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Published: July 26th 2016
Side Street
View down one of the side streets on my way to St. Pat's College. What a whirlwind week! Sorry for not posting everyday like I promised...the internet where I stayed was not reliable and would often only work for a few minutes each night. So, hear I am at the end of the week, in the airport waiting to leave Scotland, with a lot of updating to do. This entry is going to focus on the cultural activities that were part of the conference. After the sessions each day, the MISTEC delegates went on a series of cultural excursions to help us understand and learn about the Irish culture.
City of Dublin Bus Tour I finally got to live my dream of going on a second story, open tour bus! The whole delegation piled into the bright yellow bus, cameras in hand, ready to see the city. I was very thankful that MISTEC organized group outings because 1) I didn't need to pplan them myself and 2) it gave me another opportunity to get to know everyone better. Even though I was in Dublin six years ago with the UD Marching Band, up until this tour, I didn't recognize anything (even going downtown for my music lessons)! In a way, I
Fountain
Fountain in downtown Dublin felt like I was in a brand new place. The tour bus took us into the downtown area first and drove past most of the major sites. I always enjoy learning about places so I appreciate and like to listen to all the fun facts the tour guides provide Along the route. As we got further into town, I started to recognize places like the big bank, Gate Theater, some of the pubs, the bridges, Trinity College, etc. There is a TON of construction in Dublin as they are expanding their trolley/train routes so many of the streets are extremely narrow or closed. I am so impressed with the bus drivers who can navigate huge buses in such small places! Ireland is also celebrating the 100 year anniversary of the Easter Rising and the Irish Revolution so there are a ton of signs and events going on in the city. Our first stop was the remaining archway of the building where Handel's Messiah was first performed. There was a beautiful plaque on the new hotel next to the archway but the archway itself was a little disappointing. It wreeked of garbage, had graffiti on it, and had a large motorcycle
Church
One of the very many churches in Dublin in front of it. I couldn't help but feel bad for the place and was disappointed that someone would deface a piece of history. The tour also took us to Pheonix Park, one of the largest gated city parks in Europe. I remember going to Pheonix Park with UD but it was closed because of the ice and snow. The park was GORGEOUS! The park is also home to over 300 deer. We saw a cluster of male deer just lounging in the middle of the park going right up to people; we went up to a group of about 30 to take pictures. I have never seen so many deer in one place before...pretty cool. After Pheonix Park we headed back to the hotel where I got dessert at a great Italian restaurant with some new friends from Canada and Texas. I got sticky pudding with the most amazing whipped cream on top...good thing we don't have this dessert in America otherwise I'd be in big trouble!
Coastal Bus Tour to Malahide and Howth On Wednesday, the group headed away from the city and went to Malahide Castle and the small fishing town of Howth.
Handel Arch
All that's left of the original building where Handel's Messiah was performed for the first time. Because we left around 4pm, we only had a limited amount of time in each place, which was unfortunate aS each place was breathtakingly beautiful. Malahide Castle was built in the 12th century when Henry II granted the lands to Richard Talbot. The gardens were extensive and the towers impressive. Unfortunately, we onLy had 25 minutes here so I did not get to go into the castle...guess I'll have to wait until Scotland to do that! It's nice going on these tours with the MISTEC people because it gives everyone a chance to get to know each other and make connections outside of a professional setting. Once we left Malahide, we made our way along a narrow rad with spectacular views of Dublin harbor to the town of Howth. Howth is the second richest suburb of Dublin and has houses that average in the millions (although they are MUCH smaller than million dollar homes in the US). Once again, we only had 30min here so I ordered the best fish n chips I've ever had (and that's saying a lot since I live in New England!) and ate along he water. The Irish may not be known for their food
but man, they can sure cook potatoes. Every type of potato I've gotten so far has been perfect.
Belvedere Irish Nights On Thursday night, we headed to the Belvedere Hotel for their "Irish Nights" dinner and show. I was very excited about the venue because it was one block over from my guesthouse rather than the usual 25min walk to the university! Our tickets included a three course dinner and an Irish music/dancing show. For dinner I started with smoked trout, had braised Irish beef for the main course, and finished with a tiramisu hazelnut pyramid (yes, it was as delicious as it sounds! Basically it was a pyramid of soft hazelnut chocolate with tiramisu inside of it). While we were eating, there was a media show about the history of Irish dancing. I have ALWAYS loved Riverdance but never knew that it was first performed at Eurovision in the 90s and then became a huge hit. I always thought it was a show that was made in America; I guess since I was young when it first came out I never learned the history of the show. After dinner, three musicians (an accordion, guitar,
Guiness Factory
Guiness Factory and bodhrán player) took the stage and played a variety of vocal and instrumental pieces. The bodhrán player was brilliant and I recorded his big solo to play for my students to hopefully inspire them when I teach them how to play the bodhrán. I couldn't help but giggle at how shocked they were when the audience added harmonies during the audience participation songs...I would hope we sounded good since we all are music educators!!! After the musicians played a set, the dancers finally came on stage (my favorite part!). There were five dancers: four who performed with Riverdande and one traditional or "old style" dancer. It was interesting to see the differences between the Riverdande style and the old style. Although the rhythms sounded the same, the Riverdande style involved a lot more "flicking" of the ankles whereas the old style involved more scuffing of the feet. I was most impressed by the bRoom dance performed by the traditional dancer. Although show was definitely developed and catered towards tourists, it was nice being able to see Irish dancers and hear Irish music live.
Friday Pub Adventure Friday nights we were on our own as the
Choir School
This school is older than the US. MISTEC seminar was officially finished. Since we hadnt really experienced the Irish pubs and music sessions, a few of us decided we were going to venture to O'Donoghue's where locals suggested we go to hear a session (what live traditional Irish music in pubs is called). Since i was staying closer to the pub than everyone else, I decided I would just meet everyone there. How did we do it without cell phones?? I got there early, went into the packed pub, didn't see anyone, and waited awkwardly outside for about 20min Thinking I had missed everyone. i had never been so happy to see people I knew walking down the street!! We made our way in and found a fiddle and guitar player in the front corner. Apparently the Cheiftans as well as some other famous Irish musicians got their start at this pub. The fiddle player was fantastic and I loved it when they would play jigs and reels. Luckily, i managed to find a stool right next to the guitar player so I had a great view of how they communicated to each other while they were playing. Some interesting things I noticed: the fiddle player was
St. Pat's Cathedral
St. Patrick's Cathedral...still as beautiful as I remembered it from 6 years ago. holding his bow higher than the frog, the guitar player used a lot of barre chords and his capo, they would grunt/whoop when changing keys in the middle of a piece, and just like my instructor from Monday said, they would call out the forms by saying 2 sets of 8 or 4 sets of 8. It was inspiring to be sitting right with the folk musicians and getting to experience celtic music in its most authentic setting. After O'Donoghue's, we wandered around downtown Dublin looking for the Temple Bar, which is also supposed to have sessions but unfortunately, we couldn't find it so we ended up at Trinity Bar where we heard another guitar player with a percussionist.
In all, it was a packed week with not only academic learning and processing but also cultural activities that helped situate much of the learning and growing.
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