"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!!