School is Picking up... and a weekend in Paris

As you might be able to tell from my less frequent posts, I have been VERY busy lately.. especially with the school workload as of the late. I recently completed an 8 page paper, and I have another 2-pager and documentary project due this week (along with class readings, assignments, etc). I know, I know, all you back at SJU are probably hittin' it harder than I am. Its probably good that I'm finally getting a homework load.. I need to crawl back to reality as I get closer to the reality of Spring Semester classes. Anyway.. when I left off I was talking about going bowling...

Last Saturday our whole class went bowling. It was a fantastic time... I bowled a 69 my first game, and a 179 my second game (I needed to warm up a little bit I guess). After bowling, we were dropped off in Galway to enjoy a night in town. We ended up going to some night clubs, and pubs... another great night in Galway!

Upon waking up on the couch in our living room (John sleeping on the ground next to me), we both jumped up, hastily got dressed, and ran to catch the 10:30a.m. bus to Galway. On the way into Galway, John and I requested to be dropped off in Salthill so that we might be able to attend the big Hurling game that was going on at 2:00p.m. that afternoon. After getting dropped off and walking around for a little bit, we saw a bunch of people walking in the same general direction. We surmised that they were going to Mass, and decided to follow them...

Mass in Salthill was a treat. The priest was quite laid back and humorous, the service was quick. I also saw a girl that looked exactly like my sister Elise at age 13! Anyway, it was fantastic. Afterwords, we walked to the ocean, got some Subway, and headed to the Hurling game.

The Hurling games that I watched Sunday made me discover one thing- Hurling is the most violent sport in the world. It is a glorified gang-fight: take away knives, guns, and criminal records and give the participants a ball like a baseball and a few big, wooden clubs and you have Hurling. Port Omna played Loughrea... Port Omna ended up just killing Loughrea, but it was still very entertaining. Afterwards, we caught a FREE lift back to Spiddal via a bus ferrying spectators of the match- BONUS!

Like I said before, classes are starting to pick up. In History we discussed the Irish War of Independence and the Irish civil war. Irish Literature included another play, and in Seminar we discussed the Northern Ireland peace process further. We are starting to get notifications of papers, final tests, and final readings. Its stressful, but I'm confident it will all go by fast.. and before I know it, it'll be over with (wether I like it or not!).

Wednesday night was another night in the pub. This time, however, Ireland was playing for a World Cup spot against France. Ireland ended up tying the game (which meant that Ireland would not make it, as France won the last qualifying game). The controversy lies within France's goal, in which Thierry Henry clearly handles the ball with his hand . FIFA is thinking about replaying the match, but as of right now, Ireland is done for the next four years. It was a sad night..

I woke on Thursday and got a lift from Rori to the bus station. My company included 4 girls from the trip: Katie and Molly McCabe, Mollie Land, and Kathleen Senske. Khris Grant was going to join us, but he messed up his flight times when purchasing his ticket, so I was left to escort 4 girls around Paris by myself...

It wasn't too bad. We arrived in Beauvais late on Thursday night and were greeted by 2 older French men, Jalick and Fabris, with a "Katie MC Cabe" sign. They led us out to a van in a dark parking lot (I started to get a bit nervous here), then drove us to their Farmhouse Bed & Breakfast. We were greeted by Jalick's wife and were welcomed in as family. The amenities were wonderful, and the stars were vivid in the rural French countryside. The next morning, the family fed us and drove us to the Train Station, where we commenced our trip to Paris.

The sights were incredible. The Louvre was crazy: lots of incredible paintings and statues everywhere! I would see an incredible painting that I had seen before in my history book... and that painting would be placed insignificantly in the corner of a room. Aside from the Louvre, Notre Dame Cathedral was my other favorite location. I had the great opportunity to attend mass in Notre Dame, where they played the big, old organ and said Mass in French. This was definitely a unique experience. Aside from that, the Arch de Triumph was great, obviously the Eiffel Tower was awesome (especially at night when there is a lights show), and Sacre Ceur was wonderful as well.

Hanging with a bunch of girls wasn't bad... it was definitely an experience. I did found myself holding four cameras at once, taking countless pictures of the girls in front of Moulin Rouge, the Tower, etc., but I had a good time hanging with them. They are fairly easy-going group of girls, and I'm glad to have gone with them. It was funny, though.. the girls were giving me a hard time the first day because I had brought only one pair of shoes- nike running shoes. They tried to tell me that I would be way out of place, wearing tourist-y shoes like that. After the first day of a LOT of walking in heels and tights and flower dresses, however, they didn't tease me as much about my attire :)

We arrived back in Galway at around 6pm yesterday. Its been raining constantly here now, and JP just told me that this is literally the wettest year in Ireland on record. Flooding has caused mass destruction here.. I hope it holds up a little bit as I finish my last few weeks here.

Until next time... mahalo

thomas

A Day in the Life in Spiddal

Life has slowed down now a bit.. as we are completely done with excursions. This will allow more time for me to work on homework, upload photos for this blog, and just get caught up on everything. I do have an personal excursion planned here and there, so I will certainly keep all of you updated on that. For a couple weeks now, however, I get to relax and soak in pure the pure Irish experience by relaxing and mingling with the Irish people.

Last week, my favorite class was Gerard's class (a common theme), as we read through a funny (and sometimes serious) play by Sean O'Casey. In Juno and the Paycock, I played the drunkard Captain Jack Boyle with my sidekick Joxer Daly (who was, ironically, John Murray) who "inherits" a bunch of money from a dead cousin. Boyle immediately begins to live extravagantly. By the end of the play, Boyle find out that there was a confusion about the will, and that he really hasn't gained a huge wealth. This was a comedic and enlightening class session- very enjoyable.

This past week I was able to see my parents... they flew in last Saturday and stayed till today.

During their visit, they were able to visit the Aran Islands, find a few geo-caches, visit Galway and Clifden, and take myself (and even some of my friends) for dinner every night. We got to visit with people at the local pub in Spiddal (Hughe's Pub), see some live music at the PLH, and they even stayed up late with my fellow classmates on the Wednesday night pub night! After Thursday's class, we took a road trip to Kilkenny and spent Thursday night and Friday day there. We visited Kytler's Tavern, Kilkenny Castle, Rothe House, and a few other pubs. Friday night we spent in Dublin. We ate at a nice big pub and I took them on a tour around the Temple Bar area. We stopped at the porterhouse and sampled a few interesting beers.

I saw them off today at the Radisson Inn (where, coincidentally, the France FC is staying before their big game in Dublin tonight). I will be taking a bus back to Galway from the Dublin airport in about a half hour. I am looking forward to Bowling tonight with the whole group, and afterwards a nice night in Galway!

Last Excursion... Northern Ireland

Ahh... the last excursion update. This past weekend I went to up Northern Ireland and visited Derry, Belfast, Strokestown Museum, among other places. I'll start this week's update on Wednesday...

Wednesday night was another night in the PLH pub. I had a great night learning how to bar-tend and helped out JP with plenty of things around the pub. It was nice to have visitors Blake and Boyd Holler from the London Study abroad program. They were able to visit the Aran Islands during the day, and I felt as if we were able to show them a great time in Ireland.

We were off and running by 8:45 a.m. on Thursday morning. Northern Ireland is about a 3-4 hour jaunt from Galway, so we had quite a long bus ride up there. We finally arrived in Derry around 12-1, and received a nice meal (from program money). Afterward lunch, we gathered for a foot tour around Derry. While on the tour, we got to see lots of murals detailing the history of the troubles. Derry, being a strong Catholic majority, was very vocal about violence and

oppression displayed by the British army. A small sect of proud Protestant houses still remained as well, and you could tell it was a Protestant neighborhood with the constant display of Union Jacks and "No Surrender." The tour ended on the "Bogside," which was close to our

hostel. After a quick nap and some dinner, we took the night out on the town. We met some nice irish guys and hung out with them at some pubs and clubs. At the end of the night, we discussed the conflict in Derry: I discovered that segregation was still very much a part of the

community. The friend that we met mentioned that groups like the IRA still exist in the community, yet act as "community justice" groups, keeping drugs like cocaine and heroine out of the city. Retributions for being a drug dealer were severe with the IRA, as our friend

explained in good detail. Religious segregation seemed to be less of a big deal, but it if one lived

in Derry it was best for them to stick to their own neighborhood; their own people.

As mentioned before, our hostel was on the "Bogside," the side of town that was the site of Bloody Sunday. On Friday morning, we went to a Bloody Sunday museum, where we saw plenty of propaganda for the civil rights movement in Ireland, footage of British police/government oppression of the irish people, and clothing off of people murdered on Bloody Sunday. The museum's keeper, John, was the brother of a then 17 year-old Michael, who was tragically

killed on Bloody Sunday by a British soldier. After touring the museum and seeing the area that Bloody Sunday occurred, we had a question-answer session with John. John explained how the British government had detailed the tragedy as suppressing a group of "gunmen." Lately, those statements were revoked by the British government, yet an Inquisition by the Parliament over the incident has been going on for several years now... no conclusions have been made. The experience was a moving one.

After Derry, we took a trip out to a more light tour... Bushmill's Old Distillery. This Distillery was opened in 1608. We were able to see all the steps necessary for creating Bushmill's Irish Whiskey, and even got a shot of whiskey at the end of the tour. The tour was really interesting, and although I have not acquired the taste for whiskey off the rocks, I had a great time.

From Bushmill's, we traveled over to Giant's Causeway, a major heritage site along the North coast of Northern Ireland. It was wet and rainy, yet the sights were still absolutely gorgeous and serene (see photos). After Giant's Causeway, we finally made it to our hostel in Belfast. After getting settled in, we went out to explore the nightlife. After an average night and some delicious kebabs, we hit the hay, ready for a big day ahead.

We woke up Saturday morning to take a bus tour around Belfast. Our first stop was at the shipyards and the dry dock of the Titanic. We visited the shipyard neighborhoods and saw a bunch of murals for the UVF and other unionist organizations. Afterwards, we went to the city centre and visited Victoria Square and saw a 360 degree view of the city. Then, we went to West Belfast and saw more murals- we went to a Catholic part of town and saw a big mural of Bobby Sands, and went over to Shankill and saw further Union Jacks, along with the "peaceline" wall separating the two communities. After our tour 'round town, we got dropped off in the city centre again, and John and I went on a shopping spree. Prices were so cheap compared to Ireland, and at the end of the day, I ended up with a Jamaican Halloween costume, a leather bomber jacket, a celtic long-sleeve jersey and socks. I spent a lot of money, but it was worth it. Halloween was crazy... I'll leave it at that.

On Sunday morning we got up and took off for Strokestown Museum. The ride was incredibly long, but an awesome music session with Britta helped time go by fast. Strokestown Famine Museum was interesting, yet it was hard to absorb all of it because everyone was so tired. After the tour we took a quick walk in their beautiful garden before continuing on another 3 hour bus ride. Before stopping back at the PLH, we picked up some groceries. We returned at 9:00 p.m. tired, worn, and ready to be DONE with excursions.

I'll keep the updates up... I'm just glad to be done describing these incredible excursions for a while! Hope you enjoyed this update... till next time

mahalo

-Thomas