Dublin 2009

Monday

Smiling faces surrounded me on the day of departure. I nervously made my steps on the bus, unable to point out my expectations for the trip to Dublin. However, one thing was certain; I was more excited than a kid going to the candy store…

It was a long bus ride to Torp Airport. Our bags were measured, and very few of us had to pay the expenses of overweight. I had a baguette with the other guys and went to the gate. At the airplane I was very sleepy, and I slept most of the time during the flight to Dublin.

Arriving Dublin, I was astonished of the fact that the temperature was warm compared to the cold weather in Norway. Our bus arrived a tad late, but we kept the spirit high.

The rest of the day we rambled up and down the streets of Dublin, looking for a nice place to eat. We ended up in McDonalds, where I not unexpectedly ate a burger with fries. Later, we went into different stores on the way back to the hotel.

Tuesday

Waken by the boisterous sound of my mobile alarm clock; I rush out of bed on this sunny Tuesday. My roommate and I arrive in the lobby at 10:00 O’clock. I find myself in a position of exhaustiveness and tiredness. Luckily, I was not the only one feeling messy this morning.

We went out on the streets to find us a nice place to eat breakfast. After a ten minutes walk we ended up on a bagel café driven by Asians. They offered coffee, juice, croissants and all kinds of bagels. I had the New York Bagel and a glass of orange juice. In amazement I found that there were newspapers all over the café. The paper was named Herald Am. There were especially articles within politics and sports that caught my interest. I later discovered that these papers were delivered without charge.

After breakfast we went to Trinity University, which was located very close to the Hotel. We took the “hop on- hop off-bus” that covered the central area of Dublin city. The double-decker bus dropped off passengers at several interesting attractions. I was amazed by the beauty of the parks in the outer area of the city. We also drove past the Guinness Storehouse, which often is said to be the number one Irish tourist attraction. In lack of time, we never got the opportunity to visit the factory.

Our stop was the prison used in many famous Irish films, such as In the name of my father. It was a prison called Kilmanhaim Gaoul. The visit was guided by an Irishman, who was very vise. I learned a lot of history during the tour. An interesting point he made was that people rather wanted to stay in prison during the potato famine. In the prisons they had shelf, and they were provided with food. The problem was the cold. The fact that there were no doors in the prison, made it difficult for the people to survive. Ultimately, many people froze to death, and there were a lot of diseases harming the prisoners. However, people were more likely to survive in the prisons, rather than on the streets.

On the evening we went to a restaurant with Ingse. I had a hamburger and a beer. After a cozy evening we went straight back to our hotel rooms and got in bed early.

Wednesday

The next morning I was late for the bus that was travelling to Belfast in Northern Ireland. Six minutes late, I got my pen and paper ready for the excursion. We had a pit stop at a shopping center in Belfast, at which we could grab a snack before continuing the trip.

Arriving at the graveyard in Belfast, we came in contact with our guide, who was a formal IRA activist. The guide was 40 years of age, he had three kids, and all of them were raised in Belfast. He seemed like a normal person with a normal life. During the tour, I understood that he had experienced a lot of trouble and hate. He was one of the warriors in the history of Irish independence. The man had a lot of knowledge about the persons who starved to death during the struggle against the British Prime minister, Margaret Thatcher. I learned that the guide was a former bomb maker, and he had contributed in several of the major bombings in Britain. He admitted that in the making of the bombs, he knew several innocent people would be harmed. However, he claimed that the bombs were necessary to frighten the British.

From the graveyard we went straight to the Irish Parliament in Stormont. We were brought inside the building, and a strict lady showed us around. First, she skimmed through the history of the parliament and it’s important to the Irish independence. Afterwards, we went to the larger rooms of the building. The tour was very informative, and many aspects of Irish politics were covered. I felt that the presentation gave me a better overview and greater understanding of how the Parliament is run.

On the way home to Dublin, we were troubled with some of the people in Belfast. They were hitting the horn of their cars and waving the middle finger at our bus. We were later explained that it was because of the registration plate on the bus, which was of Irish origin.

Thursday

The weather outside was cold and windy. As I was preparing a bag for the Viking Center, of which we would attend at ten, I heard the sound of an alarm. The sound was very loud, and my roommate suggested that since we had arrived a tad late the day before, that the teacher had warned us with this sound. I looked at the clock again, it was ten to ten.

Surprisingly, we arrived in the lobby on time. After a count, we walked straight to the Viking Center that was located in a Cathedral close to the hotel. We were handed a paper with different tasks.

After, some of us went to Subway for lunch. I did not enjoy the food there, I thought it tasted crappy. However, I needed to save some money for the Greyhound Race.

At six O’clock we met in the lobby. From the hotel we walked to the DART, which is an electric train service in Dublin. The experience was not far from the tube in London, except it was over ground level.

After a short walk from the station we finally walked into the stadium. There were people offering information about the rules, and how the bidding worked. With the odds of 1:20 I lost some money, hopelessly frustrated of the tardiness of the red dog. However, the Greyhound race was a whole new and exciting experience and I therefore thought that the money was well spent.

Friday, epilogue

On the last day, I stayed in the hotel room in benefit of collecting my thoughts and finishing my keywords for the diary. I was happy for being able to participate in something that turned out as a pleasant trip. I felt that all students were included, and both classes got to know each other better. In brief, I learned a lot about the history between Ireland and Northern Ireland, I got the essence of what it is like to live in the modern society of Dublin. Ultimately, it was the whole experience that made me smile on the flight home to Torp Airport.

Thank you all,

Julian