First Week of Classes

So last week was the first week of classes here at Trinity.  The whole registration process was a little frustrating because you needed to go to each department that you wanted to take courses in and ask them what classes are offered and the times of those classes, then when you figure out which courses you want to take you have to go back to each department and talk to the department head and get them to sign your registration form so that you are able to take those courses.  But despite the long and complicated processes, I am genuinely excited about the courses that I am taking.  I am taking two history courses one on Ireland in the Wider World which covers the 17th and 18th centuries and then another on the 1916 Rising; and then I am taking two sociology courses one on globalization and development and the other on social theory.  Courses here are quite different than at Luther.  For three of my classes we have big lectures once or twice a week and then a tutorial once a week which is smaller groups, and then my 1916 Rising course is more what I am used to it is a smaller upper-level history class that is sort of a mixture of lecture and class discussion.  But there is also a lot more reading for these courses...for example for my lecture tomorrow the suggested reading has 7 books on it....7 i am not quite sure how they expect us to read 7 books for one lecture, but i suppose that is why it is SUGGESTED reading! So I am attempting to not procrastinate and stay on top of my reading (i know me not procrastinating...weird!)

But more importantly this past weekend Dani came to visit! She got in Saturday afternoon and we went to the National Museum of Ireland and then bummed around Grafton Street before we found dinner at a great restaurant! (good food and 5 dollar cocktails! for dublin that is pretty darn good :) And then we hung out at a pub with some of my Trinity friends.  Then on Sunday we attended a service at Christ Church Cathedral which was absolutely amazing!  The Cathedral was beautiful and to attend a service there was a really cool experience! We then got some gelato before she had to catch her plane for Rome!  It was so good to see her and to have her here, because as much as I love it here and all of the friends that I have made I do miss my friends back home! Yes I believe that is all for now! Cheers!

First Two Days of Trinity Orientation!

So it has been kind of a whirlwind couple of days! For those of you who i haven't told my whole flat seemed to get the plague on Sunday (and by plague i mean some sort of weird 24 hour stomach flu) so needless to say Sunday I stayed in and felt terrible all day! I was super worried because I had to start orientation the next day and it would be horrible to miss it! Luckily I only had to miss the Trinity welcome dinner Sunday night and by Monday I was good to go!  During the first day of orientation was all so surreal; as we were given a campus tour I couldn't believe that I was actually going to school there.  I also officially got registered as a student and I got my student ID card meaning that I can use the library and the gym and get student discounts at various places around the city...so that is pretty rockin'! Monday night we also went on a literary pub crawl of Dublin which was also super fun! We were guided by actors who would perform scenes at each pub and also explain the literary or historical significance of each pub on the trip! The actors were super funny and the history was extremely interesting (of course!) We even got to go to a put that Michael Collins frequented which was also amazing! Just to be in a place where someone who had such a grand effect on an entire countries history used to come regularly was an honor.

Day two orientation was also extremely interesting.  We spend the morning listening to lectures from various professors about Irish history, architecture, and literature.  It was all really fascinating and I learned a lot which I take to be a good sign that I am going to be learning a lot this semester :) We also took a walk across the city to the GAA stadium where we took a tour.  The GAA is the Gaelic Athletic Association which is the home of Ireland's two most popular sports....not rugby and soccer as I had guessed but rather Gaelic Football and Hurling.  We watched a video about the two sports and needless to say I was only slightly less than when I started! Perhaps when someone actually explains the rules to me and I watch a game it will make more sense! hehe! But the stadium itself was super cool! It is the fourth largest stadium in Western Europe and holds over 80,000 people! In the GAA athletes play for their county team which creates enormous county pride.  However, what is most amazing is that all of the players are volunteers.  They all have day jobs and have practice early in the morning or in the evenings and on weekends.  It is amazing to me that our most popular American Athletes get paid millions of dollars to play sports while these people do it for free! Just for the love of the game! That is so astounding to me.  As there are all of these rumors of lockouts for the NFL and the NBA are going around I can't help but wonder what our sports would be like if our players weren't paid!  I mean to be perfectly honest that would probably mean that we wouldn't have national sports teams anymore but you never know! So yeah just some food for thought!
Cheers!

Dublin Bus Tour and Kilmainham Jail

Today was the first day that we got to tour around the entire city of Dublin.  It was really neat because the bus went all around the city and you could get off at any stop and wander around and then hop back on the bus when you wanted to go somewhere else.  The first time through we stayed on the bus for the whole tour so we could familiarize ourselves with the city.  It was an open top bus so naturally we wanted to sit on the top level, however it was absolutely freezing! My roommates and a few friends got the front of the bus so we were at least shielded a bit from the wind and slowly but surely people started moving down to the lower level of the bus.  The eight or so of us who made it all the way through were very proud of ourselves that we braved the cold.  However as soon as we got off the bus we stopped in the first pub we saw for an Irish Coffee to warm up.  About six of us decided to take the bus to Kilmainham Jail for a tour of the historic site.  I watched the movie Michael Collins before I came to Dublin and it was extremely interesting to see the place that the leaders of the Easter Rising were held.  Our tour guide told us of a very sad story about a woman named Anne Devlin that really has stuck with me.  Anne was the secretary of Robert Emmet, leader of the 1798.  She was caught and imprisoned by the British army who used every form of psychological and emotional torture they could on her in order to force her to give up the names of the other leaders of the rebellion (because physical torture was illegal to use against women).  They imprisoned over twenty members of her family, kept her in solitary in a room that was so small she couldn't walk without a bed where there was literally inches of urine and feces leaking through from the sewer.  She was offered bribes, was threatened, and her young brother died while in prison and she still refused to give up any information that she knew.  I found this to be an incredible story that someone could be so strong despite all that she went through.  I kept thinking that there was no way that I could do what she did.  The guide mentioned that if she would have given up the information that she knew that the entire group of people who funded the rebellion would have been executed which would have drastically changed the course of Irish history.  It seems so sad that one woman could make such a great impact on an entire countries history and yet still not receive the recognition of remembrance that she deserves.  It makes me wonder how many others of these heroes there are not only in Irish history but in world history that go unnoticed or unrecognized.  Sorry if that was too much history that you didn't care about but it was something that I found extremely interesting and wanted to share! Until next time!

Cheers!

First Day in Dublin

So today was the first day that I was in Dublin, and thanks to jetlag it has been kind of a blur.  I was able to meet my lovely housemates Karen, Linda, and Jill and they are all awesome people and I know that we will get along well :) We had some fun bonding time getting a few groceries and the much needed coffee drink before unpacking.  After unpacking we were all so beat that we could fight off sleeping for at least a little before dinner! We made a quick but lovely pasta dinner before walking to the IES headquarters where we will be starting our orientation tomorrow.  We then met up with other IES students at a pub and it was fun meeting people from all around the country in a true Irish setting (and by all around the country I mean the East Coast because nearly everyone seems to be from New York, New Jersey, Virginia, etc.)  My roommate Karen and I attempted to walk by ourselves back to our flat which turned out to be quite the adventure.  You could say that we were lost but I prefer to think that we were exploring the city :) It actually turned out to be super fun because the weather was beautiful and we were able to see more of the city of Dublin.  Now I am back in the flat and probably heading to bed soon because because we have a full day of orientation tomorrow! (btw if I haven't mentioned already our flat is absolutely lovely! Our RA told us that a few months back Cranmer Place was the most expensive real estate in the UK! It is very nice and quaint and we have a living room, study, kitchen full of cooking supplies, three bedrooms and three bathrooms.  It really is more than I could hope for!) But that is all for now! Until next time :D
Cheers!

Blog Entry 1: 1/4/11

Today is the day! I have literally been thinking about this day since I was in high school.  While I have been to Europe on two separate occasions in the past I have never gotten the chance to live in another country for six months.  However, as I was sitting in the Des Moines airport this morning my nervousness definitely outweighed my excitement.  There were several things that were on my mind.  First and foremost was the death of the Luther senior, Nabby who was a great person and a great friend.  While the shock having someone pass away who was not only a friend but someone who was so close to my own age was overwhelming at first, sitting here in the Newark airport, I have come to realize that life is much too short and much too precious and I am very grateful for this opportunity that I have been given to study for a semester in Dublin.  I am thrilled for the opportunity to submerse myself in another culture and to meet new people.  In fact, I have just had a lovely conversation with a woman from Australia.  She was so nice and sweet and we had a good conversation about traveling, which is something that I really needed because as I have traveled from Des Moines to Chicago and now I am in Newark I am learning that traveling by yourself is definitely not as much fun as traveling with family and friends.  While traveling alone is a little lonely I am also very proud of myself because I have been able to successfully navigate through three different airports (which as many of you know I was incredibly nervous about flying by myself.)  As I am sure I have rambled to many of you the main reason why I am studying abroad is to gain some independence and real-life experience so that when I graduate in a year and a half (yikes!) I will have some life perspective and attempt to decrease the feeling of being a deer-in-the-headlights (which who are we kidding might happen anyway).  But this experience of flying by myself and navigating airports alone is already the experience that I was hoping for.  I am slowly but surely realizing that I can do this.  I can leave all of my support systems and live somewhere new and foreign for almost six months.  I am not going to lie, I am still a little terrified but contrary to this morning there is definitely more excitement than panic!  So I believe that’s all for now! I have not decided how often I will blog…it probably depends on how often exciting things happen, but I will definitely keep you all updated because not only is this my way of letting people know what is going on in my life, it is also going to double as my own personal journal for my stay in Dublin! 

Cheers!