Dublin: The Last of My Irish Memories

26 June 2012

Our bus driver, Deklan, stopped on our way to Dublin so we could get pictures here :)

Before making it to Dublin, we went to a place called Glendalough. It’s where St. Kevin settled over one thousand years ago. All that’s left are some buildings, including a round tower, and a cemetery. Walking through the cemetery was really awesome because it was just pretty. The gravestones and the crosses are all so beautiful.

Kylee walking through the cemetery

There was also a path that led to a lake, and everything was so gorgeous! Molly, who’s from Washington, said that it was all so green, even for her. It was absolutely amazing. I wish my camera could have captured how incredible it really was.

After Glendalough, we drove to Dublin City University (DCU), where we would be staying that night. Shortly after checking in, we drove to the city center so explore Dublin for a few hours. Strangely, I didn’t love it. Dublin’s a great city, but it felt just like another U.S. city. The people weren’t as open as the people in Cork, so we didn’t really meet anyone. But I still had fun with the girls. We walked around some shops, and then we went to dinner at a place called Quay’s.

Also, I bought a penny whistle! They’re everywhere in Ireland, and they’re really cool. Since I already play flute, I figured it wouldn’t be too hard to pick up.

When we got back to DCU, we still had a couple of hours to kill, so Palmer, Kylee, and I went to the dorm lounge and made pizza. And I pulled out my brand new penny whistle to try it out. I was right. It wasn’t too hard to pick up. I’ll need to practice a little bit, but playing flute definitely helps. Oh, and we decided to name my whistle Tynan. Good name, right? It’s actually the name of a pub in Kilkenny. Haha.

Later, we met up with Molly and Shayla to walk around campus. We were hoping to talk to some people about the Dublin dialect, but there was nobody out. Weird, right? We finally found a group of guys, but they turned out to French learning English. So they weren’t much help. We finally gave up on that and headed to our rooms. But Palmer and I did get in a game of cards before going to bed.

27 June 2012

The next morning, we went to Trinity College, mostly to look at the Book of Kells. And that was really neat. But the best part was the library upstairs. OH. MY. GOODNESS. There were so many books, and they were all so old! It looked like the scene from Beauty and the Beast, but better. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. There were just shelves and shelves of books. They even had those rolling ladders. And in front of each shelf was a marble bust of a prominent philosopher or other influential person. People like Socrates, John Locke, and Shakespeare. It was all so awesome! The sad thing is that we weren’t allowed to take pictures, so if you want to see how amazing it is, you’ll either have to look it up online or go see it yourself.

After I finally decided to leave the library, I got to look around campus. Wow. Why doesn’t BYU look like that? The buildings are just elegant and sophisticated. But then again, if I went to school there, it would probably lose its magic, you know? So I guess I’m okay with just being a tourist.

Once we left Trinity College, our group drove over to Kilmainham Gaol. It’s an old jail that was used a lot during the uprisings and rebellions of Ireland. When our tour guide, Rosemary, came out, she said, “You’re the LDS group, right? I was assigned to do your tour because I’m a member of your church.” Awesome, right? It was neat to be able to meet her and to listen to her talk about what went on in the jail.

It was a pretty eerie place. The prisoners (many of whom, including children, were only in there for stealing food to feed their families) were not treated well at all. All of the cells were originally built for one person, but they usually had five or six. There were also a lot of public executions that took place there. We saw the room where that took place, and it was a strange feeling. I could see the trap door that would be opened for the prisoner to hang. It was creepy. Oh, and the prisoners were locked up for twenty-three hours every day, with only one to exercise. And their form of exercise was walking around in a circle with heads and eyes lowered. They weren’t allowed to speak to anyone or to look at anyone. The prisoners also thought that they were always being watched because the cell doors all had peep holes in them that could only be seen through from the outside. It was not a very pleasant place.

This is a room that was used to isolate people in complete darkness.

All of the prison cells

The next few hours were spent exploring Dublin. And when I say a few, I mean five and a half. As exciting as our little “fivesome” has been, we didn’t even know what to do with ourselves for that long. We looked around random shops for a while, then we went back to the college to sit down and rest. After that, Palmer and I played some cards and walked around some more. After wasting a significant amount of time, we found a guy to interview for one of our classes. He’s the one who told us that younger generations say like (so it’s not just a Dublin thing). After we asked him our questions and recorded his speech, he told us that he had studied languages himself, so he had tried to polish his English a little bit. That was tiny bit of a letdown (since we’re not interested in polished, “proper” English), but it was still fun to talk to him.

Finally, it was time to meet up with our group at the Gaiety Theatre for a River Dance performance. I wish I could have taken pictures, but they wouldn’t allow it, for copyright purposes. But it was incredible! The dancers are SO fast. I have no idea how they do it. It was so fun to be able to watch the show. They had some amazing musicians and singers too. I don’t even know what to say about it, but just know that it was extraordinary! And a good way to end Ireland.

Kylee and me waiting to see River Dance!

I am so sad to be leaving this beautiful country. I’ve come to love Ireland and its people more than I can say, and I hope that someday I’ll have the opportunity to return. While we were on the bus, one of my directors read to us something from his own blog about having to leave. It seriously almost made me cry. I just hope that Wales will be just as special.