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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Neurosis, Metal Wilber, and Translation to Potato DEATH!

Neurosis, Metal Wilber, and Translation to Potato DEATH!

Neurosis and Drainland

Last night I found out about a metal show at a place called the Button Factory (an actual nice venue) and decided to attend in order to find out what the metal scene was like over here in Ireland. I was happy to find that a lot of the scene is Doom/Sludge metal, and that the crowd for the headlining band at the show had the place packed wall to wall. The opening band was a group called Drainland, which I dubbed the Irish version of Morbid Angel. Great vocals, awesome set, and I hope to hear more stuff from them. The headliner was Neurosis, a New York band that was originally a hardcore band for their first two albums and then switched to Doom metal (and do a damn good job of putting on a live show). I definitely have to look up both bands when I get back to the states.

One of the best parts of the show was who I ran into. In between the bands sets I ran into these 4 Irish dudes and one of their girlfriends from Belfast that were all simply badass. Another cool fact about these dudes: they are all in metal bands of their own. They were all drunk off their asses and hitting on anything female (and some not) that crossed their paths. They would show their guns (arms for those of you who are special, and not in the “its okay” way), say “this is it!” then ask them if they wanted to marry them.

The elicited responses were priceless, ranging from “fuckin’ bullocks” to lots of giggling to one saying that she could be their mothers, which one of the guys I was with, Richard, gave the best response ever: “FUCK OFF! How old are you?!” To answer all of your questions, yes, the accent does make this sentence acceptable. As I watched the show with these dudes, the one named Ross was cool enough to buy me a Guinness, and they even wanted me to come chill with them at Belfast and see Iron Maiden while I was here.

Were it not for class in the morning, I would have went in a heartbeat, but alas, I had to decline, So I simply asked for their emails to find them on facebook and said goodbye to my new friends. An awesome show and experience for the books.

The metal show came with a price; I woke up with so much back pain I was ready to puke. Luckily I am stubborn and was able to keep food down. After I stopped shaking from pain and nausea and was able to stand up straight, I went down and had breakfast hoping the Ibuprofen would hold out.

Book of Kells

After breakfast, we were going to go to lecture, but Dr. Wilber saw that the book of Kells line was short (and is on display at Trinity college) so we opted to do that instead. The book of Kells is a very old copy of the bible that is illustrated and written about 800 A.D. the display is also accompanied by many other old gospels from various other monks and what not. I would post pictures, but unfortunately they do not allow pictures in the museum, so when I tried to snap a picture a little old Irish man with compensation issues and took his job too seriously told me to erase it. I would have lied and faked it but it seemed the bastard knew how to work my camera….you win this time guard…you win this time.

The most impressive part to me was the old Trinity library. It was like I walked into a scene of an Indiana Jones film! Ancient marble busts lined the book ends with displays in the center, covered in glass displaying many of the beginnings of modern music and medical sciences, namely anatomy. The old library was truly awe-inspiring. We were only allowed to view half of the library for some reason, so I went to ask the guard at the exit why that was, and he simply replied “Well I could tell ya a good bit but the truth is we’re short staffed.” Not the thing I wanted to hear since I do not know if I will ever come back over here, but at least he was honest.

St. Patrick’s Cathedral

After taking a lunch and hitting the milkshake bar (yes, this place DOES exist!) we headed to St. Patrick’s Cathedral, which was quite a long walk. This is where Jonathan Swift is buried and where Catholics pay homage to St. Patrick for earning them the right to practice their religion freely.

The church was full of many old artifacts and was very informative. It was unnerving to see the gift shop in the back of the church when we entered, namely because I used to be a bible quizzer when I went to church and I specifically remember some part of the bible where Jesus storms into the church and starts flipping tables and chairs because you are not supposed to use the church for a place of profit.

Translations (Play)

After that, we all rushed back to our apartments, changed into fancy clothes, and went to a play called Translations about the beginning of the potato famine in Ireland around the beginning of the 1840s. I thoroughly enjoyed the play, and it was well but together, though it ended abruptly and had no real plot resolution, it had tons of metaphorical references from its characters, almost to the point where it was annoyance.

You can't kill the metal...

Today began with a classroom session of Dr. Wilbur and a classroom session, which honestly I would have slept through were it not for my back pain keeping me awake.

After the class session Delaney and I wandered around until our next classroom session at 2 pm, which was actually an assignment for us to do that was assigned during class at the National Museum of Ireland.

National Museum of Ireland

The museum was cool, the exhibits weren’t overwhelming and you can actually finish the museum in one day. The highlights by far were the bog men, bodies that were found in bogs and were perfectly preserved and are now on display there. Ironically enough one was so well preserved that his red hair was still in tact, and looked very similar to Conan O’Brian.

The other highlight was the Viking exhibit, which was rather extensive with Viking weaponry and tools they used in their trades of fishing and weaving. The only exhibit that was pathetic was the Egyptian one they apparently just added. It wasn’t extensive, which I can forgive, but it quite honestly seemed like it was rushed to be added.

After that we went to the GOP (Post office) to see where Michael Collins got shot at during the Easter Rising of 1916 and took a few pictures of where the bullet holes are still present from the machine gun fire. Then we took the light train (a glorified Disney monorail) to the Brazenhead to eat diner, and then walked back to Trinity, where my night got even more awesome.

Bruxelles Basement Bar

This by far has been the most fun I’ve had thus far on this trip (granted my massive back pain hasn’t been a major contributor to the fun factor, either). I got that tip from the guy in the Sound Cellar the other day suggesting Bruxelles to me and said “it’s the only place we still own.” I was dumbfounded when I found the place and saw the outside. It was mostly rich college students and tourists like every other restaurant off of Grafton Street. I saw the stairs off to the side heading to the basement and prepared myself for disappointment, only to not be. I walked into the place, low and behold... metalheads! Just to list a few of the songs that were played on the jukebox while I was still sober enough to write them down:

Arch Enemy – Nemesis

Gary Moore – Over the Hills

Tenacious D – Metal

Motörhead - Stay Out of Jail

Steel Panther – I Want it That Way (yes, it is a Backstreet Boys cover)

Fear Factory – Archetype

And the list goes on. I was so relieved, especially since there were only a handful of people in the bar, so I knew it wasn’t touristy.

Chronicles of Riddick playing on the plasma on the wall while metalheads shooting pool (and they actually shake hands and show good sportsmanship after the game). A properly mixed Jack & Coke properly mixed upon my lips makes this atmosphere even better. Most important of all, the introduction of a brand new favorite drink for me. Apparently these guys had a spare slushie machine just sitting in the back room, and since they are Irish, they decided to put alcohol in it. More importantly, they put my drink in it…that’s right, they had JACK & COKE SLUSHIES!!! I officially entered heaven, my back quit hurting, and it was miraculous.

I also met this badass Irish couple that are metalheads, Aido and Heidi. Heidi is obsessed with Slayer. Aido is obsessed with Amon Amarth. They invited me to drink with them after obliterating any hope of anyone else using the juke box that night (which nice bit of trivia here, apparently that basement bar was the first bar in Dublin to get the digital jukebox, and also this jukebox was amazing, because unlike in American ones, you could literally find almost any song you could think of, including metal artist). Concert experiences were shared, Sláinte was yelled numerous times as we toasted, many fags were smoked, and memories were made with my new friends. The bathroom of this place was also hilarious, because not only did it have the waterfall urinal again, but I could hardly stand up straight in it, and I feel really bad for anyone who had to take a shit in there.

Eventually I had to depart and leave my new friends, but it’s all good, that’s what facebook is for, and why it’s important to always have a writing pad with you.

Tonight I go to see a metal show for a band called Neurosis, and I can’t wait.

~Will

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Old Structures, Churches, and Crosswalks.

I would like to touch on a few things I have noticed here before continuing on with my activities for the day:

1. Crosswalks – when the timers go off, the sound effects they make are similar to that of an old school Galaga machine, and I now have a horrible urge to find an arcade while here and get my game on. The Irish also have the ingenious idea of idiot proof instruction placement on the pavement for all pedestrians to see. This needs to be something America adopts.

2. Their product name brands kick our name brands asses!

3. The birth of Tits or GTFO.

That being said, I am going to have to separate this blog into sections, because I took too many pictures and paid too much attention to the tour guide. Not my normal protocol for going to tourist traps but eh, there was nothing else to do and it kept my mind off my back.

Newgrange

Our first stop was Newgrange, one of the oldest manmade settlements still in existence, predating the pyramids by at least 500 years. To get there we had to drive an hour out of Dublin, so we woke up to take a nap, in essence. We went to the visitors center first, which aside from entertaining myself by finding ornery things I can use to make bad jokes, was nothing really special.

We eventually got to Newgrange after another hour waiting in the visitor center. Unfortunately, they did not allow us to take pictures inside of the building, but we were shown where the light is supposed to be shown through the light box above the entrance door on the winter solstice. In the chamber there was also quite a bit of problems with vandals back in the day, some rather famous. One such is from a priest named T.B. Naylor who defaced the inner chamber Newgrane by carving his name and the year 1894 into the stone. Yes, that’s right; the church vandalized a pagan worship site….oh the irony....

The view around the settlement was breathtaking, so of course we have to exploit it being tourist and all by taking about 20 group photos in the front (courtesy of Dr. Wilbur photography, Ltd.). I also took a short nap on the grass of the hillside at the settlement. Irish grass is amazingly soft and great for just lying on the ground and taking it easy. No wonder most of the Irish like to relax in fields so often.

Monasterboice

Monasterboice is an old abandon monastery no longer in use that only exists now as a graveyard. The only way you can be buried there now is if you happen to have a relative already resting on the grounds. The church has some very tall crosses with very intricate designs. The round tower is still standing where it did 1,000 years ago with its door still pointing towards the most important structure in the monastery at the time, the chapel. These grounds are covered with amazing and elaborate Celtic crosses. If you ever needed inspiration for a cross tattoo design, this is definitely a place to research.

One of the other gimmicks on this trip was to take your boarding time sticker they put on you and place it on a poster at Newgrange. Unfortunately for those who miss that poster, at Monasterboice they found….another place to stick them.

After all of that travel, we drove an hour back to Dublin and since it was my classmate Margaret’s birthday, we all decided to go out with her to celebrate….with booze. We walked all the way from Trinity to Brazenhead (The oldest pub in Ireland) which is a fairly long walk, only to find that they had quit serving food 15 minutes prior to our arrival. We went back to temple bar and ate at a restaurant named Mexico to Rome. They had bacon and egg cheeseburgers which made me very happy, unfortunately, their ability to bartend did not. I got a cocktail called a “Dragon Slayer” which was WAY too weak for the price I paid, and caused fruitiness. I ordered a Jack and Coke next round, only to find out they don’t mix drinks and just hand you a can and glass, basically. While getting massively ripped off by our wait staff, I looked out the window to see my friend Charlie walking by from Lakeland, Florida. I rush outside, tripping over a chair in the process, to catch up with him. The odds are astronomically small when for that to happen, but it did, and it is awesome.

Until next entry!

~Will

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