Tag: Gaol

Dublin

Something that may have been realized simply by reading previous posts is that I am not a very social person. I don’t tend to get along with people, and I don’t tend to tolerate anything even vaguely annoying from people. Now, I do on rare occasion decide that being the world’s premier killjoy is a bit of a downer, so I let myself be semi-anti-social rather than absolute-anti-social. The difference is that I go along with what people say and I laugh a lot. Do I regret this? Every time! Will I stop doing it? Probably!

IMG_20190528_155947
Whiskey is… -_-

I mean I tried it at least…Go me!

IMG_20190528_125857
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 4 Episode 5. 😉

IMG_20190528_104435.jpg

Did I mean for those traffic cones to be there? Well…no I didn’t really have control over that. Let’s rephrase, would I have preferred those traffic cones to have not been there? Yes, but as they are there, I will just say its symbolism and move on. 🙂

Dublin was nice. I had fun. It was a severe disappointment to come home after being in Dublin with the three nice people I had started to enjoy so much. Honestly, though, I really did enjoy tagging along with them, I would not be surprised if it ends up being the highlight of my entire college experience. I haven’t really had a college experience so far, and I’m a senior so…the first entry also gets to be the highlight entry.

If I learned anything in Dublin…I have been thorough in my forgetting it. Oh, wait! The GPO! The General Post Office was the headquarters of the Easter Rising. They have made a large section of it into an impressive museum. The most impressive museum on the trip by far, and the most worthwhile. Now, apparently I am the only one in my group not incredibly confused by the whole thing, so it may be possible that a background of knowledge about the First World War is helpful. Oh, that and real-time strategy games, it really helps you get used to the camera moves made by the movie they show.

(We also went to another gaol, my thoughts towards which are in line with those on the previous gaol)

Something Something More About Belfast

When visiting Ireland, don’t bother going to see any of the gaols. The most notable thing about them is that they have somehow been allowed to retain their ridiculous “gaol” spelling. Even when one is studying say, the hunger strike or the Easter Rising, it is not important to go to see the location. You can imagine what a gaol looks like, or if you are imaginatively disinclined, I suppose you could simply find pictures. What you get when you go to a gaol is rather a long walking tour and somewhat dubious history lesson. (and possibly depression)

The Peace Walls are some of the better-known legacies of the Troubles. They are not as interesting as the murals, or as impressive as the seats of power. This is to say they are somewhat unnecessary as far as stops go. Well, you will probably want to go just so you don’t have to explain to everyone that you meet that you made an actual decision based on what some sarcastic blogger said, but you will be underwhelmed. The Peace Walls are, as far as walls go…poorly constructed? Uninteresting? Perhaps this will show you why;

PANO_20190518_104728.vr

Apologies if the panorama doesn’t work for you, but this is what I understand to be one of the more visited sections of peace wall. It isn’t very… anything is it? The images on this aren’t as good as the murals that can be found elsewhere. So I hate to say it, but this is just another stop that isn’t entirely necessary.

I understand why we were given a campus tour of Queen’s University. I really do. It’s just… did we have to have a tour of Queen’s University? Again, Victoria was great, but it’s going to take more than just a name to get me to care about a tour. I have never really appreciated campus tours, they are made for people who are not me. I have absolutely no use for them, even if I am going to spend time on that campus. If someone points out something I might want to do, I probably still won’t do it. I think this is exceedingly clear at this point, but I keep to myself whenever possible. That said, it did make me feel as though my school’s architecture was…lacking. Perhaps this will show you why.

I will let you try and figure out which one is named after Victoria and which one is named after of some random town in southern Illinois.