Wednesday June 24, 2009

We had a team meeting in the morning to do course evaluations (the best part of taking a course) and a talk on our cleaning assignments.  Phil had the job to clean one of the downstairs bathrooms, and it was absolutely spotless when we were done- and then someone dripped on the seat.  People have bathroom issues here.  We then had to rearrange our furniture, throw away trash and get all packed up and showered.  For dinner, they set up the tables outside with a tablecloth and pyramid of teacups and Villa Italian catered our dinner.  We had salad, bread, lasagna, and tiramasu with fruit and SODA (which is rare).  It was yummy.  It was nice to be able to be outside since it was in the 70's and sunny.  The Irish say that is is the best summer they have EVER had, ever.   After dinner we sang Irish bar songs and then played a game as a group.  We all got certificates that said we had completed the Irish studies, so I guess I can frame that?

Tuesday June 23, 2009

The poem I wrote here in Ireland.  

How did I come to be in Ireland?

Melinda Roberts

 

It was not the rolling green hills or Leprechauns

That drew me to Ireland,

But that I was once told,

Study abroad, sometime when you can.

 

I feared the weather,

Dreadfully hating rain.

Unsure of the situation,

I hoped I had much to gain,

Through spending my summer far, far away,

In a land that was foreign,

Leaving the comfort of home, warmth, and family.

 

My collywobbles have been absolved,

Off the coast they now reside,

For repose I have now found,

In the country, new friends, not to mention that bouncy van.

 

Oh bangers, oh mash, and what are those? Chips?

You can argue with me that,

For you don’t have to

Rub my fur in the right direction.

 

Wilde the Irish writers: Yeats, Joyce, and Heaney

Who inspired me with their angst.

Round towers and cathedrals remind me of the religious history,

That still affects life and politics today.

 

Oh Ireland, please find peace,

For you are a nation of beauty.

Leave the past behind for

Hope lies in your hills, your shores, and your quays.

 

My time here is short,

It waxes and wanes with the day,

But I rejoice in my sojourn,

A meatpie of a stay.

 

My memories will not be lost in the Shadowlands,

Because they are vivid and lofty.

Goodbye dear Shamrock Island,

May I come back another day?

 

Sunday June 21, 2009

We checked out of the hostel and went to church at The Vineyard.  It was a very contemporary service with really good worship music.  After church we had lunch at the hostel, which was weird because we had already checked out, but whatever.  We then went over to Dunluce Castle.  It was the perfect weather to be exploring a caste, misty and gray.  

It is in good condition, as good of a condition a castle without a roof can be in, but what I liked about it was that it did not feel touristy.  There were a couple of gates and things to keep people safe, but it wasn't overrun with modern things that would take away from the castle.  There was an archery demonstration while we were there that I didn't find all that fascinating.  

We walked down next to the castle and some people went into this cave where water splashes up into.  I didn't climb down 

because it was a dark and treacherous path.  

So then the fun begins.  Our art prof Neil, whom is not well liked because he is sorta arrogant and self-righteous wants to go see the Giant's Causeway, which as you remember we all spent HOURS at the day before.  So we are grumbling and we go and we are like so 20 minutes tops?  We are sitting in the cafe for 40 minutes sketching or staring at the wall and Neil and Mindi come in and we all mobilize, we are ready to go.  But they buy tea and its another 20 minutes.  But its okay because we have hours of homework to drive home to, but no big deal.  Oh and the reason he didn't go the day before was because he was napping!  So we are now really mad and in the bus on the way home and Mindi turns around, not Neil, and says "Neil is really thankful that you let him see the causeway" and we are mumbling, why can't he say thank you?  The tension escalates to a small argument between a student (not Phil or me) and Neil about why he couldn't be grateful etc...  Neil eventually said thank you, but he did not apologize and in his "thanks" he was saying all this stuff about not being attacked, blah blah, and blamed us for being tired, but we were the victims here.  And we still had homework to go home to.  I do not know if my short story really puts this whole thing in perspective, but all this could have been avoided if in the beginning Neil had said, "Look, I was feeling sick yesterday (diarrhea would have been a good excuse) and I would appreciate it if you would let me see the causeway before I leave Ireland.  I will be 20 minutes tops and will not drink tea for 20 minutes."  This in no way occurred and all of us all 17 felt disrespected for having to sit around for over an hour when we were there the day before and he could have easily come along.  We then drove into Belfast and ate kebabs.

Saturday June 20, 2009

We had breakfast at the hostel and then we were off to Carrick-a-rede rope bridge.  We walked quite a ways to the bridge which was originally constructed each year by fishermen to catch salmon.  The bridge seemed pretty safe, but up on the hill it was windy and a little scary to be close to the edge.  It was a beautiful walk to and from the bridge, right up on the coast.  I can't even put into words how wonderful it was, especially since it stopped raining early on.  After sandwiches for lunch, we walked over 5 miles to the Giant's Causeway which resulted from an ancient volcanic eruption.  The walk began on a beach, then we had to traverse over some rocks, and then up onto the hills.  We passed by a huge mansion that was used as a sort of correctional facility back in the day.  Some of the boys spent the walk exploring caves and other cool things, and Hadden was worried about them.  We walked even more down to the Giant's Causeway then climbed on the rock formations, then a long walk back uphill with no shoes on (where were my shoes?).  Hadden bought us all ice cream cones because we had worked up a sweat.  For dinner it was either fish and chips or chicken sandwich and chips and since I had fish and chips the night before I went for the chicken.  Hadden said that we had walked probably a total of 9 miles that day, phew!  After dinner, a very famous Irish artist, Ross Wilson came to talk with us.  He has done many sculptures throughout Ireland and has done portraits of people like Prince Charles and John Keats and had his work in galleries all over the world.  All night Mindi was saying that Phil looked like the Alphabet Angel sculpture that Ross did in the town that we were in, and when we introduced ourselves Ross asked Phil if he knew him from somewhere and then Ross said, you look like one of my sculptures.  He told the best story of being invited to a dinner at Hillsborough Castle to have dinner with Prince Charles and then being invited to Prince Charles' castle in Scotland and everything that happened there.  It was a really great story of eating with Charles and Camilla, going to church with them, and taking a walk with Charles, and not having enough socks.  He is a really good story teller, and he wasn't bragging at all.  He focuses on doing sculptures for communities that have a lot of terrorist activity and para-military action.  He also trys to spread the gospel whenever he can like giving Prince Charles a booklet on C. S. Lewis' conversion story.  We were all in awe of Ross when he left, so we asked for his autograph!  I slept well that night.

Friday June 19, 2009

In the morning we went to Ballynahinch Baptist Church for a scholarly talk on homosexuality, which turned out to be a big waste of time.  The Dr. who was talked to the group sounded knowledgeable but he talked about a whole lot of nothing to conclude with being gay is not genetic.  Then we had like 5 minutes to eat little sandwiches and were off to Bellaghy Bawn where Seamus Heaney, a famous Irish poet, lived and wrote about a lot.  I didn't feel well at all that day and we were all tired and bored and we get to Bellaghy Bawn and are first put in a room to watch a really poorly made movie then up to talk to this Druid women with crazy red hair about her needlepoint work that portrays Heaney's poems.  At least we didn't spend too long there.  Then we drove to the North Coast which is not a town but a place and ate at a nice restaurant called the Cromore Halt.  Most of us had chips with our dinner and our table of 6 used 39 packets of ketchup... ahh Americans.  Talk about injustice, the two other tables had an appetizer, which in Ireland is completely necessary because the food takes forever to come out.  Just when we got the blessing from Billy to order one our food came out.  It was Chris's birthday so we are telling Billy that we need cake, and out comes one piece for her, which is good, but we want chocolate now too.  We are thinking that we won't get any when Billy and Hadden come out with Magnum bars! They are ice cream on a stick covered in chocolate (like the dove bars), but of course better.  They told us to use the bathroom because we were going to be walking around so I did, and Hadden said I needed to see a plumber.  We walked around the coast outside in the rain, which was sorta wet.  The boys were playing hacky sack with some local boys.  We then went to the hostel in Bushmills, which is the town where Bushmill's Whiskey is made on the Bush river.  The hostel was a much better experience than in London.  We had four of us girls to a room with our own bathroom and shower in the room.  The mattresses were similar to concrete and the pillows more closely resembled sheets of paper than anything fluffy, but we made do.  I slept terribly the first night.

Thursday June 18, 2009

We had a leisurely morning mostly doing homework and whatever else.  At 2pm I gave a presentation on John Hewitt that I had prepared for honors credit.  As far as I know it went well and my prof Mindi told me that it was a good presentation, so that is all that counts.  We were supposed to then go over to the John Hewitt Bar that I presented on to read our personal poems that we wrote, but the bar said that they didn't want our big group coming in anymore because they were busy.  We read our poems to each other in the living area, which was a nice experience while sampling Irish chocolate (have I mentioned their chocolate bars here are wayy better?).  A lot of people had really serious poems about the landscape, but Phil and I had sillier poems.  All the poems, though, had to be about Ireland.  Mindi laughed really hard at my poem so I was good with that.  I will post it eventually, but it will probably mean a lot less because you are not here to understand the jokes.  Neil said that he will put together a booklet or online site for all of our poems and some of our sketches.  I hope that actually works out.  We did go into Belfast to pop into the John Hewitt Bar.  It had special significance to me since I wrote a lot about it.  We then had our classic, one hour, to be back to the bus when everything in Belfast is closed because it is after five so really we just wander around for an hour in the mist.  For the record, we did find a really cool store and an Urban Outfitters, so it wasn't a total waste of time.  What is really interesting is that in the times of the Troubles, the IRA used to bomb weddings.  So, not only would that add stress to the bride and groom but also one had to risk one's life to go to a wedding.  For dinner Billy made us pork chops, carrots, brussel sprouts, and potatoes- it was a very Irish meal.  After dinner we watched and Irish comedy called "Everlasting Piece," which was comedic as well as portrayed the Troubles in Belfast in the 1980's quite accurately.  Before bed we had to pack for our weekend away at the North Coast.

Wednesday June 17, 2009

We left at 7:30AM to go to Dublin.  We had a two hour Dubliners tour in the rain.  The tour was really good and I think we all have a much greater appreciation for the book Dubliners by James Joyce, which we read for class.  We went around to the places that were written about in the story and learned a lot about the imagery and writing style of Joyce from our tour guide.  It was raining quite a bit.  For lunch we packed out a sandwich shop called something like O' Something or another.  We then went to a tour of the Hugh Lane gallery, which is a gallery that Hugh Lane started a long time ago as the first contemporary art gallery.  I was totally blown away by the completely red canvas that is worth thousands of dollars, come on... that is not art.  There was some good Irish art in there as well as some of the French impressionists that I like.  There was also some complete crap.  After the gallery it was like 4pm and we had the choice to wander around or go home, and we all really just wanted to go home.  We drove back and had dinner at Pizza Express whose name is not anything like the inside.  Its a gourmet pizza shop that specializes in personal pizzas with all sorts of stuff on them.  An there is nothing "Express" about it.  I am not entirely sure why it is called Pizza Express because I was thinking Dominos before we got inside.  Oh well. At home there was a full double rainbow.  It was absolutely incredible.