So many photos!!!

Dublin Castle

GIANT throne

Dublin Castle from the grounds

Knowth

Newgrange

Entrance stone

Blarney Castle

The Grand Hall

You have to be held upside down off of this ( bars underneath to keep you from falling) to kiss the stone

Creepy statue in the fern garden at Blarney

Lake at Blarney

I almost stepped on the ducks by accident, they were not happy

COWS!

More COWS!

The area where the gallery I work at is, there was a festival going on that day

On top of Blarney

Kissing the Blarney stone!

So cool

Gardens at Blarney

Fern Garden

Enjoy the pics!  I will write about the trip tomorrow :)

Really old things….

Sunday the weather was gorgeous! I had hoped it would be and the day before I booked a trip up to Newgrange and Knowth.  They are both ancient tombs built about 5000 years ago, before the pyramids or even Stonehenge.  To be honest I found what they did a lot more impressive than Stonehenge.   There were hundreds of massive rocks that they brought from hundreds of kilometers away using only these tiny boats they think.  The tour took us inside the tombs and I have to say it was freaking creepy. Not only was it an ancient tomb but there are rocks above your head that )in my paranoid mind) look like they could collapse at any minute.  It is a true testament to humans that not only are these structures still standing but not one drop of rain has ever made it inside. 5,000 years of waterproof in Ireland.  The art on the stones is incredible.  People used flint to chip into the large stone these beautiful swirling designs, while a lot of the carvings have faded there are a few that almost look new.  The best example is the entrance rock in front to newgrange. I ended up buying a souvenir rock that was carved to look like that stone, first souvenir of the trip! 

This week I am only working three days and so I have time to do some traveling! I am off to Cork this morning by myself.  Everyone else is working so no one could go with me but I did not want to waste my precious free time.  So I will go eat in the vegetarian restaurant on the Bobby Flay's Ireland show, go to the butter museum and kiss the Blarney stone by myself.  Which is fine : ) 

Won't have my computer but I will post a lot of new pictures when I get back!

xoxo

Alli

It is crazy to think that I have been here for over a week now.  The time has gone by so fast. It is just a glimpse of how fast this whole trip will go by.  I feel like I have seen so much of Dublin but then I look at one of my guide books and realize how much I still have to see.  It is  going to be hard balancing what I want to see in Dublin with all that there is to see outside of Dublin as well

I think I have picked out two day tours to do.  One of them is to Belfast and Giants Causeway.  The other is over on the west coast. I choose these tours because they seem like the cheapest and easiest way to see a lot.   Giants Causeway seems complicated to get to without a car and a train ticket to Northern Ireland is not that cheap.  Plus I want to learn about the Causeway and what formed it and I think that is where guides are so important to have.  The other tour is only thirty five euros and is run by a small family company who takes you to their farm where they have baby sheep! They also take you to Galway and on hikes and to the cliffs.  A round trip ticket to Galway is twenty euros so I feel like this is a really good deal.  Another exciting thing I want to do is ride horses through Wicklow park.  It looks like so much fun!!   I wish I did not have to work saturday because it looks like it is supposed to be gorgeous out and 70! At least it is only 12-4.

Something I am learning about myself here is that I am not a fan of working 9-5 or 10 - 5:30 in my case. I just feel like I miss out on life with this schedule. I am up at 7:30 to get to work at 10 (stupid busses, as unreliable as the weather) and don't get home till 6:30 or 7.  By that time I need to cook dinner and recover from the day.  Then I need to be in bed by 11 so that I can do it all again the next day.  I k now most people have a work schedule like this and they live quite happy lives but I feel like I still have time to find a different path.  I forgot that that was one of the original reasons I go into photography in the first place. I'm not saying I don't like working in a gallery, I do and I am still going to do more visual arts management classes but if I were to own a gallery I would have to approach it from a less traditional way.

 I wrote this yesterday (oops) in the cafe I go to before work each morning when I have a bit of time.  I get a tea for $1.75 and it comes with a little square of chocolate.  It is a nice quiet place to start off my day, which can get hectic at times.  Today I only have to work for two hours in the afternoon to learn about the other gallery I will be working at this weekend. I am eating an early lunch of noodles in a cup then I am going to go out and explore for a bit.  Hopefully I will make it to the museum of modern art today!

xoxo

Alli

Sheep, internships and old paper

I am really bad at this whole blogging thing.  I waited so long between posts that it seems hard to write everything that happened. I guess I should start with my internship.

The place I am interning at is the Origin and Urban Retreat Galleries, two different galleries in Dublin owned by the same women.  They are partnered with the Cill Rialiag artist retreat in county Kerry. I went in on Wednesday for my interview expecting to start on Monday but ended up starting that night at the opening of a new show at the Urban Retreat gallery! I then worked Thursday and Friday all day.  It was cool and I like the work I do but it was really exhausting because I would get up for work at 7 and then after work go out with my friends who didn't start yet and end up not getting home until midnight.  I didnt want to seem antisocial by not going out.  I think things will be a lot easier now though that everyone is working.

On Saturday I was up bright and early and joined a group of friends in exploring the area around Dublin.  We took the train from Dublin down to Bray.  We heard of this fantastic waterfall near Bray that was not to be missed but was a "bit of a walk".  Apparently hear a bit of  a walk is 9 Kilometers, uphill.  But the waterfall really was gorgeous and we made it there in a nice break between the rain so we were able to get some great pictures.  The walk up was gorgeous as well.  This was when I really got to see the rolling green hills of Ireland.  I also got to see a lot of sheep so that made me very happy!

We then hopped on and off the train at different small towns along the cost.  We sometimes only saw the beach and other times explored the city more.  I know there are a few places I really want to go back to and explore some more!

Today I went to Dublin Castle and the Chester Beatty Library.  The library was simply amazing.  There was papyrus scrolls from 150 AD with the gospel written on it.  It was so beautiful.  The fact that these artifacts could survive for nearly 2,000 years is mind blowing. It is hard to describe what I saw there because history that old seems much more like fairy tale than reality.  To see the real paper with words written on it by someone from that log ago makes you feel very small.

I am back to work tomorrow.  There will be four people in the office which seems a bit cramped for the already small two person area so I wonder how it will all work out. Guess I will find out tomorrow!

Exhausted

I know I have been terrible at posting but I have a good reason.  I have been working like crazy while trying to still meet people from my group and not get lost in Dublin.  Today was my first real day off since being here and it was lovely.  I am so tired I can not  do this week justice in a blog so I am posting a few pics for tonight and will write more in the morning! xoxo

Chocolate fountains and brochure hoarding

I MADE IT TO DUBLIN!

And this is what I found in the food court at the Dublin airport. These people really get me.

Needless to say I am enjoying myself here, despite being incredibly sleep deprived.  I am trying to stay awake until the sun sets to help me adjust to the time difference. It is only five hours different but I failed at sleeping on the plane yesterday.  I do not think I have ever tried so hard to sleep on a plane but nothing worked. At least I will sleep well tonight!

One of the best parts of travel is the drive from the airport to the hotel or apartment.  It is the first time that you see the area  you are staying in and gives you a glimpse into what you will see during your trip. I was surprised to see the funny balance of old and new that Dublin has. Right next to a car repair shop is an old house with a thatched roof that looks like it belongs in a different time.  I saw a beautiful old building with important sounding names on the side just to look at the sign below and realize it is a Subway.  We really don't have anything like this in Chicago or Ann Arbor and it always shocks me a bit that such a beautiful building could be used to house a fast food restaurant. 

I have had a great time today and actually did a lot.  My roommates and I took the bus into town and walked around.  On the bus ride over we met a 13 year old girl who was incredibly excited that we were american and showed us around.  We thought she was going to hyperventilate when one of my roommates told her she could keep the American dollar she was showing her. We then later ran into her and her friends who all were able to scream at the exact same time when they got excited.  We then ran into them again.  Is Dublin really that small?  It did seem like we covered a lot of ground with out all that much walking but this just seemed too crazy.  

After taking the bus (double-decker, so fun!) I think my commute will be easier than I originally thought.  I can take the same bus that picks up at the end of my street to a block away from one of the galleries instead of the two transfers I thought I would have to make.  I am also pleasantly surprised with the weather!  It was kind of cool at times but I was fine in jeans and a mid-sleeve shirt.  An interesting thing I noticed is that while girls wear shorts and skirts they all also wear tights underneath.  I may have to pick up another pair or two.  Luckily our little tour guide showed us all the cheap places to shop in town.

Before leaving town we stopped at the tourist center which is in an old re-purposed church.  I must have taken 30 different brochures for different things to do in Ireland.  I think that the real gem is Tayto Park.  An entire amusement park dedicated to the potato. http://www.taytocrisps.ie/park/ This is obviously on my list of things to do.  All of the brochures are laid out on the window sill in the living room so that we can all look through them. As long as I do not run out of money I will not run out of things to do now!

I was able to buy some groceries and supplies and I am all unpacked.  The apartment is really nice and plenty big.  The only issue is that my toilet does not work. Other than that it is very nice here!

Orientation early tomorrow.  Hopefully I will find out when my interview is then. 

One week to go

One week from now I will be boarding my plane to Dublin! This week is going to go by so quickly.  I got about 6 books from the library by Irish authors and about Ireland, I have read one so far and started two more.  I also got two CDs of Irish music.  One of the CDs is an old favorite of mine from when I used to work at ten thousand villages and we would listen to Putomayo all day. The CD is called celtic tides and has beautiful music. Listening to it again has made me really excited to hear traditional music in the pubs in Dublin. I have marked a couple of good pubs in my guidebook that are known for great traditional music. Now all I have to do is pack!