Hi guys,
sry that i didn't write anything the last few weeks, but i was really busy writing essay, doing presentations and going on field trips. SRY.

So. I start a month ago. Wednesday, 21th October. On this day I took part at a Field trip to Dublin with the “Political Geography” class. I'm not in this class, but the field trip was open to all international students, so i decided to join them.

The trip was really interesting as we learned a lot about Ireland's history and the political structures and changes in the past.

We started in Limerick at half past 7 in the morning to leave for Dublin. Our first stop was the Colinns Baracks´ Museum, where we had a guided tour about the Irish Revolution of 1916.
Although it was raining heavily, we had a walk through the City Center along O'Connell street with a stop in the General Post Office and a visit at the former Houses of Parliament.
(Statue of Daniel O'Connell on O'Connell Street, Dublin)
(Statue of Daniel O'Connel in the former Houses of Parliament-now Bank of Ireland)
(me in the former House of Lords)

After a short lunch break we meet at Trinity College and went to Leinster House, where the Parliament is situated today. There we meet the Minister for Defence, Willie O´Dea, T.D, who had invitated us.
(Houses of Parliament)

At the end of the day, we went to the European Union Offices, where we saw a movie about Ireland in the European Union and the European Union in general. Afterwards we had a discussion about several different topics, especially the Irish Referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.

This was the official end of the field trip. Whereas all others went back to Limerick, I stayed in Dublin and meet my cousin Hanna.
It was really nice to meet some relative here in Ireland. Hanna and me went first to a pub, later on walked through the rain to Hanna's apartment, where we cooked ourselves dinner. We just relaxed and had a nice talk about Ireland and everything else.
(Hanna and me)
The next day, Hanna had to go to work early and I left Dublin at about noon. It was the first time for me in Dublin and except the heavy rain, I really enjoyed it.

Fieldtrip + Study Informations

Fieldtrip, 17.10.2009 – Studies Informations

On Saturday we had a field trip to the “Burren” and the “Cliffs of Moher”.

I take the course “Evolution of the English and Irish Landscape”. Part of this class are two field trips. The first was on saturday and was really great.

Fossil Limestone at the Burren

For me(and probably also the others) as a geographer it was really interesting to see some of the things we already learned in class. (Fossils)

We had to fill out a worksheet and answer some questions. First we went to the “Burren” were we saw fossil limestone. We had to analyze the stones determine them, and with the knowledge we gained in class describe how the stones were formed.

Patrick and me at the Burren

Afterwards we jumped back on the bus and went to the Cliffs of Moher. Although I was already there once(the top picture of the site), it was really interesting to learn about the geographical origin etc. Also at the Cliffs we had a worksheet and had to answer some questions.

The Cliffs of Moher

Reading my reports, you probably just think that I'm only traveling here. But that's not true. I had my first presentation this week and have another next week. All in all I take seven courses:

Geography:

Evolution of the English and Irish Landscape

Reconstructing Past Environments

Sustainable and Territorial Development

Tourism and Heritage Management

English:

Interpreting Literature

English for Academic Purposes

Irish:

Irish for beginners

I have to say that the Irish class is very hard. The language is quite difficult and the pronunciation is quite strange.

I really like my courses, the topics are really interesting and I learn a lot. Furthermore I improve my English just by sitting in class and listening to the lectures. That's my really enjoy my time here, as I know this time here is really important for my English and I work hard on it.

So, now, you're really up to date. I didn't write an article on the first Cliffs of Moher trip, but u have the picture on the top of the site. I hope that I will update this blog about once a week.

I hope u keep reading my blog and leave some comments!!!

Take care!

Michael

London

London,

yeah guys, I was in London. Paying only 40€ for a return flight (including all taxes and fees) made me go to London. All in all, we were at least 10 international students who were in London at this weekend.

We had a really great time. We often split up, formed little groups referring to the interest. I think all of us enjoyed it.

On Friday we went to the Globe Theater and watched a Shakespeare play. We had standing places and paid only 5 pounds. On the one hand the standing places were really nice, as we were directly at the stage and really could enjoy the atmosphere. On the other hand standing for two and a half hours was really hard and our feet hurt.

In the picture, you can see some of us in the GLobe Theatre.

On Friday evening I caught up with Andrea, who I know from my studies in Bamberg. She is a teaching assistant in London for one year. We cooked together and just talked, had a bottle of wine and enjoyed the evening. It was really nice to see somebody from back home again.

Andrea and me.

On Saturday and Sunday we went to several markets and museums. I really enjoyed the Cramdon market and the stables. It was probably the most interesting market I have ever been to. There were so many different things to buy. There was of course a lot of typical tourist stuff artificial stuff and many international food stores. I really liked it. Besides walking through the city and see Buckingham Palace, the Tower, Westminster Abbey and a lot of other sites, we went to several Museums. I really loved the Natural Museum. It's the best museum I have ever been to. I spent probably two hours in the rock section. But also the British Museum was quite amazing. So much information about different cultures and history. And the best of it, all museums were free of charge!!! On Monday morning, we went to the V& A (Victoria & Albert) museum. I didn't really like it, but some parts were interesting. But it was for free as well, so nothing to regret.

In front of Buckingham Palace...

In the Natural Museum..

On Monday afternoon we took our flight back to be back in Limerick in the evening.

London is a great city. I really liked the city, not only because of the tourist sites, but especially because of the interesting museums. I wished we had museums like them back home!

Cu soon...

Cork

Hi guys,
first of all THANKS for all the mails I got from you. I got several mails in English, what encourages me to go on writing in English.
I heard that some of you tried to leave a comment, but weren't. It should work now.
First click on "Kommentare", choose "Anonym" as profile and write a comment. Of course, u can leave your name under ur message. I hope that you'll write a lot of comments and mails.
So, enjoy the next report!

Trip 2:
On my second trip I went to Cork, the second biggest city in Ireland. This trip was not organised by the Student Union. We were six guys, who went to Cork. On Saturday morning, we took a bus to Cork. After having arrived there, we went to Barnley Castle. Once again we were very lucky with the weather, not only that it didn't rain, even the sun was shining.

In the left picture you can see parts of the Barnley Castle with it's nice sourroundings and the little stream. The right picture shows me kissing the Barnley Stone, the most famous tourist attraction in the Castle. As you can see, I had to lie down to kiss the stone. It seemed were akward, but everybody does it.
After everyone of us has kissed the stone we enjoyed the park around the castle, which was also quite nice and had some special features like the "wishing stairs" and a little water fall as you can see in the next picture.

After having had some sandwiches in the parc, we went back to the city center of Cork. There, we had a nice walk through the city, enjoyed the atmosphere in the city and went to the "English Market", which you can see on the picture. It is actually a food market, but there are also a few other things to buy, but mainly every kind of food.



In the late afternoon, we decided to go to a pub and have a nice pint of Guiness, as we were walking through the city for quite a long time and all of us were a little bit tired. Whereas the others went home on this evening, I stayed over night in Cork. In the evening I just went to a Sportsbar, watch a football match and talked to some locals.

On the next day, I walked through some other parts of the city, went to the "Butter Museum" and went to some of the beautiful churches. In the picture on the left, you can see a chapel in one of the chruches. The picture on the right shows a typical Irish church, build with white stones.



Later on, I went to the University of Cork, which you can see on the picture underneath. The buildings of the University were quite impressive, although most of them were closed. I just relaxed a litte bit on a bench and read a book. By the way: I finally finished "The pillars of the earth";)


After having enjoyed the sun at the University I decided to go back to the city center, where I went to the town's hall and some other buildings, before I took the bus back to Limerick, where my trip ended.

So far for today, next report comes soon;)

Foste

Trips

Hi guys,
this post refers to the first trips I already made in the first few weeks:

Trip 1:
Already on the first Saturday (05/09/09) the Student Union organised a trip for the International students. We went to Lough Gur and visited a lot of ancient buildings, stone circles etc. We also walked a little bit around the lake and had some nice views over the lake and the scenery.

The picture on right shows the group of the International students. In the background you can see some of the stones from the "Stone Circle". The big one is supposed to weigh about 3 tons.


In this picture you can see me and the beautiful scenery with the lake, the green fields and the little hill on the right side.


In the evening we went to Bunratty Castle and had a medieaval meal in the castle. The atmosphere was really awesome. The meal was fantastic, and also the entertainment was quite amusing.



The castle from the outside.



delicious food at the mediaeval meal. We only had knives and spoons, no forks, but we were allowed to use our fingers;)


...kk that was the first trip. I try to hold the messages short, as I reckon you won't read them, when they are too long;)

Basic Informations

Hi guys,
as probably all of you(oh yeah, i even told Antonia and Betty before my flight;)) know, will I stay here in Ireland for the next months and study here.

I'm living at the "City Campus"(photo above), a student residential accomondation. Nearly all international students live here. But of course also a lot of Irish students. I don't know how many students live here, but I guess, all in all 500-600. I marked our appartment with a red rectangle. You can only see the kitchen window, the windows of our rooms are to the other side of the building. Every apartment has one kitchen/living room, 2 bath rooms and 4 rooms for the 4 residents. I live with 3 Irish fellows, as u can see in the picture underneath. (Barry, Ruthie, Sam & me)
They are really nice and I'm are really happy that I live with them and not with other german guys. In this way I'm forced to speak English and that's the reason why I'm here. Furthermore they can explain me everything. For example any words I don't know or anything about Ireland.
As you can see I already decorated our living room in the bavarian style.

And of course I'm not only hanging here around and relax, I'm also studying. The Mary. I College is about 10-15 minutes walk from our residential acommondation. The City Center is about as far as away as the College, but in the other direction.

At the Mary I. study about 46 international students. They come from all over the world and we really have a good time together. We were already on some trips on the weekends and enjoyed our time here.

So that's so far for the beginning. I'll give you some more info in the next days.

Thanks for all the e-mails I already got. I'm really happy to get some infos about what's going on back home. So your're all welcome to write me an e-mail or chat with me.

Hope everything's all right back home and u're all fine!

C u guys!

Foste


P.S.: Probably some of u wonder, why I'm writing this blog in English. I'm here to improve my English and speak and write English as much as possible. And for u guys it's not bad either. So let's take this chance. ;)