"It's now or never, COLLEGE!!!!" or, "STOP EFFING AROUND!!!"

I finally got to go to a rugby game! UCD played Munster yesterday, and it was absolutely fantastic. I've never enjoyed watching football or baseball, but this was really entertaining, despite the fact that we didn't know the rules. It has some similarities to football, but as they say here, football is a gentleman's game compared to rugby. The medic was running around on that field as much as or more than the actual players--and they didn't stop playing when they were injured, just taped it up and kept on getting smashed. It also moved a lot faster than football; they'd be in a huge scrum, fighting over the ball, and then all of a sudden the ball would reappear twenty feet away! The coolest play, though, was this brilliant lift that they would do whenever the ball was thrown back in. They literally lifted each other up (kind of like a cheerleading move, actually) to catch the ball in the air.

UCD lost, but it was still an insanely fun day. Rugby fans are absolutely mad.

the big LIFT

number 11, mr. fancypants, striking his signature pose

scrum-ptious.

Bru na boinne and the Hill of Tara

Last Monday, I finally got to see Newgrange, an ancient tomb, and the Hill of Tara, which is an early medieval royal site--I'm not sure how else to explain it. It's actually exactly the type of thing that we've been looking at in my archaeology class: a bank-and-ditch enclosure, with more ditches signifying higher status, different 'levels' of enclosed space, and a strategic location overlooking three quarters of the country on a clear day (here's an aerial view, so you can see what the earthwork looks like as a whole). When you're actually on the hill, you can't really see the big picture; it just looks like the ground has turned to waves, and you're walking up and down a green surf. The landscape and the history on this trip were pretty spectacular, and Newgrange itself was so mysterious and creepy--but in a good way! I love the creepy stuff.

The tomb actually reminded me of the Ancient American shamanic artwork that I studied last semester. I wonder if archaeologists have considered that Newgrange may have been the product of a visionary culture? Dichotomies of light/dark, male/female, life/death, and white/black are obvious in the construction, as are themes of fertility/seasons/birth/rebirth, but for me the biggest clue was the recurrence of spirals and zigzags. The guide told us that people have guessed that they are a form of writing, or artwork. Spirals and zigzags are actually really important in shamanic art, because they (along with other motifs like lattices and tunnels) reflect the visionary consciousness; when a person goes into trance, those symbols are part of the first stage of the vision, while spirals themselves are also very eye-like. Inside the tomb, in one of the three niches, there was also a shallow basin that the guide suggested as a place to hold the dead, or possibly to collect blood from a sacrifice--but what about a hallucinogenic substance? Shamanic cultures often associate basins or metates with fertility and visions, and after all, Newgrange is a tomb where people came (perhaps) to journey to the world of the dead...just like having a vision and travelling to the underworld.

It sounds like I'm really going out on a limb here, but there were just so many similarities between Newgrange and Ancient American structures like Chavin de Huantar. They both incorporate the same dichotomies that I already explained, use the concept of difficult entrance and intimidation, and there is a strange similarity between the phallic Lanzon and the spear of light that pierces the interior of Newgrange at every winter solstice. I could say so much more, but I'd like to refrain from treating this blog like an art history paper. I think Newgrange can speak for itself!

side view of Newgrange--mound with a stone facade

the 'difficult' entrance--you had to climb over that rock in order to enter

the stone facade, reconstructed from the original materials at the site. white/black, light/dark, anyone? plus the black stones are EGG-shaped (as is the mound of Newgrange itself)

the kerbstones surrounding the structure

a kerbstone with spirals and zigzags

kerbstone pattern

small mound at the Hill of Tara

it still has a pretty cool view

bank, ditch, bank, ditch, bank...

there was no one there to explain this...but it looks pretty cool. I'm guessing that the pattern on the ground isn't original to the site.

overlooking all of Ireland--on a clear day. But of course, it rained for us.

Easter, 1916 and 2009

the Jim Larkin statue and the hoisting of the Irish tricolor

the "beach"--really a large mudflat

gardens at Dublin Castle

On Sunday, I went into town for the commemoration of the Easter Rising (which actually happened on Easter Monday, not Easter Sunday...I don't know why they changed the date). After visiting Kilmainham Gaol and reading the entire body of Yeats's work this semester, it was really interesting to be a part of this occasion. People mouthed the words to the Proclamation of Independence along with the speaker, sang the national anthem, and held their children up on their shoulders to see everything better. The reactions of the people around me really made me think--living in the Dublin of 2009 is an entirely different experience from that of the older people in the crowd, for whom the idea of independence is probably still a meaningful concept. The concurrence of the Rising with the Easter holiday (which I'm sure was not an accident) mashes together those ideas of resurrection and rebirth with those of nationhood and national identity. Even the politics here are poetic!

In the land / of Ferdinand / My favorite bull / who kept his cool!

we survived! (and that's why we look so tired)

the Parque del Buen Retiro (bigger than Central Park)

turtles in Atocha Station, which basically had its own indoor rainforest

the view, on our day trip to Toledo

everything was ornamented, even the balcony undersides

city wall gate in Toledo

hot chocolate and churros near Puerto del Sol!

one of about a million cows all over the city

protesters on the free New Madrid tour that we tried to take

the amazing green art (which was also in Avignon, on the side of Les Halles)

part of the outdoor Rodin exhibit

We arrived in Madrid after the world's longest overnight bus ride from Avignon--stops every three hours, mouth breathers, "Titanic" in Spanish, and of course, a healthy dose of motion sickness. Not to mention that the bus left from a sketchy corner in Avignon at 10 at night. But no worries, we survived and made it to our hostel near Sol.

Everything in Madrid was so inexpensive compared to Dublin, especially wine, which was only a few euros per bottle. At one bar (El Tigre, for anyone planning a visit), a glass of the local cidra cost 1.75 euro, and came with a plate of delicious tapas. For 3 euro each, we were fed for the night. Whoever heard of a 3 euro dinner in Dublin! (and yes, McDonald's would have been more expensive, not to mention less delicious and slightly more destructive to my arteries)

We spent a lot of time walking around, just seeing the city, in addition to visiting the Prado and the Reina Sophia (which I absolutely loved--the Prado for its "Sleeping Beauty" room, and the Reina Sophia for the Picasso and Thek exibits). We actually tried to take one of the New Madrid tours, which are free, but it never left the Puerto del Sol and only lasted about five minutes. The licensed tour guides were protesting against the tour, and then the police came and broke up the whole thing. Apparently, there's a huge dispute over these tours, because they take business away from tour guides that charge money--who say that the tours are illegal because the guides aren't licensed. The law says that only paid tour guides must be licensed, though, and these tours don't cost any money. So we walked right into a moral dilemma.

Speaking of which, we were asked whether or not we wanted to go see the bullfights, which kind of shocked me. I know that bullfighting is part of Madrid's culture, and that it still happens, but the suggestion to attend a bullfight still kind of threw me. I love Hemingway, but I could never watch an animal be tortured for sport. I'd much rather go to a flamenco show, which we did, and which was much less bloody (although I wouldn't want to get in the way of those stomping heels).

And then we missed our flight home and waited at the Madrid airport for ten hours. But it was a fitting ending, I think, for all our blunders!

"But is Snape really evil after all?"

Yes. That's Alan Rickman (a.k.a. Severus Snape, Eamon DeValera, or hairdresser extraordinaire Phil Allen...depending on your taste). He came to UCD today to accept an award from the Literary and Historical Society (who also brought Heaney and Nighy).

It was really great to hear him speak--I kind of had to stop myself from raising my hand and asking if he remembered what a bezoar was, but hey that's just me. Really though, he was incredibly interesting and funny, and it was pretty much awesome. 'Nuff said.

just a note...

The post I wrote about Avignon is for some reason below the photos from Bruges, and I don't know how to fix it. So if you already looked at Bruges, scroll down. Surprise!

Photo Post - Brussels and Bruges

amazing clock tower in Bruges

funky trees in Bruges that remind me of the ones from that Dr. Seuss story (the one with the pants with no one in them...you know you know what I mean)

canal in Bruges

medieval gatehouse over the bridge in Bruges

palace in Brussels

Brussels cathedral!

"Wasn't me..."
(apparently all the jamb statues on this building are passing the blame for a giant fart--I swear I did not make this up! It was told to me by a Belgian. I cannot tell a lie.)

the real deal: "gauffres avec des fraises et chocolat"

self-portrait of the Mannekin Pis as a Tibetan monk

apparently Brussels is known for their cartoons! they don't have graffiti...they have cartoons.