Global Citizen

The last week of classes for me, meaning get ready for finals, but not until we have Trinity Ball! The much talked about largest, private party in Europe. It was intense getting tickets! Most Holy Crossers know what it is like to sign into STAR when it is time to choose classes for the upcoming semester, well, getting tickets for Trinity Ball via a system online is quite similar, except, you have a few thousand more people trying to get access, therefore, the system crashes and reboots and you hope that you get a ticket. All success for me though. Several of us are starting to get pumped for this event of the season and have been shopping for shoes, accessories, and listening to our Irish friends about what to expect- its sounds great! Will definitely fill you in on all of those details.

Looking forward to this weekend as well as we are meeting up with Silvia for a dinner at her house and will be getting a tour of the James Joyce tower. Fill you in on that as well.

Cheers,

Megan

Back to writing a few more papers and catching up with friends, I didn’t realize though that I did feel a bit homesick after my parents left, I was caught by surprise and also thinking of how great and how quickly this year has gone.

Back in Dublin, I took my parents to some of my favorite spots in the city and showed them Dublin Castle, City Hall, and one of my favorite spots for tea, Queen of Tarts. We also visited the Jameson Distillery, where we took a tour, it was great though too because I showed my parents where I was sitting on St. Patrick’s Day when Jameson was hosting the radio shows for live broadcasts. A few more nice dinners in Dublin, a visit to the Temple Bar, and before I knew it, it was time to say ‘see ya later.’ Mom and Dad left, but I cannot believe how much time has passed, how quickly this year has gone and it really started to settle in that my time in Ireland at Trinity is coming quickly to an end and how much I will miss it.

Class in the morning (my only class this Easter week) followed by a trip to the airport to visit family friends in Salzburg, Austria for Easter! It was beautiful the whole time we were there, really sunny. Supposedly the sunniest its been for Easter there in about 10 years according to our friends. Salzburg was beautiful with the green valleys and mountains, obviously the ideal place to film The Sound of Music, yes we later saw the house where a portion of the movie was filmed. Our days were filled with salty breakfasts (Salzburg- salt), strolling in the Old Town where we saw Mozart’s House, the market in each “Platz” or square, and shops with traditional Austrian costumes. It was great to see so many people in the town wearing the traditional clothing and it was very popular on Easter. We were so fortunate to be in Salzburg when we were because it was the time of one of the music festivals with the Berlin Orchestra. Probably one of my favorite experiences was seeing the Berlin orchestra rehearsal where they rehearsed pieces by Austrian composers followed by a full 20 minute piece by the Berlin Orchestral School. Beautiful and graceful music. We also visited the castle in Salzburg, one of the best preserved because it was never successfully attacked and had lunch at a restaurant on a mountain that overlooked the whole city and the rest of the surroundings. It was quite relaxing. On Easter, we went to a traditional mass, it was very interesting to listen to mass in German. Then it was time for us to take our train to Munich, where we would be flying back to Dublin.    

Back in Dublin, we strolled around and visited the Guinness Brewery, something I was saving to do with my Dad. Its quite an impressive view at the top where you have your pint of Guinness.

I couldn’t wait to see the Aran Islands and they were truly impressive. We took a little van tour because between our bumpy ferry ride and reaching Kilronan the weather became windy and wet. Our guide, Tomás O’Toole had lived on Inis Mor his whole life, which was great because he pointed out houses where he used to live, have school, have dances in, it really made the experience that much more enjoyable. The sight to see here really is Dún Aengus. This ancient fort on the edge of the cliff is beautiful and scary at the same time. The waves of the Atlantic are crashing onto the rocks below and the wind when you peer over the cliff is so strong you feel like you’ve had a face lift. It was so interesting to see the layers of these concentric walls that were maybe built in the Iron Age. It is so great to see such a wonder that you really feel you are embracing a part of the Celtic history and a bit of the Irish mythology. (Aengus, is said to be the god of love, youth, and poetic inspiration). After our excursion, we hit up the American Bar on the island and took the ferry back to Galway.

Our first adventure was to the West of Ireland. We visited Westport in Co. Mayo, the first place I ever visited in Ireland many years ago and climbed Croagh Patrick ( Cruach Phádraig in Irish). We then drove to Galway, stayed in a great B&B looking over at the bay.

Mom and Dad arrive! Hadn’t seen them since October so it was a great visit in which we jammed packed some trips.

Start of Trinity term and also exams in my Zoology class! So yes, it was back to work this week, but I had finished a few papers earlier so I could focus on studying for my exams. It is definitely different to take your exams several weeks (or months in relation to some of my other classes) after some of your courses have finished, but that’s part of learning in a different educational system. So with exams in Zoology ending well, I had something great to look forward to on the weekend- my parents coming to visit for Easter!

With three days left of break, friends and I booked a quick weekend trip to good old London. We were fortunate to stay with friends at Queen’s Gate (looking for Hugh Grant as well) who also were able to show us around and who introduced us to The Tube. Highlights included Piccadilly Circus, Notting Hill (where there was another market), Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Tower of London, London Bridge, the London Eye, and of course for all those Harry Potter fans- Platform 9 & ¾. I think by far my favorite day in London was our last. We got up early in the morning and saw the Changing of the Guard! It really is something not to miss and the Queen was in town as evidenced by the special flag waving. While watching the Changing of the Guard we were also trying to be on the lookout for any of the Princes…haha. The last stop for me was the Courtauld Gallery, I read that this small gallery had many Impressionist works and of course I had to go and see them, so while my friends watched a race on the Thames, I went to go find Degas. On the way back to Dublin (the 29^th, also Mom’s Birthday!), I remarked to myself how different I found London to be in comparison to Dublin. It was funny because I felt I saw two distinct aspects of London culture- a very formal side, steeped in tradition (Changing of the Guard) and a very informal side, a little ‘edgier’ perhaps (while strolling around the Camden town markets). Still, the difference from Dublin could be felt and I thought that interesting considering the history between England and Ireland and then realized that Ireland in fighting for its independence had to be different and unique, which reminded me again why Ireland is to me such a special place.