So It Ends As It Began….

Sorry about the lack of blogging, I have been having technical difficulties with my computer, which also means that I will have no pictures posted in this entry since my computer is demonic and needs to be destroyed in a way I can only describe as “inhumane, even for a machine.” But here’s what was missed:

August 4^th:

Coole Park

Today was more or less an easy day. We went to a national park that used to belong to a wealthy land owner and is known as Coole Park. This place specifically holds a great deal of historical significance since the lady who use to own it had many famous Irish authors, playwrights, and poets carve their initials in their tree in the gardens, which by the way, the garden is obscenely extensive. I ended up wandering around and taking a 1.7 km nature trail by myself. The trees growing in the park obviously aren’t natural, but due to Ireland’s climate the trees were mutated to monstrosities of how they normally looked…and I consider it an improvement. Other then that we wandered around city center in downtown Galway and that was it for the day

August 5^th:

This day was eventful. We went to Connemara marble which is famous for its extensive use of all of Ireland’s marble quarries and effectively puts them in jewelry and charges for it justly. I think I was one of the only people that actually did not buy something there. After we did the touristy shopping there for awhile we drove an hour to the Kylemore Abbey, which is apparently still active and full of penguins. For the most part we weren’t even allowed to see a lot of the Abbey unless we paid quite a bit extra to get a private tour.

They also had a huge garden, which my posse was just going to skip but our classmate Michelle had to make an emergency run to the doctor so we had time to kill. We took an extended nature trail up to the gardens and came back an hour later, only to discover that they had been waiting for us for almost half an hour…oops.

We headed back after that to prepare for a feast we were to attend at Dunguaire Castle. When we arrived at the castle, they immediately handed me a cup of mead…a true sign that this was going to be a good night. The even sang pretty Irish songs to us:

As the night progressed, so did my alcohol consumption. I ended up drinking an entire pitcher of white wine almost completely by myself, and when we left the castle and went back to the hotel, I went down to the hotel bar, and got completely smashed (and according to my bartender had at least 6 complaints filed against me).

When I woke up the next morning, my roommate Adam informed me that I had allegedly peed all over his computer chair in our room, but I am rather skeptical to this, because when telling the story, he said I unzipped my pants, but I wasn’t wearing pants with a zipper when I woke up. Also piss would have caused one giant splotch stain on the cushion of the chair, but both chairs in this room have multiple miniature stains, not as when he explained that I soaked the seat with it. Either way, I can officially say that I have the most interesting “Guess what I did in Ireland?” story in this group.

August 6^th:

Inis Mor

We Spent the entire day on the Island of Inis Mor, one of the Aran Islands off the coast of Ireland. It was interesting to see such a small society being formed on these islands, and how much history such a small isolated island had maintained even in a modern society. Also, the Ferry rides are funny:

Dun Aonghasa

This is a semi-circular fort that is 2,000 year old fort that the Celts built to defend against roman invasion and protect their mercantile trade routes. It is also surrounded my limestone, which becomes extremely slippery when wet. Naturally, it rained on us while we were there, and I was wearing all cotton clothing….it was a long boat ride back to the mainland, to say the least. I also stepped onto an area our professor told us not to step on where you walk out over the ledge on rocks, unaware of the 10 foot cut back into the Cliffside a few feet down that you can’t see but from the side where he was standing. The climb down from the fort was lovely as well, especially since it’s extremely steep and almost completely limestone…and soaked at this point.

That concludes the last of our tourist trappy things on this trip, now we travel to the airport today, and leave early tomorrow morning back to the states….bittersweet this ending shall be.

~Will

I Drank a LOT the Past Few Nights…

So for the past couple of nights I have been doing Ireland proper…getting drunk on a nightly basis in a pub. I also keep having the awesome days to counteract the drunken stupors (and apparently none of my group mates understand how I function with no sleep). Now to attempt to recollect what has happened the past few days…

On Tuesday we were supposed to start the day off by doing the Gap of Dunloe, but apparently one of the locals enjoyed Guinness a little too much and passed away, so many of the local shops were closed. This guy was also friends with all of the carriage drivers we had hired, so we had to kill an hour and a half until the funeral ended. So what did we do? We wend to a castle….

Ross Castle

We went to Ross Castle, originally the drop off point for our trek through the Gap of Dunloe. The sad part is we did this on a whim and could not even get into the castle because it was booked solid, so most of us acted like kids on a play place in McDonalds and took a bunch of ridiculous photo ops. Also, I found a cannon and this is the most demonic dogs allowed sign I have ever seen (Fenrir FTW).

Gap of Dunloe

We finally get to the gap and all of the carriage drivers arrive. Naturally I am indecisive so we end up getting the last driver available which everyone else avoided because he looked shifty and was chain smoking on his cell phone for awhile. Ironically he ended up being the nicest of the drivers according to the rest of the crews (Lucky us for not being picky!)

Quite honestly no matter what I say can really describe how beautiful the pass was. It did make me wish I knew how to ride a horse or mountain climb, because the mountains and their trails that carriages could not go up looked fun and kind of scary, so naturally I want to go up them. Instead I just settled for walking and riding in my first carriage ride on the paved path.

After we were done with the carriage ride we had to take a boat for an hour and a half ride through many narrow canals to get back to Ross Castle from earlier. Ironically they never told us the boats were old school. Seeing the National Park from the water was also an interesting experience, especially with our awesomely sarcastic boat driver drilling out facts and names of all the gaps and rivers (which I find awesome since the Irish are very literal with their naming of landmarks). Along the way Dr. Robin convinced our boat driver to let us have 10 minutes on a remote island where the ruins of the Innisfallen Monastery were. So we did that, took a nice photo op with Janine, then ended the trip with a group photo with Jennifer and Janine (the posse I’ve been hanging out with), ending the Dunloe escapades and starting the fancy dinner and getting Janine trashed one.

Our hospitable tour guide Mike treated us to dinner at a fancy restaurant named Bricin for a traditional Irish meal called Boxty. After dinner we went across the street (literally) and went into Mike’s usual bar called Hussey’s (don’t the Irish have the best bar names?). This is where Janine finally started to sober up some, because apparently she only gets drunk once a year. Unfortunately for her, she came on this trip with me, which quickly ended that, and also explains the awkward faces they are all making for the camera. This sadly ended my last night in Killarney, Mike’s home town, but what a wonderful way to be shipped off.

We left the next morning and headed for the cliffs of Moher, which we had to take a ferry to get to…Shannonferry to be precise. I had never ridden a ferry that allowed you to take your car on it, so it was an interesting experience. We also passed through the town where the poet/writer/guy who is good with words that’s Irish named John B. Keane was from, and they had quite a bit of monuments to the man erected.

Cliffs of Moher

The next stop on our bus ride to Galway was the Cliffs of Moher, which were very awe-inspiring. Naturally I have to take some deep in thought photo ops. Unfortunately I didn’t get to spend as much time as I would have liked to, since we only had an hour. As per quota being me, I found the most dangerous area, then found a hole in the fence, and crawled through it.

The path was very narrow and steep, and the wind was insane, so for once it was a good thing that I’m hunkered down so much by gravity. I hiked as far down the cliffs as I could, but I had to turn around due to lack of time, so now I have something to add to my bucket list. I also, of course, got the straight over the ledge camera shot, which on those cliffs is hard as hell with all that wind. After that I saw the most amazing thing on the entire cliff, the strip mall they burrowed out of the side. This will be one of the main reasons I ever return to this country.

We continued on our way to Galway, went through the matchmaking town, saw a funny sign about breasts, saw Galway hookers (those are what the boats are called, you pervs!), and saw a guy rockin’ it in his car (bad joke intended). Now were in Corrib village where we reside till we leave back for the states.

Manatees Show at Sally Longs

This has definitely been one of my most memorable nights on this trip. My Irish friend Ross, who I met last week at the Neurosis show at the Button Factory, told me there was a show at a place called Sally Longs that night for a metal band named Manatees (horrible metal name, but what the hell, it sounded interesting). So I asked a few shop keeps and finally got directions to where it was and went.

Finally, a metal bar that isn’t hidden! Well it was actually a rock bar just due to the depictions on the murals, which were pretty badass as well. The jukebox had a huge Motorhead selection, which greatly met my approval. I have also noticed that all bars have mini bottles of wine for the women and that most of the guys attempting to wine and dine these females are also rolling their own cigarettes, I just found that cultural difference interesting.

The first band took the stage after a bit, and were incredibly punk. I found that rather odd but from what I’ve discovered about Ireland is they have a much bigger punk scene here than metal, and what they do have of metal is all sludge or doom. After about half of their set I stepped outside to smoke a cig and started talking to some Irish metalheads, and met some very…interesting…characters. The first guy I met was this short (and very talkative) Irish man in a Linkin Park hat named Brian. He used to live in the states and was a traveling mechanic that works on Harley Davidson motorcycles. He has also memorized every Jeff Dunham joke ever recorded and obliged himself to quote them while I was talking to him. Man that was a long conversation…

The second metalhead I spoke to was a metalhead named Mike, who honestly was an Irish version of my friend Tom Deason. He was about 6’5” and wearing a Metallica shirt. We started bullshitting with a few of his buddies outside about random stuff, shooting me questions about America and being cynical as hell both ways about it. Unfortunately I learned that you never insult the Irish, especially to their faces.

Mike made a wisecrack about America and slurred a bit on his statement, so I asked him “Dude how drunk are you? Oh wait, you’re Irish” and immediately all of their smiles went from happy to DEATH! I was probably about to get slugged, so I diffused the situation in the smartest way possible…bought us a round of yaeger shots! After that it was smooth sailing. We all got smashed, I met some of the other guys in bands and they dubbed me as the “smartest Yank they had ever met.” These new guys, one named Allen and the other I had to ask his name about 5 times and I still cant remember it, were kind enough to invite me for chips and walk me to the taxi hub to make sure I got back to my place okay.

The taxi cab driver was kind of a curve ball in the mix of the evening. I had never heard an older gentleman say fuck so many times in my life. He was a retired United Nations soldier and kept asking me how he could get discounts and stuff through the US government for Disney world and such. I kept telling him to ask the veterans office, and I think he believed me. After he dropped me off, I crashed for at about 3:30 pm, and like I said, definitely one of my best nights here in Ireland.

Windmills and Old Farms Are Disturbing Sometimes

Muckross House

Today started out rather early as we left abruptly at 9:20am to go to Muckross House to see the lavish lifestyle of the upper class in Ireland during the late 1800s and early 1900s. Unfortunately I was not permitted to take pictures of their furniture and what not for preservation purposes, but what I will say is that the 3 ton billiards table they had was badass! The only time we were allowed to take pictures was in the servant quarters, which were interesting, to say the least, namely the bell system. Each bell had a unique sound and ring to it, so whenever a knob was turned throughout various rooms in the house, the bell would ring in the servant quarters and they would know immediately where to go.

The kitchen used a lot of brass due to the brass mine that was on the premises, hence all that you see here. One of the more interesting bits is the traditional farms they had on the property, where they have authentic houses from back in the day of various shapes and sizes (accompanied by an obscene amount of animals) on a trail you walk. Each house has a lady of the house that is always making soda bread or something along those lines on an open fire, filling the house with vast amounts of smoke!

Also, the girls I was with were obsessed with kittens, which run ramped all over this place, like this first one we encountered. Alright, I get it, its cute, let’s move on, only to walk 5 minutes and run into another one. No, that’s not the same cat, that’s a different one! This repeated itself 3 or 4 times before they stopped popping up. Which I am guessing is because of the smell.

We continued walking; I flipped out because the sewing machine my mother has in our dining room was in this house. Which reminds me; I should call and tell her that. Finally after walking what seemed like forever and stopping to play on a playground, we finally reach the exit, just as Delaney sprains her ankle right as we are about to stop walking an obscene distance. I also stabbed a mannequin right in his heart, therefore taking his soul.

Blennerville Windmill

After Muckross House we all piled in the bus for 45 minutes to drive to Blennerville Windmill. Dr. Wilber had us write Limericks during the ride, which quite frankly got very, very annoying. After we arrived we watched a video, looked at a few displays, and then went into the windmill. It was pretty cool, with all of its rickety giant gears turning, though unfortunately the wind wasn’t strong enough to turn the grindstone so we didn’t get to see any grain turned to flower.

We left the windmill and admired the view a bit, before driving to the Tralee rose garden and wandering around town before going and listening to a published Irish historian speak. After that we piled back into the bus, listened to Mike, our bus driver, sang a badass rendition of the “The Rose of Tralee” he memorized, got back at the Bed and Breakfast, and here we are.

Tomorrow, I hike an obscene distance.

Will

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The Free Day

Today has been bland and boring, which was nice. I walked around town with Adam in the morning, came back to the bed & breakfast, then wandered around town by myself for a couple of hours before buying a bottle of Powers Irish Whiskey as well as Mickey Finn and coming back to the apartment to mock the movie “The Reader” with a lot of other people from the trip which was fun for those who stuck through it. On a side note, you have to love discrimination, especially when it is portrayed on you via your classmates in a heartbeat.

That being said, I am going to go write other things more relevant at this time in my drunken state.

~Will

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Poetry, Scenery, A Lot of -ry's In Other Words

Today was delightfully unstructured. We woke up to take a motor coach tour of Killarny and learn the layout of the town, and then went to do various other things, such as:

• Degrade an ancient stone circle by standing on it.
• Visited Kenmare and ate an…interesting lunch…
• Saw lots of Sheep
• Climbed really high up and stole my entire groups’ souls with my camera.
• Took Mandatory group photo with breathtaking natural background.
• Went to Killarney National Park and saw Torc Waterfall….while standing in that freezing balls water.
• Ended the day with Burger Kings Pancake and Ice cream treat, which is really, really weird….

Later in the evening Dr. Wilber had arranged for two Irish poets, John W. Sexton and Eileen Sheehan, to come and speak to us. It was actually kind of awesome since I had never been to a poetry reading. There were wines, cheeses, and crackers at this gathering which I guess is a typical standard for poetry readings. They each read a few of their poems to us, explained how to put emotion into your writings, and caused two girls to have to leave the room in tears in the process. Moving words from good poets, I guess.

Now, I’m going to sleep…later.

Will

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In Killarney, With All of the Folks at Home!

Today started off with a blast…or should I say a lot of cursing...We were supposed to meet the motor coach down in front of Trinity College at 6:30am and leave at 7am, Dr. Robin was pounding on my door at 7:23 because my roommate Adam and I had both slept through our alarms (which I find funny since the two of us are typically the only ones who are always on time for everything). We were both scurrying to get out of the door and I’m glad to say I think I beat my old record since I was out of my room with all of my bags by 7:30am.

We got on the motor coach (haha, fancy words for buses are fun) and went to the train station, which aside from Disney world, this would be my first ride on a train. The experience was made even more surreal since the entire trip I rode backwards on the train. This was also our first real chance to see the Irish countryside, which for lack of a good word is simply breathtaking. We arrived at our destination and met our bus driver, an old Irish professor named Mike Connelly (I am fairly certain I have the last name wrong, so I shall correct that later). He has already taught us so many interesting things, for instance, the phrase “We have no cows to milk” which roughly translates to those of us not raised on Irish farms “We aren’t in any hurry.”

Mike drove us to Cork, the second biggest city in Ireland, with many malls and department stores to prove it. Dr. Wilber gave us an hour to eat so we wandered until we randomly stumbles into a bar named Thomond, which was a quaint little Irish bar what looked authentic. We ordered food, and I went on a whim with Adam and ordered a cottage pie, which is similar to a Shepards pie, but with different….well, something. Long story short, holy sheep, that was the best thing I have eaten since I have been in Ireland. From this experience I learned something: authentic Irish food IS bar food, do not forget that when over here. After we ate we went back to the bus and started our trek to Blarney Castle.

Blarney Castle

I haven’t been too much into a lot of some of the sites we have gone to (such as the church and the Yeats exhibition) but this was spectacular. Maybe because it was a fortified castle with narrow slits for archers to creep out of all over the place, or maybe it was because the view at the top on this side and that side were as breathtaking as the countryside we saw earlier on the train, or maybe it was simply because I was straining too hard as I was being quickly rushed over a ledge by an old Irish dude trying to rush through the line to stick my lips on a medieval rock, which I happily did.

I also did some mild spelunking with my classmate Amy through the old water storage cavern at the bottom of the castle, which involved us crawling about 200 feet in a narrow cavern no taller than 3 ½ feet tall, only to find at the end it was covered in graffiti and probably full of dead spirits (hence my smiling) on top of being a dead end, so we had to crawl back out the way we came in, only to find another cave right next to it we could actually walk through with a very obscure name.

Afterwards we all went back to the motor coach and headed to Killarney, which is where my favorite Christmas song comes from, as showcased thanks to Youtube and Dennis Day:

This bus ride took forever, but we had the pleasure of enjoying more Irish countryside, as well as seeing many of my classmates passing out here and there for the duration of the bus ride. We arrived at Killarney to our Bed & Breakfast that we’re staying in, and after hauling up my bags to my room (along with at least 5 of the girls bags due to lack of men and muscles) I rushed to the city to see if I could find any sign of metal, karaoke, or a gay bar (because gay people party harder than straight people and that mixed with Irish stereotypes has got to make one HELL of a bar). All I did end up doing was pissing off the only biker I could find by engaging in a conversation with him and me saying his musical taste sucked because he didn’t like Motorhead (which c’mon, I am right in this). He started to get angry and I decided it to be a good idea to leave and come back to the B&B where I can search the internet and not get lynched by angry Irish bikers.

In conclusion, that was my very long, drawn out day, and tomorrow I tour Killarney, which should be more interesting when everything isn’t closed.

DEATH!!!

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Farewell Dublin

So on our last day in Dublin, we had a class session, went and visited the Yeats Exhibition, which I am sad to say I am not a huge fan of, and I feel like me seeing it was wasted because of that fact, but oh well, at least I can say I saw it. After that we got to meet Mickey Dunne, a man who makes Uilleann Pipes, better known as Irish Bagpipes. Watching him play live was incredible. Don’t believe me? Watch, weep, and be envious that I was there, and you were not:

He also did a few didleys on the Tin whistle, which once again, low and behold:

After meeting this incredible Irishman, I really want to learn to play an instrument again…just not those pipes, which apparently cost 10,000-12,000 euros, and I shall leave the conversion up to you, but I will tell you now, it is not pretty.

We were free for the rest of the day after that and I went to Brewley’s with the rest of the group, then went and had one last Jack & Coke slushy, came back here and am typing this.

I would like to touch on a few things before ending this blog that I learned in this nice touristy town:

• I watched a few shitty punker’s attempts to play instruments and earn money for it, and if you are going to do that, do NOT pick Alice in Chains, one of my favorite bands. Secondly to NOT change the lyrics around because you fail to hit the notes effectively, just do not sing the song, sing something else, or better yet, nothing at all!
• Phrase I need to start saying: “You’re about as safe as a house on fire!”
• Ice cream in this country is made fresh everyday unlike in America, and it is phenomenal! I would move here solely based on that.
• McDonalds taste the same as in America
• Burger King kicks even more ass here! I did not think it was possible!

Those things being said, farewell Dublin, you’ve been swell….well not really, but the booze helped significantly!

~Will

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