A few days

Orientation

Orientation was, well, orientation. The same everywhere you go, I think. We chose classes, heard about safety, etc. They had two of the garda (the police force) in to speak to us about safety concerns. Apparently the burglars here have taken to inserting fishing poles into mail slots and using them to snag keys off tables near doors (our flat has two sets of locked doors, so this isn't a worry for us).

Glendalough

On Thursday afternoon we went to see Glendalough. They divided the group in two and sent the first half to lunch and the second to take a walk around. I went in the second group. It was windy and cold, but not raining. I put up a bunch of pictures on flickr, but I have even more if anyone wants to see them. My group got back to the building and it started pouring rain just before the other group started left for the tour.

Despite Glendalough's historical importance, there has been no excavations or digs or anything. That's because it's still an operating graveyard. I saw one headstone from 2003. Until the graveyard is full and officially closed, no real research can be done. The local families consider those burial rights very valuable so only one person from each generation is buried there from each family, and the docents said that it could take another 300 years for the graveyard to fill.

Classes

1. Reporting Northern Ireland
2. Irish Art: Neolithic to New Age
3. Creative Intro to Irish Fiction
4. Revolutionary Traditions
5. Celtic Myth and Legend

There's a sixth class that I really want to audit: An Introduction to the Northern Irish Troubles. I'll probably sit in on it, assuming the professor lets me.

Tour of Dublin

Yesterday, our RAs took us on an open-topped bus tour of Dublin. I have lots of photos, but I haven't taken them off my camera yet. Soon, I swear.