Filed under: Ireland, Lauren Selden, personal intrests, photography, travel | Tags: adventure, bloody sunday, Bogside, Clouds, day tour, Derry, Dublin, Giants Causeway, Ireland, Lauren Selden, memory, New Derry, Paddywagon Tours, tourist, travel
Going in back in time now, and beginning from the beginning of the traveling days. This post was written in my travel journal on April 7th, during my last week in Ireland.
The past few days have been amazing. Sunday (the 5th April) I went to the North- to see the Giant’s Causeway or Derry. The weather was fantastic! The sights were beautiful and I even befriended another girl who was travelling alone as well. The Giant’s Causeway is a strange basalt rock formation on the north-east point of Ireland. The rock was all formed into perfect hexagonal columns. Fantastic!
The rocks are just like little stepping stones, but still it was quite a climb to the top!
Then we travelled to Derry, which was pretty incredible. We met with a tour guide there who was from Derry and lived there through all the troubles. He took us on a walking tour of Derry and the ‘Bogside’ (which is where the English shoved all the Irish Catholics as they took over Ireland) Very heavy stuff. As we walked down along the road where Bloody Sunday occurred, I think we could all feel the weight of the history of Derry and the ‘Bogside’.
When we got on the bus, we were all totally silent. You could feel the impact the visit had had on us all, a far cry from a few hours earlier when we were all cracking jokes about giants.
I’m making the most of my last days in Ireland, trying to re-visit all my favorite Dublin institutions, as well as getting out and seeing more of the countryside. Plans are set for a trip to Blarney Castle and Country Limerick as well as a weekend in Galway. Hard to believe my time in Ireland is coming to a close, it has been an amazing 4 months.
And as always: Lots more photos are available on my Flickr. Click Here!
Filed under: Lauren Selden, anecdotes, personal intrests, photography, travel | Tags: adventure, avignon, castle, england, france, Ireland, Lauren Selden, london, lyon, paris, ruins, tourist, travel
Our travels have been going swimmingly! We’ve spent a fantastic week in London, journeyed through Provence, and now we are ending our stay in Lyon and catching the train to Paris!
Apologies are in order for the lack of updates! I’ve been so busy having fun its hard to find a spare moment to write a blog post, and when I do post I like to create something interesting and worthwhile. I’ve been keeping sketchbooks packed with observations and drawings and the like, and I look forward to going through them all when I arrive home May 5th. I plan to post all my adventures chronologically (if after-the-fact) so that you can enjoy the trip in the same order that I did.
For now I must say au-revoir as we have a train to catch! Paris, look out!!
Bisous
L
An amazing ruin of a castle in Northern Ireland.
Filed under: Ireland, Lauren Selden, anecdotes, personal intrests, travel | Tags: adventure, Dublin, Ireland, Lauren Selden, tourist, travel
Happy Easter to all!
I’m killing time before my flight this morning to London. Hard to believe that four months have already flown by and I am leaving Dublin. I’ve grown so attached to this beautiful city. I’m sure I will be back to visit in the future!
I promise to continue updating this blog as much as possible throughout my travels. I still have lots and lots of Ireland Adventures to share with you! Trips to Northern Ireland, The Giant’s Causeway, Derry, Blarney Castle and the Cliffs of Moher. Not to mention all the new adventures I look forward to having in London and Paris!
All my Love
Lauren
Filed under: Ireland, Lauren Selden, photography, travel | Tags: adventure, beaches, blue skies, Clouds, cottage, Donegal, Drive, Dublin, Euro, Ireland, Lauren Selden, memory, Road Trip, ruins, sand, sea, sheep, silver strand, stone, surfing, thatched roof, tourist, travel, Weather, wind, windy
First off, Apologies for the lack of blog posts these past weeks. School has ended and I’ve been trying to tie up a bunch on loose ends before I leave Ireland for London on Sunday. (tomorrow! yikes!) I made sure I had a full week after the end of the semester to travel around Ireland- but let me tell you I wish I had another 3 weeks to spend! Ireland may be a small island- but it’s packed full of beauty and adventures!
The last weekend of March I took a roadtrip with my good friend, Anaelle, to Donegal- an area of Ireland that is on the north-west coast. Everyone told me that Donegal was beautiful, except Anaelle who claims that there is nothing there but sheep! Really, Anaelle must have become immune to the scenery because Donegal is amazingly beautiful! Some of the beaches were really breathtaking, the one above actually had a group of surfers enjoying it! The water must have been cold- but you can’t beat the scenery.
This is a traditional styled thatched cottage, there are still a few left dotting the landscape of Donegal. The house where I stayed in Donegal was also an older property- the walls are made of trampled stone. Which means that the shells were put in place, and then villagers would trample lime and sand and stone down into the shell of the house to create a solid wall – one whole meter thick! It gets chilly inside a stone house like this, so I was grateful for the wood fire that kept us warm.
It was a four hour journey from Dublin to Donegal but well worth the drive. I’m glad we had a car, as most of the things to see in Donegal require a car to get to, or to enjoy. We took a drive through the blue-stack mountains, visited several beautiful beaches and enjoyed the amazing barren landscapes.
This is beach is known as Silver Strand- and boy it was WIND-Y! Looking out onto the water I could hardly breathe for the wind.
Up next: A fantastic tour to The Giants’ Causeway and the historic northern town of Derry.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: adventure, art, canada, crocus, daffodils, Dublin, garden, Ireland, Lauren Selden, secret garden, spring, study abroad, travel, Weather, winter
An open letter to friends and family back home:
Dear Loved ones, How I feel for you all, and your recent blizzards. Does Canada not realize it is Spring?! You should know that all this snow is only serving to enforce the ridiculous stereotypes of Canada that the rest of the world believes. (eg. Igloos and Polar Bears.)
Don’t be fooled by the cool blue skies, dear friends. Spring has officially sprung here in Dublin. Crocuses are poping up everywhere, even my little front yard in between the old dead detrius of
the winter. Daffodils line the streets in Milltown and make even the most overcast grey day sunny. Sometimes, as I walk to school over a cobblestone bridge, running my hands along the mossy sides – I have a sudden deep and penetrating feeling that I am in the Secret Garden. Tending to the plants and pruning back the deadfall from a cold cold winter (the coldest Dublin has seen in decades) and making room for the new blooms of spring.
xo Lauren
Filed under: Ireland, anecdotes, art, colour, film and video, personal intrests | Tags: Dublin, Ireland, Lauren Selden, memory, experimental film, adventure, Film, Michel Gondry, José Luis Guerín, Tokyo!, Joon-ho Bong, Leos Carax, les enfants du paradis, Marcel Carné, Jacques Prévert, french cinema, lighthouse, lighthouse cinema, smithfield, JDIFF, JDIFF 2009, Liam Neeson Live, Liam Neeson, cinema
The film festival has finally ended, let me tell you it’s been a great 2 weeks! I’d say the personal highlight of the festival for me was getting to meet Liam Neeson- what a great Dublin experience. I saw 5 films during the festival, as well as attending the Liam Neeson talk, overall I enjoyed everything I had the pleasure of seeing, and each film was entirely different from the rest.
I’ve already shared with you my favorite parts of From the East and Franklyn, here are my favorite moments of the other films I saw;
Filed under: Ireland, Lauren Selden, anecdotes, art, colour, film and video, personal intrests, photography, travel | Tags: adventure, Chantal Akerman, Clouds, DIFF, Dublin, experimental film, Film, film festival, Franklyn, From the East, Gerald McMorrow, Ireland, Lauren Selden, memory, night life, travel
Well, its official. The Dublin International Film Festival has come to town. Last Thursday, actually. I’ve been to two films so far, both entirely and incredibly different. The first is a film called From the East, directed by Chantal Akerman. I found the film very interesting, although clearly the audience wasn’t as impressed- quite a few of them walked out. The film was mainly comprised of long, panning wide shots of parts of Eastern Europe. It was shot documentary style, and I found the most interesting part of the film was watching the subjects as they eventually realized the presence of the camera. There were also some lovely interior ’still lifes’ (for lack of a better word), my favorite was one where a young boy played with his toy car while a German Politician rambled on the evening news.
Tonight, I saw Franklyn. A more conventional type of film by Gerald McMorrow, starring among others Eva Green. The film was fantastic- and not just because of the wonderful talents of Eva Green- who I love. The film tracks the meshing of four stories through the eyes of one man, who lives his days out in a place called Meanwhile City. The graphics alone made me weak in the knees. Top 3
1. Eva speaking to a video of herself. She smears her red lipstick down her chin.
2.Photos of a boy having a picnic with his imaginary friend.
3. A giant buddah looms over a distopian London.
I will be seeing a few more films before the festival ends on Sunday, Les Enfants du Paradis tomorrow, Tokyo! on Wednesday- and likely a few more following that. It’s nice to feel like a part of the film scene here, and I love the way this festival feels in comparison to VIFF- it just feels so much more approachable.
Filed under: Ireland, Lauren Selden, anecdotes, art, craft, film and video, food, gallery, installation, travel | Tags: 4 dame lane, adventure, architecture, art, art gallery, bookstore, Dublin, experimental film, food, gallery, IMMA, Ireland, Lauren Selden, national gallery ireland, Post, shopping, st. patricks cathedral, study abroad, tourist, travel, vegan, video art, wagamama
It’s been a busy few days over here. Last Thursday I was part of a media/art exhibition at a club here in Dublin known only by the mysterious name, 4 Dame Lane. It was a fairly low tech production, as you might be able to tell from the ‘vintage’ televisions our work was shown on, but it gave the night a fun bohemian flair. The piece I had included is one from 2007, called Waiting.
After the fun and excitement of Thursday night, and a great potluck hosted by NYU students on Friday night on Saturday we did the gallery circuit. Along with some fellow exchange students we headed first to IMMA, the Irish Museum of Modern Art. IMMA is located in the most beautiful building on a hilltop just outside of the city center. The grounds are beautiful and they have a wonderful sculpture garden. The main show right now is called Exquisite Corpse- and among all the great artwork there was also a fun room where you could draw your own exquisite corpses with friends. We all had great fun drawing them up, give art students a DIY project and they’ll go wild for sure! (you can see the results in my Flickr album)
After IMMA we strolled our way back into the city, stopping at a few unnamed hole in the wall galleries (which I find can often be the most interesting). We made a pit stop at St. Patricks Cathedral and then headed for a bite. Wagamama’s is a UK restaurant chain that serves up Asian style cuisine- we all really enjoyed it, especially Aino who is vegan. The restaurant actually has its’ own vegan menu which is perfect for her, and others like her!
We did visit the National Gallery after, but I admit we didn’t visit in the typical way. You see, the Gallery Shop is right in the entrance of the gallery- and by the time we’d checked out every nook and cranny (and bought most of it) the gallery itself had closed! Please forgive us and our retail therapy. We all made a pact to go back again for a real visit. In the meantime, you can enjoy the beautiful architecture of the gallery lobby. What great shapes!
Also: a tiny little p.s. but a BIG thank you to everyone who has sent me some snail mail- I think I’ve become addicted to both giving and getting it!
Filed under: Ireland, Lauren Selden, NCAD, anecdotes, art, books, colour, food, gallery, literature, personal intrests, photography, travel, writing | Tags: adventure, architecture, Beer, Dublin, explore, exploring, food, Guinness, Ireland, Jameson, Lauren Selden, memory, Oscar Wilde, tour, tourist, travel, Trinity University, Weather, Whiskey, Writers
This past Sunday I finally became an official Tourist in Dublin. Along with my friend, a fellow exchange student at NCAD, I took a ‘hop on hop off’ bus tour of Dublin, which ended up being a lot of fun, I recommend it for sure! We started out at Trinity University, to take a look around- mostly just getting jealous that our campus isn’t as insanely beautiful. Then we hopped on the bus, and got off moments later at the home of Oscar Wilde, one of my absolute favorite writers of all time (and a born and bred Dubliner). His house is now a museum of American something-or-other which I think is a shame, but at least there is a little bronze plaque out front! Also, there is the most kickin’ statue of Oscar in the park across the street, Aino and I had a lot of fun posing in front of it. (but I’m not so sure those photos need to be immortalized on the Internet).
We started out fairly early, which meant that a lot of the museums were still closed, so we carried on with the tour and planned to double back later on in the day. We were both disappointed to learn that IMMA, the museum of modern art, is closed until later on this week.
Our next stop ended up being the Jameson Distillery, makers of Irish Whiskey. I wasn’t sure that I would enjoy the tour, but I really did, our guide was great and the distilling process is actually quite fascinating! I’d also never tried Whiskey, so it was fun to discover that I actually enjoy it. Aino had hers straight up, I had mine with ginger-ale and we both had a nice lunch afterwards at the restaurant in the distillery.
We headed for the writers museum next, which was fun but didn’t allow photos. I’ve been told that they are planning on shutting down the museum, which I think is a shame. But the place certainly needs some TLC, the plaster was cracking and things were actually sellotaped to the walls! Apparently there is no funding, and unfortunately it shows. (although the artifacts are fantastic to see, especially the original handwritten pages)
Next we booked it over to Guinness in order to make their last 5pm tour. We arrived at the factory at 4:45- just in time. The factory is insanely huge, it covers blocks and blocks of land, and even just the part open to the public is enormous. If Willy Wonka made beer instead of chocolate- this would be the factory he designed. Aino and I got to wander up and down 4 floors of beautifully designed exhibits, including a fantastic indoor waterfall of EPIC proportions. We were both impressed by their masterful usage of old barrels as presentation structures, as well as some fantastic glass screens that switch between transparent and opaque. Very cool.
Okay, here is the part where I let you in on a shameful secret- I do not like Guinness. Yes- despite my spending far too many euros in the (most amazing!) gift shop I barely touched m
y free pint. I just find it far too bitter tasting, I’m a Granville Island Honey Lager girl at heart. I had a little chat with my taxi driver on the way home and he informed me that its actually very difficult to get a good pint of Guinness in Dublin anymore, apparently the company has been using more and more preservatives and other various chemicals which tends to leave that bitter taste in your mouth. However I’ve got to give them this, I love the way a pint of Guinness looks in it’s glass, all dark black amber with creamy white foam- it’s definitely an attractive drink. You’ve got to hand it to them, the people at Guinness sure know how to put on a show! And even though I haven’t seen all there is to see in Dublin, by any means, I have to say I feel a little closer to Ireland than I did before our tour.
Filed under: Ireland, Lauren Selden, anecdotes, art, aura, film and video, personal intrests, photography, travel | Tags: abandoned, adventure, architecture, Clouds, derelict, Dublin, experimental film, Ireland, Lauren Selden, ruins, rural, travel
I was discussing my desire to venture into the Irish Countryside with my tutor here, and she mentioned a website which charts all sorts of abandoned structures throughout Ireland. Immediately upon clicking the link I fell in love with all the locations, and myself and some fellow students are planning to venture out into the country side to see these amazing structures in person.
The website is called Abandoned Ireland, and it looks as though a group of brave adventurers have explored all these little nooks and crannies in order to share these fantastic locations with all of us. I’ve been told that Ireland has such a strict historical restoration policy that many of the buildings will always remain empty and abandoned. A precious few have been turned into luxury hotels, but really- I’d prefer they remain in their natural state. It’s much more poetic. Many of the buildings were set fire to, and burnt to the ground during Irelands’ rather complex and terrible history with England. What is left now, are some of the most beautiful, and creepy structures I have ever laid eyes on.
I’ll be the first to admit it, I’ve become obsessed with this website. I’ve even begun dreaming about these amazingly beautiful ruins. I know I would be able to get the most amazing footage, and I can’t stop thinking about how well these locations will lend themselves to super 8mm film.
Note: all photographs that appear in this post are co. Abandoned Ireland
