#ipeireland

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Week 0: Ireland before the Program!

Hello, hello! It is Declan McGrath here checking in before my program officially starts at UCD in Dublin this Sunday. I am so incredibly excited to begin this program and meet all of the amazing people that are going to be in this program with me as well as other people from around the world and Ireland.

First, a little bit about myself. I am a first-year mechanical engineering undergraduate. I absolutely love to cook and try new foods, read, play videogames, take pictures on my Polaroid cameras (which I will most likely be sharing with you all throughout the program!), and just all around hang out! Up until this point, I have never actually left the United States so this trip is going to be an entirely new experience for me! From trying all the new and different foods to exploring a different culture to meeting new people it is all going to be brand new. The program I am a part of is the IPE: Big 10 STEM and Irish Studies in Dublin at University College Dublin. This program has me taking Physics 2 lecture and lab as well as a History of Modern Ireland course which both meet requirements for my major.

I actually arrived in Ireland two weeks before my program started and have been exploring Ireland a lot! My family has a lot of Irish roots and so when I got confirmation that I was accepted into the program my family almost immediately began planning a family trip there before the program started. We drove from Michigan across the border to Canada to catch a flight alllll the way to Dublin. We landed in Dublin at around 9 AM (incredibly jetlagged) but began to make the most of our time in Dublin by exploring the various pubs, restaurants, and stores throughout the city while also visiting some amazing national monuments and museums. We walked through the rain to the famous Temple Bar Pub in Dublin where I got some amazing Irish fish and chips! All of the food I have had in Dublin has been amazing actually. There are so many ice cream stores in every city and some even have something called “bubble waffle” which is essentially an extra sweet waffle with bubbles in it and coated in ice cream. And the soft serve ice cream they have here is absolutely amazing, probably better than the US’s (and that’s coming from a guy who used to work at a Dairy Queen!).

After a couple days in the city we took a trip out into the Irish countryside to a small AirBnB in Terryglass. We picked up a rental car and I helped navigate my dad out of the city and into the countryside. It was so weird sitting on the left side of the car and not being the one driving and even weirder to see all the cars driving on the opposite side of the road. That is honestly the biggest thing that I do not think I will ever get used to while abroad, so it is probably a very good thing that I will not be driving at all on this trip. While out in Terryglass my family and I made a trip out to Cashel Rock to see the final resting place of Miler McGrath, an ancestor of mine with way too many great’s in front of grandpa for me to type out. It was very cool to see this amazing fort and also learn some things about my heritage. I could keep going on about all these things I did before the program even starts but I don’t want to spoil Ireland for y’all before the program even starts!

I am really, really excited for the program to start and I have been thinking a lot about all of the things I want to do during this program. So much so that I made a list!

Get to know the people on the trip with me! There are a whole bunch of people that I have never met before that are going on this same journey and I want to take the time and get to know all of them. 

Travel! Travel between European countries is supposed to be really affordable and I want to take full advantage of the free time that this program has to offer by taking weekend trips with other program members.

Get some awesome photos with my Polaroids! I brought a lot of film with me on this trip and somehow managed to burn through almost all of it before the program began :’) so I want to buy some more film and continue to take photos of all the amazing sights Ireland has to offer.

Pass my classes! This trip is not just about having a blast in Europe, it is also an opportunity to learn a lot in subjects that I am genuinely interested in. I have always been interested in physics and (from what little I was able to glean from short museum trips) Irish history is fascinating.

I am slightly nervous about adapting to the fast-paced environment of Dublin. The city is always bustling with activity and it can be a little bit hectic but I am ready and excited to face it head on. Though I am also a little nervous about getting lost in the city. I have a habit of slightly getting sidetracked (especially when there are so many cool stores all around) while walking around but hopefully I can make some friends on the program that can help me get from A to B with as few side quests as possible. 

Thank you all so much for taking the time to read my blog post! I am so excited for this program to begin, travel to new places, and meet new people. Until next time!

~Declan McGrath

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Quarantine, Movies, and Velociraptors?!

Hi everyone! I’m back after another week in Ireland. As I mentioned in my previous blog, I tested positive for COVID last Friday and had to be quarantined for 7 days. That being said, I don’t have too much exciting stuff to talk about this week. The beginning of my week was mostly spent writing an essay about the factors of emigration in Ireland from 1845-1922 which had to be turned in by Wednesday evening. I still had to quarantine on Thursday and Friday so I basically just slept in, relaxed and watched a few movies on Netflix that I’ve wanted to watch forever. Since finishing my 7 days of quarantine on Friday, I’ve caught up on laundry, stocked up on snacks, gone on a fair share of nature walks, and played a bit of pick up basketball. 

The quarantined COVID crew being extremely productive and working on essays over Zoom and not arguing about whether regularly drinking milk is weird or not. (Drinking milk is not weird)

Nature Strolls

After being cooped up in our rooms for several days, everyone that finished quarantining decided to get some fresh air and go on several nature walks. 

The COVID crew fresh out of quarantine

We explored nearly all of the nature trails on campus, frequently stopping to play cards (lots of BS and Egyptian Ratscrew). Luckily, the weather this week has been phenomenal for our mini excursions around campus. 

Some of the beautiful greenery showcased on the trails around UCD’s charming campus

On one of our walks, we discovered an empty pit surrounded by concrete walls and fencing. We honestly have no idea what the pit is used for, but we theorized that it was used to house Velociraptors in the early days of UCD.

Abandoned Velociraptor pit in the middle of the woods on UCD’s campus?!

Shortly after discovering the top secret Velociraptor pit, we were apprehended by the dinosaur authorities and thrown in a jungle prison. Okay not actually, but it would’ve been a lot cooler if that actually did happen.

Picture of me being held captive in the jungle prison that may or may not have just been some bars covering a drainage ditch next to the trail we were walking on.

In addition to our little expeditions on the trails around UCD, we also decided to walk down to the ocean and play more cards one night. The random beach that we found boasted a lovely view of Dublin Bay and was definitely worth the short hike from UCD. While we played cards on the beach, we were able to witness the tide swiftly creep up hundreds of feet before finally stopping a few yards away from where we were playing. 

View of Dublin Bay at high tide from the beach that we found 

Snacks

Being cooped up in my room for so long gave me plenty of time to contemplate what snacks I was going to snag as soon as I finished quarantining. I ended up splurging on two bags of brioche rolls with chocolate chips, a box of Frosted Chocotastic Pop-Tarts, six delicious chocolate chunk cookies, and two bags of bagels (with cream cheese of course) from the Centra on campus.  

Moments before a bagel feeding frenzy

Basketball

Not playing basketball over the course of the past week as well as watching the NBA Finals definitely reignited my desire to get back out on the courts, so that's exactly what I ended up doing today. We played for several hours before finally calling it quits and ordering some Domino’s for dinner. 

Movies

Being quarantined meant that I had tons of free time to watch whatever I wanted. Furthermore, since I’m in Ireland, I have access to some movies on Netflix that aren’t usually available in the US. On Thursday night, I watched Hustle, which is a basketball movie starring Adam Sandler. If you enjoy watching the NBA and Adam Sandler, you’ll definitely enjoy watching this movie. I ended up watching Inglourious Basterds on Friday which I thoroughly enjoyed , but it is a bit gory so it may not be for everyone. I spent Saturday night watching Fight Club which is another top tier movie in my opinion.

Anyways, that's it for this week's blog. Thank you all for reading. Until next time!

Dominick Thornton

Computer Science 

Big 10 STEM and Irish Studies at UCD

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Adventures on The Emerald Isle

Hi everyone! My first week in Ireland has been unreal. I arrived in Dublin around midday on Sunday. Most of Sunday and Monday were spent unpacking and exploring the stunning University College Dublin (UCD) campus. The rest of Sunday and Monday were spent playing pick up basketball at one of the basketball courts on campus. My Modern Irish History class began Tuesday morning followed by an informative field trip to EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum in the afternoon. Wednesday morning and afternoon consisted of 7 hours of physics including a lecture, tutorial, and lab. Wednesday night was occupied by more pick up basketball games. Another physics lecture kicked off my Thursday morning accompanied by another physics lab in the afternoon. Thursday was also karaoke night at the UCD Clubhouse Bar which ended up being where most of the students in my program spent their night. Friday’s classes consisted of another history lecture and a history tutorial. Pick up basketball consumed most of the night once again. On Saturday morning, we set off on a day trip that included a demonstration at Irish Working Sheepdogs and visits to Hollywood, Wicklow, and Glendalough. Saturday night was spent at the Keavan’s Port pub where some friends and I watched the UEFA Champions League Final while enjoying a few drinks. Sunday, the day I’m writing this blog, is more of a chill day. I slept in, did some laundry, and am going to grab some groceries and food later tonight before classes start up again tomorrow. 

Arrival

My flight from Chicago to Dublin luckily only took a little over 6 hours. As we landed, I could see plenty of the picturesque eastern coast of Ireland. The Dublin Airport was also extremely nice minus a slight delay collecting our baggage. From the airport, some friends and I split a taxi to UCD for about 50 euros. During the taxi ride, two things kind of shocked me. Number one, everything was green. Every leaf, every blade of grass, every vine was a vibrant green. It was almost overwhelming at first seeing how green everything was, especially coming from Michigan. The second thing I noticed was how nice the roads were. In Michigan, potholes seem to be more common than road signs at times, but I don’t think I’ve seen a single pothole here yet.

The vibrant Irish landscape as seen from the Irish Hollywood sign

UCD Campus

During my first tour of campus, I noticed that everything was extremely modern and organized while still incorporating an abundance of nature everywhere you go. A great deal  of the buildings seemed to have been built within the past five years or so. The apartments, gym, and other facilities on campus are all extremely nice inside. Beautiful tile and brick walking paths connect all the buildings. There are also two small lakes that a variety of ducks and a few swans call home. The swans look extremely charming at first but we’ve come to find out that they’re not so nice to their fellow birds. We’ve witnessed a few times where a swan has chased one or more of the ducks out of the water for seemingly no reason at all. 

A couple of swans along with some of their babies

As I briefly mentioned earlier, a couple of friends and I found an outdoor basketball court a few minutes away from our apartments the first day that we arrived. We’ve been playing pick up games there almost everyday after class so far. We’ve met a ton of local people and other people that are in our program as well as other summer programs here at UCD.

The food that is provided as a part of our program has been insanely delicious. We had a welcome dinner on Monday at the remarkable UCD University Club restaurant that was mouthwatering. Other than that, almost all of our other meals are provided by Pi Restaurant. In my opinion, all of the meals here have blown the dining hall food at Michigan out of the water so far. 

Steak dinner provided by the UCD University Club restaurant

EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum

Our first trip of the program was to the EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum which was founded by a former CEO of The Coca-Cola Company. The museum was almost completely reliant on technology for all of its exhibits. What once used to be an old storage building close to the port of Dublin housing whiskey and a variety of other things now houses screens and projectors that tell the history of emigration in Ireland. 

A metal sculpture showing the evolution of ships that carried Irish emigrants (Credit: Callen Fields)

Sheepdog Demonstration

The first stop on our Saturday trip was to a farm where they demonstrated how sheepdogs are used to drive sheep. Each dog impressively responds to various whistles that instruct it where to drive the sheep. After the demonstration, we got to meet a couple adorable baby sheep along with the sheepdogs. 

One of the baby sheep that we got to meet

Hollywood

After seeing the sheepdog demonstration, we visited the Irish Hollywood and were able to get a picture with the Irish version of the Hollywood sign. The view from the sign which was shown earlier was insanely scenic.

The Irish Hollywood sign

Wicklow Gap 

Following our Hollywood visit, we stopped at the Wicklow Gap which is one of the highest mountain passes in Ireland. Were able to venture off down a little path on the mountain and take a few pictures in front of a lake farther down in the valley.

The Wicklow Gap

Glendalough

The last stop of our trip was in the small old town of Glendalough which has turned into an extremely popular tourist destination. The town is located in a valley between two jaw-dropping mountains. The town consists of an old cemetery, a round bell tower, and a few lakes among various other attractions.

The cemetery at Glendalough

The upper lake at Glendalough

The lads and I chilling at Glendalough

Bars and Pubs

Thursday night was karaoke night at the UCD Clubhouse Bar which is the only student bar on campus. Karaoke was definitely a hit that night and most of the students in the program ended up showing. Saturday was the night of the Champions League final so after getting back from Glendalough, we went downtown to a pub called Keavan’s Port where we watched the game and downed a few drinks. All of the bars and pubs were packed for the final. 

Final Thoughts

Overall this week has been action-packed and ridiculously fun. I’m hoping the rest of my program is as intriguing as this week has been. Anyways, thank you all for reading. Until next time!

Dominick Thornton

Computer Science 

Big 10 STEM and Irish Studies at UCD.

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Swimming, Ice Cream, and... Getting Sick?

Hi everyone! I’m back after my third week in Ireland. This week has been quite the rollercoaster. Monday was the June Bank Holiday in Ireland so we didn’t have our usual physics lecture that day. Since we didn’t have class, we decided to go out to an Italian restaurant in Dublin Monday night. On Tuesday, we had a full day of classes during which we watched The Wind that Shakes the Barley and learned more about the Irish fight for independence. Wednesday afternoon consisted of a trip to The Forty Foot in Dún Laoghaire where we took a plunge in the ocean and stopped for some famous ice cream and drinks afterwards. The weather on Thursday was beautiful so we ended up playing basketball till it was dark after classes. Friday night I unexpectedly tested positive for COVID so that was basically the end of anything fun for the week.

Food

The Italian restaurant that we went to was called La Caverna and was located in Dublin’s famous Temple Bar. I ended up ordering the carbonara pasta after much deliberation between that and the tortelli. The inside of the restaurant was beautiful and the carbonara was delicious. It was so delicious that by the time I thought to take a picture, my plate was empty. Sorry about that. Anyways, I do have a picture of some ice cream that I bought from the Centra at UCD on Tuesday after class. I ordered one scoop of mint chocolate chip and one scoop of a bubble gum flavor. Both flavors were quite delectable. 

Mint chocolate chip and bubble gum flavored ice cream from the Centra at UCD

Today, I ordered a large New Yorker pizza from Domino’s along with a side of twisted dough balls since I can't go anywhere.​​ The entire pizza and all six dough balls were gone within a matter of minutes once I brought them up to my room. To be fair though, that was my only meal today and I was practically starving so it's not as insane as it sounds. 

The Forty Foot

The Forty Foot is a popular swimming location in Dún Laoghaire that we visited earlier this week. The weather was decent that day, but it was definitely a little chilly because of the wind. Nobody that I’ve talked to actually knows how The Forty Foot got its name. It's basically just a 10 foot rock that people jump off of into the Atlantic. The water was frigid the first time I jumped in. I also got a mouthful of saltwater that I definitely wasn’t expecting because I don’t think I’ve ever swam in the ocean before. Despite the freezing cold water and the mouthful of saltwater, I did jump in a second time just for fun. 

The Forty Foot in Dún Laoghaire (We jumped off of the rocks partially shown on the left side of the bottom picture)

After everyone swam for a bit, we walked down the road to Teddy’s Ice Cream which is home to the famous 99 whipped ice-cream cone. I got a traditional cone covered in crushed Oreos which was insanely delicious. I almost went back for seconds because it was so good but I managed to hold myself back. Compared to the Centra ice cream I mentioned earlier, Teddy’s Ice Cream was on another level of deliciousness. I don’t think too many other ice cream places that I’ve tried even come close to Teddy’s. 

After devouring our ice cream, we walked to The Forty Foot pub which had an amazing view of the city. Our group sat on a balcony outside overlooking the ocean. It was a little chilly outside but the view was definitely worth it. We ordered a couple of pitchers for our group and sipped on them over the course of about an hour or two before we decided to head back to our dorms and sleep. 

The view from the Forty Foot pub in Dún Laoghaire

COVID :(

Friday night, I found out that a few people in my group tested positive for COVID so I also took a test and unfortunately found out that I was also positive. This was somewhat surprising to me because I didn’t really feel sick. The only symptoms that I had were a very slight cough and a runny nose. Our program took a day trip to the Glasnevin Cemetery on Saturday, but I obviously had to sit out for that trip. Since Friday, I’ve basically just been isolating myself inside of my room, doing homework, and having food delivered. It is what it is though I guess.

Thank you all for reading my blog this week. Until next time! 

Dominick Thornton

Computer Science 

Big 10 STEM and Irish Studies at UCD

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World-renowned Writers and Cliffside Cows

Hi everyone! I’m back after another exhilarating week in Ireland. Monday was my 19th birthday so some of my friends surprised me with a chocolate cake from Tesco. The cake was surprisingly good considering it was from a supermarket. The next day we went on a quick little field trip to the National Library of Ireland. Wednesday and Friday were spent at the basketball court after classes as per usual. Saturday consisted of a day trip to the Cliffs of Moher and Galway followed by a long train ride home and some drinks in Dublin. Today we are just going to order pizza, stay in, and play some card games since the buses are running on a weird schedule because of a marathon going on today. 

National Library of Ireland

After our Modern Irish History lecture on Tuesday, we were able to visit the National Library of Ireland. At the museum, we explored two main exhibits featuring two Irishmen that won the Nobel Prize in Literature. The first exhibit that we walked through featured Seamus Heaney. We learned that Seamus Heaney came from a predominantly farming family and was one of the first people in his family to pursue a career in poetry. Before reaching the second exhibit, we were shown an insane Lego replica of the library that took around five years to be completed. 

The Lego replica of the library

The second exhibit featured W. B. Yeats who heavily influenced Seamus Heaney’s works. In this exhibit, we learned quite a few interesting facts about the Yeats family. First of all, we learned that W. B. Yeats proposed to a woman named Maud Gonne a total of five times and was rejected every time. After all of these rejections, he decided to propose to Maud Gonne’s daughter, Isuelt Gonne, who also rejected him. In addition to this, we learned that W. B. Yeats used to create visionary experiences with Tattwa cards. These cards along with a carved piece of lapis lazuli that was gifted to Yeats were some of the items on display at the exhibit. The piece of carved lapis lazuli was the topic of one of Yeats’ more famous poems.

The carved piece of lapis lazuli that was gifted to Yeats for his 17th birthday

The Cliffs of Moher

My Saturday morning began at 6am in order to not be late for the bus. The bus took us from Dublin all the way to Galway on the western coast of Ireland. Our first stop was at the Barack Obama plaza. The plaza was named after Barack Obama after he visited Ireland in 2011. 

Cutout of Barack and Michelle at the Barack Obama plaza

Our next stop after the plaza was at the Cliffs of Moher. The views from the cliffs were surreal. During our visit, we met a pigeon that let us get astonishingly close to it and snap a ton of photos. 

The super cool pigeon we met at the Cliffs of Moher

The pigeon wasn’t the only cool animal we met at the cliffs. As soon as we arrived, we spotted cows roaming the emerald green pastures all around us. When we were walking on one of the trails, we were actually able to get within arms reach of one of the cows.

Cute cow that we met on the trail (it may or may not have peed a little bit while we were there)

On the main trail through the cliffs, there was a historic tower that we were able to climb to the top off. 

View from the tower at the Cliffs of Moher.

After walking around the cliffs for a few hours, I worked up quite an appetite so I decided to stop for a quick snack on the trail.

Me snacking on a stack of rocks at the cliffs (a little too crunchy for my liking to be honest)

After experiencing the cliffs, we ate actual food at McGann’s Pub in Doolin. We were seated outside in a beautiful garden-like area next to a lovely little creek. Most of the people around me ordered the fish and chips meal and we all highly recommend it, but a few other people said the beef stew was also amazing. 

Galway

After eating lunch, we ventured off to Galway on the western coast of Ireland. While we were in Galway we ate dinner at The King’s Head Bistro. Three of my friends and I ordered the Kings Head Blood Red Ale. We all agreed that it was probably the worst tasting drink that we’d ever had. Only one of us was able to finish our ale by the time we left. The fish and chips that I had was extremely good though so it kind of made up for the disgusting ale. 

Couldn’t pass up taking a pic with this random sign in Galway since I still have braces

Saturday Night

Instead of taking the bus back to Dublin, we decided to stay in Galway and take a train back to Dublin a few hours later. We all bought our train tickets the day before so we wouldn’t have to stress about getting them when we got to the train station, but this somehow came back to bite us. As soon as we got in line to board the train we realized the train only had carts A, B, C, and D. However the seats listed on our tickets were in cart E. Cart E was nonexistent. One of the workers on the train basically just said good luck when we asked him what we should do. In the end, most of us had to either stand or sit in the hallway between carts until some actual seats opened up after a few stops. Once we found seats, we played BS and spoons with a deck of cards we had for the rest of the two and a half hour train ride across Ireland. After arriving in Dublin a little after 10pm, we strolled down to the Silver Penny Pub for a few drinks to end off the night.

Hope you all enjoyed reading my blog this week. Until next time! 

Dominick Thornton

Computer Science 

Big 10 STEM and Irish Studies at UCD

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Ireland Week 5

It’s already week five. Time really flies when you are having fun. This blog’s theme will be centered around good eats and financial responsibility. One thing I’d like to get out there, I love eating food. My favorite part of any outing is finding something interesting to eat. In my five weeks here I have tried many different kinds of food. Dublin has a large variety of cuisine from all around the world. However, all food is not created equal nor is it all priced the same. 

Dublin is a city known for its night life, and while you are out and about you will get hungry. If you find yourself in this situation, like I have a few times, the only solution is to get a spice bag. A spice bag is a cheap grab and go snack. The contents vary from location to location, but the key figures of french fries and fried chicken stay the same. The salty spicy fries help give you a second wind while you are strolling through the city at night. 

After waking up from your night out, you may want to find some breakfast. Lucky for you, Dublin has a wide variety of options to choose from. This past weekend I got to try a brunch in the east side of Dublin. One thing I have found out from my stay here, is that Ireland knows how to make a good breakfast. From the soft cooked eggs to the spongy soda bread, breakfast in Ireland is always a treat worth waking up for. 

This is a picture of the brunch in question. It did not come with a bite taken out of it, I was just really hungry.

If you’re like me and like to save as much money as you can, I would fully recommend checking out grocery stores for snacks. I know this advice seems obvious, but while on this program I have mainly shopped in, what I would consider, convenience stores. A proper grocery store has snacks and most often food for like a third of the price. One of my go to’s, as of late, has been this chain called Lidl, where they have baked goods and other sweet treats for pennies. In the interest of saving money on food, I would also recommend not eating from the city centre every day. There's a lot of delicious food there, don’t get me wrong. However, it is a heavy tourist area and everything there is marked up to reflect that. 

Again I was too hungry to take a photo before I took a picture, but these donuts were super cheap and delicious.

I have been here for a month and a half. There is still so much I want to do and see. I want to eat more delicious food and see beautiful places. I’ll let you know what food meets my path next week. Until then see ya!

This is a picture of the best food I have had here so far. It was from an Indian restaurant in Dundrum.

Jackson Smith Mechanical Engineering coming from UCD Dublin, Ireland. 

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Ireland Week 4

By all accounts my busiest week, this fourth installment in my blog’s history is themed around travel. This past weekend, the UCD summer program planned to take us to Belfast, in Northern Ireland. Due to a long history of religious and regional division, Ireland is split between the main island and its northern counterpart. Belfast is a city that has seen this division and the clashes that arose from it. UCD’s mission in taking us to this beautiful city was to teach its story and how it correlates to the overarching tapestry that is Irish history. 

Arriving in Belfast, we were greeted with graffitied walls displaying cries for peace and unity. We were given a tour of the city from a former IRA member who spent close to 20 years in prison. From his perspective I learned the history of the buildings around me and what transpired around them. Headed towards the city center, we were greeted by the imposingly beautiful city hall. The domed ceiling and stained glass interior made it feel like a castle and a monastery had a baby. This impressive feat of artistry set high expectations for the rest of the city. And I am glad to say I was not disappointed. 

The outside of Belfast City Hall.

Me and a few friends decided to stay in Belfast overnight at this Hostel we had found online. To anyone who is thinking of traveling similarly, I recommend doing your due diligence. The hostel we stayed in was on the side of gross leaning towards disgusting. Luckily we didn’t have to stay there long and spent the night walking around the city. 

The following morning, we all went to a magnificent natural feature called the Giant’s Causeway. What makes the Giant’s Causeway a standalone attraction compared to the other shorelines along Ireland, is its hexagonal shaped basalt pillars. Due to tectonic activity a long time ago, lava flowed from the sea floor and cooled into the iconic shapes we see today. If you happen to be in Northern Ireland, I would highly recommend going here. The sea clashing against these alien looking rocks is a truly beautiful sight. 

Me looking cool over the basalt pillars.

The next day, I had the fortunate opportunity to travel even more. A friend and I went to the seaside city of Howth. I know a lot of the places I go to are up against the ocean, don’t blame me this place is an island. The hike along the perimeter of the little city was beautiful. Impressive cliffs that are covered in dense foliage made me feel like I was in the jungle. Howth’s beauty can not be experienced in the short time that I was there. The same can be said about all the places I have visited so far. In writing this blog, I hope to remember more fully the sights I have visited. Moving forward I plan on taking more pictures to commemorate the time spent here. Pictures I hope you all will enjoy in the following weeks. 

Howth's impressive landscapes.

Jackson Smith Mechanical Engineering coming from UCD Dublin, Ireland

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Ireland Week 3

It has been three weeks since I left my comfortable bed and boarded that cramped plane. In this third week here, I have set out to experience the more cultural aspects of my host country. To do this, I thought it best to see what makes this country excited. The first thought that came to mind was sports. In particular hurling. Hurling is the national sport of Ireland, and before Saturday, I knew nothing about it. I went to see Carlow vs Laois. The energy the fans brought was electric. I learned about the game from some very nice older fans of Laois that were sitting in front of me. Apparently, it was a very important game for the team, because if they won they got to move up a division. Needless to say, when Laois won decisively, the whole section I was in erupted. Laois, you have a new fan for life in me.

This was a cool statue outside the hurling stadium.

Besides the sports aspect of the culture, I wanted to experience city life. My main form of transportation so far has been public transportation. The Dublin buses are clean and they have a sick second floor. An odd thing I have noticed is that you have to stick out your hand for the buses to stop for you. In the United States, simply standing by the bus stop is enough. Not here though. A few buses have passed me by due to my ignorance.

This is a picture of the pitch they played the hurling game on.

To experience city life, I thought it best to spend an afternoon like a local. After class, I got on a bus and headed to St. Stephen’s Green. This is a Central Park in the heart of downtown Dublin. Its massive trees and ponds immediately transported me out of the bustling city center. Another thing I have noticed during my stay here, is that people rarely keep their dog on a leash. The number of dogs I saw without any lead while walking around St. Stephen’s Green was shocking. They were very cute though. After walking around the park for a while, I strolled around the city center. The number of people walking around going in and out of shops was a satisfying difference from the stagnant classrooms I was in earlier that day. Ending the evening with some ice cream, I left feeling satisfied. A new goal of mine is to leave with a sense of understanding. That I know what it means to live in Ireland. Each day I hope to get closer to that goal.

This is a picture of St. Stephen's Green. The atmosphere there was so unique and beautiful.

See ya next week,

Jackson Smith Mechanical Engineering coming from UCD Ireland