This might be a few days old, but I thought I would still share it. Another video post from Glendalough and a picture post will (hopefully) happen later tonight. Enjoy!
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Glendalough: The Monastic City
Today we visited the ancient Celtic town of Glendalough where we learned all about the origins of the Celtic church, Christianity in Ireland and how everything current has been built on the work and struggles of our ancestors. I can say that in such a beautiful place as Glendalough that this fact really comes out when you walk through the former monastery, ruins and cemetery as well as the wonderful landscape.
Our guide for this trip was Markus; a man whose enthusiasm for Celtic history and spirituality really brought the place to life even though it was a very cold and windy day. Markus shared a particularly interesting Celtic tradition of Anan Cara (which I'm sure is misspelled)means "soul friend" in Gaelic. It was explained by Markus to be a kind of bond between two people where they confide in each other their thoughts and dreams which I thought was a pretty neat concept; kind of like a super-best friend.
We also went on a hike after lunch to the upper lake, where it then proceeded to rain on us a little bit. From there we trudged up a hill to see some waterfalls and take some great pictures.
Since it's pretty late here I'll just end this post with some pictures from today. Thank you all for following and reading! Looks like videos will not be possible until I move to Dublin on Saturday the 30th, but it is very possible that I don't get them up by then either. Only time will tell if this blog will change from video based to picture-and-text based.
This is the group minus about 3-4 people.
Our guide for this trip was Markus; a man whose enthusiasm for Celtic history and spirituality really brought the place to life even though it was a very cold and windy day. Markus shared a particularly interesting Celtic tradition of Anan Cara (which I'm sure is misspelled)means "soul friend" in Gaelic. It was explained by Markus to be a kind of bond between two people where they confide in each other their thoughts and dreams which I thought was a pretty neat concept; kind of like a super-best friend.
We also went on a hike after lunch to the upper lake, where it then proceeded to rain on us a little bit. From there we trudged up a hill to see some waterfalls and take some great pictures.
Since it's pretty late here I'll just end this post with some pictures from today. Thank you all for following and reading! Looks like videos will not be possible until I move to Dublin on Saturday the 30th, but it is very possible that I don't get them up by then either. Only time will tell if this blog will change from video based to picture-and-text based.
This is the group minus about 3-4 people.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Some Pictures from Around Glencree
Below are some pictures from the grounds of the Glencree Center for Peace and Reconciliation. Unfortunately YouTube videos take about 2hrs to upload and I haven't had much time to do that. It's the second night here so it is pretty quiet currently, but tomorrow we go into the small town near here for a field trip. Even more unfortunate than not being able to upload videos is the fact that I'm running low on my camera batteries. :( I'm crossing my fingers in hope that the town will have some. Don't worry though because on Saturday morning we get picked up by our families to move to Dublin so hopefully there will be smooth blogging after that.
Finally Made It!
Hello everyone! After a long wait I am finally in Ireland! I've met my whole group and they seem pretty cool. There are three guys and nine girls so there is a definite ratio difference. Right now I am at the Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation in Co. Wicklow. The first day we pretty much recuperated from our trips and met each other. It was unusually sunny and bright, but today, Wednesday the 27th, it has been quite foggy and rainy all day.
As for meals they are good, kind of small and nothing that is traditionally Irish so far. I was given a cake, a card, a small glass of whiskey and was sang "happy birthday" to at dinner which was unexpected, but welcomed. There aren't any pubs (or anything else) by us since we're high up in the barren and bramble-filled mountains, but tomorrow, Thursday the 28th, we're going a field trip to the town down the mountain and on Friday night we're driving down to the same town to go to a pub.
We went for a hike yesterday up the mountain and today I went for a very windy run on the same road. The view is amazing up here and I'll be sure to share some pictures as well as my videos with you all.
The first video is being loaded to YouTube currently so the next three posts should be video posts, but won't have very much written commentary with them.
UPDATE: Upload speed is slow so the video may take a while to publish.
As for meals they are good, kind of small and nothing that is traditionally Irish so far. I was given a cake, a card, a small glass of whiskey and was sang "happy birthday" to at dinner which was unexpected, but welcomed. There aren't any pubs (or anything else) by us since we're high up in the barren and bramble-filled mountains, but tomorrow, Thursday the 28th, we're going a field trip to the town down the mountain and on Friday night we're driving down to the same town to go to a pub.
We went for a hike yesterday up the mountain and today I went for a very windy run on the same road. The view is amazing up here and I'll be sure to share some pictures as well as my videos with you all.
The first video is being loaded to YouTube currently so the next three posts should be video posts, but won't have very much written commentary with them.
UPDATE: Upload speed is slow so the video may take a while to publish.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Flying Through the Emerald Isle
Just a video I thought everyone would like to see. A precursor to my stay in Éire.
Sorry but for some reason it got posted twice. Woops!
Sorry but for some reason it got posted twice. Woops!
Irish Sayings
I thought everyone (including myself) would benefit by knowing a couple of important Irish sayings.
http://www.irish-sayings.com/cats/seasonal/saintpatricksday/
Hope everyone enjoys! My favorite: Pionta Guinness, le do thoil.
http://www.irish-sayings.com/cats/seasonal/saintpatricksday/
Hope everyone enjoys! My favorite: Pionta Guinness, le do thoil.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Vblog Youtube Channel is UP!
My video blog channel is now setup. You can follow my exploits here or there, but if you don't follow this blog then you'll miss out on my written blogs as well. Your choice! :)
www.youtube.com/johnabroadireland
All videos will be linked to this blog, but again if you just feel like watching only the videos and not reading the comments/writing just go there.
www.youtube.com/johnabroadireland
All videos will be linked to this blog, but again if you just feel like watching only the videos and not reading the comments/writing just go there.
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