A Northern Ireland Experience

Our second class trip was to Northern Ireland- Belfast in particular with other stops as well. On Wednesday before the trip, Don lectured us on the culture and atmosphere of the area, as well as the historical and ongoing tensions. It sounded like we were in for an experience. I told my global climate change professor that I was heading to Belfast, and she continued to tell me that she grew up there in the height of the troubles. At one point, she wasn't allowed to answer her door after dark, her mother was held at gunpoint on multiple occasions and her father had multiple threats made against his life. One day she was walking down the street with her mother and the gas station just a short distance ahead exploded in front of them. They were merely lucky that they hadn't the house left a minute earlier. She said it has calmed down extremely from that time, but to still be careful. It was amazing how calm she was while describing these incidents, and when I commented on that she explained that it was a war-zone first and foremost, but it was home and her reality. That was an interesting prime to the trip.

We left early on Thursday morning, and I packed a sandwich and lunch so that I wouldn't have to buy one while we were out. When we arrived in Belfast, one of the first sights was a bus drive down "RPG Avenue", named during the troubles. It was immediately startling, and our director later said he cringed at what one of our first sights was. We drove past a funeral that was surrounded by armored police cars, and news cameras across the street. It was the funeral of an IRA leader, and the attendees were wearing black cloths over their faces, with sunglasses on and standard IRA attire. It was a startling sight, considering the violence that we had learned about all week before the trip, as well as the additional security forces present. We left that area, and drove to the International Wall, which depicted various celebrities including various

US Presidents. Belfast is split by massive 40 + foot walls that divide the city, into ethno-English and ethno-Irish, The IRA and the Loyalists, the Protestants and Catholics. The walls had to be so high to limit what could be thrown over at the other side. This is referred to as the "peace wall" to prevent violence. The city is filled with propaganda murals for both sides, including the "peace wall", pinning one side against the other. We examined the artwork, and were explained the symbolism behind them. We originally started on the Catholic side, and visited a memorial park to the victims of Protestant aggression. We later crossed through large metal gates that divide the city, and which apparently are shut and locked every

Gates that shut at night to block of the sections

night preventing communication and interaction between the communities. It was incredible to me that we are talking about the year 2014, and these gates are still shut nightly out of fear. We then walked through the Protestant side, and the communities were incredibly similar, despite the fact that there was British propaganda everywhere we looked, from murals of the Royal Family, to British flags and souvenir shops. It was as if we'd crossed the sea, and we all expressed a similar confusion. While we were walking down the street, clearly tourists, a couple of younger kids across the street began throwing rocks at our group, and hit one girl in the head, but she wasn't hurt. Our group director told us we were in no danger as they walked away, but it was alarming nonetheless. We visited a Protestant memorial garden, almost

identical to the one across the line but pinning blame on the Catholic community for the loss of their own members. Both were lined with flowers and clearly well maintained, so the impact was real and current. I was incredibly uncomfortable in this environment. We then went back to the Catholic side to visit one community which had received international attention when the Protestants burned it down. It was rebuilt, exactly as it was with the homes close to the wall. All of the homes on the back wall featured large metal cages that blocked off their backyards from the wall, which was apparently to deter injury when acid bombs were launched over the wall. This is a terrifying thought for me. It was incredible the

Cages on the back of homes

amount of flags and symbolism that were used to promote both causes, on almost every house, far more extreme than anything I'd personally seen before. The group was mentally exhausted after our venture, and we headed into the neutral peace zone of the city center for lunch. I had packed a lunch, so I ate that while everyone else bought food, but then they headed next door to the dessert place, and naturally I caved to a nutella crepe with vanilla ice cream. Yes, it was just as delicious as it sounds. We sat outside in the sunshine, and it was a gorgeous day. After a break for lunch, we reformed as a group and headed over to the bus to go to a Titanic walking tour, and we couldn't have asked for a better day.

The most striking moments of the tour included visiting the original ferry ship that was used to bring people out to the Titanic when the ship couldn't come closer because of shallow waters. It was decommissioned, and sent to Paris for display, but purchased back to be saved from scrap metal and restored in the 1990's. We were shown the original gates, where tens of thousands of men lined up early in the morning to look for work. The first ones through the gate were the ones who would be able to work for the day, the others would have to go home without pay. There were various stories of fights that broke out in competition for work. We were able as well to enter the original Harland and Wolff building, which

had been shut down until two months ago as a result of extensive structural damage from neglect and abandonment. Obviously, the company took a huge hit when the Titanic sank, and had to lay off 95 percent of its workers in Ireland, an industry seemingly gone overnight. We were allowed in the office of Thomas Andrews, who was in charge of the drafting for the ship and primed to take over H&W later  in his career. He perished on the ship, trying to do everything in his power to keep the ship afloat for as long as physically possible and save lives. Upon his death, his office was locked immediately, and nobody was allowed in as a sign of respect to him. We were able to see his desk, where much of the designs were reviewed and drawn, which I was very interested in. The next room was by far my favorite part of the tour. It was a plain room, but large. Apparently it was the corporate executive office, and appeared much grander until the fireplace was cut out and stolen as well as other changes to the now empty room. We stood around, and saw a picture of the original office, and pointed to where each of the key directors sat on one morning, with the financing party as well as the lead designer who had designed the entire ship top to bottom. The plans were going very well, until the top two floors, which were described by the chief executive as "cluttered", and he disapproved immediately. What were they "cluttered" with? Lifeboats. According to the new legislation that was out, Titanic's watertight compartment system allowed it to have significantly less lifeboats than were shown in the plans. The chief executive claimed that having that many lifeboats was unnecessary and would make people afraid to board the ship and lead to lost revenue from fear. The designer, who had completed all of the plans, is said to have desperately refuted this point. This lead to a screaming match and a large fight, after which the designer told all of the people in the room that he was removing himself from the project if they did not add the suggested lifeboats. They refused, and before the construction of the ship even began, he quit and told them on his way out "if anything happens to the people on that ship, it's on your head not mine". He immediately left the entire industry. As my dad said, did he have some sort of premonition? If the suggested number of lifeboats were on board, it is possible that the majority of people that were lost would've been safe and survived. Incredible to stand in the room where that debate and screaming match occurred, given the gravity of later events. We proceeded from there to the

actual drafting room where the plans were developed, which again was incredible. It overlooked the shipyard, where the titanic would've sat as it was being constructed. All of the work was done without calculators or any devices like that, which means that the men that sat in that room were literally super geniuses. They must've been so proud to watch the Titanic get built and finished, and devastated when it was lost. We continued to the dry dock, which was massive and actually walked down where the bottom of the ship would've sat, looking upward to where it would've stretched to. We were shown pictures of the ship from exactly where they were taken in front of us, real physical history. We also

were able to see and touch the same metal that was used on the side of the Titanic which formed the barrier to the dry dock. The entire dry dock could be filled and drained within three hours, which was an incredible engineering feat. The other side of the steel wall was blocked off two years ago and a new concrete wall protected it from the water, allowing us to see the steel exactly as it currently is on the Titanic, having been exposed to water of the same temperature for the same time period. It was awesome. We learned that there was a 6 week lag in the Titanic project relating to one of its sister ships, so it was 6 weeks late itself. Although this seems unimportant, he said to consider the fact that had the ship been on time,

the cruise would've been that much earlier, and said iceberg likely wouldn't have been there. Our guide said, if the other ship had been on time, we wouldn't have been here, those people would've likely lived, and the Titanic would've been a ship that would've been forgotten about. Additionally, we learned that if the Titanic had ran straight into the iceberg, rather than attempting to turn away from it, the ship would've been fine and came back to Belfast for some repairs. Because they turned, the iceberg ripped down the side exposing six of the compartments rather than just the one or two that the straight on collision would've caused. The ship could've withstood 4 of its compartments being compromised, but 6 was too many.

The Dry Dock

A funny follow up to that story, is that when H&W reentered the abandoned building years later, they

Tiles on Titanic's foyer in H&W Hallway (Damaged)

tried to figure out where the fireplace that was in the executive office had gone, as they couldn't find any piece of it on the property. Apparently after an anonymous tip, they got in a van and drove to the house where it had been put in, knocked on the door and told the man that they were here to take the fireplace back. He tried to deny it, but they held up a picture of the fireplace in the office, and pointed to the one in his living room. That day, they cut the fireplace out of his house, and brought it back to the office. As our guide said: "that's revenge, Titanic style baby!". I thought that was great.

We left the Titanic museum, and went back to the hotel for dinner. We were able to squeeze some time

before dinner to walk around the city center of Belfast, which was active and surprisingly friendly. We headed back for dinner, and I enjoyed a sun-dried tomato pasta as an appetizer, then pork loin in a red wine sauce and potatoes, finished off with a chocolate cake with chocolate sauce. Another awesome meal. I talked to a girl in my program, Emily, and who also grew up on a lake and around water. We were both saying how excited we will be to get home, without wishing away our amazing trip and the short time we have left. We went back to the rooms, and within a few minutes there was a knock at the door, and quite a few people from the program had showed up with some Stellas, so obviously we let them in. It was a relaxing night, just talking with a group of people from the program. After a while, we went out the

Northern Ireland Police Cars

"neutral safe zone" of city center to walk around, the area that they told us we would go out in if we were interested. We didn't plan on going out, but after the morning culture shock, we agreed that we probably would never be in Belfast again, so we may as well see the city while we were here as opposed to sitting in the hotel room. We walked in front of city hall, and the town was shut down completely, which is apparently relatively normal for Belfast given the conflicts on both sides. On the street in front of city hall, at one end of the street was a heavily armored Land Rover police vehicle with 4-5 heavily armed police men clustered. This was rather startling, but we kept moving down the street. When we got to the other end, there was the same exact setup. Two heavily armored vehicles with heavily armed police on a single street in sight of each other.... hmmm. We agreed that this would only happen in the states if there was
something going on. We decided that we were too far out of our elements and comfort zones with this type of action, and weren't sure if there was actually a safety issue occurring, so we gave up on Belfast and went quickly back to the hotel. Wow, I am so glad that I studied in Dublin rather than Belfast! In the morning we were meeting with American students who studied in Belfast, so I was really interested to hear what they had to say about their experiences.

Hotel Room View

The following morning, I went down to breakfast with Emily and Scott at 7am, as our meeting was at 9 with the Belfast students. It was a remarkable breakfast spread, with literally everything you could've wanted, unlimited buffet style. Clearly I made the right choice coming early! I think I had three servings, including bacon, hash-browns, eggs, croissants, yogurt, and fruit. It was great. Afterwards we met the Belfast students, and there were three of them. Their experience was completely different than ours, as they said they did enjoy their time here, just noting that you had to be really careful of what you say and know where you are when you say it. They detailed a couple of incidents that caused them to run into stores on the street for safety, as if it were completely normal experience. Nope, I'm way too much of a chicken for that, I'll stay in Dublin thanks! They were nice kids, but I wasn't too disappointed that we were leaving Belfast today.

Our next stop that day was a stop at Carrickfergus castle, a very old but beautifully maintained Norman castle. We had an awesome tour guide, and learned various facts and tricks of the castle owners and designers. One notable feature was a "trip-stair" in the original castle, one that was a different height than all of the others, designed to cause attackers running up the stairs to trip and fall back down and take out the people behind them. We also learned that the bathroom in the castle was a chute out the side, and you were judged by how much excrement was on the side of the castle, indicative of the type of diets that were consumed. This, I know, is absolutely repulsive. Why would anyone actually want to see that?

We were also shown defense tactics of the castle, including the arrow holes that were unnoticeable, as well as the locking cage at the gate. We learned that the castle used to be surrounded on three sides by water, but because of land reclamation it only had water on one now. We learned that at the time, there was no way to attack from a ship, so the water side was the safety side, as well as why the entrance was on a hill to make it harder to get the battering ram up to the gates. We also saw the cell, which was apparently rarely used and over dramatized by Hollywood films. We were able to try on knight clothing, which

Original Stairwell with Trip Stair

would've costed the equivalent of 20,000 GBP today, which is around $40,000 USD just for the uniform. What was more incredible was the cost of the sword, which was estimated in today's figures to be around $400,000 USD. It was extremely expensive to become a knight! The outfit also weighed over 50 pounds, which would've been unbearable! After the castle, we headed back to Dublin, and I was excited to get back. It was a very cultural trip, and I learned so much and saw some really cool things, but I learned that Belfast is just not the place for me, I much prefer the stability!

Front of the Castle

The "Bathroom" of the Castle...nasty

My 21st Birthday Festivities with Krista

Krista's 21st birthday was on Monday, and mine was on Wednesday. Unfortunately, I had a presentation to give at 9am on my birthday, and the following morning we were leaving for a trip to Northern Ireland at 7am on Thursday morning. Everyone was going out on Monday night, so I decided to join and celebrate mine as well with Krista. It was a great night, most closely described as the stereotypical 21st birthday festivities. We headed to the infamous "Copper Face Jacks" pub and club, and thanks to an app we were able to get on the guestlist and get in free! There were really funny parts of the night, and we had a great time. I was walking through, when I heard someone call out my name. I thought that was weird because I had come with all the Americans I knew, but it was one of Eoin's friends that I met in Cavan when I went to Eoin's house! I hung out with him for a while and that was really cool. We got back late, and I went straight to bed. Tuesday was a quiet day for me, but it was the perfect 21st birthday celebration in Dublin, Ireland!

Easter Weekend- Drogheda, Newgrange and Knowth

This weekend is Easter, but for obvious distance reasons I wasn't at home. I started to get a little bit down about it, but then I decided to do something fun to counter it and make it different this year. John, Kelsey and I were in the same boat, other people were away or their parents were here. We decided to head up to the town of Drogheda, Ireland. No, I hadn't heard of it either, but why not? We left at 9 am, and I woke up earlier to eat a egg and cheese bagel supplemented with strawberry yogurt and a banana and apple, which has become a staple of mine. I packed a lunch before we left so that I wouldn't get hungry or have to buy any food out there (that was a great call on my part). We had some difficulty with the busses, as they were doing construction and had removed a stop, so we had to take a private bus. When we arrived, we were struck by the number of massive churches, there were at least 5 in a small town! We were walking to the tourism office when we encountered a market, which was probably the most interesting market I will ever see. The only way to describe it was, "an eclectic Walmart in open air- you could get anything there from cell phones to used clothing to dog food to toys to farmer's food. Interesting. We wandered around for a while, then made it to the tourism office. They made a couple of recommendations in town then suggested that Newgrange was only a short taxi ride away. We took

The church behind which Cromwell broke through

their advice and went to the Irish Military War Museum, which included the military barracks at the top of the town that looked as far as the sea in the distance. When we walked into the office, we met an older man and woman. We asked what time the next tour was, and they laughed, and said whenever we were ready. They asked where we learned about them, and when we said the internet they were shocked. The woman who led us up to the tour must've been in her late 60's and knew everything there was to know about the town. She pointed the wall behind one of the churches, and told us that is where Oliver Cromwell penetrated
the walls of Drogheda when he came to Ireland with 12,000 troops, leaving 2,000 in Dublin and

continuing to Drogheda with 10,000. In one day, he massacred the town, killing over 1,000 people. She told the story of 100 people who hid from Cromwell inside a wooden church tower, and pointed to exactly where that church was. His reaction was to burn the tower, burning the people inside alive. It was chilling to think of that day, and see exactly where that happened so many years ago as we walked around freely without a concern. Additionally, she told us that Saint Patrick grew up just down the river, and Drogheda was one of the stops he made when he came back. The climb to the tower was intense, and she continued to tell us that during the civil war, the city was divided in half by the river. One

attack involved the shooting of a canon at the tower, which devastated the whole side of it and led to victory for the opposing side. Luckily for us, the tower had been reconstructed exactly as it was. It was a very cool experience. We also saw a collection of weapons that a Franciscan Friar had been holding for the troops during the war, which nobody knew about until he passed away. I thought of the Friars that I know, and yeah, I'd say that's pretty characteristic. When we left, we didn't stop talking about what a cool tour it had been. We were satisfied with the trip already.

Collection of weapons hidden by Friar

From there we stopped at a cathedral which was rather impressive, and headed out to Newgrange and Knowth. Newgrange is estimated to be around 5,000 years old, estimated to have been built around 3200-3000 BC and taking generations. It is dated back to the neolithic era, before metals  It is an incredible feat because of the mere size of the rocks that were used to construct it. The local stones were limestone, which don't last. Somehow, the builder's must've been aware of this, and all of the stones to build the tomb, which is over an acre and massive were imported by some means from elsewhere. The white stones that border the front are only found 50 km to the south or 70 km to the north, and it is in

unimaginable feat to consider moving all of them. Most notably, the tombs were designed so that the interior rooms only saw the light of day during two specific periods: the summer and winter solstices. This led the belief that these were used for religious purposes, but surprisingly little is known about the people who constructed or used the tombs. These passage tombs are littered with artistic works and drawings, most of which were spheres, and there is uncertainty if it was a sort of language or map. The first tomb that we visited had been build on top of for defense, so the passages were deemed structurally unsafe,

Sous-Trench (Passage was much
rougher than this!)

although we were able to view a sous-trench, which was built from the top and connected to the passages below. When we moved onto the Newgrange tomb, it was breathtaking and incredible. We were able to go inside through the passageway, which involved ducking, winding, and squeezing between rocks that had shifted over the 5,000 years. We had to keep our backpacks in front of us below our knees to as to ensure that we did not bump into or damage the artwork that was along the passage walls and in the main room. The main interior room, which was about the size of my bedroom at home featured a massive two story vaulted ceiling. In a full acre of building, it all led up to this room. There was no mortar used in the construction, the rocks were simply layered one slightly over the other one to come to the top. What's more- there was never any restoration done, I was standing in a spot which was identical to what it was 5,000 years ago. That was an incredible experience and reflection, considering how much had changed over those 5,000 years outside of the wall of this tomb. Who were these people that they were so intelligent and innovative?

Cow, Sheepdog, Farmer, and Tractor. Stereotypes.

A Dublin Pub Crawl

Sean's parents were in Ireland, and they wanted to do a pub crawl. He called up and asked if I wanted to join and maybe bring a couple of people. Like he had to ask... We showed up to Workman's Club at 7:30 for the trip. We paid and got a wristband, entitling us to specials throughout the night. Mr. and Mrs. Fitzpatrick joked about the guides running off seeing as how we paid on the street. From DCU, we came with Gillian, Morgan, John, Julia, Kelsey and I. I talked to Eoin, and he was going out to dinner with Aoife, but he would meet up with us somewhere. We started at Workman's, then went to Trinity Bar, then moved on to the Mezz, then O'Neills, and a stop at the Porterhouse and ended back at Workman's for the night. In between O'Neills and the Mezz, Mrs. Fitzpatrick had to stop in McDonalds for the bathroom, and Mr. Fitzpatrick went to get pizza for us. It was delicious pizza at a well known place called Rays. When Mrs. Fitzpatrick caught up with us, she had bought 7 cheeseburgers because she figured we might want those too. Of course we ate them. Gillian had missed dinner, so she and the girls were also feasting in McDonalds when we ate our pizza. By the end, everyone was in good spirits and Mrs. Fitzpatrick was hilarious and

looking for shots of Fireball. The pubs were beautiful, all in classic Irish style with woodworking. We split up for the night, and Addison came home with me because they were done running busses back to Maynooth for the night. When we got back to DCU we cooked a huge meal with eggs, chicken breast and a spicy pasta that Addison made. He had to catch the bus at 6:45, and I had an 8 am class so we crashed right after. I made it to the 8 am class! After, I went straight back to bed and woke up at 3:30, so I made up for the loss. It was such a fun night.

Cavan with Eoin: Gaelic Football, Rolling Hills, Pubs and Homecooked Food

            This was an incredible, once in a lifetime, study abroad experience; and one I certainly never expected to have. I’ve become very good friends with one of my Irish roommates named Eoin, and we’ve been hanging out. He offered to take me to his house for the weekend for some good homemade food and to watch one of his team’s Gaelic Football games. It was an opportunity that I couldn’t pass up on.

The roads in Cavan were…interesting. They would hardly fit two cars across, which now and then required reversing off to the side to let the other car by. Coupled with a general disregard for the centerline, which often disappeared, and road stretches the length of 2 or 3 cars maximum without a hill or corner, plus speeds that didn’t seem to match the terrain at all. Regardless, everywhere I looked while we were driving seemed like something that you would only see in pictures. I couldn’t absorb it fast enough, which made Eoin laugh. He laughed as he told me that the driving age was 17, but you could drive a tractor on the road at 14, so if they needed to go anywhere they would just pile on one of their farming friend's tractors and show up at practice or the lake with 15 of them all holding onto something on a tractor. Just the thought of it made me laugh. At the end of the trip, he said I opened his eyes to Cavan and hadn’t really ever noticed how scenic it was because it was just always where he was.

On Friday, we got to the house in time for dinner, and Mrs. Cusack had made a huge feast of beef stew that had cooked all day with potatoes and vegetables. Eoin dropped his bag in the mudroom, and joked with his mom about why the laundry wasn’t done already. She just rolled her eyes, and said it was her passion to do it. It was that type of relationship. After we ate dinner, she had made us an apple pie that apprently was her specialty. After a few bites I could tell why, it was delicious. Eoin told her it was a little too sweet, and maybe she could’ve added some more cinnamon, but it was clearly just to get her going. She just laughed at him. Eoin had training for football at 8:30, so I went with him and Mr. Cusack, who was one of the coaches of the team. After about an hour, Mr. Cusack and I left back toward the house. We got back to the house and met Aoife there and I sat with her, Eoin’s sister, and his mom and dad at the table, and talked over a couple of pints. We covered seemingly everything, including intersting situations with Irish people they knew who were either illegal in the US, or who couldn’t get visas extended and had to come back, and who had paid for sham marriages and a well known smuggler to take them there for employment under the table. It was fascinating. Eoin came home later, and laughed saying that he felt bad that I was stuck with them, and asked them if I was a suitable replacement for him so he could run away. They just laughed. When Eoin returned, Mr. Cusack discussed purchasing a house which was a “good deal” at 115,000 euro and financing it for him and his older sister as an investment property to help them get on the ladder. I thought they were joking, but apprently they weren’t, which was interesting.

We spent Saturday with Aoife (Eoin’s girlfriend) and her two sisters. We went to their house, and after opening the gate and pulling up the beautifully landscaped driveway we were at her house, on one of the many lakes in Cavan. It was stunning. I met her sisters there and her mom and after brainstorming activities, we were soon off again. We went to their country club for lunch and Coronas

The country club where we had lunch

Eoin's gaelic football match

and it was gorgeous, it used to be the mansion of the plantation owners. After lunch we were full, so we lounged around on a huge U-Shaped couch in the club. We walked around outside after, and after struggling with the map we ended up back at the car. We headed to a local store and picked up cupcakes and ice cream, which was delicious. Afterward, we went to one of the lakes where everyone gathers in the summer and spends their days relaxing. We spent a long time skipping rocks. Eoin and I were the only ones who successfully skipped them, but we laughed a lot anyway. Everywhere I looked was beautiful, either a lake, hill or just plain green and the sun was shining all day. We returned to the house later for Eoin’s team’s gaelic football match. Mr. and Mrs. Cusack were going out to a party that night, so she made us Chicken Curry with rice and vegetables and potatoes on the stove for dinner. We lounged around for a while, as we were both wiped out from the day and watched videos of roller coasters and funny things we had seen online. Aoife had an awards ceremony that night in New York Sports Bar, and we were supposed to be there to meet up with her later, so that was the general plan. We picked up one of Eoin’s teammates, 28 year old, and the three of us made our way into the town of Cavan. We went to McMahons to a live music bar in an alleyway named Blessings, where we stayed for a while until Eoin realized that he was in trouble for not being at New York on time. He just shrugged his shoulders and we all laughed about it. We headed to New York after a while, but met some more people that Eoin knew were on the first floor, so we didn’t make it up to her until much later. We stuck to our story that we were there the

Imperial night club

whole time, but she was smarter than that and rolled her eyes and laughed. Apparently this is typical for them. We stayed for a while, then headed to the Imperial night club, which was the only one in Cavan. It was really cool, with multiple levels. Again, we ran into people that they all knew and ended up talking for a long time. It was cool though, they included me in every conversation, just as if I’d grown up in Cavan my whole life too. I think the coolest thing was that no matter where we went, everyone stuck together regardless of how many people we met that joined us, and the going out scene was about talking and joking with eachother all night as opposed to going separate ways and meeting up later. We took a taxi back to Eoin’s house, and Eoin suggested we make curri sandwiches with the leftovers. After a night out, I obviously didn’t decline his offer, but Aoife wasn’t having any of it and didn’t spare her opinion on how disgusting they were. I thought they tasted good, and so did Eoin, so we didn’t care. We watched some Toy Story that was on TV and went to bed.

I was awake around 9 the next morning, when Mr. Cusack came in and asked if I wanted to ride with him to go pick up Eoin’s sister at the church and stop by mass. Eoin and Aoife were still sleeping, and he said he wouldn’t waste his effort to go up and ask them. I agreed, got dressed, and headed out the door with him. When we went to mass, I think everyone in the cathedral stopped to talk to him, and he introduced me to everyone. He laughed with me as he told me about their night out, with his brother and four other couples. He joked and said he was glad it was his brother’s turn to pick up the bill, because it was at least 600 euro by the end of the night. Apparently they all ended up at one of the country pubs after the town with a bunch of people from the town, where one of his daughter’s friends birthday party was being held. Apparently its normal in Cavan for everyone in the town to head out to pubs and celebrate birthdays together, regardless of age. He laughed though, and said I impressed him, because he was sure that with Eoin there were a good few pints. I just laughed so that I didn’t incriminate anyone. When we returned to the house, Mrs. Cusack was finishing putting together another feast, or “fry” as they call it here. They joked about loving having visitors because she cooked so much, but I could tell that she took care of them pretty well no matter who was there.

Mr. and Mrs. Cusack headed off to Northern Ireland (part of the United Kindgom) for Eoin’s            

sister’s match, and Aoife, Eoin and I were left at the house. Aoife was still struggling but had to go to work, so we laughed quite a bit about her quitting. When she went into work, Eoin and I headed over to one of the pubs down the road to watch the Liverpool vs. Man City soccer game. The pub was absolutely packed and people were having a great time. Apparently this is Sunday. There were whole families there as well as what seemed to be the usual crowd, and they were all joking with Eoin, who hates Liverpool on the basis that everyone else likes them so they were having a blast mocking eachother when one would score or mess up. After we left, he showed me the lake

The lake where he hung out growing up

where he would always hang out as a kid, and talked about all the times when he would go out on his friends 4 wheeler around the lakes, knowing that if his parents found out they would kill him. The lake was, yet again beautiful, but the water was really cold. Because they don’t get the warm temperatures in the summer really, the water never really warms up, and the lakes can get dangerous because there is apparently strong suction of some sort. He and his friends got caught on a little row boat when they were younger without life vests or anything, and were in a lot of trouble because of safety concerns. It was really cool to hear how he grew up, and how in some ways it was so similar to how I did. We went up to the resevoir next, and there we realized 360 degree panoramic views of just rolling hills and incredible nature. Even he said he was taken aback by it, and it was the pefect sunny day to top it off. After a while of climbing around the fenced off resevoir, we headed back to his house. His

parents had just gotten back, and made us another feast of delicious steak and potatoes with other things before we headed back. They called it the weekly “last supper”. Eoin said that his mom cried every time he left, and she quickly retored that they were tears of joy and they had a party when he’d gone. We had tea and dessert again, and headed off. I thanked them for everything they’d done for me, and an amazing weekend, and they said they’d hope to see me again maybe even in Dublin sometime if they were around. I hope I get to see them again, they were awesome. We picked up Eoin’s friend and played a new remix CD Eoin made all the way back.

From the water reservoir

            When we got back to DCU, we dropped his friend off at his house, and he invited us in. We went in for a while, and just sat around the living room and laughed and joked. Again, it was just like I’d been there with them for years. His friend made tea and brought out cookies for us all to eat. Apparently that’s quite the Irish traditon, no matter where you went or what age you were. I certainly didn’t mind it! His one friend reminded me a lot of my lacrosse friends. We finally got to DCU later, but were both so exhausted that we crashed. This was by far one of my favorite weekends abroad, no question. I almost dread going back with the American kids! Maybe I’ll just stay…

Perceptions:

1. Community- everywhere we went in town there were people that Eoin knew, and it didn’t matter whether they were old or young, we had a conversation with them. But it was more than just a conversation, it was personal with them asking how his internship was going, how his week went and what he was up to next week or what his opinion was on the next gaelic football match. Although this is true to an extent at home, it’s on a much more reserved or private level and only with close friends. Reflected in the Gaelic football team alone, Eoin’s team included players up to 38 or 39 years old, and the sidelines were populated with guys from every age on above it that used to play on the team. He and his friends around his age were laughing and joking and making fun of them just like they would eachother, like there was no age gap. There is no upper age limit with his team, you play until you don’t have another hit left in you. There were even some of the older members of the community at the field just to watch the training and support the club that they used to play for.
2. Family- this is a huge focus of life in Cavan, and it reflects in much of what they do. Eoin’s sister had a football match in Northern Ireland, and Mr. and Mrs. Cusack never considered staying at home or doing something different, despite chilly weather in that area. On Sunday, I went alone with Mr. Cusack to mass, and we stopped on the way in to the cemetary, neighboring the church. It is a tradition for Mr. Cusack to sprinkle holy water on his parents’ and grandparents’ graves on Sundays as well as a couple of other relatives. We tend to get so caught up in daily life, and move so far away from  eachother that this is something that we couldn’t do, but holds so much meaning. He was happy to tell me all about them, and what they did in the town.
3. Devotion- it was a Friday night, and where was everyone? At the Gaelic Football pitch for training. All of them, as a team together. The funny part is that everyone goes to different colleges in different parts of Ireland, but they were there to train. One kid was there who just flew back to Ireland the night before from America because of visa issues, after 6 months of being away. I can’t say that I would be doing the same.

   

   On the way to the reservoir

   His house was pretty cool too

   

   The view from my window

   

   All glass

A Day at Dublin Zoo

My Seminar on Learning and Living class, and my only class on Tuesdays at that, was cancelled today. As a result, we decided that we needed to do something fun, so we agreed last night to meet up at 11:30 (and we told Brian 11) to go to the Dublin Zoo. When I woke up, it was so sunny and warm that it instantly put me in a great mood. I made myself a grilled ham and cheese sandwich, cut up a banana and supplemented it with two chocolate chip cookies for lunch, this way I wouldn't need to buy anything while I was out. We grabbed sunglasses, and all met up. I pulled off the shorts and t-shirt, which made me happier than ever! We took the bus down to Phoenix Park, but forgot to put our arm out to have the bus stop where we and a couple of other people were waiting. The bus drove by, and just like that, everyone else waiting at the

bus stop absolutely hated us. I can't say I blame them either... We did meet a very nice old man on the way to the zoo, who was delighted that we were going to see it, it was one of his favorite spots he said. He gave us advice on which animals to make sure to see, and gave us complete directions before we parted ways. We walked through a tiny portion of Phoenix Park on the way to the Zoo, which is apparently five times the size of Central Park, and absolutely gorgeous. We loved the animals, especially the monkeys. The lions were sleeping when we got there, but we caught them on the way back. We laughed as a swan chased down a duck to attack it, but couldn't catch up to it, and a very impatient sea lion barked at the door at 2pm. The sign on the door read "Feedings at 2:15pm", so we can assume why he was
angry, or "Hangry" as Ann and Maddie (Julia's friends) had called it. We walked through the petting area, and there was a pig there. Brian commented on how much pig he ate, considering that he was eating burgers almost every day. We laughed so hard, and he realized what he'd said. He then walked to the cows in an attempt to redeem himself, but we all knew. Yeah, he's from Queens, but we can't let him live that one down. I went back with everyone, then headed back down to the city center to walk around and see what was going on in town. I came back around 11, and on the way back I saw someone get kicked out a convenience store by security. They then proceeded to attempt to kick the door to the store down, and the Guarda were there within a couple of minutes. I left before they could get there, I didn't want to be involved in any way! I ended the night talking with Eoin, who told me that I had no choice, and would be attending his 21st birthday at his house on May 31st in Cavan. That is pretty cool, and will be a great way to end this semester!