Day 1

Most of today was spent in airports and airliners. The abundance of down time did afford me an opportunity to catch up some of the required readings for the courses. I feel it is imperative for me to understand the history of the conflicts and troubles which pepper Irish sociopolitical history in order to fully experience the study abroad trip. I expect to be bombarded with Irish historical and religious factoids and it is important for me to at least understand the contexts of the Irish political experience in order to make sense and compartmentalize the flow of knowledge sure to be coming my way. I expect to see lots of historic sites, and be led on tours by experts of Irish political history. I feel excited about traveling abroad. In all of my years of schooling, I have yet to experience a learning environment that exists outside of a classroom. As an education major, it should be fruitful to observe how learning will take place in a non-traditional environment and note the advantages and disadvantages of this non-traditional approach. I think I am most excited to visit Kilmainham Jail. I read quite a bit about the jail before the trip and I am anxious to see in real life what looks absolutely haunting in pictures, especially considering all of the political executions which took place there. My concerns with the trip are minimal. I feel like I am in good hands with Dr. Rice and Dr. DeGarmo and that they will do everything within their power to assure the group's safety. However, with the region's economy in such poor condition, I am somewhat concerned that political tensions among the divergent groups may be close to a boiling point.