Zoo day continued....

So, after the zoo, we went to a nearby pub called Nancy Hands. I was so cold, so I got a coffee and Bailey's (my new fav)and relaxed. Well, an hour at the pub turned into 7, but it was a great time. Alot of people from class were there, or they came at some point. Well, around midnight we decided to leave and check out another place called The Front Lounge. Basically it's a really trendy bar that is considered by some to be a gay bar. I think Isabel and I danced for almost the whole 2 hours we were there. So much fun! I will definitly have to go back there!

Dublin Zoo

Ok, so i'm a bit behind, and I have alot of catching up to do. These pictures were from my class trip to the zoo. Yes, I know it sounds like we are in kindergarten and taking a field trip, but it was actually really neat. The Dublin zoo is wonderful and its exhibits try to play on the idea that you are in the habitat with the animals. Thus, the awesome pics. Obviously the tigers were my favorite. There were two kinds, the Siberian (eating the meat on the ground) and the other one...looks like the auburn mascot. Right after I took a picture of the one looking straight at me, it got up and walked over to the glass where i was squatting, put its HUGE head up to the glass and looked me right in the eyes. It was intense. There was only a few inches of glass separating me from this huge beast. Wow, it was an amazing experience. The other picture is of a red panda, and i didn't take it for AOII nostalgia purposes, but because my professor had never seen one before and they were really cute. The other huge zoo highlight was when we went into the orangatan's house. The mother (maggie) had just given birth and was lying right beside the glass with her newborn cuddled in her arms right where we could see it. It was as though she was showing the baby to us. Rightfully so because these animals only give birth once every seven years! So, it was a sight not many people get to witness.

Another thing about the zoo was that there were these red hearts promoting M&M's for valentines day, but on each of them was unique information about the animal in specified enclosure. Now, I know I was with all my feminist friends, but even a non-feminist would notice the extreme hetronomative and sexist comments written on these hearts. For example, the one by the lions cage said something to the effect of: the woman lion hunts the food and bring it back to the male lion, then she watches as the male lions eats (a true fact, ok) then it said, Who eats first in your family? hmmm. The one by the lemurs cage talked about the mating rituals of the lemurs and likened it a woman all dolled up in a tight shirt and mini-skirt while the male revs his engine and whistles at her....ummm, what??? So, basically the zoo was awesome, but I think our heads were wrecked by the end of the day.

Portadown Rotary Club

So, after my trip to Derry, I took a bus to Belfast, then a train to the town of Portadown. I went to dinner with this club back in September at the District Conference. They were the ones that had the 4 hour dinner followed by poems and stories for another hour. Needless to say, they are great fun. The President, Vice-Pres, and the Treasurer of the club are women, so unlike the Carlow Club, I felt much more at home. What was also different about this club, since it is in the North, was they toasted to the Queen at the beginning of the meal. Obviously not something that is done in the Republic, but still very interesting. The visit went great, then Angela, the President took me around the town and told me a bit about it's history. I then got on the train back to Dublin and completed my weekend journey. It was quite a trip, and I was exhausted, but what a great adventure.

More Castlerock

So, our journey continues on the second cliff where we came across an enormous mosoleum which was right on the edge of the cliff. Unfortunately it was locked, so we walked up to the ruins of a 17th century Bishops manor, which really looked much more like a castle. There were sheep grazing within the houses gates, and it was very creepy walking through this shell of a house. We had our lunch on the front steps. Although it was just a ruin, you could really visualize a scene from 250 years ago when the area was in it's prime. It would have been right out of a Jane Austin novel. So neat. We then walked down into the gardens surrounding the estate, then back into town. We went to a local B&B and I had a wonderful cafe mocha and a cinnamon roll which hit the spot after hiking for 3 hours. We got the train back to Derry and just relaxed for the rest of the night.

Castlerock

Last sunday (i know i'm still behind) jenn, brent, and I traveled to Castlerock which is a small beach town on the North coast. We went there somewhat by default because there were no trains to the Giants Causeway on sunday. But, this place was well worth the visit. We wandered through the town a bit, then started walking along this path (shown in the picture) that led us onto a cliff overlooking the coast. It was a crappy day, but once we got on top of the cliff, the sun came out and it was just gorgeous. When we got to the top, we looked over, and there was the ruins of an enormous house and several other structures. So, we found a path between the two cliffs, which led us up the next one. All of these pictures are the view from the cliffs, i'll post the house ones next....

Londonderry / Derry

I forgot to mention that the city has two names. The loyalist call the city Londonderry, while pretty much all the rest call it Derry. Londonderry is what is written on all the road signs leading into the city, but most of them are spraypainted out. It is proper when speaking of the city, especially when you are talking to a mixed crowd to say Londonderry/Derry. I'm gonna just call it Derry here.

These pictures really sum up the feelings in the town. One is a picture of what is termed the "peace wall." It is the barrier between a small protestant neighborhood, and the surrounding Catholic bogs. The term peace wall is quite decieving though because it is subsequently gotten higher in recent years because of people throwing rocks, paint bombs, and petro (gas) bombs over the fence. In fact, while we were walking by this wall, a group of young boys (like 13-15) obviously Catholic, were chunking large stones over the fence and hitting the protestant houses on the other side. They were also yelling some pretty derogatory phrases while doing so. It was the only time while i was in the city that i didn't feel particularly safe because we had to walk between them and the wall while this was going on. What is so unusal about that situation is that these boys are so young, they would not have even been alive during the troubles, most of which happened in the 60's and 70's. So, there are some very deep seating feelings that these kids feel they are being passed down by parents or friends. There is just so much hate here.

The other picture here is the monument at the scene of Bloody Sunday. Most people might find this phrase familiar from Bono's lyrics, but it was a very violent scene in the early 70's where around 13 catholics were killed while protesting. None of them had weapons, but they were fired on in the streets. Around this part of the Catholic neighborhood there are now very large murals depicting scences from that day. The city has such heated past, and truly has not yet completely overcome their troubles.

Unrest

Each side's views, the catholics and protestant, are evident throughout the town. The picture showing the "Free Derry" wall is at the entrance to the all Catholic area of town, outside the walls, called the bogs. This was the site of considerable unrest over the past few decades, but i'll talk about that in a minute. By this sign, they mean they are free of British/Protestant rule. The other sign is loyalist propoganda. Their motto for the past hundred years or more has been "no surrender." They feel they have an equal right to live in the area, just as the Catholics do. Obviously both sides are passionate about their views, thus there has been considerable conflict.

Walled City

Derry is unique in several ways, one of which is because it is the oldest walled city in Europe. It was also the scene of a famous seige, when James II, after losing the English Civil War, came to Ireland to rouse support. The people of Derry kept James and his army out by closing the gates, thus beginning the seige of Derry. Ultimately 30,000 people inside the walls died from lack of resources. The city has since been a place of constant controvery surrounding religion with opposing catholic and protestant forces. This picture is just off the wall, you can walk along it, the top is very wide.

Northern Ireland: Derry

This weekend, I got out of the city of Dublin and visited another Rotary Scholar, Jen, and her finance, Brent. She is Canadian, he's from Vermont, and they met doing peace keeping work in Uganda, Africa. Cool people to say the least. Anyways, the bus ride was around 4 hours, but it was a nice ride through the countryside. Derry is the second biggest city in Northern Ireland next to Belfast. It was also the scene of many hard times during what is termed "the troubles" which is the past thirty years of clashing between the Catholics and Protestants. Things are now calm, but there is still some unrest, as I will explain later. I have so many pictures from this weekend, so i'm going to make a post for a couple of pictures at a time, so i can explain them fully. This first one is the town crest of Derry. Notice the skeleton with his head of his knee, yeah no one really knows why that is there...it's just plain funny. The other is a picture i took of a a border collie that was sitting on that grassy nole overlooking the Catholic area of the city. Unfortunately, the dog layed down right when i took the photo, but i think it's still cool. Ok, more pictures soon....

Trip to Carlow

This post is a bit late because I visited the Rotary Club of Carlow this past monday. It's been a busy week...Anyway, my trip was great. The President of the club picked me up at the train station and we went to the hotel where they hold their meetings. The club is composed of only men, which was interesting. They kept asking me why there were dry counties in Alabama, they really didn't understand that concept, but then again, I dont really either...
After the meeting I went with two of the members to the county's "tourist attraction" called the Dolmen. Basically it's a very large monolithic burial place. It's amazing to imagine that these people put a 1,500 ton piece of stone on top of about 4 others. It's so much larger than the stones used in Stonehenge, and it pre-dates it. Well, on another note, i'm leaving in the morning for Derry which is in Northern Ireland. I'll be there for 2 days, then i'm going to Portadown to speak to their Rotary Club. I'll be back on Monday and will update then. Have a good weekend!

The 12 Hour London Lsat Experience

Well, it has taken me a few days to recover from my worldwind adventure to London on saturday. The picture of the house-like building was my test location, the Iron Mongers Hall. I arrived a few hours early, and to my delight, the Museum of London was right next door. Outside of the museum was a huge stone monument to John Wesley which depicted what looked like a page out of his journal. I haven't quite figured out the connection with him and the musuem and the Iron Mongers, but i'm in the process. The museum itself was very interesting. I put on here pictures to show the wide range of displays. From Queen Victoria's robe to the gay scene in london, it was entertaining. It also kept me warm for a few hours before the test,which went fine by the way. All i can do now is wait... After the test, i met up with a family friend (although just barly because Picadilly Circus is so incredibly crowded). We had a quick sushi dinner because I had to get back to the station to make my train to Stanstead. Hopefully I will be able to go back and spend more time there. I met a girl from Cali on the train and she ended up being on my flight to Dublin. So even thought i was exhausted and pretty much brain dead, at least i had some company. Enjoy the pics!

Spring has arrived!

Today was the most glorious day i've seen here since early October. What a wonderful was to begin the new month. It was 50 degrees and it was like heaven. I didn't even have to wear gloves or a hat, it was simply marvelous. And the good day kept on going...I found out that my sister might be coming over here at the end of May, and I am talking to my professor tomorrow about whether or not i can finish my dissertaion in the states, which means I would be coming home as planned on June 12th. That means that I can go to camp (i know that sounds dumb, but anyone who knows my love for sumatanga, you understand). I was talking to andrew about camp and he had heard of summer camps in american and had always wanted to go. I started telling him about it and he got so excited. So this weekend, he is asking his parents if he can come to b'ham for about 2 weeks this summer on holiday to see the city, then to be a camp counselor for a week! I really hope everything works out beause that would be really cool. Oh, and i think i already posted this picture of a garden at Trinity, but it fit so nicely into the whole idea of spring, that's i'm posting it again, enjoy!