So Saturday was the 1916 Rebellion Walking Tour which was absolutely lovely, though certainly a lot of walking. My roommates and I somehow managed to book it down to Trinity College within 50 minutes, which is quite a feat considering how far away we live. After that, the pace was much more relaxed and we got to learn about all the cool historic sites in Dublin where famous battles and skirmishes happened. I don't remember anything too specific, but I took lots of pictures!
My personal favorite statue because the angel is hanging out with a dog.
A statue of Jim Larkin, Dublin's personal badass.
The River Liffey that divides north and south Dublin.
The only part of Dublin Castle that actually looks like a castle. The rest was burned down and renovated.
So yeah, more pictures on Facebook of course. After the walking tour, a few of us went to Penney's which is a HUGE department store with tons of cute and cheap things. Bought a few items and then wandered down to Grafton St. where we saw our best friend the Irish drumming guy who was super excited to see us again. There were all sorts of street performances going on per usual so we sorta moseyed around for a bit before heading home. My roommate Cristin and I experimented with taking the bus back from near the IES Center (our feet were tired from loads of walking) and successfully made it home! The bus drivers in Dublin are super helpful and will even announce your stop if you ask them to.
After lounging around for a bit, we went to meet a bunch of Iowa Writing Program people in downtown Dublin at a pub called Portobellos which had a lot of nice couches, great Guinness, and a music collection that ranged between late 90's-early 00's hits. Blast from the American past. A collection of us then attempted to go to the Bleeding Horse, found it too packed, and settled for Devitt's instead which is a quieter locals bar. I spoke to a few middle-aged friendly Irishmen and managed to finish another pint before the bar closed (many smaller Irish pubs close around 11:30, even on the weekends...but they do let you finish your drink!). We then wandered into Solas which is a more hip and happening place with more people our age. We spoke to many friendly guys who were great conversationalists, though many seemed baffled when we'd ask them what gave us away as being American. Apparently we simply have a vibe that gives us away. Some other answers included our hair, our optimism, and the fact that we wear socks more often. Sillyness.
Sunday was terribly rainy, though my roommates and I managed a HUGE grocery shopping trip at Aldi and got tons of food which we then carried all the way back. We've decided to try to make group dinners and share all our food. It makes it easier for five people to share one fridge. We had a fabulous dinner of penne carbonara, wine, bread, and little store-bought pain au chocolats. Tasty!
Monday was our first day of classes! Made it on time to Mr. Roper's writing workshop class, which I'll have Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday everyday for the next 4 weeks. After that point we switch to Mary Morrissey's writing workshop and I'm glad they've set it up so that we'll get two perspectives. Made it through class alright and ate my packed sandwich and banana with a few others in the little courtyard of the IES building. Very sunny and pleasant, one of the warmest days we've had so far. After class we had a guest speaker, a poet named Siobhan Campbell. She read us some of her work and discussed publishing with us; it was all very interesting. I liked a few of her poems but they were a bit political and dark for my taste.
After that, my roommates and I decided to take advantage of the sunshine with an afternoon snack of Bulmer's cider, cheese, and strawberries in our little house garden. We also read our first homework story assignment from James Joyce's Dubliners out loud and discussed it a bit. Very academic, I assure you. We then had a dinner of stuffed peppers (yummy but very spicy) and decided to celebrate surviving our first day of class with some bottles of wine, some silly Irish television, and then a trip to the Rathgar pub for a pint (only a block away!) Evening well spent.
Libations for celebration!
Today (Tuesday) we had our first day of our literature and drama classes which are both taught by very nice and interesting teachers who didn't give us syllabuses and so I don't know their names yet. Our Irish lit teacher is an older, soft-spoken gentleman who had us read some poems by Paula Meehan, who will be our guest speaker next Monday. Much of her work deals with her relationships with her family members and I liked it quite a bit. Our drama teacher is younger, has a crazy beard and is very enthusiastic. We read "Riders to the Sea," a classic Irish play dealing with lots of death and depressing outlooks on life and then a very modern and simplistic play called "The Killers" which is simply a conversation between two Pulp Fiction-esque assassins. We've been assigned plenty to read from both classes for next Tuesday. It was a very long day and I sorta wish they hadn't scheduled both classes for one day a week...but oh well.
Pretty sure we're about to make dinner here (curry chicken?) so I'd best be off. There's a concert for Bloomsday tomorrow and other fun events (including Dublin Pride!) coming up so I'm sure I'll be posting again soon!
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