"And I Lost My Heart to A Galway Girl"

I can officially say I’ve been to a private screening of blockbuster movie. Last Tuesday, my bosses opened up their (very posh) home to those of us in the Irish office, as well as the Finance Director in from Poland and Lead Researchers of the Lisbon and London offices that were here for the week, to screen a film they co-produced in London. It is called The Knot and is a dramatic comedy that follows the two separate storylines of the bride on the wedding day and the groom on the wedding day until they meet at the church and then continue on together to the reception with the movie ending as they leave for their honeymoon. I really enjoyed it and thought it was quite funny. It is great for both men and women because it had that romantic comedy aspect with the bride and her bridesmaids, and then the vulgar comedy aspect with the groom and his groomsmen. It is set to come out around Valentine’s Day next year in the UK. They are looking for an international distributor to get on board, which will hopefully come through so that it can be brought to the US.

Wednesday was the championship game for Round Towers (the Gaelic football team we’re making a documentary on). It was an incredibly exciting and tense game. I was in charge of getting the coach’s reactions, and this coach liked to pace, literally, the length of the field. He was going from one end by his team all the way down to the other end of the field past the other team’s bench. So, I had to chase him around the sidelines with a camera. A few other GE interns came to watch and said I looked quite humorous. I’m sure.

It was a close one, but Round Towers came out on top, thank goodness! Now in September they will represent Dublin County and if they win that game, they will go on to play for the all-Ireland title. After the game, there was a lot of celebrating back at the clubhouse, and we were right there with the cameras to capture it all.

Editing has been going really well. I’ve got a first draft of three and a half out of the four five-minute clips put together. Nuno and Triona said they like what they are seeing so far, which is reassuring. Come this fall, they will be on the beActive Facebook page, as well as websites pertaining to the particular handicap the participant has, as kind of a teaser to the actually show which will be aired on Setanta. I can’t wait to see my hard work up and being watched by all these different people.

This weekend I spent my first night in a hostel. I had been looking forward to the experience all week, with maybe a little bit of apprehension caused by horror movies. It turned out to be a great experience. We couldn’t have picked a better location. We literally got off the train in Galway, and it was right there. The staff was friendly and helpful. The place was clean. It is just across the little town square from the main City Centre area, so we were right by all the action without being in extreme earshot of it at night. Four of us stayed in a room with two other girls and two other guys. The two girls were really nice. They were our age and from France. The two guys were older, Irish, and traveling separately. Both were very respectful of us and our privacy. We slept in bunk beds and there was one shared bathroom and kitchen/common room area, which made me feel like I was at camp. After checking in on Saturday, we grabbed lunch and set out for the beach. It was so nice being able to sink my toes in some sand and look for seashells, and the water was actually pretty warm by the shore.

We weren’t that hungry come dinner, so we decided to stop at a bakery that my flat mate had discovered on her trip to Galway last weekend. I split a red velvet whoopie pie with my friend, Heather. It was delicious!

Sunday was spent exploring the city. We started by setting off in search of the Galway Cathedral for mass. I have wanted to go to mass in a Cathedral all summer, but the ones in Dublin are a good walk from my apartment. It was huge. I couldn’t get over how majestic it looked from the inside. To think of how long ago it was built and is still being practiced in today, it’s crazy.

The Irish mass is interesting in that they sing a lot of hymns we sing at home, but I feel like the readings are always ones I’ve never heard before. They use incense a good amount in every mass, and communion is a mad dash to the alter where a front row of people kneel and wait for the priest to come by with the Eucharist and everyone else gathers in a somewhat organized fashion behind them until a spot frees up. Some prayers are said in Gaelic, which I enjoy listening to but am unable to partake in.

We arrived at the Cathedral about an hour early, so in the meantime we discovered a nearby playground and the beautiful campus of the National University of Ireland.

The rest of the day was spent sightseeing and souvenir shopping around City Centre (one more birthday present down).

It’s hard to believe that with this weekend now coming to a close, I have a mere two weeks left Ireland. I don’t understand how the time has flown by so quickly. It seems like just yesterday I was attempting to wheel a broken suitcase, courtesy of Delta, through the airport, and today I’m going to private screenings of future blockbusters in posh homes. Does this really have to end?

The Perfect Day

Let me describe for you the perfect day. It’s a Wednesday. Maybe not every Wednesday, but last Wednesday for sure. It began at half nine rather than half eight. I took the Dart at half eleven out to Howth (you know, the coastal town I’m moving to later in life). I was picked up by Eammon, editor of the last documentary Campbell Ryan worked on. He took me to his house, in Howth, where I interviewed him and shot some actuality footage of him editing for a behind-the-scenes segment. He showed me the editing suite he has in the front hall of his house. He works on a giant Mac with a 72” flat screen TV connected to it, so he can watch what he is editing on the TV while he is working on it. As if that set-up weren’t enough, the room contains one giant picture window that overlooks the coast. If I could wake up every morning, go downstairs, make myself a cup of my roommate’s Columbian coffee, and go down the hall to work in room like that, I would be one happy camper. Once we were finished Eammon took me back to the Dart station, and I arrived back in Dublin by half one with the whole day still ahead of me. That night, I got on a bus at five and road out to the pitch where the women’s Gaelic football team was playing their semi-final match. I filmed more behind-the-scenes action while Mairtín and his crew gathered establishing shots and pregame talks. During the match, I filmed some of the crowd and crew, but mostly just enjoyed my first Gaelic football game. It’s an interesting sport that is played with a volleyball-like ball. You can run up to three steps before you have to bump it off to another player, bounce it off the ground, or drop it and kick it back up to you with your foot. You can shoot it in a soccer goal for three points or kick it over football field goal posts for one point. Round Towers, the team we were filming, were underdogs with their best goalkeeper out on an injury, and the score was going back and forth. In the end, Round Towers came out on top and are headed to the finals next Wednesday.

A whole day out of the office, just filming, that is the perfect day.

Let me describe to you the perfect day. It’s a Saturday. Maybe not every Saturday but last Saturday for sure. Another Heather and I took the Dart out to Sandycove where we found a coastline that rivaled my love for Howth.

It had sand, and giant rocks to climb on, and a swimming area (with freezing water). We explored a bit and even found a little castle. And the weather! It was summer for real. I was wishing for a tank top and had I brought my bathing suit with me from the apartment, I would have been swimming (for about five minutes, that was about as long as I could keep my feet in at one time). For lunch, we stopped at a cute little bagel café before wandering the streets of Dun Laoghrie and coming home.

A whole day on a sunny coastline, that is the perfect day.

Let me describe to you the perfect day. It’s a Sunday. Maybe not every Sunday, but last Sunday for sure. It started bright and early for another Extreme Ireland tour. Unfortunately, we were without Bud again, but we did get his friend, Joey, who he had said was second next to him. Joey was hysterical and taught us a bunch of Irish songs (one of which I will most definitely be bringing back to camp). Six of us took our chances with the Protestant Irish and ventured north because we could not ignore the beauty of Giant’s Causeway. We made our venture, on a giant tour bus rather than a van to accommodate all the people, to the land of the sterling on another beautiful day, this time I did where a tank top. We started at the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge. We crossed the rickety, bouncing rope bridge to get out to this grassy island with rocky cliffs that I dared myself to get closer and closer to.

From there we went on the Giant’s Causeway, a beautiful natural phenomenon where rocks were formed in straight columns.

Next stop was Belfast, but on the way we saw the castle that inspired C.S. Lewis’ Cair Paravel.

Belfast, interestingly enough, was where the Titanic was built. Unfortunately, being Sunday, it was closed. But we did find a monument for it in City Centre.

A day exploring the beauty of Northern Ireland, completely safe, that is the perfect day.