I can’t help but to start where I left off. For the first time while I have been here in Ireland, I actually felt the Irish experience. Twelve of us decided to go out to eat. It ended up taking approximately an hour till we found a pizza place that actually served food. After dinner we went back to O’Sheas, an Irish pub located about a block away from the apartments. I had my first Guinness. To be honest, I’m not a beer person…I only drank about two-thirds of it. There was live band. It was just how you could have imagined, the strong smell of beer, the loud jolly music, and the inviting atmosphere by the locals. My friend was a little too drunk so I took her back to our apartment.
Today was a great day. I had the pleasure of meeting Rosita Boland, a writer for The Irish Times and Dan Rooney, America’s ambassador in Ireland and owner of the Steelers. We started the morning by having coffee with Rosita Boland at 8 at the Noto café which is a block away from the apartments. She talked about good journalistic conduct some of which I already knew but nevertheless is good to reiterate. She offered advice such as always spell names correctly, pay attention to silences, assume nothing and at the end of an interview to ask if they would like to add anything. I was shocked when she told us to go to their bathroom. This is important because it’s more personal, you can get more of an intimate look at them. It was surprising to hear that the Irish media does not do investigating reporting and that there is no Sunday paper. The Saturday paper stays at the newsstands for two days: Saturday and Sunday. She also studied at Harvard University which she said made her more analytical. She was impressed with the use of statistics by journalists here.
Meeting Dan Rooney was quite the experience, though not necessarily for me because I’m not a diehard Steelers fan like everyone else in the group. The group went through security with no problems. The only thing that we were allowed to have was our passports. We sat in the rotunda where the carpet was blue with white squares and there were red fold up chairs that we sat on while Ambassador Rooney and his staff spoke. We took a group picture that will be up on the schools’ website shortly. He talked about renewable energy. We have it in Pittsburgh and he is trying to bring it more so to Ireland. He had a phone call from the President prior to showing up to our talk that shortened our visit. Then after that we headed back to Dublin City University for a lecture on Irish TV drama from Helena Sheeha. She has written several books about Irish TV drama. What interested me the most was the controversies in drama that peaked in the late 70s because of conflicting world views. The strong conservative views were being eroded. These dramas were giving voices to each viewpoint. Their point of view was being threatened. Names of a few dramas were King of the Castle, The White House, and The Spike.
After the lecture, I came back and took a nap which felt amazing. The plan was to go out to eat for dinner but here in Dublin they stop serving food at the pubs early. You might be able to find places that will make you a sandwich in the pub. So, we saved money and bought food and had dinner at home. I was stopped by the Garda (police) on our way to the grocery store. They asked for my name. I said, “Gabrielle.” And then they said “ok” and left. Once I came back I cooked noodles and veggies with wine and turned on the television. It was a great night.
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