The Ireland Project

For my end of college existence academic essay of epic proportions.

I went to Ireland because I felt like I had to, for some unknown reason. I’ve come to the conclusion that there were many reasons why I had to go and why I had to go then and not a year from now. I needed to test something, push myself to the limit, travel to another country for the first time alone. I wanted to see how I would react, and almost (as cheesy as this sounds) see myself. It started out in a way, as a study in sociology and psychology, and ended up (because of the recession) a look at how much the United States affects the rest of the world. Not that the rest of the world doesn’t affect the U.S., but you’d be surprised.

I went to Ireland not long after Obama was inaugurated. Boy do they love him in Europe. Everyone I spoke to (the Irish talk a lot), had something to say about how Obama was going to change the world. I wonder what they would have told me if I had taken this trip after Bush was elected for his second term…. While I was there, I wanted to interview people and film their responses to “What do you think of Obama?” Too bad I didn’t have enough time to do that.

The more research I do, the more I realize I’m in over my head with this paper. I’m not entirely sure what I am going to do about it… Maybe it’ll end up being more of a research project for the quarter rather than a full on paper. If I had started this thing at the beginning of the school year, rather than the last quarter I could probably finish it.

I’ve been doing research for my paper on how the U.S. economy affects the rest of the world. It is proving to be as complicated and in depth as I thought it would be. Too much information. I think this is going to take longer than I anticipated.

I have had major jet-lag, but I seem to be okay so far today. I’m back from Ireland. It was amazing. I only shot about an hour of footage and I don’t think I can make it into a short film. But that’s okay. I did come up with a ton of documentary ideas while I was there. I feel like this trip was meant to recharge my creativity. My life had become so monotonous and boring that I couldn’t even try to be creative anymore. I took over 300 photos while in Ireland and some of them are really good. I think I’m going to write a paper in the next week on the affects the U.S. economy has on the rest of the world. Ireland and the UK in general is going through a terrible recession as well, and it seems that most people there are blaming the U.S. I’d like to explore this more. See, I think the trip worked. I actually want to write a paper. Neat. There’s my project friends, the affect the U.S. economy has on the rest of the world. Then I’ll make a lovely power point presentation to include my photos and video. Oooo thesis paper. Better get started this weekend. I’ve got a lot of work to do.

I think I found a good idea for my documentary. I don’t know why I didn’t see it before. It may not work, it just depends, but I may as well try. And it doesn’t involve me traveling anymore than I already am.

Going to Killarney in less than 2 hours. Won’t have the internet until tomorrow afternoon.

And just for the hell of it, a full Irish breakfast contains:

Baked Beans
Eggs
Sausage
Bacon (I call it Bacon Ham because it’s super thick and not crunchy)
Fruit
Yogurt
Black Pudding (congealed blood, ew)
Cereal
Toast
Juice
Coffee or Tea
Cheese
Pastries

… Probably a few other things, too many things to remember. Kind of ridiculous, eh?

Are available here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lindseysalls/

Of course, more to come.

St. Patrick’s Day in Dublin was a hoot. The parade was crazy. I’m pretty sure they must spend all year preparing for the parade, costumes, floats, etc. I was in a human traffic jam afterward. (I’ll post the pics soon, the internet connection here is very slow. Over the past two days I have walked about ten miles, I have blisters. Good thing I’m renting the car tomorrow to start my trip around the country.

I spoke to this girl last night who told me Irish people hate that they are Irish. Apparently, since everyone loves the Irish, they get whatever they want. For example, they will apply for a job and automatically get it because they are Irish (I’m assuming in other countries). And the 800 years or so of repression from the British still affects them.

I think I want to move to the UK and make commercials. I’ve always wanted to make commercials (mostly for the money), but the British have amazingly weird commercials. Very entertaining.

I went to the National Library today here in Dublin to try and find out anything I could about my Great Grandfather. I found out the surname Nagle was changed over time to Nangle in most places and sometimes is spelled Neangle. I found a few records that could be my Great Grandfather, but I’m not so certain. I did find out which counties Nagle’s were from, so I am going to check out the records in those counties when I get to them.

Next stop, Waterford and Cork.

Look at me, I’m in London. I think I just paid $6 to use the internet at the airport for 1 hour. Ha. Well, it was either that or the duty free shopping mall. I haven’t slept. Kind of delirious but super stoked, because I’m awesome, and am getting on a plane for Dublin in an hour and half. I also somehow made it through all of the buses, security check points, and customs areas and actually ended up where I am supposed to be, no getting lost for me. Heathrow is HUGE.

I’m leaving today, so of course it snows 2 inches. Luckily I did everything I had to outside my apartment yesterday and it does seem like it’s melting. My car does not like the snow, so I probably won’t get to eat anything substantial until I get to the airport tonight. Ugh.

When I get back, I’m going to be an entirely different person, I just know this. Ok, bye.