Day 5: Fun at the Zoo and Time in Jail

When I woke up this morning I knew it was going to be colder than it has been the other days here in Ireland. I packed on some extra layers and got ready for the day. I was really excited for the events we were heading into for the day. We started our day with a taxi ride to the park. It was the first time we have gotten to drive to an activity so I knew all of our feet were thankful... Little did we know by the end of the day we would have walked a total of 11 miles!

Our first activity of the day was visiting the Dublin Zoo. I was surprised to learn that the Dublin Zoo is home to about 600 different animals. We split into groups and went on our way to explore. I enjoyed having the time with some of my senior friends to walk around, talk, and obsess over the many kinds of monkeys at the zoo. We saw monkeys that were 3x as big as me ranging to a tiny little baby monkey clinging on to its mom. Not only did we thoroughly enjoy the monkeys but Ms. Harrison also seemed to pitch in on saying hi and taking pictures. Seeing all of the different exhibits were amazing but also sparked some amazing conversations on animal behaviors, animal rights, and imprisonment.

These conversations got us in the perfect mind space for our next activity of touring Kilmainham Gaol. Kilmainham Gaol is an old jail in Dublin and considered to be one of the most important buildings in the city. This is due to its important history of imprisoning and executing leaders and people who were fighting or activists during the Easter Rising. I had gotten the opportunity to do research on the jail before the trip so I was excited to be able to see it in person. The architecture in Dublin is incredible and the area with the cells was equally as impressive to me. Seeing the conditions of the prisoners and hearing the history of who had spent time there was eye opening to me. Ireland has such a rich history and this building is a great piece of that history. 

By the end of the day we were all pretty tired, 11 miles was a very long walk. We wanted to eat close to the hotel and by the luck of a flip of a coin I got to eat at Brazen Head. Established in 1198 it is the oldest pub in Ireland. While we did not take part in the pub we did eat the wonderful food. I ordered the lamb stew. I would give it a solid 5 star rating and if you ever find yourself in Dublin definitely go! It was the best meal I have had so far in Ireland and all of my meals have been incredible. It was a great day and I look forward to the days to come.

At the end of the night during our seminar session, Counselor Cormac Devlin joined us for an incredibly interesting discussion. Counselor Devlin, who is Connor Devlin's uncle, is a representative of the Fianna Fáil political party in Ireland. He was a Mayor last year, serves as a counselor member currently, and will be running in the next Irish election for the Dáil (Lower House). He opened up with us about the different parties, what they represent, and how the Irish government works. We all learned so much about Irish politics, and he put multiple examples into perspective compared to the United States. He brought important issues such as health care, redistribution of wealth, different laws and how they are put into place, the decision to either to take in refugees or not, and much more. Something really powerful to me that he said while discussing topics of refugees, "I like to think of it this way - if I needed a place to take refuge in because of the awful reasons people are facing I would hope that there would be someone to show my family and me some compassion and help us." I greatly appreciated his honesty and can tell he was someone who sincerely cares for the people of Ireland. It was truly the first time in my life I was in full agreement with a politician and aware of so many important issues.