Creative Writing

Still a great class, although we're covering some fairly basic material. On the plus side, my professor says amazing things:

Writing passes the time when the pub is closed.

Revolutionary Traditions

In class, we watched The Wind that Shakes the Barley. Definitely not a happy movie, but very informative. It emphasizes the socialists' involvement in the Irish war for independence, perhaps too much. The only actor I recognized was Cillian Murphy, who was one of the bad guys in the latest Batman movie.

Celtic Myths and Legends

Yesterday, we went on a field trip to the Irish National Museum (yes, this is the third time I've been to this museum to look at the bog bodies) and Dublin Castle. The bog bodies have not changed, although it's always fun to hear a new group of people get grossed out by the very preserved dead bodies. I did notice one new thing in the display: bog butter. Basically, for the past several thousand years (and until relatively recently), the local method of preserving butter was to bury it a bog. It seems to have worked relatively well, although the really old bits of butter are basically stone now.

Dublin Castle

The majority of the pictures I took didn't turn out so well. I think it had something to do with the really weird lighting combinations. These two are okay though. The tour was really interesting although short. A couple of highlights:

1. For the third term in a row, the president of Ireland is a woman named Mary. The current one, Mary McAleese, leaves office in 2011. Basically, this means that anyone under 21 assumes that to be president of Ireland, you have to be female.
   
2. The national symbol of Ireland is the left-facing harp. The fact that it faces left is very important; the Guinness harp faces right.
3. About half the castle had to be rebuilt in 1684, after the Lord Lieutenant's son burned it down in the middle of a party while his parents were away.