To Belfast in heals.

Today we woke up and walked to the train station at 6:30 a.m. We were told to dress up because we were going to a speaker later that day and I made the mistake of not hearing the professor say bring a pair of comfortable shoes to switch out of. I wore a nice cream colored sweater with a red silky shirt underneath and grey pants. My shoes of choice of course were my black pumps. Rachael said it would only be a few block to walk to the station…it was more like eight or ten.

It was so nice to get out of cityscape of Dublin to seeing beautiful green landscapes on the train ride up to Belfast. As we arrived we were greeted by our Belfast tour guide, Michael. The first thing I noticed was his accent. Northern Ireland people tend to have an accent that is harder to understand. He said the phrase “super duper” a lot which made me laugh. Northern Ireland isn’t Ireland. It is a part of the United Kingdom and I think it is hard for people to understand that because technically it is a part of the island. Our first stop was called the peace corner. Northern Ireland has such a monumental history that you can still see signs from its history today. Because of the Catholic/Protestant conflict this prompted many to paint large murals on the side of stores, homes etc. I felt very moved when I saw the high walls that were in place to divide the Protestant/Catholic communities. For a second I felt like I was looking that the Israeli conflict. It was amazing to see high walls at the jails that were used for protection during the times of riots. It is important to note that what I described is not continuous throughout the entire country in fact Center city seemed to be modernized.

After the peace corner, the next stop was the Northern Ireland assembly and the Belfast castle. The Belfast castle has a beautiful view that overlooked Belfast. I can understand why couples go there to have their wedding pictures taken or to go for a stroll on the grounds. I also recall there being many cat statues.

My absolute favorite part of the day was going to the shipyard which was the location where the Titanic was built. Even though there was not much to see it was what was there many years ago that left me with a sense of awe. The group ate lunch in the pump-house. After lunch we met Gerry Patterson, a creative designer from The Belfast Telegraph. He has worked there for 17 years, fourteen of which has been specifically working online. The newspaper’s circulation is 70,000. In Northern Ireland, 40 percent of people have home delivery which the complete opposite from the Republic of Ireland. Also there everyone has access to broadband. He said that 90 percent of high schools have broadband. I found it interesting that they sometimes rewrite headlines of stories that go online. He termed the phrase “Google friendly.” An impressive statistic was that 40 percent of traffic was looking at photos from the photo galleries on their website. The next big step he looks forward is to adding video.

After that we ate dinner at the Morning Star restaurant where I ate fish and chips (fish and French fries). Then we caught the 8:10 p.m. train back to Dublin. It was an eventful day that cause me to only obtain one blister.

One productive day

Today was a productive day. I was free in the morning so I went out and took photos of churches for my web project. I really like some photos of St. Patrick’s Cathedral. I would like to on Saturday to talk to anyone that works at the churches to get valuable quotes and information. After that we had another lecture by Dr. Flynn on digital media. He said a few interesting statements about Irish cinema such as 90 percent of tickets sold are for American picture and Europeans don’t go to the cinema as much as Americans. What shocked me the most was a list with the top four reasons why people go online in Ireland. I thought social networking (Twitter, Facebook etc.) would be number one like it is here in America; however, it was number four at 28 percent. Travel information was the first with 51 percent, news and current affairs is second with 38 percent, and online banking is third with 31 percent. Irish websites layout is also a little different than American websites. In Ireland they do not have links that link you to other websites. The links they have only go to other pages on their website. They do this because they are afraid if you go to other websites you wouldn’t come back. The Irish Times is the only website that has a comment section.

After the lecture, we went to an agency called “Photo call.” They started as war photographers that covered the Northern Ireland Conflict. Three years ago they moved to PR. He showed us slide shows of their work in Ireland called “Peace Conflict, “Abortion/divorce,” “Special Conditions in the 80s, and “Poverty and Drugs.” Basically this agency encompassed their history of a boom to now a bust economy. They are very active with talking to clients and selling packages. Overall it was nice to listen to current photographers and how the agency came to be.

Afterwards, the photographers had a special opportunity to meet Paul Kelly, an amazing photographer. I suggest you all Google him. He met with us in a back room of a pub and showed us a lot of his work that he has done from all over the world. I really liked some of his portraits from Guatemala.

I just have to add the picture below to my blog. I meant to add it yesterday when I took them but I forgot. Professor Fabilli saw this candy bar in a vending machine at Dublin City University. He and the rest of the gang thought it was funny.

Two great nights in a row...wahoo!

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.

PR day

Today was the public relations and advertising focus day which entailed two lectures from two different agencies. We began our day by walking a good distance early in the morning to meet Gerry Davis, chief executive of the Public Relations Institute of Ireland, PRII. PR II started in 1953 and has a core membership of 750. The cost of membership is 320 euros or 210 dollars. He started talking about the political background of Ireland which of course is bicameral and transitioning to its role in Ireland. He said it is a small industry that has a lot of one man groups. He also said that the industry is 70 percent female. Bob O’Gara, Point Park’s PR professor that came along on the trip agreed. He has noticed in his classes that the majority of students are women. Most agencies downsize because of the economy. He said that usually the public relation is the first thing to get cut. In the end, everyone agreed that in order to work in the field of communications you need to be able to write, take photos and shoot video.

Immediately after that we had another lecture by Jo Wood, an account planner from Ogilvy & Mather. I was responsible for taking photos at this event. I got a lot of photos from the back, left-hand side and front of the room. She showed numerous advertising campaigns. She spent a significant amount of time on the HSE National Office for suicide prevention mental health and young people campaign. The rate of suicide among young men in Ireland is higher than the European average. It promoted teens to support each other.

We ate lunch at a burger place near Grafton Street. Afterwards we stopped by a Dunnes Store in St. Stephen’s court. The Dunnes Store is very similar to Target in the U.S. From buying souvenirs and food for meals, it amazes me how quickly I am becoming familiar with the monetary system here in Ireland. The people here are very friendly. Whenever I have asked a local for directions not once have I been given the cold shoulder or a dirty look. It truly does make my stay here a much more enjoyable one. When we finally came back to our apartment at 2:30 in the afternoon, a roommate said that it felt like 6 p.m. I wanted to take a nap but I had lots of photos to edit.

On television! (read to find out more....)

Today we had a media lecture from Dr. Roderick Flynn at Dublin City University. He specifically talked about the Irish media in print and broadcasting. He began by simply stating that there is in fact an Irish media. The signs on the streets that are written in both English and Irish and listening to shows such as “The Simpsons” and “Dora the Explorer” are dubbed so they preserve the Irish language. Some of the more notable newspapers are the Irish Independent, and the Irish Times. The Irish Independent tends to be more liberal than the Irish Times that is conservative. There are national or regional newspapers but there is no city specific newspaper because the market is so small. As Flynn said, “Everything radiates out of Dublin.” There is one exception to that is The Examiner which sells well in Kerry. It was interesting to hear about Tony O’Reilly and his importance to Ireland. He borrowed money from Rupert Murdock in the 70s and 80s to start The Independent. He also owns Waterford Crystal, as well as the largest cable network. There are others that see him as an anti-figure. It is also important to note that the U.S and Ireland differ slightly with the web. In the U.S there is a rush to be the first to place a news story online. In Ireland, there is no rush. It is simply not because they don’t care but because they are not too familiar with the concept and there is libel laws. Church and state are not separated in Ireland. Concerning broadcasting in Ireland the 4 main domestic TV channels are RTE 1, RTE 2, TV 3, and 3e. What shocked me the most was hearing about the licensing fee. For instance if you own two televisions in your home here, you need to have two licenses which brings me to my second point about broadcasting which may or may not surprise you which is here in Ireland it is about two televisions per household compared four per household in the U.S.

After the lecture, we ate lunch at a café. I had a chicken soup with a grilled cheese and ham sandwich and water for about 5 Euros. It was good. Then my friends and I went grocery shopping. We bought a lot of groceries but the grapes were by far the most delicious. Came back to our apartment and had a break. We met at 1:30 p.m. to take a group photo out in the courtyard. Then we went on a bus tour of Dublin. The bus itself was a double-decker bus that had no roof on the top deck which made it great to take photos. I found out that the tourist bus was the most diverse employers in Ireland. We drove by a lot of places such as St. Patrick’s Cathedral, government buildings, parks, the zoo which in fact homes the most lions that will be exported to Africa. These lions are the lions that you see in the opening credits of MGM studio. They are also the second oldest zoo. As the tour went on, the weather got colder and colder.

A group of my friends and I ate dinner at O’Sheas. I had the chicken and vegetable soup for four Euros. After dinner, I had some free time to upload photos from the day. At 7 p.m. the entire group met to reflect on the mornings lecture by Dr. Flynn. Immediately after we then hopped on tour bus where our driver, Vladimir drove us to the RTE station to be a part of a live performance of The Frontline. This particular episode was an in-depth discussion on Ireland’s economy, particularly unemployment. Currently one in every nine people is unemployed. Prior to the actual taping, they showed the audience a documentary to various solutions to the problem. The first position was an implementation of a “smart economy” that demands the creation of jobs. This would not so much focus on the construction of more hotel buildings but more so focused on the usage of intelligence coming from bright college students that are leaving college and just entering the work force for innovation. The second position was a dramatic change in the constitution. This would come from good ethics and what the founders’ core values were. The third idea position was that there should be a change in parliament and the executive branch. More elected officials are thought to be needed at the local level. The fourth was the usage of good ethics and what the founders’ core values were. This point reiterated putting people into power that have the knowledge and are not placed into power because of their connections. Being a part of the studio audience was an experience I would never forget. I have never seen so many lights in one studio before. I got firsthand look on how a show is put together. According from fellow classmates and teachers I was on television for a few seconds.

I really like seeing how the front doors to the houses are painted different colors because back in the day children would work instead of go to school and therefore were illiterate. So their employers would tell them to complete their task for instance to go to the third red door on your right. I also like the closeness of the streets. Surprisingly it hasn’t shocked me how drivers drive differently compared to the U.S. I could go on however I am tired and we are leaving tomorrow at 8 a.m.

The beginning.

So, today we finally landed in Dublin!! The plane ride was alright considering I sat in front of two small antsy Irish children. I really couldn’t get mad because 1.) It’s my vacation 2.) They are adorable. 3.) They have an Irish accent. Our Point Park group consisting of 25 students and faculty sat in the rear of the plane. I had the pleasure of sitting next to Professor Helen Fallon and Angelica Blouch on a B757 that left at 9 p.m. from the Philadelphia International Airport on Saturday May 8, 2010 and arrived in Dublin at 9:30 a.m. on Sunday May 9, 2010. I believe the captain said the plane would reach 37,000 feet in the air. We traveled north and flew over Iceland. We are 5 hours ahead and therefore had to make sure we slept on the flight so we didn’t feel the jetlag. I remember waking up to a child, Conner, saying out loud, “Volcano!” My heart jumped and my eyes immediately looked out the window. The captain said we would be able to see the volcano on the right side of the plane where I was. I didn’t see too much. I saw a white, mountain-like structure that had puffs of white smoke coming out of it. As we began to descend, I immediately described Ireland as a green mosaic piece of art. There were different shades of green just like glass in a stained- glass window. It was simply breath taking. I asked, “Are we really here?”

After we arrived, we found our luggage and met with Rachael, our tour guide for the entire trip. She is a nice lady from Rochester, New York. Our first stop was Grafton Street, a quaint little street with shops and restaurants. I ran into many entertainers/musicians hoping to make a buck or should I say Euro? I unfortunately didn’t follow directions. We were instructed to meet back at 12:15 p.m. but I thought she said 12:30p.m. which caused me to rush to get to the next activity. While I was trying to take a photo, I was honked at by an Irishman while he was trying to park his car. The next stop on the tour was the Book of Kells at Trinity College. Seeing the Long Room that was full of books reminded me of my mom who works at the State Library in Harrisburg, PA. I was sure to get her a little something from there. We then had to wait a bit for the tour of the Dublin Castle. Waiting outside was pretty good…so far today the weather has been pretty good. I’ve only had to wear a light jacket. My favorite part of the Castle was seeing the foundation of the original towers and hearing how they had to build another one.

We finally came to the Saint Augustine Apartments where we will be staying for the next few days!! The rooms are in great condition and fully equipped with everything (fridge, tv, dish washer). My roommates here are Angelica, Nicole and Bethany. I unpacked everything and now I have to leave to go to a meeting, grocery shopping and grab dinner. While I was out at Grafton Street, I got so caught up taking photos that I didn’t take time to eat needless to say I’M STARVING!

So, I twisted my ankle two times the week before leaving for Ireland...this will be an interesting trip.