So Sunday was a busy day! My roommates and I took a day trip to a nearby town called Malahide to check out the cute little town and its super sweet castle. We successfully navigated the Irish train system (called the DART) and made it there after a 20 minute train ride. The walk to the castle goes through a bit of a park and foresty area which is full of gorgeous trees and big green fields. And the castle itself was absolutely lovely, I want to live there. We couldn't take pictures inside, but I took plenty of the outside. We had a weird automated tour inside and only got to look at a few rooms, but it was still cool and we learned a lot about the castle's history. It used to be owned by the Talbot family, is full of lots of rare antique furniture, and is haunted by quite a few ghosts. SO COOL!
The Malahide Castle!
Portcullis! And a very friendly cat that was waiting for us outside. Ireland is chock full of cats.
Cemetery full of Talbots?
After wandering around the castle grounds for awhile, we headed into town to grab lunch at a pub and check out the nearby port. Malahide has some nicer beachy areas but we stuck around the boats to relax and watch the water. Very very pretty.
Too cold to go in but still picturesque.
We eventually took the train home and then immediately headed over near the Temple Bar district of Dublin where the Mayo Alive Music Festival was going on. Mayo is a county of Ireland that is apparently known for its music? It was a little rainy, but the festival was still really nice, and we arrived just in time to see a band called the Smyth family who were very Irish folksy and fun. A great ending to the day.
The Smyth family! Fiddles galore.
Monday we had workshop class as usual and were then treated to some fantastic readings by some "rockstar" Dublin writers. We listened to some excerpts and MUCH writing advice from Roddy Doyle, famous for his novel The Commitments. He was very charming and knowledgeable. We also listened to a reading by Paula Meehan, a poet who I think is absolutely fantastic. Her reading style was also very animated and fun to watch which is something I always feel very conscious of as a frequent reader of poetry. She was incredibly delightful and I had her sign my copies of some of her poems that we'd been given. She wrote: "To Anna in Dublin in 2011 in the rain." All true. It was a longer day than we usually have on Mondays so my roommates and I decided to treat ourselves to a take away dinner from the Nepalese restaurant called Monty's that is practically next door to our house. I don't know what exactly we ate but there was spicy chicken in sauce, cheese bits in sauce, lamb in sauce, and naan and it was all incredibly delicious. The lamb was especially good. We then found some visitors in our backyard and treated them to dinner as well.
Introducing Sir Wesley Windham Pryce and Lady Maude Plunkett. They were big fans of the lettuce.
Tuesday we had another very long day of Irish literature and drama classes. We also had our first play-going experience that evening, so my roommates, a few other classmates, and I decided to meet up beforehand to get dinner near the city center. We ended up at a pub called Gallaghers where I had some amazing chicken boxty (chicken in a potato pancake with sauce) and split some chocolate cake. Mighty delicious and fun. We then headed over to the Peacock theatre (essentially located in the basement of the famous Abbey theatre) to see a play called Perve which was very intense, funny, and thoughtful. It touched on many subjects including pedophilia, privacy rights, misinterpretations, and miscommunications. I liked it quite a lot despite its serious ending. The theatre was small but really nice and interesting since the main stage was essentially a big bowl while the back areas incorporated a lot of mirrors and angles. After the play, our class and Mr. Roper went for a pint despite the torrential rain and had lots of lovely chats.
Wednesday we had workshop class once again and Mr. Roper really liked one of my pieces! Our assignment had been to write a longer 6 page story about a time where we felt upset or anxious or troubled during our stay here. I wrote a slightly dramatized version of my first day in Dublin, which had a certain amount of trauma involved because of severe jet lag and culture shock. The class found it quite funny and true and Mr. Roper asked me to send it to him because he wants to include it in the materials for prospective program participants! I'm afraid it will terrify many of them, but thrilled that he wants to use my work.
After class, my roommates and I headed home quickly because we had planned a dinner party for us and eight of our classmates who live nearby. We would have loved to invite everyone, but our house is only so big and we didn't want to get in trouble with our neighbors. We made a wonderful Irish stew with lamb, potatoes, onions, and carrots and some tasty Irish soda bread. We also made an awesome appetizer of baked brie with pineapple chutney. By we I mean my roommates who are all excellent cooks. I mostly did dishes and tidied up the place. But everyone showed up and brought wines and desserts and ate all the food and had a wonderful time. Eventually, we wandered down the road to Terenure which is the town that is just south of Rathgar. We stopped into a pub for pints and laughs and many pictures. Excellent night.
Sooooooooooo delicious!
Today we had more workshop class, ate cake for a classmate's birthday, determined that we're clearly Mr. Roper's favorite class ever, and are now looking forward to seeing the play Frances and Francis, which is about the life of crazy artist Francis Bacon. It promises to be quite eventful. That's about all for now!
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