TravelStream™ news feed for member meece on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/meece en-us Copyright ©2010 TravelPod.com Mon, 27 Jul 2009 20:53:50 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/meece/1/1248310501/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/meece/1/1248310501/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/meece/1/1248310501/tpod.html Mon, 27 Jul 2009 20:53:50 -0400 Lisa's Ireland Adventure

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Galway, Western Ireland, Ireland

We got to sleep in for the first time!!! We didn't have to be in class until 11:15. I used some of this extra time to do my laundry. Wouldn’t you know I screwed something up and the machine stopped working. The man in the office helped me and I had to transfer my wet clothes into a new machine. Of course, water dripped everywhere. I was so embarrassed. But, I now have clean jeans to wear to tomorrow’s field trip.

Today we were educated on the evolution of theatre in Ireland. Our first speaker was a riot! He was so animated and would go off on these tangents and just tell the funniest stories. After lunch we watched a one-woman show. This "pure dramatist" took us through the history of Ireland from the women’s perspective. (Katy had left at 9:00 this morning, on her way to Longford. I admire her bravery in renting a car and heading out on her own.)

We got out of class at 3:30. Three of us tried to purchase tickets for Friday’s performance of Midsummer Night's Dream. Unfortunately, they were sold out. After checking into that Julie and I headed into town. We needed to do some shopping. We both went our own ways since we had different goals. My mission was to find a Claddagh ring that I would want to purchase. There are different varieties and price ranges, so it became an interesting adventure. I discovered that I don’t like the “true” Claddagh’s. They were just too big for my hands. However, there are quite a few varieties out there that I found to be pleasing. The most expensive one I looked at was a platinum band with a diamond Claddagh center stone. When I saw the price, well over 1200 Euro, I quickly put it back. I decided on a nice one, a bit more than a lot of the ones that I had seen, but within the 100 Euro range. I couldn’t take it home though because I needed to have it go down two sizes. It will be ready tomorrow.

I had planned to meet up with some other people at 6 to listen to traditional Irish music at Tis Couili. It was a very tiny pub but luckily Erica and Keavenne had gotten there a bit earlier so I had a stool when I arrived. Julie came in right after that. Mary and Anne, two others from our group, arrived later. It was very entertaining. The pub did not serve food so we took turns going over to Zatsuma, which is a crepe place. I got some sort of chicken and cheese in a crepe. It was an interesting concept and I really liked it except for the fact that they put in hot mustard. It would have been very tasty without that. Julie and I headed out at about 7:30 or so. We looked at some shops and stopped in at Dunne’s on our way home. I then spent to rest of the evening getting ready for the next day and catching up on my travel blog.
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Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, United States

Here are a few things that I noted or observed while in Ireland:
1. They love Obama over there.
2. The "Recession" was a focus of conversation for everyone that we spoke to.
3. The Irish certainly LOVE their sports. They are SO passionate about them!
4. They are much "greener" there. I love the fact that they have on/off switches for every outlet. You even get charged at grocery stores if you need a plastic bag.
5. Parents take and active role in their children's education.
6. They are good at being prompt when starting, but seldom finish on time.
7. There is no "th" in their oral pronunciations.
8. Roundabouts, roundabouts, roundabouts
9. Tiny, tiny showers
10. Social, friendly people wherever you go!
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Ireland, Dublin, Ireland

I just wanted to share some of the pretty flowers that I saw throughout my journey through Ireland.
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Conford, Ireland, United Kingdom

Our morning began with another sprint to the Arches on campus to meet up with the tour bus. We headed over to a more rural section of the country. After about an hour on the bus we stopped for tea and scones at the Carlton Shearwater Hotel in Ballinasloe. We then pushed on to Clonmacnoise Monastic Settlement. I cannot remember the dates, etc. so I will have to add that in later. But, it was just amazing thinking about all of the history and whatnot that went on over the centuries, right here on the ground that I was standing on. There were two round towers. The one no longer has a top. They said that the second tower was made with the bricks from the top of the first. (It had been struck by lightening.) A famous monk had established this settlement and it turned into a very sacred and historical sight. Pope John Paul said mass there when he visited Ireland. It started to rain pretty hard during the tour, so we stepped into the museum portion of it until the shower passed.

There was an audio presentation about its history after the grounds tour. We then headed back to Ballinasloe for lunch. I ended up having a salmon dinner again. It's just been so good, I couldn't pass it up. My three choices were that or beef or chicken. After lunch, which ended up being a longer event than had expected due to the Galway vs. Dublin football match being shown on TV, we headed out to Clonfert Cathedral. This cathedral has remarkable stonework etchings along its archway. I was also able to find a "Galvin" family plot in its cemetery.
Tired and ready for home they had us re-board the bus and set out to Galway. We returned at 7:00 pm. (We were supposed to have been back at 5:30.) Luckily the bus dropped us off near our dorms. I made a quick stop at the grocery store to pick up a few things and then headed home to settle in for the night. Wouldn't you know, the sun was now out and it was warmer than it had been the entire day. Nevertheless, I need to finish this and get on with my school work. I have been finding too many ways to avoid. Tomorrow it's back to class.


]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/meece/1/1248180044/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/meece/1/1248180044/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/meece/1/1248180044/tpod.html Sun, 26 Jul 2009 21:13:03 -0400 Lisa's Ireland Adventure

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Galway, Western Ireland, Ireland

Hello! I am attempting to catch up on past dates since I have not had the opportunity to post in days. On this particular date, nothing of significance happened. We attended a morning lecture pertaining to the Third Level Education (college) and Adult Education. Our afternoon was an extremelly interesting presentation regarding the Travelling Community, as distinct ethnic community of people in Ireland whom have a very private life.

After class, I stayed on campus and worked away at my 2 required papers. I got the first one done and headed home at 10:15 PM. UGH! (The great thing is that it doesn't get dark until almost 10:45 in the summer here.) It was peanut butter and yogurt for dinner, back at the house that night.

As I said, nothing exciting at all!
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Galway, Western Ireland, Ireland



Today started out with a lecture regarding James Joyce. I learned a great deal about this writer. I was even inspired to read Ulysses some day. Then again, who am I fooling? Have you ever seen how thick that book is? I studied J. Joyce's, The Dead in high school AP English. I wish that I had this experience prior to that time. It would have meant so much more to me.

We had part of the afternoon to work again on our papers. At 3:00 we headed into the City Centre to visit the Nora Barnacle House. This was the home of J. Joyce’s wife. It is a very tiny house. It’s so hard to imagine that six (I think) people lived there. It only had one room downstairs and a small room upstairs. Photographs were not allowed. However, I didn’t see that sign until after I had taken my first picture. Oops!

We were having our Theatre performance that night at 7:30 so Barbara and I just strolled around town and tried to get some shopping in. I also went into one of the bookstores and talked to a mom that was buying school books for her five boys. They have free education over here, but the parents are required to invest a great deal of money. They have to buy all materials for the year, unlike our public schools in the States.

After talking with the very helpful mom we headed over to Monroe’s. Today was one of the girl’s birthdays, from our group. Everyone was going to meet there, so they said. It ended up only being the four of us. I had a great dinner though. It was spinach ravioli with a delicious red sauce. I enjoyed that meal. The pub/restaurant also seemed like it catered more to the locals than the tourists. Our play was in town, so I just hung out until our meeting time. I was a bit early, so I purchased an Irish coffee, to pass the time, at the pub next door. (It was pretty chilly outside so I was hoping it would warm me up.)

The play started at 7:30. It was called The Gigli. The Druid Theatre is very small, only about 8 rows back on either side, with maybe 10-15 seats on each side, per row. So, you couldn’t ever have a bad seat. That night was the opening night for the performance. There were two people behind me taking notes the entire time. (I think that they were critics. I meant to take a look at the next morning’s paper, but that never happened.) There were only three characters for the entire performance. The story centers around two men, one being a "quack self-help therapist" living in Dublin and the other, a mysterious Irishman who desires to sing like the Italian Opera Singer, Beniamino Gigli. It was a very interesting and emotional play, but not anything I had expected. It didn’t let out until almost eleven o’clock so a few of us headed home. On our way there were street performers, for the Arts Festival. They are called the Firebirds and they have these motorized “flying” machines. We only caught the last 5 minutes of the performance. Yet, I’m glad we saw it because it was like nothing I had ever seen. Unfortunately my pictures did not come out because it was just too dark at that point. I headed home, a tired girl, and went to bed after working a bit more on my paper.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/meece/1/1248221391/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/meece/1/1248221391/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/meece/1/1248221391/tpod.html Sun, 26 Jul 2009 21:07:40 -0400 Lisa's Ireland Adventure

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Galway, Western Ireland, Ireland


The morning lecture was given by an archeologist. I learned all about Pre-Historical Ireland. I'm finally getting a better picture and understanding as to what life was like during each of the significant periods in history. The afternoon lecture discussed the Great Famine and Emigration in Ireland. It was the first time I could fully understand just exactly what the potato famine was and why/how it so severely impacted the country. Our afternoon presenter talked to us about the Early Childhood Learning experience. It’s refreshing to see that early intervention is a big push over here. The majority of the children attend some form of school by the age of three.

The rest of the day and even into the evening was committed to writing and research. What a L-O-N-G day!!! I left the campus at 10:15, ran into the little convenient store near the dorm and purchased a packet of "add water and microwave" pesto noodles. I didn’t have anything else back at the dorm and I was sick of peanut butter. After eating while Skyping with Terry, I returned to my paper. Luckily they had given us an extension since the internet was almost non-existing for a few days and the printers being down. I had one more day to work on it.
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Galway, Western Ireland, Ireland



Our morning began with a presentation regarding Community Education. Our afternoon lecture was presented by the archeologist from the day before. Today she took us through Ireland in the Middle Ages. I then had the rest of the afternoon to work on my paper. Time was running out. I "finished" the second paper by 7:30. A break was necessary so two of us walked into town and had dinner at Busker Browne's. I had a Hake dinner. Hake is a type of mild fish. It was coated with sun-dried tomatoes and something else. It also came with tiny potatoes and string beans. I had a bite of lamb, just to see if I’d like it, as well. I can report to you that I won’t ever be ordering lamb when out. Yuck!

After dinner I headed home to meet up with Katy, my next door neighbor. She had arrived right before I left for school that morning. She decided to head out to one of the tours, The Cliffs, since she had gotten there ahead of schedule and I had class all day. I knew she wouldn’t get back until later and I also knew that I had a paper “looming” so, she was on her own for the day until after dinner time. I had to do a final read and edit, so I asked Katy is she were interested in going into the City Centre in a half hour or so. Regina joined us as well. When we got there we met up with six other people from our group. I ended up, once again, at Monroe’s. There was live music there, but it wasn’t Traditional Irish…another day to find that. I got Katy back home by midnight, since she was beginning to suffer from the jet lag. I put the finishing touches on my paper and head off to bed myself.
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Galway, Western Ireland, Ireland



Our day started by us learning about the Gaelic Literature. It is very interesting to see a country that is so proud of its history and one which works very hard to preserve the past. Our afternoon session was a special treat. We met with the author/broadcaster, John Quinn. He was a marvelous man who has written such beautiful pieces of literature. He read and talked from a few of his stories. One piece he reads is a letter to his wife who had already passed. It relayed the deep love and aching longing that he has for his dead wife. He had most of us in tears. It was very moving! That particular collection is out of print but I did purchase one of his other books. I cannot wait to read it.

We had our afternoon free! Both of the papers were handed in and I felt as though a great weight had been lifted from my shoulders. (Katy headed out to the Aran Islands so we were meeting up at 7:15 for dinner.) I headed back to the dorms and took an hour and a half nap. Afterwards, feeling revived, I took a river cruise. It was a one and half hour cruise up the river Corrib. It was quite windy; I was freezing by the end. Nevertheless, I got to be on the water, which is something I love to do. We got to see the remains of Menlo Castle which was destroyed by fire in 1910. Apparently there was an interesting "character" in history who hung around here once. His name was Valentine and he took advantage of a “loop hole” in the system. One could not be arrested on a Sunday. Therefore, he would go into town and run up debt and what not, then head back to the island area by midnight and he would be off of the hook. There are also a great deal of swans around the Galway area. I learned that they were first introduced to Galway by the Normans and were used as food. Of course, now it's illegal to hunt them. There is also a large number of eels in the waters. They import them to other countries.

Another castle ruin that I pass by everyday on my walk to school was also pointed out on this cruise. It is called Terry Land Castle. (Isn’t that great?! I tried to get a good picture of it for you, Terry.) I also learned on this cruise that St. Nicholas’ Cathedral in Galway was built on the property that used to be a prison. I’d say that was quite an improvement of land use.

After the cruise I walked into town and tried to find out the bus information for our trip out to Dublin the next morning. I then met up with Katy and four other people from our group and had dinner at McDonagh’s. This time the other side was open and I got to have my salmon dinner. It was quite tasty. Afterwards we stopped into some pub across from the Spanish Arch area. I cannot remember the name of it, it might be called the Townhouse. It was a unique place as it was divided up into little “rooms” or sitting areas and each section was decorated differently and had wall paper, etc. We called it a night after that since we had an early start the next day.
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Galway, Western Ireland, Ireland

Hello! Sorry to all of you who are actually checking this on a regular basis. I haven't been able to get to it since Sunday, July 12th. Our two papers were due this morning, so had to really focus in on them. We did go on a field trip that Monday to Clonmacnoise Monastic Settlement and we saw a theatre performance-The Gigli, on Wednesday night.

I am heading to Dublin in the morning with Katy. She arrived yesterday morning. She's suffering a bit from jet lag this evening. We are heading out bright and early at 7:30. That means that I need to get to bed too.

I will fill you in on this past week's events and download some photos on Monday, after I return from Dublin.

Talk to you soon!
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