Today was such an amazing day. My peers and I celebrated the first day of summer by going on an outdoor adventure. We headed towards the country side Northern Ireland and it was a very interesting experience. Our road trip lasted about 2 hours, and we made several stops along the way. One of the things I noticed is that as you move away the city , neighborhoods become more political  and national identity starts shifting from town to town. There were places were the Irish flag flew free in the sky , while in others there were monuments and flags praising the English crown.  Although our tour was not meant to be educational or  to address this issue, our tour guide shared with us what he thinks is the reality of Northern Ireland. He explained to us that the political spectrum in this particular place is broad. There is people that identify themselves as being Irish, others British, and others simply as Northern Irish. He also shared with us something I thought it was pretty cool. Apparently citizens of Northern Ireland are allowed to have both an English and Irish passport, which kind of allows them  to pledge alliance to the country they feel more related too. Also, he explained that after the Brexit referendum a lot of people who didnt have an Irish passport decided to get one to ensure mobility across the European Union. I think this is going to be something to look up at the future because I think it could be a game changer for Northern Ireland’s political situation.

The biggest highlight of the day was our visit to the Giant’s Causeway, and  walking to the Rope Bridge. It was such a wonderful experience. I will attach a couple of pictures, but I must say that the camera doesn’t do justice to the beauty of this place. Honestly, it is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seem.

Today was an eventful day. We left Ireland in the morning and I felt a mixed of emotions. I was excited to know that a new destination was awaiting, but at the same time extremely overwhelm for leaving a place that has acquired a great significance in my life. When we arrived to Belfast I couldn’t help to compare it with Dublin. As our professor anticipated the architecture in Belfast is a reflection of the 19^th century which makes the city look more industrialized, and familiar with the landscape at home. It was very interesting to see how everything seems to be a combination of Irish and Anglo culture. For a second I was a little confused and really trying to define the politics and national identity of this place. It was exactly then when everything we learned regarding the partition of Northern Ireland, the troubles, and religious tension between England and Ireland came to life. Everything started to make sense. My impression on this first day in Belfast is that people on this side of the island are still conflicted when it comes to defining identity , and that the best coping method is the incorporation of elements from both cultures into their lives.

Upon our arrival, we visited Belfast City Hall. So far ,I think this is my favorite part of the city.The architecture of this place seemed to shared a more similar style to the major buildings in Dublin Ireland, with respect to the rest of Belfast. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable about the history, architecture and current political structure in Northern Ireland. It was again very interesting to see how they have taken pieces and elements from both cultures to develop and recount their history.

Today was a big day for all us giving the fact that it was our last day in Ireland. We decided to spent our last day in another wonderful place:  The national Gallery of Ireland, which was recently renovated . One of the things that completely blew my mind away is the architecture of this place. It was so elegant that it seem surreal. This touch of sophistication gave the artistic pieces even more life. I was absolutely beautiful how well they blended, and how the architecture added so much more context into these pieces. As I was walking through the gallery I couldnt help to realized that the pieces seemed to repeat consecutive themes: Place & Religion. I do not know whether the selection was intentional or not, but this are in fact the themes that have shaped Irish History, and literature.

One of my favorite pieces was ” The infant Saint John Playing with a Lamb” by Bartolome Murillo, which is the picture located below. I found it to be very heartwarming. This piece is a representation of the purity and innocents of Saint John. The lamb of course is a representation of Christ. There were many other painting similar to this picture, where children were the muse of inspiration that the most famous artist used to deliver  a message.

We ended our visit to the Gallery by attending to the Vermeer Exhibition. I was fascinated by all the messages hidden between these paintings. I  learned that art is inter-connectable, and that sometimes artist responded to pieces designed by others, or contributed to their improvement, even when back in that period of time it wasn’t as easy to communicate or move across the globe.

Today was a very exciting day. We had the opportunity to study the work of another great writer: Oscar Wilde. I found it to be very interesting , especially when constrasting his work with the work realized by James and yates. He certainly has a very different style, which may be due to the period time in which he lived , and his Anglo-Irish identity.  The text that we study is called “the portrait of Mr WH” which is based in a conspiracy theory regarding the muse in Shakespeare’s sonnets. I found it to be quite interesting because he managed to make an compelling presentation of this theory, regarding the lack of evidence presented in his work. This allow us to see how talented he was, and his ability to connect  and engage with the reader. After class, we headed to see his statue. One of our classmates read a passage from one of his texts written in jail,  which I found to be among one  of the finest and most personal pieces ever written. The message was powerful, and contagious, which again proves his efficiency to bond with the reader.  I couldn’t missed the opportunity to take a selfie with Mr. Oscar Wilde, who has inspired thousand of people with his work. After this , we headed towards the National Library of Ireland. One of the coolest things was the exhibition of James Joyce manuscripts, three of them which where addressed to another icon in Irish literature: WB Yates. Where he talked about his struggle to publish “Dubliners” one of our main texts for this course.  

Today was an amazing day. We started the day by studying “Dead” by James Joyce and disscusted  episode 1 of the “Ulysses”.  I personally enjoyed reading the first text. I found it to be very different from the other stories found in “Dubliners”. In this story, Joyce gave us the opportunity to have a little more information about the the characters in the story, which made it easier to understand and draw better  conclusions from text. After class,  we headed to Sandycove beach , which is one of the settings of Ulysses.  I must mentioned that Sandycoves is such a beautiful place that is sorrounded by blue cristalline waters.  In there, we visited the Martello Tower , where James Joyce himself lived for  six days back in 1904. The tower is now a museum in honor of James Joyce. I was very excited because today happens to be Bloomsday , the day depicted  in the story. I learned that people in Ireland celebrate this day by dressing up as the characters from the story, and attending to the places mentioned in the book. I think it is pretty amazing that people in Ireland have so much appreciation for this author. Their admiration for him is so much that they even made a national holiday  out of  one of his book. I have never heard or seen such a devotion for an author. Once we were in the museum, we have the opportunity to heard the reading of one of the episode of  Ulysses , and to have a little more information about James Joyce’s staying. I ended the day by going for walk in the beach, and eating a cone of ice cream by the shore. Honestly today couldn’t have been any better.

Today was by far one of my favorite days in Ireland. After having breakfast and discusting  Yeats poems we headed to a beautiful place outside the city: Howth. This was W. B Yates home in his late childhood, so I thought that it would be very insteresting to see if anything of this place could have influence him as a writer. As soon as we arrived, I notice the beauty of this place. Although it seemed to be a very small town, the geographical characteristics of this place created one of the most beautiful landscapes and places I have ever seen or visit. Howth is sorrounded by the blue waters of the Atlantic Ocean. There is a beautiful sea port that constitutes a big part of the Dublin Bay. In there, we were fortunate enough to see a couple of seals swimming around the coast, and  awide diversity of birds. Our hike to the Howth Cliff was the big highlight of the day. It offered an stunning view of the  town, ocean and cliffs. It was very surreal, almost straight out of a movie scene. My heart was filled of joy , because being from such a small town I never imagined I would have the opportunity to see this side of world. I was very excited , and completely blown away by the beauty of this country. As I was contemplating my surroundings, I felt very grateful for every opportunity that has been giving to me. I also appreciated the gifts of nature more than ever before.There was a moment where I wished my love ones were here to see this with me.  I imagined my dogs hiking by my side, or swimming in the coast, and how perfect our lives would be in here. Ireland has slowly grown on me, and that reminded me of cresswell idea that places creates society. By this he means that our character and accomplishments in life are a construction of the places we have been, and that is our capability to connect with a location that turns a landscape into a place.

Today we visit Kilmainham Gaol. It was an awesome experience giving the fact that this place holds major historical significance. When we first arrived we headed towards the museum. My favorite part of course was the second floor , which is the History and Politics section. I was very impressed by the comprehensive collection of legal documents, news papers, letters, and relics found in this section. Kilmainham Goal was established in 1796 and served as prison until 1924. We had the opportunity to go in the tour visit the cells where woman,children, and man served their sentence. We learned that the youngest prisoner was only five years old, and that many of the prisoners were arrested by minor transgressions such as: begging in the streets, or stealing food. During this period of time people were living in extremely poverty , and had no choice, but to relied in these means to survived.  One of the biggest remarks of the tour was  seeing the cells where the leaders of  the Eastern Rising were placed, which are located in the picture above. 14 out of 16 of them spent their last days in here. We are able to visit the place where they, and many other people were executed.

Even thought a week ago I had not previous connection to this place, I felt a little emotional when the the tour guide said:

“What happened between these walls changed the course of Irish History”  (Referring to the walls where the executions took place).

I think that the fact that we have study a little bit of Irish history, and our exposure to the culture & and to this place (Dublin) created that empathy I felt at that moment. These were men who must have love their homeland so deeply that they sacrificed their lives to set it free.

Today was one of my favorite days so far.  We started off the day by discussing “The rising of the moon”  by Lady Gregory. As I mentioned in class, I found it very interesting how she managed to convey a political message in such a smooth way, without necessarily attacking the English mandate. During this period of time many writers focus primarily in writing about  socioeconomic issues and cultural aspects of Ireland because it was more relatedable. This allowed them to target a larger audience. After class, we headed towards: Hugh Lane Gallary. From the moment we arrived, I was blown away. The building itself was absolutely beautiful, and very elegant. The illumination of the place created a very refreshing  environment. It definitely stimulated my brain. From the moment I walked into the main hall I knew that I wanted to be there. Another thing that I liked about the Gallery  was the fact that there was so much space to navigate through the place , and through the paintings that even when there were other people around , there were moments when you kind of have your own private space. This improved the quality of my experience. It allowed me to take my time to appreciate every piece, and their origins. The selection of pieces was magnificent. There were pieces from all over the world , with very different techniques and styles.One of the things that stood out to me were a couple statements given by  Francis Bacon. The first one was ” For some reason the moment the moment I saw this place I knew that I could work here. I am very influenced by places- by the atmosphere of a room”  ” I can only paint here in my studio. I’ve plenty of others ,but been for here nearly thirty years now and it suits me very well. I can’t work in place that are too tidy. It’s much easier for me to pain in a place like this which is a mess. I don’t know why but it helps me . ”  This immediately remind me of Cresswell’s work and concept of place. Cresswell mentioned the theory of environmental determinism which states that the physical environment of a place affects directly who we are, and how interact, and the path we follow. It also serves to prove Cresswell view on how places can help shape our character and understanding of life. His second statement was once a gain related with terms mentioned on cresswell’s text : Phenomenology,Ontology and memory. His studio , was special because he he created it when he decided to add his personal touch to it. It was a place where we felt empowered,which is a characteristic of ontology, and an addition it hold significance because of all the memories he had in his particular location.

 Today was a day full of activities. We had the opportunity to explore a different side of the city, and walk through James Joyce’s neighborhood. One of the things I enjoyed the most about the tour is the fact that we got to the chance to learned a little more about the personal life of the author, and actually see the landmarks that marked his life and career. These places served as an inspiration to established the settings in his book “Dubliners ” and “Ulysses” . After the tour we headed towards Dublin Port, where we got to contemplate an incredible view of the city. It was very refreshing, and I must say a much more peaceful and calm side of Dublin. Later on, we headed to another extraordinary  place: the Abby Theather. This place was founded by Lady Greogory and  W.B Yates with the sole propose of raising awareness in the community of the importance of developing a national identity .. or at least something  unique about who they were  as community. It of course served as platform to address political, and social issues in a more entrataining and peaceful way. We had the opportunity to watch the performance  of No’s Knife , which was incredible. Lisa Dawn managed  to interpret Samuel Beckett’s ideas in such peculiar way. It was just admirable. The whole act was well-put together. The sound effects definitely added so much context to the words of Beckett in “Texts For Nothing”.  Of course my favorite part was the final act, when the actress actually perform one of the texts assigned , and discccusted in our classs.  Being able to see her interpretation brought me  so much more clarity , and understanding of the texts. It was definitely an anmazing experience.