Week 2 Monday & Tuesday

Monday’s history class focused on the great famine. Between 1845 and 1850 the potato crop in Ireland was attacked by a fungus that caused the crop to fail in 4 of the 6 years. Since the potato was the main food source for many of the people, it devastated the country. The population of Ireland dropped from 8 million in 1845 to 6 million in 1850, with 1 million people dying, and 1 million immigrating. Contrary to what I always believed, most people died of disease because they were so weak from hunger, rather than starvation. Many in Britain felt it was God’s wrath visited upon the Irish because they were an irresponsible and bankrupt race, and others thought the Irish brought it on themselves by having too many children. While this was happening Ireland was a net exporter of food, mostly to Britain.

After class I tagged along with a group going to the Guinness Brewery and Storehouse. If you are ever in Dublin, I highly recommend it. The Arthur Guinness story is an amazing one. At age 27 he inherited 100 English Pounds and invested it in a brewery. Seven year later he leased the property at St James Gate in Dublin and relocated the brewery there, where it still sits today. Now get this, he leased the property for 9,000 (yes thousand) years for the sum of 45 English Pounds per year. As an illustration of how hard to was to survive in those times for even those with wealth, Arthur Guinness and his wife had 21 children and only 10 survived to reach adulthood! Back to good stuff, after the tour you get to visit the Gravity bar on the 7^th floor of the brewery (hard to believe but the highest building in the city). The Gravity Bar is circular and enclosed in glass to give you a 360-degree view of the city and surrounding countryside. So I enjoyed that view, and a number of pints to celebrate it.

Today, Tuesday, we had class in the morning and then took a tour of Dublin Castle. Dublin Castle was always the headquarters for the British Viceroy of Ireland and it was where the British gave Michael Collins the keys to the castle in 1922, marking the establishment of the Irish Free State. Today it serves a place of ceremony for the Irish Republic, where the Prime Minister is sworn in and important state social events are held. It is a treat to see.

I am not sure if I am going to be able to post again until Saturday night or Sunday unless I can do so on my iPhone. We are taking a 3-day class trip to the west of Ireland and I am staying over with many others in Galway on Friday night. I might add they are in a hostel but I can’t take this college experience that far, so I am in a hotel.

An Irish language lesson:

Great kracn (pronounced like the illegal drug) = good fun 

Have your car clamped = car is booted

Sales Agreed =  House Under Contract

To Let = To Lease

Fook = f bomb (used multiple times in every sentence as either a verb, noun, or adjective). Females are as likely as males to use it repeatedly.

Pictures: Wicklow Mountains from the Guinness Brewery Gravity bar; The actual Guinness Harp, their trademark symbol. Guinness has owned it since 1750, so when the Republic of Ireland decided to use it as their symbol they had to invert it to avoid trademark infringement; a full look at the  Guinness Brewery Gravity Bar; Dublin Castle.