School, Societies, and the Internet (Oh My!)

So I was waiting until today to blog because it is only now that I have had all of my classes.  My classes changed around a bit from what I was originally planning, partly because of new classes and partly because I found out I didn't need to take six courses.  The classes I am now taking are:
Viking Age Archaeology in Scandinavia and the North Atlantic
Prehistoric Societies in Ireland
Introduction to Irish History for Visiting Students
Religion and Magic in Reformation Europe: Witches, Demons, Jews, and Heretics
Aspects of Irish Folklore

My Schedule

They're all pretty great so far, although I've only had a few hours of each.  The thing that is weird here is the schedules.  You know how classes tend to be at the same time on the different days they're offered or in the same place?  That's not always the case here.  The weirdest class I have has got to be Prehistoric Societies in Ireland where I have two hours of class on Wednesdays, but one hour is from 10-11 and the other is from 4-5.

Religion and Magic I think is going to be perhaps the most awesome class I've ever taken.  The professor is really nice, knowledgeable, and engaging and I always love learning about witches.  Plus two quotes from class today:
(when describing the 1960s) "Free love and bishops had power."
"A concubine is not a porcupine."

Today was also Societies' Day which meant that every society (what we would more likely call a club) had a table set up trying to get people to sign up.  Even though it was incredibly packed, my friend Kayla and I managed to find our way through and sign up for quite a few societies.  I signed up for the Historical Society, Archaeological Society, Photography Society, International Students Society, Sci-Fi Society, and the Hot Beverage Appreciation Society.

Yesterday there was also a Clubs' Day, but I am not an athletic person so I kinda grabbed the basic booklet and left.

My flatmates and I are discovering that the internet gets really bad at night, and skype is almost impossible to get working correctly.  This thus involves us getting very frustrated with our first world problems, but at least we're figuring out a strategy to try and get our interneting done in the morning.  So I'll just finish this post before the internet crashes again :)

A Crowded Market and a Closed Jail

Friday night was Culture Night in Cork.  There were a lot of cool things all around the city, a lot to do with film as that appeared to be the theme this year.  I wasn't really in the mood for a movie though, but there was still very cool stuff.

The English Market

Me and my friends went to a pub to check out some traditional music (one of the coolest things about pubs honestly).  After that we headed to the English Market to see what was there.  It was insanely crowded, but we got a free sample of some tasty, warm, cake or pudding type thing.  It was kinda cool to see the place that busy at night, but soon we grew tired of the crowds and headed to where I really wanted to go: the old jail.

The Old Jail

The old jail is a tourist attraction already, but Friday night it was open until 11.  We got to go on what I believe was the last tour (even though we were apparently supposed to book it before...oops).  The old jail was pretty creepy, but really cool.  The wings were originally divided into men's and women's, but since only the men's side of the jail was open for viewing they told us stories of both male and female prisoners.

Our poor tour guide had been doing tours all day so she had a little trouble projecting her voice so I didn't catch everything that was said, but here is what I remember.  The jail was open for only about 100 years (1824-1923).  There was a nine year old inmate as that was the age you could be tried as an adult.  I believe he was sentenced to two months in the jail and to be whipped twice everyday.  Apparently the idea was that if a child had a really bad experience in the jail that he would remember it and thus not commit more crimes.  For the nine year old it seemed to work because he did not come back to the jail.  Two notorious repeat offenders were mentioned.  One was a man who kept getting arrested for drunk and disorderly (one time he got re-arrested the same night he was released).  The other was a woman who got in trouble for drunk and disorderly as well as abandoning her children.  Her children had to go to an orphanage each time she was in jail.  Jail records show that her children ended up becoming offenders themselves.

While the conditions in the jail seemed severe, it was sadly true that many people preferred to be in jail because they got food, shelter, and a bed.  Two of the cells had original graffiti in them, which was cool to see but also kind of strange as most of the jail that we were seeing had been remodeled.

A Guard and the Jail's Doctor

We also learned about the staff at the jail.  The doctor (one for the whole jail) was often not given enough money for supplies so he had to buy them himself.  The guards were required to live in the jail with their families.  They were never supposed to leave (at least that's what I heard).  Children were given the choice to leave at age 16, but they often stayed.

BAH!

Throughout the jail there were a ton of creepy mannequins, which I did not appreciate.

My Zoom is so Cool

As we left the jail, the moon took on the mood of the evening.

Galway Trip: Dun Aonghasa

I've discovered through taking this course that prehistory is actually really fascinating to study.  Our final stop on Inishmore (before going to dinner at the American Bar mentioned in the previous post) was Dun Aonghasa, a hill fort.  It was most likely constructed in the Late Bronze Age.

Me at Dun Aonghasa

It was during the Late Bronze Age that we see an emergence of chiefdoms in Ireland.  Dun Aonghasa was likely the focal site of one of these wealthy chiefdoms.  Everything about Dun Aonghasa is defensive.  First off, it is built on a terrifying cliff that prevents any attacks from the sea.  While we were exploring the site, our professor kept getting worried that we would fall off the cliff.  Although he was the one who got the closest.

The View from the Outermost Enclosure

The Innermost Enclosure from the Middle Enclosure

There are a total of three enclosures. The first had the chevaux de frise, the second was likely a place where members of the chiefdom could seek refuge during times of war, and the inner most enclosure was for the elite.  The inner most enclosure also has a platform that was possibly for marriages, inaugurations, and/or human sacrifices.

The Chevaux de Frise

One of the most defensive aspects is the chevaux de frise.  These are a group of sharp stones placed up at many angles so that it would be incredibly difficult and dangerous to get through, especially in any rush.  Thus, we wondered, if anyone actually attacked the site as we had difficulty just getting up and down without falling on our faces.

Galway Trip: Inishmore

Once we arrived on Inishmore we went on a bus tour.  For the first time we had to split up into two groups as we had to leave our normal bus, and our regular and lovely bus driver Joe, back on the main Island of Ireland.  Oddly enough two people were on our tour who were not members of our group.  Perhaps this is why our professor had to sit on a little stool on our bus as opposed to having an actual seat.

Some of the Walls on Inishmore

There were a lot of stone walls all over the island.  We were told by our guide that there are actually about 10,000 miles of stone walls on the island and while it may look like they separate different people's land, they often don't.  A lot of the people on the island grow their own food.  Inishmore has a population of about 800.  There are two primary schools, one secondary school, and a college.  There is only one police officer (as our guide said, if you did something everyone would already know), one doctor, one nurse, and one priest.

There are several cashels on the island, that and Dun Aonghasa (which will be my next post) indicate that it was a very strategically important site in prehistoric times.

Two Seals (or Selkies?)

A Cottage with a Thatched Roof

Whenever we saw the shores of Inishmore or any of the thatched houses it made me really want to see The Secret of Roan Inish again.  Especially when we stopped to see the seal colony.  There are apparently normally 25 seals, but we only saw two.  I highly recommend the movie by the way and I might have found it on youtube.

The American Bar

Our final stop on the island was The American Bar for dinner at 3:30pm.  No I'm not kidding.  But it gave us a chance to make a quick run to buy all manner of woolen goods before hopping on the 5:00pm ferry before our four hour bus ride back to Cork.

Galway Trip: Ferry to Aran Islands

If you can believe it, I'm only now moving on to the second day of our trip.  Thanks for reading all of this by the way, I know my posts can be long.

A Few of the Ferries

Seal!

So the next day we had breakfast and then took a ferry to the largest of the Aran Islands, Inishmore.  While waiting for our professor to get the tickets sorted out, we got to see a seal.  I was super excited to see it because I had never seen one outside of a zoo before.

The View as We Left Ireland

The View as We Approached Inishmore

I decided to sit on top of the ferry for the view (which was great), but it was one of those "You Know You're From Chicago When," moments.  You see some people claimed that it was cold and went back below the ferry, but I was quit comfortable and enjoyed the rocking of the boat as well as the view of Ireland and Inishmore.

Galway Trip: Actually Galway

Finally we arrived in Galway and checked into our hostel.  I liked this one better than the one in Dublin because the bed was comfier and the streets were quieter.  The art on the walls also greatly amused me.

Our Hostel Room Complete with my Google Backpack

Part of the Mural in the Lounge Area

This post is now just going to be photos I took in Galway during our chance to wander around before our lateish dinner.

Walking Around the Galway Shops

Galway Bay

The River

Galway Trip: Corcomroe Abbey

Our final official stop on Tuesday was Corcomroe Abbey.  It was a Cistercian Abbey that was founded in the 12th century, again during the reform of the Catholic church, by Domhnall Mor Ua Briain.

Corcomroe Abbey

Abbeys in the 12th century followed a certain layout so it was pretty cool to see what we had learned in class at an actual site.  Unfortunately for this site, it started out with a lot more money than it ended up with, meaning that the earlier built parts of it were beautiful and the parts built later were not as beautiful.

Me at Corcomroe Abbey

This site is also known as Sancta Maria de Petra Fertilis, meaning 'Our Lady of the Fertile Rock.'  They had a bit of a focus on agriculture.  However, it would have been the lay brothers as opposed to the other monks who would do all of the agricultural work.

The Graveyard with the Abbot's House in the Background

At the abbey there was a house that was probably for the abbot after he had a desire for more privacy.  This made me wonder if the abbots were slipping back into pre-reform habits of getting married...

Galway Trip: Poulnabrone Portal Tomb

Me at Poulnabrone Portal Tomb

After lunch, our crazy busy day continued with a very quick trip to the Poulnabrone portal tomb.  I have now been to a portal, passage, and wedge tomb.  I gotta find a court tomb somewhere...

Poulnabrone Portal Tomb

Anyways, Poulnabrone had the remains of 22 individuals inside of it buried over the course of a few centuries.  This site is unique in that there was a pretty even balance between males and females as well as adults and children.  Generally, bodies in megalithic tombs are adult men.  There was also a very young boy buried right outside the entrance.  I believe Poulnabrone translates to something along the lines of place of sorrows.  This suggests that people retained the memory of what the structure was used for after it stopped being used.

Poulnabrone Portal Tomb

The bodies also revealed that people only lived to about age 30 (imagine having a mid-life crisis at 15).  They also did a lot of hard labor that resulted in arthritis as well as ate a coarse diet.

The Limestone Pavement

Around Poulnabrone, you could also see a lot of the Burren landscape.  We had gotten so used to the rolling hills of Ireland that we hadn't really expected to see such a rocky landscape.  To once again quote from my syllabus:

"The Burren and the Aran Islands are world-renowned for their unique geological and archaeological character.  Burren comes form the Irish boireann or 'place of rocks.'  Over much of the area the limestone bedrock has been exposed and joints in the rock have often been eroded into wide, regularly spaced fissures."

Galway Trip: Laemaneh Tower House and Semi-Fortified House and Lunch

After Kilfenora, we headed to see one of the most important strongholds of the O'Briens in the Burren.  It was originally a tower house and then the semi-fortified house was built on to it.

Tower House on the Right, Semi-Fortified House on the Left

A lot of the work on this house was paid for by the wife of Conor O'Brien, Maire Rua.  She actually appears to be a bit of a black widow figure.  She had several rich husbands, I think maybe four or five, all of whom died.  She also married whoever seemed to be in power at the time.  There are some local legends that the large windows were for her to push her husbands out of.

Cute Donkey

After seeing Laemaneh, it was finally time for lunch.  We were all starving, but I got to try bangers and mash for the first time and it was delicious!  Also by the place for lunch were a few cute donkeys.

Galway Trip: Kilfenora

After the Cliffs of Moher, despite the fact that we were all starving, we still had a few more stops before lunch.  For our next stop we all piled out of the bus and took a quick walk to Kilfenora, which is an Early Medieval monastery.

A 12th Century High Cross

Before we reached the actual monastery, we saw a 12th century high cross.  This high cross is a bit different than most 12th century high crosses in that it has the ring which was in style for the high crosses between the 8th and 10th century.  However, you can tell that it is a 12th century cross because of the more simplistic scenes depicted as well as the fact that Jesus on the cross is not bloody as that would be indicative of the later Gothic style.

The Bishop Side

The Jesus Side

The other cool high cross in the actual monastery, which also has the ring, is the Doorty Cross.  On one side it has Jesus on the cross and on the other a bishop.  This is again indicative of the time it was made as it reflected the change in power from abbots to bishops with the 12th century reform.

Kilfenora

The rest of the monastery was really cool to look at and very interesting to learn about.  Our group even picked up a few followers who wanted to listen to our professor's tour.

Galway Trip: Cliffs of Moher

Okay so sorry that it took me a while to update my blog, but this trip, while amazing, was pretty exhausting.  I'm once again going to greatly break up this trip to avoid the appearance of incredibly long post.

Here we go!

We left Cork pretty promptly at 7:30am.  Unfortunately our bus was pretty uncomfortable so I didn't get any sleep, but I did watch a few episodes of Bones with Kayla before her battery gave out.

The Cliffs of Moher

Our first stop was the Cliffs of Moher.  For those of you who are Harry Potter fans you should see if these cliffs look familiar.  You all should also recognize them as the background for my blog.

Me at the Cliffs of Moher

We spent a whole hour there, which I think we were all thankful for because we took an incredible amount of photos trying to capture the beauty of the place.  Although I think, in the end, the Cliffs of Moher are just one of those places where the beauty is hard to capture.

Just a Cool Rock Formation at the Cliffs of Moher

To give a little bit of information about the cliffs I shall once again quote my syllabus:

"The limestone which characterizes much of the Burren was alter covered in thick sediments of sands and muds which later solidified into shale, flagstone, and sandstone.  These have since been eroded from the surface of the Burren itself, especially by the large ice sheets which advanced over the area during the various ice ages.  But just south of the Burren they survive to a depth of 330m and are spectacularly exposed due to sea erosion at the Cliffs of Moher."

North Cork Field Trip

Well this is a few days late, but, in my defense, we have a test coming up.  Currently though my brain has kinda hit the wall on studying so I'm finally going to write about our field trip on Thursday.

On Thursday we were all actually assembled before the arrival of our professor.  Although this isn't that surprising as there are now two babies in his household.

Labbacallee Wedge Tomb

Our first stop on our trip was the Labbacallee Wedge Tomb.  Wedge tombs date to the Chalcolithic (Copper Age) which was 2500-2000BC.  The wedge tombs get their name from their wedge shape.  They all have large capstones.  Labbacallee's capstone weighs 10 tons.  There tends to be very few bodies in wedge tombs.  In this one there were three bodies found.  In the main chamber there were the remains of a child and a young man as well as the head of an older woman.  The rest of the woman was in a chamber farther back.  The bones show that the woman was about 50 years old when she died, this was incredibly old for the time.  Interestingly, Labbacallee means something along the lines of 'the fields of the witch/wise woman,' so it seems that the woman's legend continued after her death.

Me in the Wedge Tomb

After our professor told us about the site, he let us wander around it to take photos.  We all began to wonder if we could go inside it.  Our professor then climbed on top and hopped in, saying that he couldn't risk undergrads.  After we got the okay most of us went inside the tomb (by the way the bodies are at the National Museum).

View from Outside Mitchelstown Caves

Then it was time to see the Mitchelstown Caves.  There was no archaeological significance to this part of the trip...it was just cool.  Sadly though we weren't allowed to take photos inside the caves, but the view from outside them was beautiful.  Besides the fact that concerts are held in them the coolest part was probably when they turned out the lights...it was intensely dark and none of us had any idea how the guy who discovered the caves made it down with only a candle.

Munster's Flag

Our final stop was the Rock of Cashel.  We had lunch at the bottom of it at Bru Boru.  In the room for lunch there were flags for all of the provinces.  I liked that the one for Munster looks like a smiley face.

The Rock of Cashel (plus Scaffolding)

Tipperary Plain

We definitely needed the lunch before we hiked up the steep hill to the Rock of Cashel.  It was an incredibly beautiful site.  The fact that it is on top of a rocky prominence not only made it a naturally defensive site, but it made for some great views of the Tipperary plain.  Sadly, part of it was under construction or restoration or something...there was a lot of scaffolding.

Cashel

Fresco in Cormac's Chapel (Possibly 3 Wise Kings)

To quote a bit from my syllabus Cashel "was chosen as the main stronghold of the Eoganact kings of Munster during the early medieval period.  It was given to the Church by Muircheartach Ua Briain in 1101 and was made an archiepiscopal centre soon afterwards."  The chapel and cathedral were both very beautiful, but the chapel had some of the only surviving 12th century fresco in Ireland.

While this was a great trip, I think we're all looking forward to our last trip to Galway on Tuesday/Wednesday.

Wearing Red and a New Baby

Yesterday our professor's wife finally had their second baby.  We got to see a photo of her and she is adorable (by the way we saw it in one of our powerpoints that he only prefaced by saying that the following slide won't be on our test)!  While I'm sure the new baby brings a lot of stress into their house, I'm sure they're both relieved to have the stress of waiting for her over with.

Chicago Teachers' Strike

I'm starting the feel a bit more like I'm somewhere else.  I know that might sound odd, but distances have never made a big difference to me, a few miles, a few hundred miles, it didn't make a difference.  But with September 11th passing by quietly and now trying to show my support for the Chicago's Teachers' Union from afar feels a bit odd as a lot of the people around me don't know what is going on and aren't talking about it.

As a quick  note on the strike, if you're interested in learning more about it I recommend the following articles:
http://www.suntimes.com/news/otherviews/15068666-452/hard-facts-behind-union-board-dispute.html
http://www.salon.com/2012/09/10/standing_up_to_rahm/
http://www.businessinsider.com/chicago-teacher-this-is-why-im-striking-2012-9

Cork Public Museum and Accidental Ice Cream

Fitzgerald Park

Yesterday Kayla, Kyla, Montana and I decided to check out the (free) Cork Public Museum and the park it's in.  The park was very beautiful with lots of grass, trees, and ducks.  It also had a very beautiful (presumably man-made) pond.

A Case Crammed with Symbols of Authority

The museum itself was pretty cool.  It had an exhibit on the Titanic (still can't believe that was 100 years ago) as Ireland was the last place the ship left.  There were also just a lot of cool items from throughout Cork and Irish history.  Literally every display case was crammed full of cool things.

The Exhibit on Travelers

My favorite part was an exhibit upstairs about the nomadic people in Ireland.  They are referred to in the exhibit as travelers.  The photographs and items were all very captivating.

After the museum we went to the cafe and got ice cream.  Well, more accurately, I was standing behind Montana contemplating what I wanted to eat when she ordered ice cream.  The woman then made two cones so I was kinda stuck.