Travelogue

This past weekend we took a three day trip to Westport and County Mayo on the west coast of Ireland.

On Friday, following a few hours riding on a bus, we arrived at Craugh Patrick (pronounced "crow"). Craugh Patrick is the mountain where St. Patrick is said to have fasted for 40 days before beginning his missionary work in Ireland. Every year on the Friday before the last Sunday in July, between 15,000 and 20,000 people make the pilgrimage to the top.

As this was the Friday before the last Sunday in September, there were substantially fewer people — we saw fewer than 20 others beyond our group on the mountain. It took slightly under two hours trekking along steep, rocky trails to reach the summit. From the top, we had a spectacular view of the surrounding fields, bogs, and the Atlantic Ocean. We also learned about the peak itself; the archaeologist leading our group showed us the remains of an ancient temple built in early medieval times.

Saturday we hiked through blanket bogs on the coastline exploring the sunken cities built about 5000 years ago. Most of the city walls are buried under 2 metres of dirt, but we plunged iron stakes into the ground to examine the hidden landscape. We also found a Mesolithic burial tomb hidden in the pits of an ordinary field. I felt thankful to have a good pair of hiking shoes. There is something very satisfying about the muddy squish of the bog, especially when you don't have to worry about wet feet.

The western Irish coastline is sheer and impressive. Cliffs plunge straight down into churning blue water. Ten foot waves pound against the jagged rock. We saw caves where Irishmen died watery deaths hiding from British soldiers, semi-buried lines of stones indicating ancient coastal fortification, and burial mounds. And sheep. Lots of honest-to-goodness, bleating, grass-munching rams and ewes. They look quite picturesque dotting the green, grassy landscape, although they would look more picturesque without the splotches of red and blue paint on their wool indicating the owner.

On Sunday we did a little more bog hiking, saw an old abbey, and bussed it back to Dublin.

Coincidentally, as I was doing my laundry the next morning, I explained the mysterious process of Doing Your Own Laundry to an Irish student who lived but 15 minutes from the Westport hostel where we stayed over the weekend.

Posted by Ryan at 5:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I think it sounds fairly impressive to say I am taking 10 classes while studying here in Dublin. In truth, it's not as hard as it sounds.

The Irish school system is a good bit different from the American one. Nearly all students at UCD study only one or two subjects. Mine are philosophy and linguistics. Each class meets once a week for 50 minutes. There is plenty of outside reading, though.

My philosophy classes have been very interesting so far. Most class time so far has been introducing the course, although some professors jumped right into the material. I am taking six classes: predicate logic, analytic philosophy, philosophy of action, Marxism and contemporary thought, ethics, and philosophy of science.

I'm only taking two linguistics courses: language use & communication and word structure & meaning. We discussed the process of building words in one class last week. In talking about infixes (like prefixes or suffixes, but in the middle of a word), my professor said there were very few in the English language, but offered "Abso-bloody-lutely" as one example.

I also take two more intense Notre Dame classes during the semester. One is an introduction to the history of Ireland. The professor is excellent; he talks nonstop — and quite quickly at that — for 90 minutes about all sorts of issues relating to Irish history. We began with the revolutions in the late 1700s and are moving on through the great revolutionaries of Ireland. The second ND class is a theology class, a history of the Irish Catholic Church. In many ways the history of the Church is the history of the country itself, so it will likely compliment the other course.

For many people, philosophy classes are quite boring. I imagine reading about another person taking a philosophy class hardly makes for riveting reading either, so I'll end here.

Posted by Ryan at 6:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Friday morning I piled into a bus with 41 other ND students and we drove up the coast of Ireland to Belfast. We visited the Nothern Ireland parliament building and met with a representative from one of the Unionist parties (As a simplification, Unionist parties favour Ireland either as a part of the U.K. or as an independent nation separate from the Republic of Ireland; Nationalists want a unified Ireland).

Then we drove along the coastline for another 2 hours to Balintoy where we checked into our hostel, the Sheep View Island. True to its name, we could indeed see sheep in the neighbour's yard. We ate dinner at a great local restaurant. Afterwards, we walked out the door of the restaurant, across the street, and followed our professors into the town pub. We stayed there for hours, enjoying live traditional Irish music and Guiness (which locals call "the blonde in the black dress"). At one point in the night, the noisy bar became completely silent so the town mayor could sing a solo for the visitors.

In the morning, we hiked for 90 minutes around the Giant's Causeway on the Antrim coast. It was absolutely gorgeous scenery: imagine rugged cliffs covered with almost artificially green grass above a swirling black ocean. The Giant's Causeway itself is an amazing formation of hexagonal igneous rock formed under intense pressure. The formation of the stone is so regular it looks manmade.

After the Giant's Causeway we took a tour of political murals in Belfast. They are a unique art form and much different from what I had imagined them to be. We walked through a housing project to see more murals and the poor living conditions for many Catholics in the area. A concrete wall tipped with razor wire divides the city, separating Catholic and Protestant. Though not so extreme, many have compared it to the Berlin Wall.

Finally, following another bus ride we returned to Dublin and attended a performance at Kilmainham Jail commemorating the 200 year anniversary of Robert Emmet's execution. Emmet was a leader of the United Irishmen who fought for an independent Ireland. He was killed for high treason against the crown of England. At the performance we learned about Emmet's history, heard poems by Seamus Heaney and others about his life, and listened to a cellist play. The night concluded with a reading of the speech Emmet gave from the gallows before being hung.

On one last note, I should mention that no one should be concerned about me eating. On our weekend trips, Notre Dame feeds us very well. We had full course meals for the duration of our trip to Belfast. During the week, I am rationing my food stipend reasonably well. One of my roommates, Jack, can whip up a mean cheese omelette. We're making good use of pasta, sandwiches, and fajitas. And, if all else fails, there's always Nutella.

Posted by Ryan at 5:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

We started classes this past Monday. It was a pleasant surprise when I found it only takes 90 seconds to walk from my flat to the main classroom building — about 10 times shorter than when I am at Notre Dame.

An Irish student described the UCD (University College Dublin) campus to me as "a bloody concrete jungle." She was pretty much dead on. The campus itself isn't very attractive, but everything is fairly close together and the professors teach classes, so I feel I can't ask much more of a school.

Right now I'm still in the class "shopping" period. I have two weeks to attend all the lectures I want before I have to finalize my selection and register. Irish students here follow a much different course of study from what most student in America are accustomed to. The education system is much less liberal arts oriented: you select a maximum of three subjects upon arriving and study only courses in those fields for three years. In fact, most students study fewer than three, typically one or two.

This weekend is our first Notre Dame field trip to Belfast and the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland.

Posted by Ryan at 4:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

We finally got back to Dublin yesterday. Since then I've been unpacking, shopping, and getting set up in the city.

Our taxi driver dropped us off at the edge of the UCD campus, so my first experience at my Irish college was trekking to my apartment with 165 lbs. of luggage. I'm living in a student apartment, Belgrove House, in the center of the campus. Our flat has three rooms, a living room/kitchen, bathroom, and shower.

I'm learning the bus system as well. The 10 is the staple of city travel, taking about 25 minutes to get from my campus to the city centre. Because Irish is the first official language of the country, all the street signs and many others are written in both Irish and English.

The UCD campus itself is different from Notre Dame. There is a student bar on campus, open (and full of people) at 10am. At night, it's packed with students drinking, smoking, playing pool, and watching soccer.

Last night two Irish fellows I met, Ryan and Aiden, took us to a couple of bars in the Temple Bar area. They were very smokey and fairly crowded for a Wednesday night. Some people are ready to hit the pubs and clubs scene every night, but I don't think my body or pocketbook would weather all the late nights well.

Tomorrow starts orientation, and classes begin Monday.

Posted by Ryan at 5:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

This morning we woke up to catch the early train to Castel Gondolfo, the location of the Pope's summer retreat house. After standing in a crowded line for 2 hours, we piled into a courtyard where we stood for another hour before the Holy Father came outside to deliver his Sunday blessing.

It was great to see the Pope in person. He is much more frail than I had imagined.

On another note: you might think a mob of Catholics trying to see the leader of their faith would be well-behaved, but it was almost like a rock concert crowd trying to get into the courtyard, minus the moshing. But with the loud music: a huge marching band had traveled from Poland to give the Pope a little ear candy, and they were practicing on-and-off during our wait in line.

Tomorrow is a relaxing beach day, and then we head back to Dublin. It will be nice to be settled in one place for more than a few days.

Posted by Ryan at 2:53 PM | Permalink

Today we were in the largest church in the world.

St. Peter's Basilica is absolutely huge. There are stars on the floor in the entry nave indicating where the other largest churches in the world would measure if they were placed inside. There are no paintings inside St. Peter's; everything is very detailed mosaics. Michaelangelo's Pieta is stunning, Rafael's Transfiguration is beautiful, and Bernini's canopy over the alter is magnificent. I also saw the statue of St. Peter, the Jubilee Door (which is bricked closed until 2025), and the view from the upper dome, a short elevator ride plus 300 stairs away. We went to Mass at the main altar, celebrated in Italian, but with a visiting Australian choir.

We also toured the Vatican museum. I am very close to museum overload. The art collection in their museum is described as one of the top four in the world and ranges from Egyptian sculpture to early Christian art to the height of the Renaissance. Plus, there's the Sistene Chapel attached to the end.

One of my traveling partner's dad flew into Rome today and took us out to dinner. After cheap pizzarias and grocery store dinners, a nice meal was a very welcome change.

Posted by Ryan at 8:47 PM | Permalink

Yesterday we trekked from Florence to Rome by way of Pisa. Beyond the leaning tower itself, there isn't much to Pisa.

Today was another high-impact sightseeing day. In the ancient area of Rome, we visited the Pantheon, Forum, Coliseum, and three churches, including St. Peter in Chains. There is so much history to the city; every corner we turn has another monument to a Roman emperor, or a basilica, or some sight just waiting to be seen. The city has also kindled in my travel group the need to see Gladiator again.

Tomorrow we're visiting yet another country, the Vatican. It has its own train station, postal system (separate from Italy), radio station, and guards, yet my college campus is 12 times larger.

Posted by Ryan at 4:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Today was our busiest sight-seeing day yet in Florence, Italy (or Firenze in local terms), home of the greatest Renaissance museums in the world and the birthplace of my Grandfather Tirinnanzi.

We visited the Uffuzi, Academy, and Bocello museums, and the Duomo cathedral here. I saw the Birth of Venus in the Uffuzi, David at the Academy, and sculpture after sculpture at Bocello. In fact, I saw works by every ninja turtle today: Leonardo, Rafael, Michangelo, and Donatello. It's tough to look at a painting by Donatello and not think, "Oh, he's the one with the purple mask and the bow."

Michaelangelo's David was much larger than I expected. There was also a very cool computer exhibit produced by Stanford Univeristy as part of their Digital Michaelangelo project where they are completely digitizing all of the artist's sculptures.

We traversed over 900 stairs (468 each way) in the Duomo cathedral to see the panoramic views of the city from the top dome. The church was built in the peak of the Renaissance. The builders left a hole in the top of the church for the dome even though the technology to build a dome was not available yet. Fortunately, an architect stepped up to the challenge soon thereafter.

Tomorrow we travel through Pisa to take in the sights and make our way to our final city, Rome.

Posted by Ryan at 7:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

We arrived in Venice from Milan yesterday. The city is almost surreal with its watery streets, boats, and no cars or other transportation. This is a very touristy city, but it is fun, so I'm enjoying it. Last night we wandered the streets, ate dinner, and took the slow and enjoyable number 1 water bus (called vaporettos) from Saint Mark's square to our hotel.

This morning, we fed the pigeons at Saint Mark's (who aren't afraid of anything), toured Saint Mark's cathedral (which has the stolen remains of the evangelist Mark), and saw the Dogo's Palace. The Dogo was, for hundreds of years, the ruling figurehead of Venice. The palace was a feast for the eyes. Every room was decorated with gold, sculptures, carved woodwork, and paintings. One room, the main council chamber, is 50 metres by 30 metres and is covered floor to ceiling (and ceiling!) with paintings.

I am also considering a career as a gelato connoisseur. We have eaten at many gelaterias, including the most recommended in the city.

Posted by Ryan at 8:46 PM | Permalink