Field Trip #1 : Overnight in Dublin

These past couple of days have been exhausting, but very fun! Friday morning we left at 8am to get going on our first field trip.  We made our way up to County Meath to see Trim Castle.  We learned a lot about the castle and its history, and archeological significance, but as to not bore those who will not be tested on this material, I will just show you the beautiful pictures!

Trim Castle

 View from the top of Trim: 

             

Top Row: Molly, Chelsea, Caitlin, Nicole, Katy

Bottom Row: Heather, Me, Nichola 

                                       

The girls in this photo that you do not recognize are our new friends from the University of San Diego! 

Town of Trim 

Next stop was Newgrange, which is a neolithic tomb. This monument is special because it is so old; to give you a reference point it was built before the Egyptian pyramids. But, the best part about Newgrange is that it is Jane sized! As you enter the tomb it is a narrow space with veryyy low ceilings, but while everyone else was squeezing and ducking to get through the pathway I was fine.  Clearly, I must be a decedent of the neolithic people.

 Newgrange: 

Entrance into the tomb: 

Our next leg of the tour was to visit a cemetery that held a lot of celtic crosses. 

We stayed overnight in the town of Slane, which is about a half hour outside of Dublin.  The hostel we stayed in was on a farm, and smelled exactly like you are on a farm.  But, it was only one night and we are students roughing it so it made do.  At night the group went out to a local pub, where there just so happened to be a group of friends, with excellent musical skills, playing together.  They were so good, and they really enjoyed the influx of American spectators! It made my night when they played one of my favorite songs, "Little Lion Man" by Mumford and Sons, and we could all sing along.  

The next day we were off to Dublin! We stopped at the Christ Church Cathedral.  It was a combination of Gothic and Romanesque styles, and it was really neat to see this after having seen French cathedrals in these styles on my previous trips to Europe. 

The trip was great, and we have two more day trips coming up this week! It was so fun making new friends with the students from the University of San Diego (USD)  through this experience, as well as get to see more of Ireland, and its rich and beautiful history.