Fine Gael spokesman for Foreign affairs. He seems like a pretty nice guy and that we'd agree on most things. 

Fine Gael traditionally is socially liberal and economically conservative, but since they've been out of power for so long they've become more economically liberal. Him especially it seems like. 

What is really cool about him is that yesterday I read in the paper that he is trying to get Ireland to work towards the Millenium Development goals. I've done a lot of writing on them, pretty much they're to work to alleviate poverty in the poorest areas of the world. Not so much focusing on the poor, but on the desperately poor, those who survive on less than a dollar a day and make up around 1/5th of the world population.  I think my work in Kenya and with IOU will be a huge help here. Last night I sent an e-mail to the program director saying that I read this article and I thought it would be a good TD placement for me, and today he said he agreed, and that in fact he had all ready paired him with me. Hopefully I'll be able to work a lot for him!

That's about all for today 

Tyronne!!!!!

Well it may be possible that I've watched more sporting events in this country in the last two weeks than I have in months in the states. Today was the All Ireland Gaelic Football final. Tyrone from the north vs. Kerry from the Republic. What a game! 

We all met up at about 1:30 on Grafton St - the Michigan Ave of Dublin - and saw the most amazing street performers ever. These two guys named the English Gents. They wore suits and did crazy acrobatics like one handed handstands on a guys head and ridiculous stuff like that. Look them up on youtube. 

Then we headed out to watch the game at a pub nearby. It was awesome we went to this little whole in the wall filled with fans from each team. It was out of the way so everyone there was Irish. The game was tied up the whole time until the last 3 minutes when Tyrone pulled ahead by three points. Incredible.

Came home and had Salisbury steak mashed potatoes green beans carrots and apple tart (I don't know what I'm going to do when I go home). 

Other than that I took the best nap ever! I'm going to London on Friday to see Laurel. That should be wonderful. Hopefully I'll be able to see her place of work. Just to brag for a moment, she has already produced original material for the website. Two pieces that she has written have - because of so many views - popped up on the MSN UK home page! Most staffers don't get that kind of success, it is literally unheard of for interns. Just saying. 

Ok time for bed, I've got to be learnin' tomorrow

Groddy Weekend

WOW. 

OK so yeah it's been a few day's since my last post - seems to be a recurring theme. So MUCH HAS HAPPENED SINCE THURSDAY!!!! I Can't believe it's only saturday. 

So Thursday morning I woke up took a shower and got ready for my first day at parliament - or as they call it here the lienster house. 

I got there early so I took a walk in St. Steven's Green which is one of the big parks here. It is giant and gorgeous. Dublin has the nicest parks of any city I've been to. They really are the highlight of the city 

We don't have our TD's yet, but we got a tour from this really amazing little old man who knew everything that you could ever hope to know. For example the house was built in 1750 I think, maybe 60's. But its architect also designed the White House. This being said he more or less changed the name on the blue prints and sent them to Washington and won the contest, so I'll be working in the West Wing..... 

Security is extreemly lax. I got my ID card which gets me access to pretty much everywhere except for the TD only pub as well as the floor of the Dail. The police officers in Ireland don't cary guns. Its amazing, but I hadn't realized how many fire arms I see in the corse of a normal day. I understand crime is a bit different in the states, but I think it adds to the general sense of uneasiness and police stateness (not a word)  that helps to encourage crime. Enough of my ramblings though. 

When we got done with our tour I was told that I and four other students had an interview with a TD. His name is Leo something. He wasn't there but he's a member of the party Fine Gael. They are financially conservative and liberal in their social views...kinda. I say kinda because parties here are not the same as back home. The "party line" doesn't exist in the same way so politicians are much more diverse in their beliefs within a party. He wasn't there so his assistant and secretary interviewed us. The last intern they had more or less wrote a report that made big news last year about streamlining government. It sounds like if I get the gig I'll be doing a load of work! This could be the first time I'm excited to be overloaded with work. The TD is one of two members of the Dail who support John McCain. They said that he's obsessed with American Politics and loves to debate with his interns, so should be great - if stressful. I think I interviewed well, I've been listening to the Irish news every morning and watching it at night so I was the only one who had any idea what was going on in the country - but the others had a lot of experience and quite honestly would be better picks. I'm not to concerned though. I'm hoping to get some crazy left wing kook job independent that I can write speeches for. 

After the interview we went for lunch at the place in the Lienster House. It was great and cheap. Then we went and explored Christ Church. It was beautiful. Its been around since the 12th century. Strong Bow - the first englishman on the island - is buried there. There's a wall from the 1100's still intact. Then they have the catacombs filled with tombs and more artifacts. They have the gold plates that William III of Orange received when he got to Dublin after beating King James at the battle of the Boyne in 16 something. There's a cat and a rat that ran into one of the organ tubes and were found a century later mummified!  

We meant to go to Dublin castle, but thought we'd grab a bite to eat at a pub on the way. We ended up staying for too long and missed the tour. It was a local place were no Americans - and for that mater Australians - go to, so the locals loved us. This one guy kept on come us and telling us jokes. None of us could understand a word though, which was hilarious, if not uncomfortable. He told one about fred flinstone in Ireland for about 15 min and I got five words out of it. 

We went to one of the kids apartments to hang out afterwards, missed the last bus so we stayed. 

The next morning I was a mess. In the same clothes I had been in the day before, without a shower I went out - Keep in mind the undershirt I was wearing for my suit that had been put in my bag and was now being used as a T-Shirt had previously been worn -! We went to school for free breakfast, ended up staying four hours (I'm sure the tea ladies hate us). Then we went out and my nose started to bleed adding to my general good looks at the time (the blood stained t-shirt was a nice touch).  We went to Dublin Castle and had the greatest tour guide ever. She was hilarious and full of facts that my first tour guide didn't give. For example Bram Stoker was an accountant at Dublin Castle, and it was while slaving away on taxes he go the idea for, and began writing, Dracula. 

We went back to the apartment and  then went out to the Lienster Vs. Connegut  rugby match. It was great fun. We had amazing seats and the game was played amazingly well. The crowed was so into it. The best part though is that the guy from the pub who told us the jokes - his name it turns out is "Big Tony" - WAS TAKING OUT TICKETS IN OUR SEATS!!!! Then to top it off I went to the bathroom and the guy who was guarding the field at the Camogie final was guarding the bathroom! I said 

"Hey were you at the camogie final last week?" 

he said "yeah" 

I said "remember those two crazy Americans who sat in the rain two rows back?" 

Then he lost it and we laughed for about five min. I have a great picture of him to go along with the one that I took of him jokingly at the camogie final. 

We left the game and I was starving. Then I did possibly the grossest thing I've ever done. I ran up to a the condiment stand took a hand full of fresh onions, put a bit of ketchup and mustard on them and ate it. Surprisingly not that bad, but none of my friends wanted to speak to me after. Got back home at about 11 and Ann made horrible fun of me for being gone for two days and coming back with a blood, onion, ketchup and mustard stained shirt. 

This morning at 6:30 I woke up and went out to Co. Mead. Me and five others went to New Grange, Knoth, Hill of Tara, and Trim Castle 

We went to Knoth first after driving through the countryside for half an hour. It is so beutifull here. If anyone is interested in a summer cottage there are some for sale, I'd be more than willing to be your grounds keeper. Just, you know, throwing it out there. 

Knoth and New Grange are stone age era burial chambers. They predate the pyramids at Giza by about 1,000 years. 6,000 B.C. to be precise. In case you were wondering....THATS REALLY OLD!!!!

Got to go inside both of them, which was amazing. Knoth was much bigger and we got to go on top. The view was fantastic. It has two chambers on the inside, one aligned with the winter solstice sunrise, and the other for sun set. It's the only one in the world with two chambers. Pretty much rocked my world 

New Grange is by far more famous. It is giant with huge white rock sides. They take you inside and turn off all the lights, and despite having no door it is complete darkness because of the way it was built. It was built about 11 thousand years ago but it hasn't shifted a bit on the inside. In 11000 years it has never once leaked! They turn off all the lights at one point and then recreate what it is like during the winter solstice. To think that people engineered this so long ago and it is still functioning just as it did as when they build it is mind boggling. 

After that we went to the Hill of Tara. It is where the old High Kings of Ireland - so pre Henry II -  were crowned. It now doubles as a sheep pasture, so it's covered in sheep poo.... not sure how to feel about that. It was really cool though. It's all raised earth like in south america. 

Then we were off to Trim Castle. It's the biggest and oldest castle in Ireland. Also happens to be where brave heart was filmed. It was really really cool. We got to climb all over the inside of the castle which was great. 

Ok bed time. The All Ireland Gaelic Rugby game is tomorrow. Tyrone vs. Kerry. Kerry wins all the time, and Tyrone hasn't been in for years. Tyrone is now my team!

Well more later  

Oh What A Night

So tonight has been my best night in Ireland so far. I found what I was looking for. 

Today we had classes for the first time (the rest were intro). On Wednesdays we have history and lit. Our new history teacher is ok, but not nearly as cool as Aiden the dwarf. Then we had LIT. I love our lit teacher. We read some Yeates poems, and I think for the first time I truly appreciated what poetry is and can be (as corny as that sounds.) 

After school we went to Merion sq. It's a really famous part in the "Georgian" part of the city. There's a famous statue of Wilde there that we took pictures with. It was absolutely beautiful. 

I went shoe shopping b/c my shoes have a tear in them! But now I have pretty black dress shoes so that is good

After dinner we went out for Irish music in Dun leary (correct spelling nothing like that but in Gaelic) It took us a wile to find but it was worth it. It was in the basement of this little place in a residential neighborhood. It was filled with smoke from the fire and was the only warm dry place I've been in since I've been here. It was a little pub were locals get togeather to jam - more or less - in traditional music. The best part of then night was when this old man - who looked a lot like Grandad - got up to sing a song. He had the most beautiful voice, never heard anything like it, just the sound of it pulled on your heart strings. He sang this song about the magic of music and unrequited love. The two lines I remember are "well do you know are don't you, that I'll be thinking of you, when I walk along the valley and sing this song" and - this is my favorite - "the magic in the music is in the note that lingers on." FANTASTIC!

Molly - a girl from our group whose dad was born here - got up to sing a song and the Irish were flored. They came up and were like "I had no idea that could come from the likes of ya'" She rocked the house! 

I get to go to parliament for the first time tomorrow, so I'm going to try and sleep. 

night 

TD Day

Hello All, 

So today was pretty much a day centered around leaning about what being in parliament will be like. We spent the morning learning about the parties and what not, had economics after that, and then an old MP came to talk to us about parliament.

 The two main parties are shoot offs from the Civil War in 1922. Fine Fail was the anti-treaty side and Fine Gael was the anti-treaty. Today they still don't like each other but seem to be more or less the same. They are not at all like US parties. Fine Fail is socially conservative but liberal. 

There is also the Labor party which is liberal in every way and the oldest party in Ireland, they represent the working man (though they're often called salmon socialist because they're all rich). 

Then there's the green party which for what ever reason is in coalition with fine fail despite their conservative edge

Finally there's Sinn Fein headed up by Gerry Adams. They are famous for their ties with the IRA though they "deny" it. They used to be fervently socialist, but today are moving left.

There was the Progressive Democrats who broke away from fine fail after being disgusted  with the corruption. They were started by a woman the girl I'm living with is friends with - Mary Hearny - they didn't fair to well in the last election though. Only two of them got elected and one of them is thinking about switching parities. 

Out of 166 members there are about 6 independents, I'm hoping to be placed with one of them because they need the most help, which means I could be writing speeches!!!! HOW COOL!!!! I guess a girl last year had hers recorded in the permanent record of the parliament here and was credited for it!  

We had an old MP come in today to talk about what it would be like. She ended up talking more about how much she loves america and how obsessed Ireland is with the election. They call us their 33rd county. They were very pro-clinton here because of all of the work he did in the north. I hadn't realized what all she did, but I guess Hillary actually did a lot of work with the women of Northern Ireland while Bill was working on the Good Friday agreement. 

There are a lot of little things that come up in politics in the states that have huge impacts over here that I didn't even realize. For example Barack had mentioned in the primaries that he might end the US envoy to Northern Ireland. There was a huge out cry with a lot of Irish Americans and he had to take it back. 

Also apparently there are a lot of illegal irish immigrants in the states because of all of the visa's from the 80's are running out. I had no idea 

We got two dogs today that Ann is sitting. Sparky and Moe. Moe is really old and crazy... literally I think he see's things. They're only here for a bit though 

ok well time for bed 

The Weekend of the Gael

What a weekend! 

I went downtown after Ann made me full Irish Breakfast sans black and white pudding. Eggs, ham, sausage, bread, tea and milk. SOOO GOOD! 

Downtown I picked up the "heritage pass" for 8 euro. It gets me into like every historical site in the country so its a great buy. I walked up the road for about 3o min saw christ cathedral, four courts, the mayors office, the Jamison distillery, a bunch of really cool building, and then made my way to the Guinness Store House to meet up with the group. I downloaded a bunch of walking tours for free so I'm gonna try and do that this week when I have time off. 

The store house was great! Very very cool, you got to touch all the ingredients, lean about the history and the process of making guinness. And it looked AMAZING. Very interactive and new. At the top they have a bar that's all glass that is about 15-20 stories up, which is saying something cause almost nothing in the city is more that five stories. the view was incredible. Hills on one side, the Irish Sea on the other, and in between the best view of the city ever. 

Afterwards we got pizza and hung out at one of the Australians apartments. Learned a lot about Australia which is cool. It was nice to hang out with them cause the four Australians have kinda stuck together. 

Chris was telling us that in the desert if your riding a motor cycle and an emu sees you they'll chase you down and peck you until you are going slower than they are cause they get jealous. I guess about one guy a year dies by emu! Spiders that kill you in 10 seconds run rampant. Not to mention the constant fear of a stray boomerang. Clearly Australia is way to dangerous for the likes of humans. 

We went out to go hear a band play traditional Irish music. They were fantastic, the entire place was dancing and what not. Great fun, if packed. 

Today was ridiculous. I stayed in the city because we missed the busses last night - they stop running at 11:30 here. Evan and I met up and went to the camogie match (women's hurling). It was the All Ireland Final. All of the Irish were making fun of us this week because no one watches the game at all. I don't know why cause they rocked. Not nearly as good as the guys last week, but they were also about half their size. Vicious i'll tell you, there was an injury about every 5 min. Part of me thinks it was just to get a rest though cause the medics would run out all concerned and sometimes they would literally like pat a girl on the leg and they'd get up and run. 

The stadium is HUGE. Brand new a few years ago, state of the art everything. Because no one was there we got second row seats, could have had first because there was no one there - it was raining so everyone but the dumb americans was taking cover. Great game though, neck and neck to the end. Naturally though, being cubs fans Evan and I chose the loosing team - hard to teach an old dog new tricks. 

Came back and Ann made me diner - god I'm spoiled.  

Then we had to write a paper for our director so he can place us with the right TD's (senators back home). It had to be hand written though, allegedly to see how we work without spell check. Naturally I typed mine and copied it down.

Well now it is too late and I must sleep

night

School, School and More School

Sorry once again about not posting, I swear the hours between diner and bedtime (when I usually post) just don't exist in Ireland. 

We've been going to school for the last two days and all of our professors are amazing. Two days ago we had Irish Society, Irish Politics and Irish Lit. All of them fantastic. 

Our professor for Irish Politics is hilarious!  First of all he looks like a flamingo (minus being pink). He's about 6'4'' with really long stick legs, a bell that sticks out, a small little chest, long neck and a longer face with a hook nose. He's also filled with Irish wit. Every time he brings up the US he rips the Bush administration apart, I think not so much because he hates Bush (which he does) but just as much to goad the US students. 

Our Lit professor is astounding. I haven't had a lit class since about sophomore year of high school, so this is a new experience. He gets so into the material, and the way he speaks is like reading a book. The best part is though that he opened up class with a reading from, wait for it... THE COMMITMENTS!!!! One of my favorite movies, apparently also a book. If you're not familiar its about a bunch of poor north side Dubliners who start a soul band, because they're the blacks of Dublin, hilarious. To have this read by a Irishman was the end all be all. 

Yesterday we had Aiden - the short little history guy whom I love - teaching us about Norther Ireland. The Troubles are moving to learn about when an Irish-American lectures on them, when an Irishman who lived through them, knows people who lost their lives, their homes, their family's  who experienced war everyday for  30 years, it's heart breaking. 

A bunch of us went to Dalkey last night, which was great. It's like the Beverly Hills of Dublin. Bono, Enya, and a few others live there. I really like the group of students I'm with. We're meeting up today to go around the City which will be great. 

I booked flights to London and Edinburgh yesterday to see laurel and to travel to scotland with her. It's going to be great fun! 

More later 

Last two day

Hey everyone! 

Sorry I didn't have the chance to post yesterday, we only have one adapter here and my host mate, Amy, was using my charger to talk on the internet with her boyfriend (I thought I'd let love overcome the blog for a day). But I'm here now and that's all well and good. 

yesterday we had our first day of class. The program Director is named Michael Murray. He's a wonderful gentle man who is eloquent - as are all the Irish - which makes class a dream. He gave us a basic rundown how how things will be. 

Mondays and Wendsdays we have class until 7 weeks in in which case we only have class on wednesdays. 

On Tuesdays and Thursdays (Fridays if something important is going on) we have our internship at the Dail (Doyle). This year is the first year that Ireland hasn't had explosive growth in 21 years. In fact, they're in recession right now for the first time since then, so none of the politicians no what to do - quite like the States - and are freaking out. They usually have budget due in january, but because of the recession they called it for October. They don't start up till next week, so it's gonna be quick that they get everything worked out. It's the perfect time to be here politically. 

We had intro to Irish history today. It was fabulous. The people here are so passionate about their history - as one man said "it's because we have one" poking fun at how young the US is (we went buy a Cathedral that was finished in 1200, started constriction in the 11oo's, Washington didn't come for almost 800 more years). Our professor was this tiny little man who was the most eloquent speaker i've ever heard. He spoke for two hours without an um or a pause for thought during lecture and i'm not exaggerating. He went really fast too, quoting people and dates without reference jumping 3oo years with a coma and what not. If I didn't have a background in this history all ready, I would have had no idea what was going on! 

After that we went on a city tour of dublin - which I almost missed case they left 15 min later than the schedule said - the tour was amazing. We saw a huge bit of the city, and outer city with a bit of history that was fantastic. We made it up to Phoenix park which is where the zoo, president and american ambassadors home is. The ambassadors home use to be the ruler of Irelands home (the english viceroy) until independence in 1922. The US was one of the 1st nation to recognize the republic so they loved us and when we asked to have the vacated house that the ambassador and his wife saw on a walk they gave it to us for a 100 year lease for 100 dollars a month! 

The city is truly gorgeous. I'm going to go exploring this weekend and take pictures, so that will be nice. 

We came home after the tour for diner - chicken, stuffing, carrots, potatoes,cola-flour , apple tart and ice-cream. I love Ann's cooking. 

Then four of us met up to watch Northern Ireland play Montenegro for the World cup qualifier. We made friends with some Irish and swapped slang and politics. It was great fun, and I can't wait to go back for the next football/soccer match. 

Out for now must read, must sleep

Meeting My Host Family.

The last two days have been quite eventful since my last post. Yesterday was the All Ireland Mens Hurling Final. Let me tell you the streets of Dublin were packed, especially for a sunday. The yellow and black jerseys of Killkenny filled some pubs, but it was the blue and white of Waterford which seemed to be everywhere. Evan, Melissa and I went into a pub named O'Shea's to watch the game with a bunch of Waterford Fans. It turns out that Waterford hadn't been in the finals since 1963. Being the cubs fans that Evan and I are we felt we had no choice but to root for the underdog. Killkenny had won the last two finals in a row, they were no fun. Sadly, Kilkenny dominated in an almost 30 point lead. The commentary was great though, I couldn't understand most of it, but the turns of phrase the Irish use are out of this world. 

After the game  we all went to Melissa's Hostel for communal dinner. 15 of them get together every night to cook dinner. Well, one south African named Matthew Cooks and the rest eat. We had diner for 1.80 Euros which was excellent! Ratatouille and chicken. Eating diner with Italians, Americans, French,Brazilians, South Africans, and Australians is truly an eye opening experience. 

Afterwards 2 italians named Marco and Danielle, 1 Aussie named Nile, 1 Brazilian named Chris, Melissa, Evan, and I went out to Samba in an area called St. Steven's Green. There was a cover charge though so we ended just going to a Pub to play some cards. It's bizarre how many pubs we've been to, but there is almost no other place to go to sit with people in Dublin. 

We went to bed last night, and woke up early this morning to get to our school so we could head out to our home stays. We walked about 3 miles to the School (Melissa didn't think it was too far and we were all too cheap to take a bus). The school seems really nice, the people are good and there's always a free cup of tea or coffee to be had. 

We then got a taxi to our home stay. I'm about a half hour bus ride from school. The woman I'm staying with is named Ann Casey. She's a sweet tiny little old lady whose just retired this past year from nursing. She's not married and doesn't have any children, but lives alone except for when she has students over. 

She lives in a very cute little stone condo with a beautiful back yard. She had to run to Kildare earlier for something so I'm home alone now waiting for the other girl who's staying here. Her name is Amy, I haven't met her yet though. 

Ann has had two students stay with her already, one from Oregon whom she loved, and one from Michigan who she described as "shay musta' been de anti-christ"! Strong words from a little old catholic lady, but she's a spit fire what can I say. 

The neighborhood is full of families and not to far from a college, so it's very nice. Kids from, what I assume from their uniforms, is the nearby Catholic school have been walking by all day. 

Ann is pretty excited about getting me out and about Ireland, she's already looked up bus prices and schedules to Newery which is by Silverbridge and Dingle in the west for me. She's just gotten back from Portugual and before that she was in the west, and before that I think Switzerland from pictures I see around the house. 

Well that's about it for now. Oh by the way, if you are trying to call me from the states don't dial zero after the country code. just dial what ever the code is (i'm not sure) then 8xxxx no zero's. 

I'll post my address at Ann's as soon as I get it from her. This is funny, it's a good thing I didn't bring much clothes, because she gave me 1 drawer and about 1/5th of a closet that she uses that's in my room. She has more clothes and shoes than anyone I have ever met! 

Ok I'm out, later. 

Jet Lagged to the max

So yesterday Evan and I both were feeling the Jet lag pretty hard core so we didn't do much. The night before we had hung out with two girls from Scotland, a girl from Australia and three guys from Belgium - Hostels are amazing in that way. 

Yesterday we walked around the area for a bit, bought towels and cell phones (my number is 087-770-6531). My skype name is wirvin88 if you want to do that.  We caught the 8:45 Step Brothers, which was HILARIOUS! If not completely inappropriate. We ran in to a girl from DePaul named Melissa who's been here for two months. We hung out at her hostel for a bit before going to bed. 

I think we're going to go to Howth on the coast today and see what that is like. We get to meet our host families tomorrow which will be loads of fun. I'm really liking it here. 

Drop me a line some time. 

Back from Lunch

Evan and I just got back from a cute little put that we ate at for lunch. I had a ham, butter and soda bread sandwich - which apparently they call "brown bread" here. Most excitingly though we bought tickets for the Irish Hurling Finals Next Sunday! The tickets for this sunday are sold out, so on the 14th we'll be there, just a little excited. I can't remember who's playing but I wasn't to say it's Cork v. Kerry, this being said my mind is a bit sleep deprived at the moment. 

later gaters 

First Day So Far

So today we landed at about 8:00 local time. The flight was easy - I passed out for most of it. I guess Evan (my friend from DePaul who came with) couldn't sleep a wink. The flight wasn't full so we were able to sit together which was great. 

We took a bus to city center which is about four or five blocks from our hostel. It's poring outside, so everything is wet but ehh such is life ~ and I guess will be until we are state side again. 

The Hostel is great. Its an old wine cellar so everything is old stone and wood. Lots of young people about our age and it seems really clean and nice. There are three other girls from our program already here so we're going to try and hook up with them later. First though a nap is required. We can't get into our rooms for a few more hours so we're still chilling out. The coffee here has nursed back so some semblance of life. This being said, the 8 hour flight was nothing compared to the 24 hours it took me to get to Kayole last summer so it's great in that respect. 

Hope all is well