Newgrange and Trim Castle

Newgrange

Trim Castle

On Saturday, I went on a day trip to Newgrange and Trim Castle (in County Meath, about an hour away from Dublin) with a bunch of other study-abroad students. Newgrange is a Neolithic monument/passage tomb that predates Stonehenge, and Trim Castle is a medieval castle that might be recognizable to anyone who has seen Braveheart (large portions of the movie were filmed there).

The trip was a lot of fun, even though I had to wake up early and was functioning on very little sleep. The day began at Newgrange, where we walked around the visitors' center before taking a bus to the monument. I managed to make friends with the driver on the way, although he knows me as "Powell" (I guess it's a little more Irish).

We then got a tour of the tomb, which is completely dark for 360 days of the year but is aligned with the rising sun on the year's five longest days (Dec. 19th-23rd). Every year, thousands of people enter a lottery for the chance to experience the winter solstice at Newgrange. Unfortunately, we had to settle for a simulation.

After lunch, it was on to Trim Castle - which no longer has any floors (other than the ground floor, of course) but can be explored only by stairs and bridges. Surprisingly enough, Mel Gibson was not there. After touring the castle, we returned to Dublin with plenty of time left to enjoy a night out on the town.

I will be traveling to Edinburgh this weekend (leaving on Friday morning and returning on Sunday morning), so I'm sure I will have plenty more to talk about soon. I also will try to upload a few more pictures to the blog in the next few days.

First Month in Dublin

Hi everyone!

I've been meaning to start a blog about my experience in Dublin, but I've been so caught up in that experience so far that I keep forgetting to write! So here goes...

I have been in Dublin for about a month now. It took a little while to get acclimated, but I am settled in now and everything is going well. My roommates are great, and we are living in a nice (enough) apartment located in the "city centre." Grafton Street - one of Dublin's main shopping streets - is a short walk away, and our apartment is surrounded by tons of shops/pubs/etc., which makes it easy to have fun exploring the city and difficult to remember to go to class! (Just kidding...)

Speaking of classes: they are going well so far, but the format is very different from what I'm used to. Large lecture-style classes are the norm here, although some classes have smaller "seminars" or "tutorials" each week. Also, final exams are weighted very heavily (100% in one of my classes).

I'll worry about that when the time comes, though! For now, I'm just enjoying the experience - doing new things, meeting new friends, and drinking Guinness (but not too much, of course). I visited London two weekends ago with my roommates and had a lot of fun doing touristy things (Changing of the Guard, Greenwich, etc.), and I'm going to Edinburgh in two weeks.

Sorry this post is so short, but it would be impossible for me to recap everything I've done in the past month (and I'm not sure anyone would want to read all of it)! In the future, I'll try to update this blog a little more frequently.

Slainte (Cheers),
Paolo