Roaming around Roma

K... had to write this on a malfunctionig keyboard on a ANCIENT computer in my hostel... please forgive the weird verbage and poor grammar.

Gonna try and make this brief...

What happened today in Rome. OMG! So much stuff.

first we, Dominic and I, went to the Santa Maria della Vittoria. This is where a famous statue called The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa is... she claims that she was being stabbed by an angel and experiencing great pain. Because the pain was sent by heaven she wanted to continually have them. It's really quite interesting. Apparently she also had them randomly in the street sometimes. But she liked them?

second we saw the fontana de tritone which was a fountain with triton. Um... the picture would be helpful about now, but it's really pretty.

thirdly, the famous fontana de trevi. This is the huge fountain where you make a wish by throwing a coin with your right hand over your left shoulder into the fountain.

fouth, the spanish steps... also very touristy and pretty.

fifth the pantheon. If you don't know about it use a wiki because there's way too much to type here.

somewhere before 4 and 5 we got lost and sound this huge building they're still building. Um... it's a tomb of an unknown soldier. HUGE

seventh the Piazza Navona that has two fountains in it and a huge plazza where painters and sketchers come.

eightly we went to the piazza campo de frori but missed the open air market by a smidge. We're going back in the morning tomorrow.

nine the Capitoline Hill and its museums.

whoa... all of that all around the city. My feet hurt. We left the hostel at 9am and came back 9pm. No joke. there were also a lot of random things we saw in between all our stops. Pretty much every street in Rome leads to something beautiful whether it be a fountain or piazza or market place, or building, etc. Also, we did a bit of shopping. After saving up my money for a whole semester and NOT allowing myself to go shopping (for clothes)... this was well deserved. I found a top that was originally 109 euro marked down to 10 euro!!! Another top was 90 euro marked down to 10 euro!! Must have been last season's stuff.

anyone else notice the significant number of nines?

So tomorrow we'll be seeing the Sistine Chapel and Saint Peter's Basilica... after we visit the open air market at the piazza campo de frori.

Wont be able to get pictures up until I get back to Galway. That would be April 1st... funny how that's April Fools... but YEAH!

Hope you all are doin' well.

Shout out to my lil' sis KIM RILEY!! RUN FAST MOONSHINE!

Traditional Irish Music!

Hey Friends!

So I finally started using the video recording application on my camera and the first thing I've captured (actually, Dominic was holding the camera) is a traditional Irish music band at the Crane pub in Galway, Ireland. Also, imagine an Irish girl dancing traditional Irish dance (duh). Dominic, Frankie, Megan and I seriously had the best seats. Right next to the band and right in front of the girl (who was a patron, so her dance totally impromptu) dancing.

Hope you enjoy the video! I'll try to get more.

Lisbon Treaty Debate

This is going to be somewhat difficult for me considering my very basic knowledge of the European Union, but here it goes.

A little over a month ago a boy ran to the front of the lecture hall I was sitting in (before the lecture had started) and announced a Literary and Debate Society meeting that night in said lecture hall, Kirwan Theater. The debate was to be on Gay Adoption. Having a fair amount of homosexual and bisexual friends that I care very deeply about, I was extremely interested in seeing the Irish perspective of the issue.

Ever since that day I have been to every NUI Galway Literary and Debate Society meeting on Thursday nights at 7pm. The Irish have an amazing gift for rhetoric and the topics are usually issues I want to know more about. Whether or not gathering information from a debate society is… well… debatable, I still go.

Tonight’s motion was to Vote Yes on the Lisbon Treaty. To define the Lisbon Treaty in this simple blog would be impossible, never mind the fact the Treaty itself is extremely complicated, partly due to the fact that it is a derivative of past treaties that are also complicated in their own rights. I highly recommend that you, dear reader, look into it yourself. Big changes are possibly on the horizon for Europe and it WILL affect the US.

Each side of the panel had very notable speakers. Feel free to skip this part if you don’t really care, but I’m still going to write it down because I’d like to remember in the future.

PRO

Proinsias DeRossa, MEP (MEP = member of European Parliament; former minister of Social Welfare, and former President of the Labour Party)

Prof. Helen Wallace (Prof. at London School of Economics, and advisor to European Commission)

Brendan Kiely (Director of Irish Alliance for Europe)

CON

Shannonbrooke Murphy (Holds LLM in Human Rights from NUIG, is the Director of Policy for Sinn Fein, member of Sinn Fein Ard Chomhairle)

Declan Ganley (Chairman of Libertas)

*Feel free to look up the different political parties mentioned. They’re quite interesting. Sinn Fein and Labour have very deep roots in Irish politics. Libertas is relatively new but still holds weight.

The following is purely information I have gathered from the debate. Understand that this could be flawed. I do plan on reading up on the issue more, but I want to write this blog before I lose my steam. Also, for most of the debate I tried to make a decision based upon what would be in the best interest of Ireland. It was difficult to look at the “big picture” of the treaty considering it involves so many different countries with different interests and cultures, to say the least.

The panel for the Lisbon Treaty, in my opinion, did not say much. After three hours of debate I still did not understand why this treaty would be beneficial to the Irish people.

What I do understand is the treaty intends to make a European Community. Part of this means it will put in motion an election for a president who will be a representative of 27 different states. Henry Kissinger once asked when he needed to speak to someone in charge of the EU, who he should call. A president would possible remedy this, but is that what the EU needs?

This reminds me of another community of different states. Oh right, my home country, the United States! But that’s a very vain perspective on my part. North America’s unification of the 50 states is extremely different from the unification of 27 different countries! Countries that have different languages, cultures, histories and interests! A collective European Community is a very pretty idea, and I hate to be a pessimist, but who’s going to get the short end of the stick?

The treaty is also supposed to reform voting procedures. This is due in part to the recent accession of ten other states into the EU in 2004. The growing EU family needs to make room for its new members. The panel for the motion tried their best to calm the fear of so many Irish people. That fear being whether or not Ireland will lose her political say so in the Union. She’s a small country, but she wants to still be heard loud and clear.

After writing all of that I’m realizing which side I am leaning towards more and more.

The opposition was passionately against the treaty. Most of their arguments were, however, out of fear. That is what makes me question their argument.

Issues concerning the militarization of the EU were called into question. If the treaty is passed it will require that each of its members meet certain military standards in case of possible conflicts in the future. This is significant to Ireland because she has often preferred the position of neutrality. Ireland was controversially neutral during WWII. Also, any country that contributes her soldiers to a larger collective military for the EU will also be partially responsible for any actions of this military. The Irish do not want to be associated with any possible “mistakes” the EU army could make in the future. This by far was the greatest argument against the treaty.

The majority of the treaty is made up of treaties proposed in the past. A significant amount of these past treaties were greatly opposed. Why would Ireland be in favor of something that has foundations of what she previously was against?

The Lisbon Treaty would take away Ireland’s veto power. It also surrenders a huge amount of power to the EU concerning Irish legislation including, commercial policy, monetary policy, foreign policy, defence policy, education, youth, health, industry, culture, tourism, research, technology, energy, transport, environment, agriculture, fisheries, discrimination, some areas of taxation, data protection, employment, customs, sport, immigration, security and justice, media, just to name a few. Many feel much of the EU’s power is democratically unaccountable and persuaded by big corporations and special interest groups. I know, “welcome to politics”, BUT the big question is, does this have to be Ireland’s future?

Folks, I’m running out of steam. It’s late and I’m hungry after all this thinking. I’d just like to add that this was by far the most heated debate I have ever attended and that is largely due to the significant amount of senior Irish citizens in the theater. Old Irish people are fiery! There was so much name calling, mud slinging and raised voices! When it comes to politics, old Irish men got game! This was also the only time the NUI Galway student body (at the event) was almost split fifty-fifty. In the end, the majority voted against the motion, but that’s seriously because of the significant amount of senior opposition. I didn’t count any senior citizens who were for the motion.

Gonna research more later. Gotta eat something and then talk to my love on SKYPE!

Aran Islands

This is a picture of Inishmore, one of the Aran Islands. The Aran Islands are about as far west as you can go in Ireland and that’s very special because some think the further west you go, the closer you get to “authentic” Ireland. The Celtic Tiger drastically changed much of Ireland. Dublin is a booming metropolis and the constant renovations and construction on a lot of Irish cities is a testimony to the cash flow into the country. However, many, often of the older, more conservative persuasion, miss the old Ireland; the Ireland of green hills, faeries and mossy bog.

It would be untrue to say the Celtic Tiger hasn’t left some kind of mark on the Aran Islands, but after riding a bike around Inishmore I’d have to say it’s pretty authentic to me. Most of the inhabitants on the islands still speak Gaelic which has become a sort of dead language in Ireland. Inishmore is ten miles around and three miles across. My friends and I biked for the better part of four hours. The scenery was breathtaking and getting lost was a treat rather than a nuisance. The only thing close to a nuisance was when I finally got off my bike. The result was my legs giving up on me and my body slowly slumping to the ground with my bike on top of me. Should probably look into a gym when I get back to the States.

For those who are not familiar with the Celtic Tiger:

Celtic Tiger (Irish: Tíogar Ceilteach) is a name for the period of rapid economic growth in the Republic of Ireland that began in the 1990s and slowed in 2001, only to pick up pace again in 2003 and then have slowed down once again by 2006. During this time, Ireland experienced a boom in which it was transformed from one of Europe's poorer countries into one of its wealthiest. The causes of Ireland's growth are the subject of some debate, but credit has been primarily given to free market capitalism: low corporate taxation; decades of investment in domestic higher education; a low-cost labour market; a policy of restraint in government spending; and EU membership - which provided transfer payments and export access to the Single Market. ---Wikipedia.org---

Pancake Tuesday!

So there's a little Irish holiday I'd like to share with you. Pancake Tuesday! I know this is a little old but on Tuesday night, February 5th, my roommate Emer ran up to my room and asked if I wanted pancakes. She was so excited. I think it's one of her favorite holidays. Anyway, here's a brief on Pancake Tuesday:

This is the last Tuesday before Lent, which is forty days before Easter Sunday. No meat or milk products, including eggs could be eaten during lent so the celebrations of Shrove Tuesday have always involved an emphasis on food. Surplus eggs, milk and butter were used up to make pancakes, which were often cooked over a fire made with Christmas holly. The tossing of the pancake held huge importance for those still unmarried. Usually the eldest unmarried daughter of the host was the first to toss. If the pancake landed unruffled on the pan her nuptial fortunes for the year were in her favour and she would marry within the year. In 1563 the Decree on Matrimony prohibited marriage during Lent. This led to the fallacious logic that it was good to get married before Lent, therefore, the day before Lent began. So, while the matchmakers work began on Little Christmas the fruits were reaped on Shrove Tuesday, it being the busiest day of the year for weddings.

The picture is of my Irish roommate, Maryclaire. She's trying her hand at flipping the pancake. It's actually more of a crepe because it's so thin. Also, the Irish like to eat it with lemon juice and sugar sprinkled on top.

It was really fun that night. Imagine three hungry, giggly girls hovering around pancakes.