"From Bantry Bay up to Derry Quay, And from Galway to Dublin town, No maid I've seen like the sweet Colleen, hat I met in the County Down."

I am sad to say to all of you that this will be my last blog while here in Ireland. I'm reflecting on my times here in Ireland, as I listen to some Irish rock music, and am in the company of new friends. It's been a good time here, and I'm certainly sad to see it come to an end. 

We took our bus to Limerick, but first we stopped in a little town called Adare. It wasn't much of a stop, only for about 20 minutes at a sort of "rest stop" I guess you could say. But Caiti fell asleep on the bus and got locked on the bus and wasn't able to get out! Luckily, the people here are so willing to help, and so nice, a fellow bus driver came to her rescue. He showed us how to get off the bus in case of an emergency and Caiti was able to get out of a side door. I guess it might have been one of those things where you had to be there to think it was funny.

The once again the wheels on the bus went round and round again, and a few hours later dropped us off at the Cliffs of Moher. I can't begin to explain how beautiful it was. The cliffs were filled with rolling green grass. The cliffs were perfectly etched in symmetrical lines, which met beautiful with the crystal clear water crashing against the rocks at the bottom. The sea was so blue, and that was all you could see for miles was blue seas, and blue skies blending together. 

I wish I had pictures to show you but sadly I still haven't figured out what is wrong with my camera, and or computer. So, I will say go sneak around on another photography/photojournalism student's blog and check out the beautiful scenery we were able to see today.

Our group split up, and I walked all over the cliffs taking hundreds of pictures, and tons of panoramas. Andy, Aaron, David and I got a little daring and layed down with our heads looking over the cliffs. I made the boys a little nervous because I kept leaning over the edge. But I must say, I love the thrill, and enjoyed laughing at them get nervous. But as you can all tell, I'm okay, and I didn't fall off!

But two hours there I guess was plenty enough for me. It's not that I didn't enjoy the scenery, it's the scenery didn't love me. Yes, I got sunburned. My face is in a lot of pain, I have a burn line on my chest, and a lovely mark from my necklace. I'm also sporting the farmers tan. How appropriate for going back home!

But after that, all of us piled on the bus, and headed for our hotel. It was a short bus ride, and we drove through Limerick a bit to see the sights. Having Tige, and Joe as our guides has been quite amazing. They have such a deep understanding for their culture, and know just about every place in Ireland! I recommend them if you have a large group coming to Ireland! :-)

Our hotel is the Clarion, and it's really nice. I have to say I have been quite impressed with all the places we have stayed at. They have all been so wonderfully nice!

We dropped our stuff off, got a moments rest, and then headed to Bunratty Castle for a medieval dinner! The place was great!

We immediately were greeted with a glass of Mead, and mingled around for a few songs, and then were ushered down to dinner. We had soup which we had to eat with no spoons, spare ribs, chicken, potatoes, vegetables, and for dessert a custard.  Everything was so great, and the performance of them singing was so amazing. Their voices were so beautiful.

Once we were on our way out, Jan grabbed me and showed me a bagpipe player outside that was a perfect shot for my project. I was so happy. I got a few pictures of him, and now I feel that I can hand it quite an impressive photo essay. I just pray it all comes together the way I want it to. While the bagpipe player was playing, Joe showed me how to Irish step dance, and his method was anything but conventional. I would share here, but I won't. If you are interested ask me when I get back!

Nicole, Andy, Aaron, Bethany, David, and I went around to shoot some pictures for a few minutes, and now here I am writing this blog. This experience here has been absolutely amazing every single step of the way. All the media visits, and tours have enriched my idea of Ireland so well. I feel like I finally know where I come from, and am glad I have stories, and experiences to bring back to my grandfather who is from here. 

We had a quick meeting where we all shared our favorite experiences, and it was awesome to see that everyone had something to share. From experiencing Dublin, to the Cliffs of Moher, from Day 1 until this afternoon was covered in our meeting. All of us have been so thankful to be on this trip, and I'm glad I was able to come. It was a lot of work, a lot of early mornings and late nights, a lot of carrying heavy luggage, and spending tons of money in souvenirs, but I can honestly say, I wouldn't have wanted to experience Ireland any other way.

"May the roof above us never fall in." - Irish Blessing

So the trip is winding down now, and as one of our last days here, we had a free day here in Killarney.

I also wanted to add that in my daze of tiredness yesterday, as I read through my blog today, I realized I didn't let anyone know about the most interesting part of my day. The sheepdog demonstration! It was so amazing to see how obedient the dogs were, and how well they listened to commands. Each dog knew different commands that were individually assigned to them. It was fun to see how the sheep herder called the dogs to make the sheep turn left, and turn right. It was also hysterical to see the dogs walk a few steps and stop, and walk a few steps and stop as there master commanded them. It was so interesting.

But back to today...

I woke up early enough for breakfast, and then headed out to take pictures for my project. I walked all around, but I stayed close enough to the hotel so that I was comfortable. I found a few people that were willing to be photographed and they worked perfectly for my web project. So many of you who are reading this might be confused as to what my project is. Let me take a moment to explain.

Everyone here has to do a web project component as part of the graded assignments for the class. We all picked our own projects, and we cover them while here in Ireland. My topic is a photo essay about "the people of Ireland." It seems pretty general, but I narrowed it down to mostly photographing the blue-collar workers of Ireland, and I also photographed a few street performers.

But anyways, I was able to photographer, a butcher, a baker, and a candle stick maker. Ha ha, wait some people might not get that reference. It's from a children's poem. Anyways!

I really did get a butcher, I also photographed a candy shop owner, a horse-drawn carriage driver, and cop giving out a ticket! All in all I'm pretty happy with today's progress, and I'm hoping to get that last few photographs tomorrow while we are on exploring Limerick.

After that I came back to have lunch with Caiti and Jeremy, and we went shopping a little bit. I got a few things for myself, and now I am seriously done purchasing things! I'm running out of money!

Jan, myself, and the rest of the photography students met up at 4:00 p.m. today to discuss the process of putting the photographs online for our website. Afterwards at 4:30 p.m. a speaker from the Kerryman Newspaper, the editor-in-chief, Declan Malone. He was hesitant to talk to us, he seemed to be a quiet man. We managed to open him up by asking questions. 

Frankie asked about his staff, and I thought the most interesting thing about it was how small his staff was. He said there aren't any photographers on staff because they hire all freelance photographers! To me that seems insane, and sad. Also there are only four writers on staff, and two of them cover sports! So that leaves the other two to write the rest of the paper! But mostly he said once again he hires freelance writers. To me it seems like the paper is solely relying on freelance photographers because of how cheap it is. 

I was fascinated by what he had to say, but my hunger quickly took over once his lecture was done. 

I am currently trying to pack my suitcase with all of my gifts from Ireland, and its a daunting task I must say. So everyone wish me luck and hope that I don't have to leave anything behind!

"May your pockets be heavy and your heart be light, May good luck pursue you each morning and night."- Irish Blessing

Words to describe today:

-Wet

-Cold

-Uncomfortable

-Foggy

We started off at 8:30 a.m. and I had to eat my breakfast so quickly because it came out at 8:26 a.m.! Anyways, we hopped on our bus, and an hour and a half later arrived in the town where our hotel is at. But wait, we didn't stop there.

We stopped at the Kerry Bog Museum which was like a tiny little village set up to mimic what old towns would look like. There were houses with blacksmiths, and peasant workers. There were also live horses on the property behind fences. They didn't look too happy, but I can't blame them, the weather was sort of depressing. 

I walked around, and eventually spent more time in the gift shop than I did at the actual museum. I picked up a few more gifts, but I don't know how I'm going to be able to fit them in my suitcase. I hope it all works out. 

We drove, and drove, and drove and drove. We drove forever through Killarney and saw some beautiful sights. Too bad it wasn't great weather, the pictures aren't going to be as good as I would have liked them to be. But a slight drizzle here in Ireland, can get soak you in a matter of 30 seconds. And the fog was so thick out, I could barely see 5-feet in front of me. 

I managed to get a few good shots, a few panoramas, and some pictures of myself in front of the beautiful lakes and valleys. All in all I was sad the weather was nice, but I guess you can't ask for too much of the Irish weather. It's temperamental, and I don't blame it. 

We stopped once more for lunch. I wasn't hungry so I shopped some more, and finally got all my shopping done! Yeah right, I'll probably get some more things to shove into my already full suitcase. 

A few stops, some scenic foggy and grey pictures, and 10-hours later, here we are at our hotel. It's pretty nice, but I'm sad Caiti, Micky, and I got split up again. But we are only here for two nights, so I guess it isn't so bad. 

“The Irish - Be they kings, or poets, or farmers, They're a people of great worth, They keep company with the angels, And bring a bit of heaven here t

I can't believe the gorgeous view I have at our hotel Bella Vista. It was great waking up to it this morning. I was so well rested but that didn't stop me from passing out on the bus. This trip is taking so much out of me, but I don't care I'm having so much fun.

We first visited Red FM radio station and it was absolutely enthralling. A few speakers told us about the radio station. One speaker named Eilish, was fluent in the native Irish language. She was speaker so quickly about different things in Irish and I was sitting there in awe. It was so awesome to hear that radio stations here are required to broadcast advertisements in Irish and in English. 

The whole atmosphere of the station was so relaxed, and all of them were fairly young. And surprisingly only one person there we met had a background in communications. Its been a trend here lately that a lot of people we speak to do not have degrees in communications. Well, they are good at what they are doing, so they are doing something right!

Afterwards we were on our way to the Blarney Castle. It was so amazing. The scenic views around the grounds were absolutely breathtaking. We walked through a part of the castle that lead to the dungan. I hit my head about four or five times because the ceilings were no more than four feet tall. And when we got to the end of the dungan area, there were names painted all over the walls, and it was really creepy. 

Then we started our journey up the steps to the Blarney Castle, and to the Blarney Stone. The stairs were so narrow, and me being a klutz didn't help, so I slipped a lot. But we finally made it up to the top after a little while and again the views were so breath taking. Then it was time to kiss the stone! It was so terrifying because it isn't what I thought it would be.. 

First off, it's not a stone off the top of a cliff like I was told before. Its a stone inside of the wall of the castle, and you have to hang over the edge to kiss it. There were metal bars for you to hold onto, and a man there holding us up. I almost kiss the wrong stone too! But I kissed the Blarney Stone! How many of you can say that??

After that we ventured down and went on a shopping spree. I'm almost done with buying presents for everyone. Having a large family is hard, and buying stuff for Jon and his family was hard too. But I won't complain because I love them all and can't wait to see them when I get back.

That was pretty much it for the day 

"have you ever kissed the Blarney Stone?"-Lolita

Last night was our last night in the city of Dublin. We went out to The Temple Bar, and had a wonderful time. There was a celtic band, and people were irish dancing once again, and I’m still not tired of it. But one of the strangests this happened. I finally traced down my family roots, and found out where my family is from. So this was brand new information to me. We met an irishman named Mike McClan, and he said he could tell peoples heritage just by looking at them.

He said he took one look into my green eyes and could tell I was Irish. I wasn’t took impressed because a lot of people are Irish, but then it got a little weirder. Everyone split up into different conversations and I was still talking to him. He says I can bet your from Northern Ireland. WEIRD! I had just found out the city where my family is from is in Northern Ireland. So if that isn’t creepy enough he says, your Catholic right? I was a little reluctant to answer, until he said he was Catholic too.

What’s up with the Irish knowing peoples heritages just from one look at a persons face?? Anyways, all I have to say is that my last night in Dublin was a lot of fun. 

So we packed on up and moved on out of Dublin. Hopped on a bus with our new tour guide Jon, and headed for Cobh! We stopped in at Wicklow Mountain National Park, and the views of the hills were so beautiful it almost took my breath away. It was so awesome seeing the sights and inside this park was St. Kevin’s Monestary. There was a beautiful cemetary, I mean if you can imagine a cemetary as beautiful. It was so old, and the gravestones were so intricate with the carving in stone it was absolutely amazing.

Our tour guide set us free for almost an hour in this wonderful park, and I took so many pictures. The ruins of St. Kevins, were beautiful, and the views of the hills and mountains were great. I would upload a picture, but something is happening with my camera, and errors keep occuring when I try to upload pictures. I’ll keep trying, so everyone pray I pull through and get my photos up soon!

After Wicklow Mountain National Park, it was back on the bus for a 3-hour ride to our final destination in Cobh. I was asleep the whole ride. I am now running on a total of 6-hours of sleep in that passed two days! But I’m gonna keep going and going and going!

When we arrived in Cobh were were greated by our tour guide for Cobh, Michael Martin. He showed us some sights in Cobh including memorials for the sinking of the Lucitania, and the Titanic. It was so beautiful. And the views in the harbor are amazing. St. Colman’s Cathedral serves as the focal point of the town, and it is an absolutely beautiful gothic midevil themed church.

After our quick tour, we headed back to our new hotel the Bella Vista. Fun fact; Bella Vista used to be a Convent! We just had dinner, and I am growing more tired with every word I type. I think this is all I have for today everyone. Tomorrow should be promising with our trip to the Blarney Castle. I’m still debating on whether or not to kiss the stone. Who votes yes? Who votes no?

"Always remember to forget the troubles that passed away, But never forget the blessings that come each day"-Melissa McCorkle

Well schools out in Dublin, and we were set free! Of course I took some time for well needed rest. I went to bed early, and woke up at 10 a.m. and was ready to start the day. David, Jeremy and I walked down to Grafton Street, and it was booming! There were hundreds upon hundreds of people there, and many different buskers doing their performances, it was great since Jeremy and I are doing similar projects about the people of Ireland.

There was a man there who was stood still and it looked like the wind was blowing in his hair and his tie was blown backwards. He really put hairspray in his hair and wire in his tie to make the illusion, it was great! Another busker was a puppetier, and he had a jester puppet that performed to music. There were a few magicians, bands, and individual musicians that all had great talent. Jeremy interviewed the band “The Riptide Movement,” they were absolutely amazing and he gave us their single “It’s hard to explain.” I suggest people check them out on myspace.com and facebook.com, they are definately worth listening to. Very fun, and very upbeat.

David went off and did some of his own shopping so Jeremy and I did the same. We stopped in this shopped called “Crest & Arms” and found our family histories in great detail. The shop owner was so knowledgable of all the histories of many of the names, and spoke fluent Gaelic, Latin, English, and French. I  was so intrigued by all his knowledge. After that we went back and I raved about this place and convinced Caiti and Ryan to come back with me. Magically David appeared outside and he tagged along.

The man was happy to see I brought him more business, and Caiti, Ryan, and David were so happy to find their family histories. It’s great being here in Ireland and finding out about our roots. It so interesting to know finally where my family is from and to say that I’ve been to my homeland.

But sadly, tomorrow I will be leaving here. But thankfully not back to the States. Not just yet. We will be travelling to Cobh tomorrow. And don’t even think about pronouncing it like “Cob,” it’s actually pronunciation is “Cove.” The ‘b’ used to have two dots over it which made it a ‘v’ sound, but when it was transfered to English that’s how the spelling ended up. Weird eh? Anyways, we will be going through a Titanic walking tour which I’m super happy about! I love the history of the Titanic, every since I was younger. So this experience is extra special for me.

Since it’s our last night in Dublin, that gang’s going out for our last ‘hoorah!’ I better get to packing tonight before we leave, I don’t wanna leave anything behind!

So stay tuned for my adventures in Cobh!

"Even when they have nothing, the Irish emit a kind of happiness, a joy." - Fiona Shaw

Its was an early start today. I mean really early. No, I don’t think you fully understand, we were walking and on our way at 6:30 a.m! I woke up at 5:00 a.m. to wake Ryan up so she could Skype with her mom. It just so happened to be perfect timing since her mom is 8 hours behind us they were able to video chat this morning. After I woke Ryan up I hopped into an extremely cold shower, but it was good because it woke me right up.

We hopped on a train at Connelly Station, and two short hours, and a few rolling green hills later we arrived in Belfast! Now when they say that the Republic of Ireland, and Northern Ireland are two different countries, most people ignore it thinking Ireland is just Ireland. Let me tell you, who ever thinks that couldn’t be any more wrong.

Everyone got on the tour bus thinking nothing much of a tour of just another city in Ireland. But the fact of the matter is that Northern Ireland is still recovering, and suffering the effects of the war going on between the Catholics and the Protestants. Murals were painted on multiple buildings serving as huge displays in memory of the hardships and troubling times Northern Ireland has gone through. Our tour guide Michael pointed out to us the peace wall that is still up that seperates the Catholic and Protestant neighborhoods, and that even schools are seperated by religion. There are very few schools where children are mixed up with Catholic and Protestants.

I wasn’t aware of just how prevalent the issue was, or just how serious the issue still is. It’s crazy to think that prejeduce like that still exists in our world, but I guess something may never change.

We first drove up to the Northern Ireland Assembly Building, and I thought I was going to the White House. The long drive up to it was so beautiful, and we were able to quickly go inside the Grand Hall of it to take pictures. After about a 15-minute visit we were back on the bus.

But as I was in awe of all the murals and chaos of Belfast we drove up to Belfast Castle for a few moments for literally five-minutes of photos, and then hopped back on the bus and headed for the Titanic Shipyards. I was pretty excited, but a little dissapointed that we didn’t get a walking tour of it.  We ate at the White Star Cafe, which was in the Shipyard. Everything was delicious, but I wasn’t exactly graceful. Needless to say I slipped down the steps, but luckily it was only one step, and I caught myself very quickly. All while holding a bowl of soup! Impressive eh?

After that we hopped right back on the bus, and headed for the Belfast Telegraph. We spoke with Gerry Patterson about different aspects of news, but he caught my attention once Helen asked a question about the problems between Catholics and Protestants, and Gerry shared a story with us from his past. He said he had a Protestant girlfriend and while they were driving around she made him duck down in the car so her parents wouldn’t see her with a Catholic. Crazy right?

After meeting with Gerry we hopped back on the bus, then hopped right back off. Are you seeing a trend here? We walked a few blocks and were able to take pictures inside of Saint Patricks Church, and saw a painting of Madonna worth millions of dollars. It’s protected by bullet proof glass!

I took a few pictures, and said a prayer in the church, then we walked to dinner. Everything was great especially my apple crumb pie dessert! YUMMY. We took a group photo, presented Michael with his gift from us, and headed back to the train station. We got on our train and set ourselves up for a two hour journey back to Dublin.

I was really excited to be in Belfast. The town where my grandfather’s family is from is very close to Belfast, and I was so excited to see where my roots have came from. So far so good everyone, 6 out of 6 days have been successful and fun. I have a free day tomorrow, and I’m hoping to use it wisely. Tune in tomorrow same time, same blog.

"In Ireland the inevitable never happens and the unexpected constantly occurs." --Sir John Pentland Mahaffy

It was a great night on the town, we started at O’Shea’s for dinner, and a few songs, and an Irish dance. Andy, Bethany, Nicole, Caiti, Micky, Aaron, Jeremy, David and I went on a hunt for a bar near The Temple Bar called Buskers. They told us they would put on the Pens game so all of us were really excited. We felt that people were giving us wrong directions, but everyone told us to just keep going straight, and we eventually ended up there. David, me, Bethany, Caiti, Nicole and Micky danced the night away and watched the Pens game periodically. So sad they lost L

It was a late start today, and I got some much needed sleep. We all met down in the lobby and hopped on our bus to Dublin City University again to meet with Dr. Flynn. I was covering the lecture today, so it was fun taking pictures of him in action. He spoke to us about the Internet and digital media in Ireland. It was interesting to see how their online newspapers differ from ours. They are much more user friendly in their layout and designs. Most of the online newspapers don’t have multiple links all around so it’s a lot more simplified.

Afterwards we hopped back on the bus and headed for Photocall Inc. to talk with a few photographers. They showed us a few slide shows of their photos from the 1980’s and ‘90s, when divorce and abortion and poverty were big issues in Ireland. They also spoke about how many photographers have to more versitile in todays industry. Many photographers have to do a lot of Public Relations were now a days, and be their own PR representatives. I thought that was interesting because on one of our previous lectures alksjd spoke about how many people in communications such as journalists are switching over to the Public Relations industry.

Afterwards we hopped back on the bus which was our last time with our wonderful bus driver Vlad. WE ARE GOING TO MISS YOU VLAD! Most of the photography and photojournalism students opted to take an additional trip to Mulligan’s pub to speak with a photographer, but I was too tired, and too hungry for it. I wish I would have gone, some of them said it was really fun and that the photographer was really cool.

This day has gone by rather quickly. I blame it on the late start to the day, and the chicken fingers and french fries from Pizza Max. It’s gonna be an early night tonight, and I may not go to kareoke with everyone. I would go out except for the fact I have to wake up at 5:30 a.m! We are catching a train at 6:30 a.m. and going to Belfast. We have a full day in Belfast tomorrow and I may get another stamp on my passport! That’s so exciting.

I’ve been having a great time this week, and the trip is going by so quickly. I don’t wanna miss a thing, so I hope it doesn’t go by too quickly.

"Why are the Irish so pretty? Because a face without freckles is like a night sky without stars"

Before I tell you about my day, I need to tell everyone that I have officially had a true Irish experience at O’Shea’s pub last night. What’s the true Irish experience you ask? An accordion, guitar, and banjo playing traditional Irish music, while you drink Guinness, take dancing lessons from old Irishmen, and sing songs of the old country.

I had the time of my life, and the Irish people were warm and welcoming, and loved that we were visiting Dublin. Last night’s experience was something out of a movie, and I know I will never forget.

So everyone, just in case you were worried about my roommates and I, you can rest assure that we all woke up on time, and were dressed and ready for the day and down in the lobby before our professors!

So after our very accomplished morning, we walked up St. Augustine Street to a local café for breakfast with Irish Times, feature writer, Rosita Boland. We had tried to speak with Rosita previously in the year through a conference call, but you know that international reception. Let’s just say that the phone call dropped multiple times and we decided that meeting with Rosita face-to-face on her home turf was better anyway.

The acoustics of the café were terrible so listening to Rosita was a bit of a challenge. Her Irish accent and soft voice mixed with the sounds of coffee brewing, milk steaming for lattes, and clanging of spoons against the inside of a coffee cup. But once I was able to concentrate on Rosita and drown out the noise of the café, she had some interesting points about journalism.

The best piece of advice she gave us was that the best quality a journalist can possess is curiosity. I’m taking that to heart while I’m here in Ireland, and I may just let my curiosity get the best of me.

So after breakfast with Rosita, we hopped on our bus, greeted Vlad, and headed for the Embassy. After going through security, and having to prove to security I wasn’t hiding anything (I forgot I had keys in my pockets..), we walked into the Embassy. We sat in what I will call a common room, right as we walked in. Karen Mullen, the Director of Public Affairs for the Embassy, welcomed us. She spoke with us briefly about what she does, and about how lucky it is that Ambassador Rooney was there for our visit.

And then, there he was. The man of the hour (well more like 20 minutes), Mr. Ambassador Dan Rooney. He walked in with a grin, and the first thing he said was how much he felt at home because he was surrounded by Pittsburghers! After he spoke with us, Nicole and I presented him with the sweatshirts we designed for class as a gift to him and his wife. We wanted to make sure he knew how much we appreciated him taking time out of his schedule to meet us. After Ambassador Rooney left us, we spoke with Press Officer Jon Murphy, and he spoke with us about his job, and all he things that happen at the Embassy.

Fun fact for this blog, Jon Murphy, has accomplished so many things in his life, and has a prestigious job. So you think he has some years under his belt, in reference to age right? Guess his age, I bet you won’t guess it right.

If you guessed over the age of 25 years old, you are so wrong. He is only 23!

Afterwards we headed to Dublin City University again, and ate lunch on campus. A few of us decided to walk around campus to find a student store to buy some souvenirs. On the way to getting lost we found a pub. Yeah, I didn’t stutter, and actual pub inside DCU, with eight beer taps, and a full shelf of liquor. The part surrounding the bar was similar to a student lounge and many students were eating lunch while reading from their textbooks. Pretty interesting stuff if I do say so myself.             

Once 2:00 p.m. hit we headed down to room 106 to listen to a lecture by Helena Sheehan about drama in television sitcoms and programs. It was interesting hearing about all the history behind it, and that soap operas get their names because their sponsors were originally soap companies. Helena Sheehan has also written books about television dramas and the history of them. What an interesting field of study.

So the plans for tonight are still undecided, but as you all know by now, just look for the first paragraph in tomorrows blog to find out where I eat and what I do tonight.

I’m looking forward to not waking up at 8:00 a.m. tomorrow, but I may get up early and explore Dublin a bit. Who knows? Until tomorrow everyone, where ever you may be, Good Morning, Good Afternoon, Good Evening, and Good Night. 

“We may have bad weather in Ireland, but the sun shines in the hearts of the people and that keeps us all warm.”--Marianne Williamson

So everyone, I hope you have enjoyed reading my blog posts so far because this one is particularly interesting.

Let's just keep it short and simple about this morning. I'm laying in my bed all nice and cozy just about at the end of my REM sleep (I assume), and am woken up by my roommate Caiti telling me to wake up. Caiti, myself, Ryan, and Micky all slept through our alarms and were all finally awake at 7:47 a.m. Oh, did I neglect to mention we had to be in the lobby, dressed in professional attire, by 8:00 a.m? It was a hectic morning to say the least, but we made it down to the lobby to meet everyone by 8:04 a.m. So four girls getting ready in 17 minutes? I don't know about you but I think it's pretty impressive.

After we finally arrived down in the lobby, Rachel (our tour guide), lead us through Dublin on foot to our first destination, the Buswells Hotel. We all walked inside to a place that seemed to be fitting for the movie Titanic. Crystal chandeliers and orchestra music play all included. We sat in the Executive Room and waited for Gerry Davis to arrive. Mr. Davis is the Chief Executive of the Public Relations Institute of Ireland. He gave us a short lecture about public relations in Ireland, and just how new of an industry it really is. Many universities don't have Public Relations as a major of choice, and those that do offer it only accepted the programs a short 3-years ago. I found it very interesting how much of a wealth of information he had about the industry considering how new it is to Ireland.

After his lecture, we meant outside of the hotel in the warm sun and bone chilling wind to walk to our next destination. Four city blocks later we arrived at the advertising agency Ogilvy. First we met with Jo Wood who showed us a montage of the campaigns she worked on since she started at Oglivy in 2004. She spoke about her career, and about what types of things people in the advertising industry need to have. Creativity being a key skill. Soon her co-worker, Claire, joined in on the lecture and spoke to us about her experiences as well. I found the lecture to be particularly interesting. They had a lot of good advice about being in the industry, and Claire works with the web designing and internet aspect of advertising. A field that I have been thinking about and looking in to. Now that I think about it, I should have gotten her information to speak with her about it. Oh darn, I guess I will google it!

After our morning of lectures, we were free to go. Really? Free to go? Walk the streets of Dublin unchaperoned? Don't worry, no funny business here. I went to change out of dress clothes and Jeremy and I walked to the Temple Bar for lunch together. Really interesting fact about Ireland we found out as well. It is illegal to take your leftovers with you after you eat in a pub or restaurant. Why? Because laws state the chef is still responsible for the food after you leave! Insane, so our waitress made a take out box from a lid and saran wrap for us. I hope we don't get caught!

But thats it for my day so far. A few of us are meeting around 7:30p.m. to check out a local pub that offer live music each night, so let us hope we get a good act tonight! Hopefully I can get a little more shopping done here, and maybe finally exchange my American dollars for euros? Who knows what the night has in store for me? Let's all hope its a lot of fun! Until tomorrow everyone...

"St. Patrick's Day is an enchanted time -- a day to begin transforming winter's dreams into summer's magic."

Well everyone, it’s day two in Dublin, the group and I got to see the city, or what I could focus on of the city as the bus zigged-and-zagged quickly down the tiny one way streets of Dublin.

But lets back track a bit to 8:30 a.m. The alarm rang and I sprang up super excited for the day. The theme today was Irish Media. Well that’s what we are here to study, and we got a stimulating lecture about the print media, and broadcast media in Ireland.

We hopped on our Jonathan O’Conner bus, (which constantly reminds me of Terminator, and Jon Conner.. hmm maybe that’s just me. Anyways..) and arrived early to Dublin City University where we met with professor Roderick Flynn. His lecure was full of intersting points about newspapers and broadcast media.  

I can give everyone a few fun facts tha hit me during the lecure. Firstly, and interesting fact here is that all the street signs are in English, and the native Irish language. So what’s they point of that? No, it’s no because America is taking over the world slowly and making everyone speak the language. This was an attempt to breathe life back into the native language that most of the Irish don’ even speak nor study anymore.

Now for facts relevant to communications and Irish media. Every 1 in 4 newspapers bought in Ireland are British newspapers. City papers aren’t in circulation in most cities. What’s that? You ask why? Well, Dublin has a population of about 2-million, and of course has the most popular newspaper. The next largest city is Cork, with a whopping population of 130,000! That is miniscule compared to Dublin! I jus wouldn’t make sense to have smaller papers in circulation, there just isn’t a market for it.

Oh yeah, and another fun fact. Those of you who enjoy your morning coffee and that short, brisk stroll to the end of your driveway to pick up the morning paper, you can just forget about that here in Ireland. Home delivery just doesn’t exist!

The lecture went by very quickly so I’m happy we get to meet with Dr. Flynn again on Thursday. So onto the next bit of the day, where I can say I almost froze to death on a city bus tour.

Yes that’s right, FROZE. Here in Ireland, the summer weather is brisk to say the least. The wind was blowing my hair, and I fell over a few times on the top of the open deck of the bus trying to stand and take pictures. But I can’t complain the sites were great, and the our bus passed by the zoo, the Guiness Factory, and the Irish “White House.”

After a relaxing lunch at the Guiness Pub, and quick round of breakfast grocery shopping, and the tour, we all got dressed up for a live taping of “The Frontline” on RTE ONE. The shows contents covered the decline of the economy and the housing market. I found that a lot of the problems Ireland is facing in the economy are similar to The United States. Our professor Bob O’Gara was all set to be on speaking about the housing market and the economy, but there wasn’t enough time sadly.

My apologies that this blog is so long but this day was jam packed full of fun and exciting things.  I hope everyone was able to read most of it, or atleast skim to the parts you found most interesting. Believe me, if you were in my position, you wouldn’t know where to start or end writing about the things you’ve seen!

I am keeping a tallied list of all the things that I have found interesting, and quirky little side notes that I will post at the end of the trip. So keep a look out! 

"If you're lucky enough to be Irish, then you're lucky enough.."

Well, I survived a 7-hour flight, ate a measly breakfast, and went on two back-to-back tours in Dublin, and I’m still awake!

So after close to six hours of sporadic sleep, and lugging heavy luggage around we made it onto our bus and sped off into the city of Dublin. We arrived in Dublin and before our back-to-back tours began, we were allowed to explore the city awhile. Well, what is one thing most people want to do when they come to the wonderful Emerald Isle? That’s right, drink an authentic Guinness.

I had always wondered why the beer was supposed to taste better here in Ireland. My question was answered when a bartender at Duggan’s Pub explained it was because of all the preservatives that are added to the beer in order to ship it so it says fresh. You learn something new everyday!

My favorite part of the day is easily our trip to the Dublin Castle. The architecture was beautiful, and the locals in Dublin are some of the nicest people I have ever met. Just about everywhere I have been people having been striking up conversations with me as if they have known me for years. The most interesting thing I found out about the architecture was about the Scales of Justice Statue, and how much controversy it had caused. The statue faced inwards onto the cobblestone courtyard, with her back to the Irish people. She wasn’t wearing a blindfold, which meant she wasn’t impartial, nor unbiased.

The Dublin Castle was full of interesting facts, and I was quite excited to see the crest of Mary Robinson, the first woman president of Ireland. I had done my research paper on Mary Robinson as the first woman President of Ireland, in comparision to Barack Obama as the first African-American President of the United States. The tour was so interesting, and I’m happy to say I got a big chunk of shopping done for my family back in the states. And I have to say; I quite like it here so far, even if it has only been one day.

I hope David Kelly is having an awesome birthday, HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAVID! And lastly to all of the mother’s back home, and their children are here in Ireland, I hope you all still had a happy Mother’s Day. Happy Mother’s Day Mommy!

This first day in Dublin has been amazing, and I cannot wait for more in our days to come.  

“Still round the corner there may wait, A new road or a secret gate.”-J.R.R Tolkien

The end of sophomore year is fast approaching. Friends are packing and moving away, and I am no where near ready to move into my apartment. But besides the drama filled finals week, and the headache of packing, a special trip is coming up and it's so close I can almost taste it.

That's right.. only 10 more days until Ireland. 10 days?! 10 days?! What am I gonna do? I have to pack, move, re-pack, and go over a million check lists to make sure I don't leave anything behind for my trip.. Oh jeez.

Eh, who am I kidding? I'm not nervous..yet.

Well, the countown is getting shorter

Its almost exactly one month until I head off to Ireland! I never thought I would be going to a foreign country, let alone one that my family is from. I just got finished making a few designs for a class sweatshirt, and I must say I am pretty proud of it. But if it doesn't get picked it isn't the end of the world, after all I still get to go to Ireland :-)

Well, this was just sort of a test run blog so I hope this works!

1 month until Ireland!!