Kissing the Blarney Stone

It's actually quite terrifying. Climbing Blarney Castle is a feat in and of itself. The stairwell is winding and narrow, the steps are shallow and slippery, and the surfaces are uneven. I was worried about breaking bones . . . the seventy-somethings in line ahead of us seemed less concerned.

The castle is a marvel. With floors and stairwells still intact, you're able to visit the dungeon, bedrooms, living rooms, the kitchen, etc. Most of the castle is damp and it takes real imagination to picture the tile floors, tapestries, and painted walls that were once there.

The Blarney Stone being at the top of the building, you get a breathtaking view once you're up there. There was cattle feeding nearby
and it was a dreary, rainy day; I assumed it was probably a pretty accurate portrait of what living a castle once was like. Climbing to the top of the castle just for this view was quite worth it, whether you decide to kiss the stone or not. But after making it through the staircase and reading all the lore of the Blarney Stone, I decided I had to kiss the stone, gross urban legends concerning the state of the stone be damned.

Once you make the decision to kiss the stone, you then have to come to grips with what kissing it entails! The process is something like this:

1. You sit down on a mat with your back to the stone;
   
2. An old Irishman takes you by your waist and tells you to scoot back;
   
3. You mutter, "Oh God . . ."
4. You lie down on the floor;
   
5. You grab two iron bars with your hands above your head;
   
6. You laugh nervously and say, "Oh my God . . . "
7. The old Irishman shoves you over the edge of the castle by your waist;
   
8. You stretch and kiss what you can only assume is the Blarney Stone;
9. The old Irishman laughs heartily and pulls you up.
   

This was the exact process followed by myself, my mother, and everyone else in line that we watched, complete with the "Oh God" and Irishman laugh. I don't think there's any other way to do it.

The Irish aren't too keen on road signs.

First, we got lost on an Irish country road:

One lane with lush greenery on either side. If another car comes, one vehicle drives in reverse until you find a place to pull over. It is simultaneously terrifying and thrilling.

Then we came across an abandoned structure on the side of the road:

There was a small inlet in the road next to it, so we decided to take a break from driving and enjoy the scenery. Behind the building was a gorgeous hill:

We decided that we had to climb it; it was just sitting there. So we hopped a fence:

and went running up the hill, trying to avoid clumps of manure and keeping our eyes open for errant sheep or cows.

The view from the top of the hill was breathtaking:

A glance to our left revealed a private residence, complete with a picture window overlooking the exact hill we were standing on. Before our trespass was discovered, we made a break for it:

Kalli, Aditya, and I went sprinting down the hill, back to the car, laughing the entire way.

The purpose of Sunday's excursion was to visit a tomb in Newgrange which predates the Egyptian pyramids by 500 years. By the time we found the tomb, tickets for the day were sold out. They are given on a first come, first serve basis, and our little detour probably forced us to miss out. Had we been there 25 minutes earlier, we would have made it. None of us was that disappointed, however. We had a fun drive, a great lunch, and saw the green hills and sheep farms that we came to Ireland for. It was a wonderful Sunday.

Last night before classes

I had my first truly tourist-y weekend in Ireland. Trinity College, dinner in Temple Bar, the River Liffey, cathedral tour, and shopping. It is now official: I love Dublin City Centre.

Christ Church Cathedral was by far the most spectacular thing I've seen yet. I'm enamored with the age of everything in the city. I'm generally someone who's into that sort of stuff anyway - I read historical nonfiction, I like antique stores, I buy retro furniture for my apartment, I'm never technologically up to date. To my delight, age and history are incorporated into everyday life here. Christ Church Cathedral is almost 1,000 years old. Originally built in 1030, it is directly descended from both celtic and medieval Christianity. Henry VIII took Christ Church Cathedral with him when he broke from Rome in the 1530s and the church passed through the Reformation. But people still celebrate mass in it today. In fact, townhouses are seated right next door. There's a parking garage across the street for nearby office buildings. I love that this much history is encountered - and utilized - everyday here. The States don't do that; young couples need to build new houses in new subdivisions; shopping malls are torn down and replaced with new strip malls; old cars are scrapped for the latest models; gentrification plagues most major cities. Not that I'm so naive as to think that Dubliners don't embrace the new as well, but, let's be serious: my dorm room has a fireplace in it. There's a clear appreciation for antiquity here.


Of course, being law students we also visited a few pubs this weekend and had the opportunity to chat with some locals (and partake in a few rounds of Guinness). The accent is becoming clearer to me, which is a relief - classes start tomorrow and I was afraid my professors' lectures would be lost on me.

Yes, that's right, classes start tomorrow. We are here to study, after all. Media Regulation, Food and Drug in the WTO, and Intro to Common Law are all on the slate for me (can you guess which class is undergraduate level?). My hopes are high for Food and Drug Law. From the syllabus it appears that a case study on genetically modified foods might be in store for us, and I'm looking forward to it.

Cheers!

- CAC

The City Centre

My sister is a fabulous photographer and seeing her capture life in all of its grandness or subtlety is really amazing. Inspired as I am by her work, while preparing for my trip to Ireland, I decided to break from tradition and try to take more than one or two pictures per month. And a day in Dublin's city centre seemed like the perfect opportunity to try out my new hobby. So for this latest installment, I will cut my diatribe short and present a few choice pictures. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

-AB

We're going to law school in a castle!

We spent our day on campus today and are starting to feel like students again. Campus is a solid 2km hike from our dorm, which makes for a tiring day. It's a walk through a posh, gorgeous neighborhood, however: each house has a gate and a name with a BMW parked in the drive. The scenery makes it more bearable to lug our textbooks home.

The people in the neighborhood are just as charming as the houses. Yesterday, on our way to a grocery store, I walked behind a mom with her blond haired, blue eyed six year old daughter. In their most earnest Irish accents:

"Tell me what fabulous things you learned at school today, dear."
"Oh mum, we learned about the sun and it was so much fun."

Campus is lovely. It's a mix between wonderful modern buildings and grand old buildings (we are, after all, taking law classes in Roebuck Castle). Everyone seems friendly and we've started to learn our way around. Contrary to the UMN, we won't be locked in one building. Each class is in a different corner of campus and we'll have an opportunity to really experience student life. I will be on campus this weekend to do homework (instead of buying textbooks, we're using everything in the library) and hope to take photos then, when there are less people around.

Orientation was an Experience, though, that's for sure. After getting lost on our way there, we got there just as the academic introduction was ending. We arrived just in time to be led to the recreation center, where we were promptly shown how to shoot a bow and arrow, jump on a trampoline, skip rope, and play lacrosse. Bewildered at first (What? You aren't going to lecture us about how stressful law school is?) we soon took up the sports and sampled each activity. Perhaps American law school would be more bearable if it was presented in a fashion that promotes extracurricular activity. Don't just sit us in Room 25 and tell us of the importance of finding a good work-life balance; cart us off to the gym, shove a bow in our hands, and show us that it is possible to have fun as a student.

Being American students, however, we did wrap up orientation in the library. We're still struggling to determine how vigorous these classes will be. Reading assignments and syllabuses seem to indicate large work loads; student opinions are different. Not the types to shirk our responsibilities, the next 3 months are going to be comprised of finding that perfect balance between experiencing as much of Europe as feasible while still passing classes.

- CAC

Getting Settled In

I have officially hung my hat and coat in my dorm room and the settling in process is almost complete. Although no fireplaces exist in my room, I do have the good fortune of being able to wake up to a pretty good view (see left). At the very least, I am not looking into someone else's living room as the grandmarc apartments would have me do. However there are a few things that will take more than a week of getting use to. The first being the Irish accent. More often than not, I find myself just smiling and nodding.The second is the architecture (see right). It's not every day that you see castles nestled in between town homes as if Lords still maintained power over the common folk. Though I have not yet seen knights waiting at stop signs for their turn to cross the intersection.

I'm looking forward to settling in and carving out my little niche in Ireland. If nothing else, it'll be an exciting task to undertake.

- AB

Ikea is NOT a three minute walk from the bus stop.

We have officially been initiated into Irish weather, that's for sure. Aditya, Holly, Kalli, and myself spent Monday hiking through pouring down rain and strong winds - first to move 10 suitcases from the hotel to the dorm, then to travel from the dorm to Ikea to purchase basic necessities. We made it back to the dorm by 6pm last night, each of us drenched head to toe. We got the deals we were looking for, however, and kept smiles on our faces for (most of) the trip.

Our dorms have character, to say the least. I'm not able to estimate ages of buildings here, but the dorms certainly aren't new. The tiny fireplace in the corner of my room indicates old age - open flames are generally prohibited in modern dormitories. The brightly painted rooms (peach, seafoam green, baby blue) add some color to our days and our proximity to a local bar and cafe provide nice refreshment.

Acclimating to everyday life here has started to show some stark contrasts to the American way: the hallway lights in our dorm are on motion sensors; toilets have minimal amounts of water in them; bread lacks preservatives; saran wrap only comes without PVC. Such minor details that if the US adopted them universally would have a large impact. For now, I will enjoy this way of living in Dublin.

Tomorrow we start orientation and next week marks our first week of Irish classes. Good luck to all those starting law classes at the U today, and cheers :)

- CAC

It's 4 am and having jet lag is terrible!

It was about 3 in the morning (or at least that was the way we felt) and we were surrounded by gallivanting geriatrics, excited about their first trip to Ireland. We were in the line for immigration and after having waited for about an hour or so, I was starting to get the feeling that we would never escape the purgatory we had just entered. When the immigration officer gingerly waived his hand to have me come up to the counter, I put on my best smile and said hello. He didn't look at me. This wasn't going well. He asked me until when I was here and I said until December. He asked me whether it was for a study abroad trip and I wanted to reply by asking him whether it was my badly shaven face or the just the wild look in my eyes that tipped him off. In either case, an obligatory stamp later and I officially stepped into Ireland for the first time.

Welcome to the blog where five intrepid travelers will document and record a four month adventure. You will be able to find photos, comments, links, and updates from this site. Use it to keep up with our travels and share in our excitement or just to make sure we are all still alive and well. Either way, make sure to check back often and let us know what you think!

- AB