Their Darkest Hour

No, yesterday was not awful, it was just difficult. Since I have been here for several weeks and Dublin is not a huge city, I have pretty much seen everything that I want to see at this point. After going through my guide book I found a place to go since I did not want to waste a perfectly good Sunday (and very few things are open on Sunday as it is). I made my way to the city centre to go to the Jeanie Johnson Tall Ship. The ship is a replica of the ships that many Irish took during their migration to the United States and abroad. It also was supposed to discuss the famine which was one of the many causes of emigration. As I have stated before the famine (1845-1849 roughly) slashed the Irish population from about 8-9 million to 4 million people through starvation, disease, and immigration. Because of this it is known as Ireland’s Darkest Hour because it was really not a great place to live during and after those years. I mean, can you imagine if half the people you knew were either dead or moved away in a five year period? There was actually plenty of food, but none of it was making its way to the Irish people. 

Dublin's Famine Memorial

Jeanie Johnson Tall Ship

The ship was along the Liffey River and as it was morning it was a beautiful walk and quite enjoyable. When I got to the ship though I saw that all the tours were booked for the next few hours (only one tour was offered an hour), so I made my way back toward the city centre and back to my apartment.  Upon returning back to my apartment I discovered that the internet was not working, which might not seem like a problem, but it is when it is necessary to get in contact with my friends and family, to find out what bus to take, or write an essay. So, I spent quite a bit of time out of the house or at Starbucks till the internet connection righted itself about 3PM. During this time my friends and I realized that we needed to print our tickets to A Midsummer Night’s Dream which we had bought online on Friday. Being that Dublin basically shuts down on Sundays we had a huge problem on our hands. Every library and print shop was closed along with UCD. So, I went from Wi-Fi hotspot to Wi-Fi hotspot trying to find a place to print. Eventually I discovered an internet café on Grafton Street where I could use the internet and print for only 2 Euro. In all honestly my friends and I had forgotten that places like that existed (who doesn’t have connection to internet?). 

After that crisis had ended it began to rain, which is not that unusual, though the Irish have discussed that has been an unnaturally nice summer; we are in the middle of a ‘heat wave.’ I was only worried because the play that we were going to that evening was going to be held in the gardens behind Dublin Castle next to the Chester Beatty Library. Thankfully when 7:30 came along the rain had stopped but the sky was still ominous. I made the unfortunate decision to try and look cute, so I wore a dress. During the hour and a half performance the wind blew ferociously and it was freezing. The rain held off though until we were walking to our bus stops. The play though was amazing! It was in the original Shakespeare, but with 1970s costumes and music; definitely worth seeing despite the bitter cold. 

Demetrius, Helena, and Lysander

The Fairy King Oberon

Puck