Two More Weeks in Middle Earth

I haven't updated in over a week an 1/2 and I apologize for it! I haven't done anything to dramatically exciting in a small period of time so I had to stretch it out in order to make it a little bit more interesting.

As far as notable scholarly events, as I am one to partake in, we visited Newgrange last friday. It is one of the most decorated and architecturally impressive stone tombs of eastern Europe. It's also over 5000 years old. The chambers were my-size (very small) and narrow to get into, but once in it was remarkable how they made a roof out of stones. During the time of the year the sun is at it's lowest, it is designed for it to shine in to the structure. Of all though, I most enjoyed the initials "TGC 1800" on a nearby stone.

We also took a trip this Friday to the Museum of Natural History in Dublin on Kildare street. I couldn't take any pictures so you won't see them, but some of the objects are so ornate for their time period it's incredible to see. There was lots of gold jewelry and tribal horns but the best part of all were the bog bodies. There are four bodies that archaeologists have taken out of bogs in ireland that were well preserved from the nature of a bog. The most impressive one to me was a 6-6 man who's hands are perfectly preserved (and they are massive). Unfortunately for him he was sacrificed by being cut in half, beheaded, and thrown into the bog. This was the case for most of them so you don't really get to see whole bodies!

Other than that the classes have become very interesting. I'm learning more and more Irish even though I'm not great at it and for my group project two others and I are going to perform some Irish trad music. The Peace and Conflict studies courses have been fantastic. In the Conflict resolution one we have got into debates over current and past conflicts, to which I tend to sit back and observe because the class is mostly female, so the arguments tend to have different approaches than what I'm used to. In the history class we argued, putting it basically, security vs. freedom. More specifically it was, "When is it right for a government to repress a section of the population?" This was very intriguing to me because I've debated in my security classes a dozen times over the question of security vs. freedom and this was a class made up of majors that had never heard this question. For this reason I sat back again and listened to what the photography, theater, television broadcasting, and business majors had to say about it. Lastly, my class titled Northern Irish Perspectives has been phenomenal. It is a class instructed by highly recognized journalist Brendan O'Brien who speaks for about 40 minutes and then brings in a guest. The guests that he is able to bring in, once you have studied a little bit about the conflict, are incredible. For example, and this is mostly for Uncle Larry as I don't think most would know these people, these are the people we have heard from already: Dr. Brian Feeney (Author of "Sinn Fein", co-author "Lost Lives", political columnist, historian, former Belfast City Councillor with SDLP) Susan McKay (Journalist, author of "Northern Protestants: An Unsettled People" and "Bear in Mind These Dead") Martin Ferris TD (member of the Irish Parliament, senior Sinn Fein negotiator, former senior IRA activist). After that we hear from Ruairí Ó Brádaigh (HUGE figure in the conflict, former president of Sinn Fein, led during the 70's, the height of the conflict) Liz O'Donnell (Former minister of the state foreign affairs, Irish government negotiator at good friday agreement, former deputy leader progressive democrat party) Roy Garland (Unionist, former loyalist/Protestant militant, biographer of Gutsy Spence loyalist military leader) Col Mike Dewar (Military intelligence expert, former British Army officer in NI) Gareth Porter/Mary Metcalfe (H.U.R.T. Victims Group) and then a final speaker to be decided. As you can see, even if you do not know any of them, the list is quite impressive. Ruairí Ó Brádaigh is this up coming weeks lecturer and he was a surprise one. He is probably the biggest fish of all. If you want me to ask any specific questions let me know!

In other news, I've made my own pizza... thrilling. I've actually been experimenting with food since I've got to Ireland because it would be ridiculously expensive to ever eat out. This weekend I've had the kitchen to myself so I decided to try my hand at a home made pizza. I didn't make the pizza sauce this time but plan to in the future (I just have to find a store with all the spices I need) but I did make the most important part, the dough. Using a little help from Mr. Internet I found simple recipes to use. The first couple turned out fine, which I was very proud of, but I knew what I had to improve. Luckily, again, I was able to find out what my mistakes were online. I think by the end of the semester, even with extremely limited resources, I'll be able to make a half decent pie! That and I'm getting good at making killer breakfasts.

I've also had the chance to hang out with Aine Callaghan a couple times since I last wrote. I took my roommates with me last weekend to meet her at Bondi night club and last night Aine, Lorraine, Aisling and I all went out to various places. I don't have pictures but I know Aine does and once we figure out how to find each other online I'll be able to steal them (if you got the whole bebo email disaster that's why, she uses that). Also, I've planned one trip while I'm here. My roommates have already taken two (to Paris and currently in London) but I wasn't all about how expensive they would be so I held off. The one trip that we have planned now is Amsterdam, which happens to be over my birthday weekend. It should be a blast!

Sorry for not posting for awhile and a shout out to Mrs. Cain as my newest subscriber! I've also noticed Meg and Sarah are on board, hope it's worth it.

Phrases I've heard often:
Any good Craic?
He's a legend.
Stunning.
Oh that's deadly!
Half 9 (9:30).
Thanks a million.

Phrases they don't hear very often:
Awesome....
Dude.
Any surfer lingo every spoken.
Have a nice day, have a good one.
Peace homes... well I don't really say that but you know what I mean.
And for you Helen & Laura, no one over here says, "Aight. Yeeeah I seen dat. Choo know. Pssh guurl you better back up 'awf' me"

P.S. Remind me to walk around with 3 beautiful cousins all the time, it saves on cover charges!