Ireland

Hello!

               So in the next few hours I’m going to be boarding a bus on the first day of my spring break. This bus is going to take me to Chicago, where I’ll get on my first international flight. From there, I’m going to Ireland! That’s right, Ireland. I am so excited right now, and I’m just going to take some time here to point out a few aspects of the trip.

               Firstly, our itinerary is pretty killer. Except for the few days where we’re traveling ALL DAY, like tomorrow, it seems like there’s going to be a lot of stuff to do. Starting Sunday the cool stuff begins. We get to march in the St Patrick’s Day parade. In Dublin, Ireland. That’s like, the epitome of everything St Patrick’s-y. To be broadcast across international television. I’m pretty excited. After that, there are a few more performances, which is pretty neat. We also get to do some very touristy-stuff, such as the Knappogue Castle Medieval Banquet. Another big deal is the Titanic Centre, which is a museum devoted to the Titanic. What makes it cool is the fact that it’s located on the last port of call for the Titanic. Then  we have to perform some more, and this time with the orchestra that’s going along too. Then we get to see the Giant’s Causeway, which is pretty awesome. We get to spend a bunch of time in Dublin after that, we get to do some other cool stuff, then we get to spend another billion hours on a bus on the way home. And then a plane. Then a bus again.

               Now there are some other benefits of going to Ireland besides getting to see a bunch of cool stuff. One of the perks is getting to meet a lot of new people. Because going to Ireland with the 30 or 40 people that are going from our school would be super expensive, the Cedar Rapids school district decided to open the opportunity to all three public schools in our area – Washington, Kennedy, and Jefferson. This means that I’ve been hanging around with people that I’ve never met before, which is pretty nice. My section has two people I’ve never met before, and then a couple that I vaguely know. There’s also the fact that I get my first over-seas experience, which is neat. WE ALSO GET SUPER SEXY JACKETS AND BASEBALL CAPS.

This trip isn’t as cool as it could be, though. I mean, don’t get me wrong – I’m really, really, really, really, really excited. I cannot even describe how excited I am to be going on this trip. But in the future, there are things that could be made better, maybe. First off, at some point we’re going to be staying in two different hotels. I realize this is because of a lack of space, and nothing could really be done about it, but it means that we don’t get to choose our the people that are on our bus. This means that at certain points during the trip we’re going to have to hang out people that we don’t necessarily want to. Another point that I’m going to make is that we don’t get as much free time as we could possibly have. I know that this is because we’re going to be overseas and don’t want to “get lost” or “wander off,” but still. A few years ago the band went to Washington DC to march in a parade there, and it was really fun. We got a full day to wander around the Mall, and just to do whatever. There’s not going to be much time for that kind of stuff in Ireland this year.

               Now for some fun facts about Ireland! The Republic of Ireland gained their independence in 1922, and became a republic in 1949. Dublin is the Irish capital, and there are only about 4.6 million people as part of the population. Northern Ireland is a part of Great Britain, and has about 1.8 million people as part of its population – we’re going to see Northern Ireland when we go to Belfast. Ireland has two official languages; Irish and English. Irish is a type of Gaelic language. Ireland has free public schooling. Ireland gave birth to a ton of different writs, from Jonathan Swift to Oliver Goldsmith to William Yeats, James Joyce, and Thomas Moore. The Great Potato Famine, which saw the movement of my ancestors to America, killed almost 1.5 million people. One of the most interesting things about Ireland in my opinion is that St. Patrick’s Day as a holiday was never widely celebrated in Ireland until recently. Although it was celebrated, it was never done with such gusto as you can see now.

               So if you can’t tell, I’m pretty excited about this whole trip. I have a lot of plans, a lot of hopes, and I’ll definitely blog about it when I get back. Hopefully with pictures. I want a Leprechaun.