Yesterday was very cool. We went into Derry and walked around a little, went to the Tower Museum and learned about The Spanish Armada wreck nearby, the history of Derry, and a local ghost story. We went and saw a play about the ghost story, which was kind of interesting, but kind of boring. 

Then we went out to the pubs with all the JMU girls and the UMASS kids (they got here a couple days ago) and John McCourt, a former IRA fighter who has started working for the peace process and is the man! He worked as a bouncer in the Derry pubs, so he knew EVERYONE. He also knows how to have a blast! This guy was picking up keg shells and putting them on his shoulders, taking shots with the birthday girl (Kelly), and warding off sketchy homeless guys who tried to follow us to the bus. People were getting pretty wild and crazy on our first night out with everyone, it was a lot of fun with a lot of crazy stories and pictures. We also ended up staying up and talking until 4 in the morning, which didn’t help when we had to get up at 9 AM. Oops haha.

Today we heard from a professor from the University of Ulster, a former British military member, and our Center Director’s daughter who teaches the Irish language and taught us some. We also went to the IRA graveyard in Derry and this 3000 year old fort on the top of a mountain: 

I took more pictures of Irish mountains beside water, which might bring my grand total up to somewhere around 50 of those kinds of pictures. Still trying to capture the beauty of this place in a camera lens, don’t know if I ever will.

Tonight we just hung out and drank casually at Inch House chatting and learning about new friends here. Tomorrow is a very busy day, with meetings with the Derry Police, an Irish Parliament member, and hopefully Nobel Peace Prize laureate John Hume. Still having a great time and loving Ireland!

So I have a little catching up to do, not like the past few days which have been multi-post days. Yesterday was a day full of lectures, hearing from the director of the Irish Studies Center, a history professor from University of Ulster, and two community workers who gave Protestant and Catholic perspectives of the Troubles. Both men were from Derry, which was a hotbed for conflict and fighting. John McCourt, the Catholic speaker, is a former IRA fighter who took up arms in Derry against the killings by Protestants, the police, and the army. I never realized the huge impact these battles had on everyone in Ireland, and the measures that were taken by both sides during the fighting.

We also took a walk along the beach yesterday, which was gorgeous. There are layers and layers of shells of all sizes on the beach, as well as thick brown sand. The views were breathtaking too: 

We got scared back home from a bunch of rain clouds, but it didn’t last very long at all. Because we’re on the northern coast of Ireland, we get rain often, but it passes quickly which is nice. So having your rain jack on you at all times is a must, but we haven’t had any long term rains yet.

We also went over and pet the director’s three Irish Wolfhounds, which are HUGE dogs. The two grey/black ones are still young, so they’re super energetic and aggressive hand-lickers, while the brown one is a little older and more restrained, but still very nice. 

Today we went into Derry and met the Founder and Head Theatre Director for the Derry Playhouse, who talked to us about the plays they are doing as a healing process for victims of the conflict. These “Witness Theatre” plays were really interesting and inspiring, because I never thought about using theatre as anything other than entertainment. We also heard from a BBC reporter from Derry and a local artist who based a lot of his work on the verses of Gaelic folk songs. 

We got a chance to walk around Derry a little, got lunch, and then came back home for dinner. After dinner we tried to find this castle on the island that’s about 3 miles away, but couldn’t find it before it got dark. We did see a lot of sheep though, and got charged at by bulls behind a fence. Laughed real hard at the pictures of us running away scared for our lives haha. Hopefully we can go back looking again soon. 

Tomorrow we’re going back into Derry for a tour, to see a play at the Playhouse, and some free time in the area. Check back later! 

P.S. Saw my first Irish rainbow, very happy about that

Forgot to mention, I was also in Drogdah and the driver said the President of Ireland was in town to commemorate the anniversary of the famine, but we probably wouldn’t see him. He was wrong. That’s the President on the bridge. Celebrities

That is what I see from the front yard. Holy crap, this is awesome! Since my last post, we have met up with all of our classmates, met the people from the Irish Studies Center, and taken the long drive up to Inch Island. I had a massive burger at the airport, which I unfortunately didn’t take a picture of it, but this thing was great! Everyone else was feeling the time difference like I did yesterday, but we all had a good time sitting around talking. Got real goofy after a while from all being so tired, but I think we’re going to have a great time.

We met up with the director of the Irish Study Center and his assistant, who drove our group in two 8 seat limos back to Inch Island. Unfortunately, they didn’t account for the amount of luggage people had, so we had luggage sitting in the front passenger seat, between people’s legs, and on their laps. It was very cramped, and everyone was intermittently passing out. We stopped at this church in Droghdah and saw the bones and severed head of Saint Oliver Plunkett (who got executed by the British)  

I also had a very moving experience while in the church. Today is the one year anniversary of my Grandma passing away and so being in Ireland, her ancestors homeland and the place she loved to tell me about, I decided to light a candle for her and say a prayer. When I knelt down to say the prayer, “Here I Am” started playing on the speakers they had playing religious music. It was a song I always loved to hear her sing in church, and that she requested have played at her funeral mass. It was like she was there with me, really really touching experience and something I’ll never forget.

We went to a cemetery a little further down the road and saw these very cool, very tall stone crosses. They had scenes from the bible and Celtic knots and symbols carved into them, it was very neat. We also saw this tower that the monks used in the middle ages to escape from the Vikings. They would climb into the tower and pull up the ladder and the Vikings couldn’t get to them. Old school safe houses.

Then began a very long, very cramped drive to Inch Island. After the 2.5 hour drive and random naps along the way, we arrived at Inch. The house is awesome, the view is to die for, there are tons of sheep, and I have my own room. It’s perfect haha. We had our family dinner and then went walking up the road a little bit, baahing at sheep and thinking up fun things to do in our free time. It’s very weird; since we’re more north (we’re around the same latitude as Alaska), the sun doesn’t fully set until 10 PM. All the girls (oh yea, I forgot to mention. I’m the only guy on this trip besides my professor. 9 girls and me. They’re all super nice and laid back though.) were really tired from their plane travel, so everyone has gone to bed but me. Doing some orientation and learning tomorrow, so we’ll see what kind of fun we can have on the Island. Till next time: Baaahhhh

So I survived my first night in Europe. I met two guys from Madrid, Danny and Danny, and we went out pub hopping. We went down to the Temple Bar area of Dublin and found some of the more popular pubs. We were attempting to have a different beer in each pub (New bar, new beer), but we eventually just got back to Guinness again. The pubs are very cool, and a lot of places have live music (i.e. every place doesn’t play hip hop thank god). We then moved on to a club, which was my first European club experience. It was very different; it wasn’t like in America where everyone is grinding on each other. It was much more of people just enjoying dancing with themselves, not on everything else that moved. And they don’t stop till like 7 am! I left at 3, and everyone was still living it up! 

This morning I woke up at 6:30, tried to go back to sleep, failed, and just got up. Breakfast was in the converted chapel of the hostel: 

I headed over to the bus stop, met these middle aged women from Virginia who were spending two weeks working on an organic farm in County Cork (They said everyone they told said they were crazy, I told them I thought it was very cool), then got to the airport. Thanks to Facebook, I found out other people from my trip had already met up, so I came over and here we are! My professor is getting here soon, but we have to wait for some other students who are on a delayed flight. Should only be until 1:30, but we’ll see what happens. Then we’re off to Inch Island and my study abroad begins!

So I did get lost. Hiking up and down the streets of Dublin looking for my hostel. The roads are not very easily marked, some have an old sign about 15 feet up the side of a building telling you what street it is, but some don’t and you just have to guess. Stopped in a few stores to ask directions, and I eventually got here fine.

The hostel is in this old Christian schoolhouse: 

After I got here, I went out walking around looking for some food. I saw a couple pubs and I went in to try it out. Things work very differently: I seated myself at the bar and had no idea how to order food. The bartender helped me out, thankfully, and explained it was a carver. I went over to this cafeteria line and ordered the dinner that I wanted. I figured it was my first day abroad, and in Dublin; I might as well splurge. So I got a pint of Guinness too. Check out this meal: 

Roast beef, potatoes, mashed potatoes, carrots, and cabbage. And that plate is about 15 inches across. It was massive and delicious!

I tried to pay with my debit card, but their machine wasn’t working, so I offered to leave my ID as collateral and go across the street to the ATM and get some cash. The manager then came over and said I didn’t have to rush and I could drop off the money the next time I was passing by, today or tomorrow. But then the bartender got the machine working. I was very impressed though! I like Europe, they trust you haha.

After that, I came back to my hostel and passed out for about 4 hours. I had been up for 26 hours, it was like pulling an all nighter at school but much better haha. My hostel room has Germans and Spanish and all sorts of people living in it. I might go grab a few drinks with one of the guys later. Then up early tomorrow to head back to the airport to meet up with my professor and the rest of the JMU Study Abroad group. Check back then! Cheers

I’m in Ireland!!!! I’m in a very weird awakeness right now, I haven’t slept in 21 hours, but it’s 11 am here, so Dublin’s day is just starting! I’m about to head to the hostel via bus, we’ll see how lost I get haha.

The plane ride was real nice. Ended up in the middle row of my Virgin Atlantic flight, but I was next to this skinny Indian woman and a skinny Bulgarian girl (I.E. Didn’t get squished :D), who I found out went to VCU and lives in the Richmond area! She even worked at the Best Western by Kings Dominion, so we bonded over hard times over there haha. Had a really good dinner on the plane, with a Heineken (no questions asked, I love Europe haha). The flight attendants were all very nice British girls, great accents. My first flight was great!

Next I transferred in London and ran into my professor and his wife. We went through security together (which was much more extensive than I thought. I got grilled by a British woman about what my purpose is in the country. Then got on Aer Lingus, which was not as nice but also not full of people. I switched to a window seat after the plane was up in the air, where I got this great pic of Wales

London is beautiful, Wales is beautiful, Dublin is beautiful. I’m going off to my hostel, wish me luck!!!

So I’m about to embark on something I’ve never done before. Well, a few things. 1) Plane travel. Made it through security without any uncomfortable searches or accusations of treason. Check that off the list. Waiting for boarding, going to be a long flight across the pond. 2) Going out of the country. So Canada when I was 5 technically counts I guess, but Niagra Falls is just glorified upstate New York with a woman on their money instead of a guy. 3) Staying in a hostel. I haven’t seen the movie, but I’m hoping it’s more peaceful and liveable than what I’ve heard about it. Bout to meet some new people from all over.

Said bye to the fam and the girl. Megan gave me lots of cool and tasty stuff for my trip. I get to eat her cookies from 2000 miles away! Too excited. But yea, I’m so stoked for this trip. Going to try and update this pretty regularly so other people can see all the shenanigans I’m getting into, and I can hopefully find it years from now. Next time I post, I’ll be across the Atlantic!