Yesterday in my Irish Society class, we learned about the roles of women in Ireland over the past 200 years. And let.me.tell.you..... the feminist in me was screaming to be unleashed! I cant believe it! The subserviant, and patriarcally dominated position of women is astonishing. But i suppose it was to be expected from a prodominatly Catholic society. The church has a huge role in the society here. Even the Irish language is full of references to God and other religious connotations. ("Dia duit" is what they say for "hello" and it literally means "god be with you"). Its crazy. But things are better now, and women are around the same position of the women in America now (not like that is acceptable). We have a long way to go! (Girl power!)
It's so strange being here. America is so....modernized and advanced socially compared to Ireland, yet both countries are struggling economically. If feels like Ireland is a step behind America though. We are both in an economic decline (as is the entire world practically) but i feel like Ireland is where we were during the last economic/huge unemployment decline. Just walking around the city all day, there are so many social programs they need to implament that we already have. For example: garbage clean up! They have no institution established to clean up the trash on the side of the roads, etc. I cant tell you how many times a day I'll be driving on the highway in Virginia and there are men cleaning up the side of the road. If they simply put out more trash cans things would be tons better! I just have all of these ideas in my head on how Ireland can improve as a country and create jobs, etc. so everyone doesnt emmagrate again like they have been doing the past .....250 years. This country has so much potential, it just needs the right people to begin the social revolution or unrest is innevitable. And i cant help but have a burning desire to be a part of that.
Over half of the people my age in Ireland are unemployed. Thats terrible! And there isnt a strong emphasis on education here. Well there is, but there arent a lot of colleges available and i can argue that the level of education isnt as advanced as it is in America...but the potential is there! And dont even get me started on the lack of women in politics in Ireland. We are so severely under-represented in the Republic of Ireland's politics, its sad. Yes, the president of the State is a female, but she has absolutely NO power, what-so-ever. She can't even give a speech without permission from the government. And the sad thing is, the women in ireland (when polled) said they are more likely to vote for a male politician that a woman. MEN were statistically shown to vote for females more. Grr.....
Anyway....enough ranting. Moral of the story is this: I want to live here. I feel so much love for this country already, and like i could make a difference/do something good here! Whereas in America, people are so self absorbed and reliant on others to fix things. Although you never see as many Irish flags in Ireland as you do American flags in the US, the people here have a genuine love and pride for their country. And you can feel it from every one you talk to. Americans (myself included) love America because they dont know any different; the Irish genuinely love thier country for what it is. :(
SO! On a less political/ranting note, i saw some megalitic (large stone) tombs from the Neolithic time period in Ireland. I took some pictures (below). The tombs were very......um...uneventful?....but still cool to see. However, the two hour ride on the bus to go see them was anything but. This country is stunning. So i've included some pictures (taken from the bus) as well. And maybe some of you can see why im never leaving :) I dont even mind the rain!
A "Court Tomb". That is my teacher inside demonstrating where all the bones and remains were found. His name is Carleton Jones, he is an Archaeologist and a very informative teacher. He helped excavate all of these tombs. Pretty cool.
This is a "Wedge Tomb" located in County Clare, Ireland (same as the one above). 
This is a "Portal Tomb". Kinda cool to think about how many people it took to lift that gigantic piece of limestone up on those rocks. And make it stable enough to survive for so long.
This is a picture of a cute cow along the road. They are everywhere! And its just like the movies where they are standing in the middle of the road, and you have to wait for them to cross before you can go on.
Some picture taken in Co. Claire (south of Galway). Those stone walls are EVERYWHERE in ireland. Its amazing. They dont have wooden fences (probalby because the wood would root with all the rain). Prior to ariving to where we were supposed to go, i started to wonder where all the rocks came from to allow for all these fences, until we arrive and i saw the intense amount of limestone that existst in southern Ireland. And someone told me the reason that the entire land of Ireland is fenced off is because when the British came in to take control (prior to the split of N. Ireland and the Republic) everyone was told to section of their land so they could keep claim over what was there. So these fences are pretty old, and incredibly well built to still be standing. 
Taken from the buss window. This is the "mountain". All that white stuff is the limestone.
Taken from the top of the mountain. More limestone (see! its taking over!)
This is just a picture of me and Michelle at the top of W.B. Yeats house (Thoor Ballylee (sp?)). 
Michelle and i decided we were going to go in search of this so called "kicking wall" that is supposed to prolong your life. Well, you're supposed to just walk along the beach for about ten minutes and you'll run into it. Well we never ran into anything, so we just kicked some random bolder, hoping it was it. BUT!...on the way there, the tike was really really really low, so we walked really far out. And being that i'm a hippie, i drew a peace sign in the sand so when the tide came back up, the fish would have something pretty to gaze at :) OH! Funny story! There is this guy Adam that does promoting for some club here. We run into him every night, and the first night we met him, he told us that he had been to San Diego one time to go to Sea World. Here are his exact words (ish): "What! You're from America? You have Killer Whales there! Here, if we see a dolphin in the ocean we throw a party for a week, but ye have Killer WHALES!". Ahh....america. We have orcas :) Go us.
This is a picture of the "Quadrangle" on campus. Its the prettiest building on campus. Its pretty cool. Its huge...and ivy grows all along it.
Okay, what else do i have to say....hmmmm. Why is it that all day i'm thinking about stuff i should write in my blog, but when i actually have the chance to sit down and write, i forget it all?
This Saturday, Michelle and i are going to take a tour to the Cliffs of Mohr (seriously...google it....stunning). Sunday, we have a trip to the Aran Islands, which are located right of the coast of Galway. They are giving us bicycles. :) All 80 something of us. And we are biking all across the three islands. Its going to be fun.
Then the NEXT weekend we are staying down on the Dingle Penninsula for the whole weekend. Which should be fun. Its nice to be able to see places outside of County Galway. Although....if i were to live here, it would be Galway. :) (despite the fact that it smells like sewer all the time.....see.....idea for job creation....clean the place up! It smells!). And then the last weekend, i think i'm going to join Michelle on a weekend trip to London where she is meeting her mom. She asked me to tag along because her dad didnt want her travelling alone. (oh yeah Mom & Dad, i might be going to London...ooops....i forgot to tell you...;) So that will be fun!
I suppose this will be all for now! Today is the Irish Independance day. So the school (National University of Ireland at Galway NUIG) is throwing a little barbeque. And then in two days....its USA's independance day. Kinda wierd....i'll actually really appreciate this independance day and a whole new sense of the word. I love America, i really do. But i'm starting to have a soft spot for Ireland in my heart as well.
Slainte!
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