Dublin Day 1

June 05, 2018

I am taking my first group of students on an international study trip. The idea to do this came from my friend Darci, who suggested that a political theory class would work really well with her Irish memoir class if taught together in Ireland. Nearly one year later I have now arrived in Dublin for our Irish adventure.

One of the assignments we have given to the students is to write a travel blog. I had not planned to join, but at our first lunch with the students they all joined with Darci in guilting me into creating one. What follows is my attempt to assuage that guilt. The student blogs are being graded based on their ability to demonstrate that they are learning something. In my record here I hope to do the same.

After several flights to get here, which were uneventful except for the interesting coffee cup on British Airways that filters the coffee as you drink it, I moved into my apartment in the Rathmines area on the South side of Dublin.

A really good cup of coffee on the plane. It cost 2.30 Euro, which I think is @ $57.

This is the view from my apartment window.

It is a nice one bedroom, with several amenities. I was too tired to do very much after arriving, but it took two overnights to get here, and the washing machine in the apartment called to me. I packed very lightly, and the few sets of clothes I brought with me had been depleted during my travels. Fortunately, the apartment also included laundry detergent.

This is not the laundry detergent.

I made the mistake of assuming the bottle of blue liquid next to the washing machine featuring a picture of a sheet hanging on a line with the title "Clean and Fresh" was the laundry detergent. It seemed thin as I poured it into the machine, and the soap bubbles it produced did not match what I expected from detergent. On further review, this was a floor cleaner, and I spent the next couple of hours running several loads of water through the machine to rinse it out. (I did not want UW-L to lose a deposit on my first day.)

After a decent night's sleep, I ventured into Dublin to learn how to use the transit system and meet up with Darci and the students. Dublin's mass transit is excellent, and its primary mode are modern double decker busses that run all over the city. The bus stops are conveniently located, and almost all have an electronic display featuring the arrival times and routs of approaching busses. As I stood waiting it only took two busses speeding by me to discover that I needed to signal to the bus driver that I wanted it to stop and pick me up.

It was a great ride once I finally passed the intelligence test required to get on.

We met the students for lunch at O'Neills Pub, which had excellent Irish fare. After a discussion of Irish history and culture, we headed out for a tour of the city.

Darci explains the Molly Malone statue to the students.

Darci explains to me the reason parts of the statue are a different color

(and also places her finger over part of the lens).

After googling it, the area may or may not be named after Sir William Temple, but I suppose he has the face of someone who you want to name a neighborhood after.

Our happy group of students.

Ha'penny Bridge over the Liffey

John's Lane Church

I think I am giving deep insights into why we are standing in the middle of the road.

At least the stranger behind me seems interested in what I am saying.

After our tour, we all headed our separate ways. Some of the students went on additional tours, while others went back to their apartment to cook dinner (after following horrible advice from me about how to get back to their place). Darci, Peyton, and I ate some excellent Indian food, and headed to Fallon's for a great pint before the end of the day.