Semester Start Up Programme

Sunday, January 9th- Friday, January 14th, 2011

Dublin, Ireland

Programme has extra letters for extra fun! The Semester Start Up Programme was a pre-orientation week that I participated in just before the start of classes, to better acquaint myself with Dublin (not to mention meet a few people). We kicked things off in true Irish style, with a welcome reception of pizza and wine on Sunday night. Needless to say, it was the largest congregation of glassy-eyed jet lag sufferers I have ever seen, but it was a good start to the week.

Day 1: Literary Pub Crawl

Monday, January 10th, 2011

The next morning started off a soon familiar pattern of lectures in the morning on topics of Irish culture, literature, and history, then an excursion in the afternoon and evening. Our first day, like most orientations, gave us a tour of the campus, a library tour, and an architectural tour. Unlike many schools, however, our evening ended with a programme-sponsored tour of the pub scene. Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore.

A very photogenic bar on the Pub Crawl at a pub called The Old Stand

The tour was a Literary Pub Crawl, led by two actors who took us to 4 local pubs with literary connections-- some were popular author haunts, others were settings for novels like Ulysses. The actors added to the atmosphere by reading selections of the authors works. It made for quite a fun evening.

The last stop of the night-- Jared, Sean, Carey, Rebecca, Margret, Emma, and Me enjoying one last beer

Day 2: The Gaelic Athletic Association

Tuesday, January 11th, 2010

This afternoon brought us to the home of Gaelic sports-- hurling and gaelic football. Both sports involve the largest grass pitch used by any team sport, with 15 players on each side. Here's a recipe for each to give you a basic idea, plus click the name to link to a youtube video for a good visual:

Gaelic football = soccer + rugby + basketball + insanity

Hurling = lacrosse + baseball + hockey + war

Gaelic sports experienced a huge revival at the turn of the century, with an increase in national pride and a desire to find what it meant to be Irish. This caused the birth of the GAA (Gaelic Athletic Association), which now hosts competitions for all of Ireland's counties. We toured the GAA museum and the stadium where all major GAA events take place.

The view from the top of the stadium-- our guide told us they plan to put in a zip line from one side to the other. Definitely going to come back for that.

Flags of all the counties. The GAA is unique in that players can ONLY play for the county they are born and raised in-- there is no drafting and trading allowed. This creates a huge sense of county loyalty.

Anna, Myself, and Emma looking up our local teams track record in the GAA museum. Dublin's colors are light blue, in case anyone's wondering.

Emma testing her balance, one of the many skills required to excel at gaelic sports.

Trish, one of our group leaders, shows us what she can do with a hurling stick.

After the GAA museum, seeing as we were on the north side of the River Liffey for the first time, we opted to find food in that neck of the woods. This took us to a pub called Madigans where we were clearly outsiders-- most were older Irish gentlemen, quietly enjoying their beers.

One of our group leaders tried to explain the difference between the south side (where Trinity College is found) and the north side by telling us a few classic Dublin jokes:

Q: What do you call a north side man in a suit?

A: The accused

Q: What does a south side mother make for dinner?

A: Reservations

Me with my all-day Irish Breakfast. The barman looked like he thought there was no way the silly little American girl could finish it, but except for the toast, I came pretty close. Be careful with the pudding-- it's nothing like our pudding.

Day 3: The Abbey Theatre

Wednesday, January 12th, 2011

In the evening, we made our way to the Abbey Theatre for a showing of Arrah-Na-Pogue, a play by Dion Boucicault. In Irish, Arrah-Na-Pogue means Arrah of the Kiss, a name that the wily Arrah earns for springing a rebel from jail by hiding a key in her mouth. The play was fabulous-- very funny, and very well performed, including some amazing prop and set design. No pictures in the theatre, so use your imagination.

Day 4: International Orientation

Thursday, January 13th, 2011

This was the day that non-SSP international students arrived and began their orientations, so after our morning lectures, we hooked up with them for events led by Irish student liaisons who tried to tell us a bit about life at Trinity from the local student perspective. One good lesson for the day:

craic, noun, /crack/: (a) fun, a good time, "It'll be good craic" (b) the latest, "what's the craic?" meaning, "what's happening," or "what's new with you"

It's a gaelic word used VERY commonly in Irish slang, to refer to just about anything. We've heard parents tell their kids, "you've had your craic, now let's get you home and to bed." It's very prevalent. It still sounds very silly in an American accent though, so I doubt I'll be picking it up any time soon.

Day 5: Glendalough and Wicklow Gaol

Friday, January 14th, 2011

Glendalough, Co. Wicklow, Ireland

Our final day was a field trip-- my first time outside of Dublin. We took a bus to Glendalough, an old Christian establishment at the foot of the Wicklow Mountains, which are just visible from Dublin.

The archway into the Glendalough Christian settlement. No mortar was used, but it's still standing today.

Sean, me, Jared, Emma, and Brittany, in front of the Glendalough round tower. The towers were common in early Christian settlements, and were NOT for fighting purposes, but mostly spiritual and for housing texts. This one is apparently the most perfect still surviving.

Up close with the round tower-- the foundations were only 5 feet deep, yet the structure remains stable. Part of the reason is that the door is placed 15 feet above ground and only accessible by ladder. Sadly, know way to go inside it now as all the floors are gone.

After Glendalough, we made our way to the town of Wicklow for a tour of the historic Wicklow Gaol (that's jail in Irish). Let's put it this way-- I would NOT have wanted to get caught stealing anything in Wicklow.

Welcome to Wicklow Gaol! Apparently they give haunted night tours as well. Would have been creepy...

The cell windows from the exercise yard. We were happy to get outside for this part of the tour-- it was actually colder in the damp stony indoors than outside.

The exercise wheel, used as punishment for the prisoners. Like a really old school stair-master, except you had to stay on it for 5 hours or more.