Today was our very last day of our program and in Ireland. This is an incredibly upsetting thing to write right now, because I’ve had the time of my life here. Today I felt was the perfect last day. We ended going to the Ulster Museum and the botanical gardens which were both absolutely massive. The photo above is of the glass house in the botanical gardens and I thought this house was amazing because all of the plants were so unique. Afterwards we went to the museum which had a lot of history of how Northern Ireland came to be. There was a part of the museum I opted out of seeing, which was the natural history section that was full of taxidermy. As a vegan I don’t agree with the ethics of this, but other than that part I found the museum to be amazing. The Troubles exhibit was my favorite because it was really powerful to see all of the propaganda throughout the streets of Ireland, and I had no idea that all of these things happened to recently. The museum really opened up my eyes into the brutal history both Ireland and Northern Ireland faced. After the museum we went on the Black Taxi tour which I felt was extremely one-sided. The tour guides only talked about how horrible the IRA was and not really about what their mission was. I did enjoy all of the art and memorials on the streets because something about going to a place where a major thing happened makes it all the more powerful. Our dinner was a nice wrap up of our program, the food was incredible as well as all of you people that were apart of this wonderful trip. I honestly believe that I had made lifelong friends and I will never forget this experience.

Yesterday we left Dublin and went to Belfast. I have to admit, I was pretty bummed about leaving Dublin because I loved it so much there but at the same time I was excited to go to Belfast. This is a new place for me, so the excitement had been building since we got here. The first thing I noticed about Belfast was the beautiful rolling hills and mountains in the background. This was absolutely stunning, and it almost felt like home. Afterwards we went to Belfast City Hall which is what is pictured above. I immediately noticed the stunning architecture inside. It looked extremely victorian and meticulously built, and I heard Karson describe it as being very “colonial” which I think hits the mark. I thought it was really cool to learn about another country’s government. I thought it was really interesting that they choose a new mayor every year, and the lady described that Belfast does this because they want each mayor to be fully invested for the people. They do not feel here that a mayor can be as effective if they’re in office for a longer period of time. This opened my eyes a little bit into how the other world sees things. There are lots of things that people in Europe do that Americans do not and I find the little quirks very interesting. My favorite part of the tour was when our tour guide Julie (who was adorable, by the way) was so excited to tell us that it was the first time that there were only women in the major spots of the city council. I thought this was so powerful, and as a feminist it made me incredibly happy that this had happened.

Yesterday we went to the National Gallery of Ireland and saw the main museum which consisted of many different pieces of art from a variety of time periods. One piece that really struck me in the main museum was a self-portrait a modern artist did. It was an HD video of her in a bathtub almost staring into your soul, and I felt that was meant to force the audience to really captivate her emotions. I also felt that the bathtub symbolizes almost a raw emotion or even her birth. I just thought that the place in which she did her self portrait was extremely symbolic about who she is. The second part of that day was when we daw Johannes Vermeer. This exhibit was absolutely incredible. We went in the gift shop beforehand and plastered everywhere was his most famous painting the girl with the pearl earring. I was surprised to see that that particular painting was not in this exhibit but happened to be all over the gift shop. I enjoyed this exhibit more than anything we have done this entire trip. The things that drew me in were the amazing artistic abilities and the variations of technique throughout all of the artists. I also thought it was really interesting how all of these artists were constantly playing off each other’s work, and how one just constantly was inspiring the other. My personal favorite was of the men he painted of the Astronomer, and the Geographer. I thought it was interesting that they decided to feature men in this particular body of work since it has been mostly women. What I also found captivating was the fact that they do not know if he had just decided to do two paintings inspired off each other, or if he was inspired by someone else. In general, this exhibit was amazing and I felt like I had made a connection with it.

Today we visited the Oscar Wilde statue which I thought was an extremely wonderful depiction of Wilde himself. It captured an almost desperation and mystery in his face that I can feel in his writing. I feel that it could be apart of his background as well. Since he was incarcerated for being a gay man, I feel that the statue emanates that feeling of desperation that I had stated earlier. Afterwards we headed over to the National Library of Ireland where the Yeates exhibit was. I thought this exhibit was something extremely cool that I feel captured Yeates life in a light I have never thought about. I thought it was extremely captivating how they kept the glasses he died in, and even a lock of his hair!! My personal favorite part of the exhibit was how they depicted his “library”. It had books all along the shelves along with posters plastered in almost a manic order about the rebellion to take back Irish land against the British. It really captivated the mindset in which Yeates wrote his iconic poems. I feel that it also showed the mindset of many Irish Republicans during that period, and I think that can tie into how the theory of place is also connected to time. A lot of places can mean something to you in a certain time, but the relationship will change throughout your lifetime. This creates history, so if a place has historical value, it once had a certain meaning, so throughout history that meaning has changed dramatically and is influenced by the other events going on around us. This makes the concept of place extremely fluid, because time is a variable that constantly changes.

Yesterday was Bloomsday which was the day that James Joyce’s novel took place. I thought it was extremely cool that we were here since we’re studying James Joyce. Sandycove was absolutely breathtaking, and I thought the scenery was something that I connected with. The James Joyce museum was something I thought was really powerful. The museum was interesting because it showed pieces of his texts, and it showed where he lived for a while. I thought this was really powerful because it showed the state in which he wrote some of these texts in, and I think that shows a different imagery than just seeing pictures of said location. With the theory of place, I think actually seeing the place in the exact setup and circumstances where someone was experiencing something is a lot more powerful than seeing a picture of a place or just seeing an empty room that means nothing to people. I think its interesting that being physically in a place gives you more of a perspective of how events played out than just seeing a picture. It’s almost like we have more of an imagery and physical feeling of how things happened when we’re physically in a place. It also felt really real when we were on the tower and the guy was actually reading excerpts of Ulysses, and that made the experience much more powerful. I also noticed something about the people here- they all are extremely knowledgeable about their own history of Ireland and everyone seems to have a story of how it effected them or their family. I think it was also really cool that a lot of people dress up and celebrate Bloomsday, and I honestly do not think something of that nature would happen in the United States.

Today was our free day to explore Dublin on our own. Sammie, Diana, and I slept in until about mid morning because we went out the previous night and had loads of fun. We departed UCD and headed straight into St. Stephens Green to conquer the list of places we had set on going. Our list included places like H&M, Lush, Murphy’s Ice Cream, Penney’s, and Sub City Comics. Unfortunately we only made it to two of the several places on our list because of the fatigue we experienced due to our late night out. We ended up making it to Lush and H&M. Prior to this trip I had never been to Lush before, and Sammie convinced me that it was somewhere that I had to experience. I am a curious person (obviously, or else wouldn’t be on this trip) so I decided to go in and experience the experience the was Lush Cosmetics. I would call it a life changing experience to be honest with you. Pictured above are some [vegan] products I purchased today that I am extremely excited about. To tie it in, the concept of place played a huge role into how I saw myself in this store today. I had an idea of what Lush was, I knew what it sold and that it did have quality products. It wasn’t until I had actually experienced the products itself, the store atmosphere, and learned about their ethical standpoints and realized that this was a place I really felt connected to. The concept of place is extremely versatile, I find it interesting that I can have an idea of what a place is and even have feelings about it even though I have never been there. My perception of this place changed after my experience there and it will most likely continue to change the more I spend time there. I think this makes the concept of place very individualized because of it’s fluidity.

Today we went to an excursion to Howth which was by far my favorite activity and place so far on this trip. Howth was incredibly breathtaking with the clear blue water to the mountains and to the beautiful houses along the terraces. This place meant a lot to me because I grew up in the mountains, and while I was living there I did not take much appreciation for the beautiful scenery around me. I was so over the nature part and really just wanted to live in the city as a teenager. Once I moved to the city I had to get used to stopping seeing trees and mountains and other natur-ey things. Once I came to Howth I immediately felt a connection. I felt a connection with a place that I’ve nearly explored. I found this to be interesting, because I feel that I have always been a city person. I do find myself still wanting to live in the city, but because of my upbringing I think I may have a felt a connection with Howth because of the scenery and that it’s all nature. Even though we walked the farthest amount today out of our whole trip, this excursion tired me out the least. I have always found myself adventurous so I feel that I made a connection with Howth and all of it’s beauty. One thing that really struck me about this place was how beautiful and clear the water was. It was beautifully blue without any trash floating around. I found the litter to be at a minimum in general here in Dublin, and I think that says a lot about Irish culture and American culture.

Today we did the 1916 walking tour which was led by Lorcan Collins (omg !!!!) who wrote the book The Easter Rising. That whole tour was incredible. I thought it was extremely informational and that guy is an incredible storyteller. I thought it was interesting to see all of the places where the Easter Rising had an impact. I think it’s interesting that all the rebels in the rising chose all of these specific places such as City Hall, the bridge, the General Post Office, and Dublin Castle. The most interesting part to me was when you could see the bullet holes in the pillars of the General Post Office. This is extremely symbolic within this place because it has so much history. The concept of place here is the physical markings that have been caused by this huge battle that was fought for independence. I also thought it was interesting when he talked about how they occupied these extremely significant places such as the Post Office and City Hall. I find it interesting that these two places can have more power than the rest of the places fought in the Rising such as St. Stephens Green. Places can be more significant than others, and its interesting that places can keep that significance for hundreds of years. The walking tour also had a significant split of people, and I think that also has to do with the concept of place. Some of these people who weren’t interested in the walking tour were younger and probably weren’t interested in history. This makes most of the places we went yesterday insignificant to these people because of the concept of history. I personally connect with history, so these places were significant to me. I think its super interesting that place can be connected to concepts in that manner.

Today was a wonderful day. We started our day in class talking about No’s Knife which I really enjoyed because of the perspective everyone else gave on it. I think that is the biggest thing I enjoy about class. The readings are extremely interesting but I can only interpret so much out of it. I always love seeing how other people interpret things and I think that concept can be applied to most things we are seeing here in Dublin. After class we went to the Hugh Lane Gallery which I wrote about in my other post. Across the street was the Garden of Remembrance which I found extremely powerful because it was insane how all those people lost their lives to just be in a free country. I enjoyed sitting down there and just looking around to take it all in. Earlier in the day Shana had talked to me about this place that has vegan donuts and I was like um I have to go there. So after the Garden of Remembrance we went to that donut place and it was SO good I could have cried. The food here has just been absolutely incredible. Afterwards we went to this extremely good falafel place and it was honestly one of the best falafel wraps I’ve ever had. Then we went to this musical pub crawl which was my favorite part of the day. As a musician, I extremely enjoyed them talked about their music and how it impacts their culture. I felt like I really connected to them in that sense because music is such a huge part of my life as well.

This piece of art was in the Hugh Lane Gallery today. It is a piece by Anne Madden and her Colours of the Wind collection. I chose this because it caught my eye and was my favorite of that collection. I felt it had a lot of depth behind it as it looked like several things, as I saw it as being an eye or a vagina. Both of those things I felt can be very powerful in a work of art. This gallery struck me because I’ve always loved art, and throughout my childhood my love for art galleries has grown and grown. When I was younger and on family vacations we always went to various art galleries throughout the US and throughout London and France where I went many moons ago. The art gallery had almost a comforting sense of place for me. Since traveling to a foreign country is not something I do on a regular basis I feel like on this trip I’m always doing something out of my parameters and comfort zone. I think the gallery made this sense of place to me because of the art in it. Art is something that everyone can enjoy. It’s something where you can appreciate the raw talent and emotion of someone else, and thats extremely powerful. The sense of place an artist has in a gallery is different than one of a bystander I believe. My sister is an artist, so when we used to go to different art museums that place had a different meaning to her than it did me. I find it amazing that this art gallery can bring so many people together and give people a sense of place. It’s a sense of place to just enjoy the raw talent an artist has, and take in all of the knowledge and emotion behind someone.