While checking in at the Hilton, we met Hilary, one of our orientation leaders, and became the first to arrive for the UCEAP orientation. People slowly began to trickle in, and eventually all 19 of us arrived. 19 students from the UC system had elected to study abroad in Trinity College and University College Cork.
Emily, Hilary's colleague, arrived, and we all had breakfast together at the hotel. Then, we headed to St. Stephen's Green, a few blocks north of Charlemont Place. We stood on a bridge a short distance from an old hotel behind some trees. During the Civil War, this building was occupied by British soldiers while the Irish rebels took cover among the hedges along the bank of the river in St. Stephen's Green. The Irish were outnumbered, and the short-lived skirmish was quite bloody. During the fighting, the groundskeeper came to feed the ducks. The legend is that the fighting on both sides stopped to allow the groundskeeper to fulfill his duties. The Irish eventually lost the battle. From the park, we got on the "hop on, hop off" tour bus that goes on a driving tour around the city. All of the buses in Dublin are double decker, but this tour bus had an open roof. The bus took us to the Guinness Storehouse where, the tour guide explained, stand 8 drums that hold 300.000 pints of Guinness each. There has only been one death in the history of the brewery. Many years ago, a worker fell in one of the drums. Two of his co-workers jumped in to save him, but he bravely fought them off. They say that he smiled on the way down.
We got off the bus and returned to O'Connell street. I got to experience the streets we had wandered just a few days before from the perspective of a larger tour group. We headed to the General Post Office, or GPO building, which had a small, but very detailed museum in it. Despite coming unannounced, the curator gave us a personal tour with his own commentary, including details on how he decided to organize the museum. There was an exhibit featuring different types of stamps from around the world, and a little bit of history about how stamp collecting started. When the post system was the primary means of communication, there was an agreement in place that international post would be sent to Switzerland, where it was sorted and fees were assessed, in order to avoid confusing conversions and multiple postage fees. This meant that Zurich automatically received stamps from around the world, and began to collect and catalogue them. Local post offices would send new stamps from their country to Zurich and would receive foreign country stamps in exchange. While Ireland was still a part of the British Empire, they were a part of the British Post system as well. People who supported Irish independence from the Empire would place their British stamps upside down in protest. When the Irish did gain independence from Britain, the Post Office immediately set about painting the red British post boxes green, to advertise their independence to the people of Ireland, and instead of printing new stamps, which was costly and time consuming, they simply stamped news of the Irish independence over individual British stamps until they could begin printing Irish stamps. The GPO building played a part in Irish Independence as well. During the 1916 Easter Rising, it was occupied by the Republican rebels for a week. The museum has one of the twenty-odd original copies of the Proclamation of the Republic, which Patrick Pearse read aloud from the steps of the GPO building during the occupation.
One of the lesser known stories of the Easter Rising that was related to us by the friendly curator was showcased by a film in the museum. Due to the Post Office being the sole system of communication, it was normal for headquarters like the GPO building to be guarded by soldiers. The soldiers that were guarding the building during the Easter Rising had guns but no bullets. With the war effort and the extended bloodshed away from home, it was decided that the bullets could be put to better use elsewhere, so the guards stood with empty guns. When the Republicans stormed the building, they fired upon the bullet-less soldiers, wounding one. One woman who worked the telephones in the GPO building, refused to leave the building until the injured soldier saw his wounds attended to. The leaders of the insurrection explained the political nature of their cause, and tried to reason with her. She remained stubborn, but eventually struck a deal that she would escort the wounded soldier to the hospital down the street and return with him after he had been given medical attention. The Republicans agreed to this, and sure enough, she returned later in the evening with the wounded soldier. The Republicans allowed the woman to leave the building.
The insurrection failed, the building was destroyed as a result of the fighting, and the leaders were executed. However, the Easter Rising did arouse public opinion in support of the Nationalist cause, and eventually, in 1919, Ireland gained its independence. The museum, although small, is very well done, and only charges €2 for admission.
From the GPO building on O'Connell street, we headed south to Trinity College, where we entered the Old Library to see the Book of Kells. This exhibit had much more of a museum feel to it, yet there were detailed explanations of the artwork and calligraphy contained in the text. The actual books themselves were on display, and they flip the pages once every three months. After seeing the Book of Kells, the museum route continues upstairs into the shelves of the Old Library. There are spiral staircases spanning two storeys of books, organized first by size, and then by letter, running along both sides of an expansive hallway. Select books were on display in the aisles, from natural histories of birds with detailed drawings, to liturgies, to personal diaries.
After the Book of Kells, we left Trinity College and headed north to Grafton Street, one of the largest commercial pedestrian streets in Dublin. Meng and I stopped at Insomnia, a coffee shop chain. This place was an Irish version of Starbucks. I got an espresso, and like most other cafes in Europe, you get a real mug to drink it out of. I read part of my first Irish paper while we took a break from all the walking.
Spent the next hour wandering St. Stephen's Green and admiring the huge archway that barricades the entrance to the park grounds. The underside of the arch is inscribed with the names of the Irish who died during the battle.
We had dinner with the orientation group at Milano's Pizza on Dawson street. Got lost walking back to the hotel. All in all, Dublin was still an amazing place.
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Go raibh maith agat.
(Irish, literal: A thousand thanks)
Thanks a million!