Coming home

It's 2:38 am here, and I am leaving the hostel, and Armagh, in 2 hours and 12 minutes. By the time I've finished this post I'm sure it will be less than 2 hours. I'm excited to come home, and extremely sad to leave. I can say now that I've lived in Ireland, and I wouldn't have traded this time for anything. I'm sorry that I haven't been able to post as often as I would have liked, but class time (and a lot of fun time!) has kept me very busy. This month has gone by so fast.

I feel like it was just yesterday that we walked into the hostel for the first time. I'm going to miss the AmmA Centre (and Liz!), Bagel Bean, , John & Phil from the hostel, JK (John Kelly), dancing at the Gas Lamp, and all of the good times (and good drinks- including the infamous Fat Frog) at Red Ned's, which became our pub, our place to go for fun. I'm going to miss walking past St. Patrick's Church of Ireland every day, and hearing the bells from St. Patrick's Catholic Cathedral every 15 minutes. I'm going to miss hanging out in the common rooms at the hostel, and ordering pizza from Bada Bing. I'll even miss getting caught in the rain every day, sometimes with my umbrella and sometimes without. There won't be anyone to say my new favorite things: "How's yous?" "That's grand" "For fuck's sake" and so many others.

The website should go up soon, and my video is on youtube now: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19gXGS3i2kY

I was only able to post a very small fraction of pictures on this blog, and hopefully I will get to share all of mine with everyone once I'm home.

Goodbye Armagh. Thanks for an incredible month.

Dublin

Dublin: August 1, 2009

Inside Trinity College

Senior portrait time in Merrion Square

In St. Stephen's Green

Megan and I in St. Stephen's Green

On the bus to go back to Armagh

Remembering Jessie

Jessie Morehead is one of my best friends. We met in my senior year of high school when she was a junior; we were on the school newspaper together. She had just transferred from Oregon State University to UC Davis to be with her family. Sunday morning she was killed in a car accident when her car veered off the road and hit a tree. She was 20.

After her graduation in June 2007.

She got to wear the green and gold tassel for being on the newspaper for two years. In her senior year she was the editor of the sport section.

I saw her for the last time right before I left for Ireland. This picture was taken at my birthday party:

She is one of the kindest and best friends I've ever known. There's a Snow Patrol song called "You Could Be Happy" that makes me think of her. Here are some of the lyrics:

You could be happy, I hope you are
You made me happier than I'd been by far

Somehow everything I own smells of you
And for the tiniest moment it's all not true

Do the things that you always wanted to
Without me there to hold you back, don't think, just do

More than anything I want to see you, girl
Take a glorious bite out of the whole world

Rest in peace, Jessica Leigh Morehead

December 30, 1987- August 2, 2009

Stormont and other places

Tuesday, July 28

Margaret had organized for us to be given a private tour of Stormont, the Northern Ireland Parliament building, on Tuesday, so we chartered a bus and traveled up to Belfast, where Stormont is located on a very formidable hill (we were very glad we didn't have to walk up the hill!). Here's a picture of Stormont that I took from the bus:

Our tour guide told us that after the Belfast Blitz during WWII the building was painted black with tar and cow manure, and the roads leading up to it were painted green so German bombers couldn't locate it at night. Coincidentally the city was never bombed (during the war) again, and it took years for the building to be put back (as close as possible) to its original state.

We were taken into the Assembly Chamber and the Senate Chamber, where the two branches of government meet, but photography is not allowed in those rooms. In the Senate Chamber was a cool sign thanking the government for use the of the room as an operations room by the Royal Air Force in WWII.

This is the main entrance hall. The Assembly Chamber is off to the left from the center of the room and the Senate Chamber is off to the right.

This is the main chandelier, the rest are smaller and replicas, but this one was actually a gift given to Windsor Castle by Kaiser Wilhelm II prior to WWI. Here's what the Stormont website says about it:

The central chandelier is the largest of the five that illuminate the Great Hall, the others being scaled down copies. It was originally a gift from Kaiser Wilhelm to his uncle Edward VII before the First World War. After hanging in the apartments of Windsor Castle for a number of years, it was then presented to the Government of Northern Ireland for the opening of Parliament Buildings.

Weighing just over one third of a ton, the chandelier is one of the most prominent features in the Great Hall. It is made from cast iron guilded with 24-carat gold and has cut crystal drip trays. The Imperial Golden Eagles at its base highlight the chandelier's German origin.

The four smaller chandeliers are made from aluminium and gilded with gold, serving as replicas of the central one but in miniature.

Also, the room was painted with a special waxing process and has required no touch-ups.

The view from the front of Stormont, and the hill we almost had to climb to reach the building.

Mosby and I with our info packets.

We got back on our bus and traveled to Castle Hill in Dungannon. The castle is no longer there but it was a very important spot because of its vantage points.

This was the saddest part of our day. Sean McGuigan, our tour guide, brought us to this cemetary where his friends and former IRA volunteers are buried (their graves are in the picture). Sean is also a former IRA volunteer who was arrested at age 18 and spent 8 1/2 years in prison and participated in the blanket protests. He's now a city councilman and works for peace via politics, however we've talked to people since who consider him no more than a terrorist.

Bog Snorkeling

Margaret had also told us all about the Northern Ireland Bog Snorkeling finals which occurred today, and of course we all had to see it! It's an actual sport here- they take a bog and dig a ditch that's 120 feet long by 4 feet wide, and 5 feet deep, and fill it with water. Then the competitors don wetsuits and snorkeling gear and kick/dog paddle their way to victory! It was quite a site to see, especially when the rain and wind came in (even though it began as a perfectly sunny day).

As you can see, I also took A LOT of pictures! (Actually, I've been taking a lot of pictures the whole time, but I wanted to post a bunch!)

For some weird reason there was a tent with information about badgers, so I got to hold a ferret! He was so cute and friendly!

This is where they cut turf, and later on there were actually guys cutting it but I was too busy watching the events!

The competition lane!

Yes, there are actual rules!

The water in the "bog jacuzzi" was so disgusting!

This was as close as I got to getting in the water!

One of the competitors- there were more than I'd thought there'd be!

This couple was so excited to be there!

These boys really didn't care that they were in the mud... in fact they didn't seem to want to get out!

Look at the mud piled on top of his head!

We had to be careful not to get splattered with bog mud! I actually got a couple of drops on my jeans and boots.

The guy next to me got in the way at the last minute but I still love the two boys on the left, holding hands and holding their noses!

Everyone loves this picture!

And this one, which is one of my favorites!!

This kid shook his head like a wet dog and you could see flecks of mud flying away from him, and then his friends gave him the dirtiest look ever, because it got all over them!

The changing tent was where the guy in black is standing, and the wind blew it away (while people were changing inside)!

This woman was so funny- covered in bog mud, but running to get out of the rain!

I hope you liked my pictures, I did the best I could to convey what it's like but it's one of those things you have to experience firsthand!

Castlewellan Music Festival

Saturday, July 25

All week long Margaret, our Irish history & culture teacher, had been telling us about this great music festival in Castlewellan, a town about an hour away. It sounded like a lot of fun so most of us decided to go and we even chartered a bus to get to the town (which was about an hour away). When we got there we realized we were way too early. The music and dancing were going to be really big on Sunday, but we only had Saturday free. We still explored the town and discovered a great park with a castle and lake in it, and a field where a couple of people were training dogs to herd sheep. Towards the end of the day we did hear some awesome live music in town, and it ended up being a really worthwhile trip!!

Walking up to the castle

This is as close to the castle as we were allowed to get

Shelly, myself, and Megan doing our best Charlie's Angels imitation by the castle

The castle from the front

It was such a nice day that Robin and I agreed we'd have gone all the way in if we had brought our swimsuits with us! The lake felt so good and the air in the whole town just felt clean and fresh!

The view of the lake to the right

The sheep and their herder in the field, so cute! Those little dogs ran their hearts out!

Pipes in The Brandy Pad pub in the town.

More Belfast Pictures

Belfast

The Belfast Eye and City Hall

We found Armagh on the map at the Welcome Center.

From L to R: Jaena, Megan, me, Mosby, Don Menn, Phil, and Alex

I love the Belfast logo!

Jaena, Phil, and Megan- the Guinness crew at lunch.

Belfast

Saturday, July 18 (and a bit of July 19 as well)

On Saturday everyone traveled to Belfast to explore. The group I went with was on a mission- we were going to find the restaurant that served the most amazing buckets of mussels (according to Margaret, our Irish history and culture teacher). We got a bit of a late start, and arrived at St. George's Market just as it was closing. We went through the building, circled the building, circled back, but still couldn't find the mussels. We spent all day looking for the restaurant, and after locating the Belfast Welcome Center we were told how to actually get there. We got lost on the way, but FINALLY found it! Once we did, however, we still had to

wait a half hour for it to open for dinner, but the mussels were well worth the wait! They were cooked in garlic and butter and white wine, and practically fell out of the shell. Before that,

however, we went to the Victoria Square Mall (which Margaret had also recommended to us) because there's a viewing gallery at the top that has great views of Belfast. Earlier that morning, however, I'd already decided to go to the mall because it has an Accessorize! location, which is one of my very favorite stores. I had to shop quickly- I only had about 5 minutes- but spent £80! But like the mussels it was also very worth it. After dinner we walked back to the bus station and rode the bus back to Armagh. A little while after we got back some of us were hungry again, so we got directions to a good fish and chips place in town, but once we got there we saw a Chinese restaurant nearby, and found out it was still open! The food was really great

too, which was an added bonus. We spent the rest of the night just hanging out in the common room, which is always full because it's one of the only places in the hostel to get wifi! This morning it was nice to sleep in and just relax. I'm going to organize my stuff in a bit, which is

definitely going to be time well spent!

Here are some of the Belfast pics:

Clockwise from Megan (in the sunglasses): Megan, Mosby, Jaena, Phil, Alex, Cassie, Don Menn.

When the bus went through Portadown I saw this sign and couldn't believe my eyes; it's definitely not something you see every day!

Us at the viewing gallery at Victoria Square. From L to R: Jaena, Shelly, Kelli, Phil, Don Menn, Cassie, Susan, Megan, Alex, and me!

Navan Fort

Friday, July 17

Friday was our first day of class, but it was more of an introduction to the program than anything else. When we finished for the day I met with my team and we went to lunch with our mentor, Cindy. She suggested that we go to nearby Navan Fort after lunch, and it was a really great idea!

Navan Fort (or Fort Navan as it would be called at home) was the home of the high Kings of Ulster.

The hill that Megan's standing on is the actual fort. It was filled and then

the wooden structure was burned before being covered with earth to create the mound that exists today. Pagan rituals are still performed there because it is supposed to have strong magickal powers. You can see where they had poured and burned salt in a half circle very recently:

The site is on a big hill already, so when you get to the top there's a pretty aweso

me view! Cindy, who's acting as the mom of our team, took our "family" picture : )

We walked to the visitor center and learned more about the legends and history of the fortress, but it's hard to remember all of the names and dates and places! The history of the site goes back about 5000 years, which is pretty incredible! Later that night we went out to celebrate my birthday, so I'll write and post pictures about that soon!