Laughed at in Lismore

This week, a group of us took a trip to Lismore. This town is not very far from Dungarvan, only about 30 minutes when using the bus. When we arrived, I did not have much of an idea of what we would do in the city, and the only thing I knew about Lismore was that there was a castle. Throughout my time in Ireland, I have enjoyed looking at its historic castles, so you can imagine how my spirits dropped when I found out that I could not actually go inside Lismore Castle, because people currently live there. They should have been much more prepared for me being in town, and told them to leave so that I could wander around inside a functioning castle. 

When we got off the bus, we made our way towards the heritage center, where we were then paired with a tour guide to see all of the important sites in the town. I actually really liked this tour guide, and I thought that he was very personable. He took us to the church, the cathedral, and the castle. At each spot, he would stop and talk to us about the history, tell us fun facts, and talk about what the building's current purpose was. I think my favorite building that we got to see was the castle. I have a weakness for them, and I love that Ireland has so many of them. I also figured out that if all nineteen students pitch in, then we can stay at the castle for a week for around $5,000 per person. Which, honestly, is totally worth it. When we finished our tour of the town, we went back to the heritage center to take a VR tour of the castle. In theory, I thought that this would be a really cool way to see the castle without going inside it, but unfortunately, I get incredibly motion sick, and this really made me feel sick. So I ended up closing my eyes through a lot of it, but I still got to learn about what each room was used for, which was nice. 

When we were walking around the town, our tour guide pointed out a fountain that was supported by a stream under the bridge. This reminded me of the poem that I recited outside the National Gallery in London. The poem is "Into the Twilight" by W. B. Yeats. This poem uses the line "and river and stream work out their will." This line suggests that nature works on its own terms and does not rely on human intervention or anything else. This fountain was supported by nature, and there was no barrier to stop the water from flowing into the street, because even though the fountain was man-made, it was reliant on the stream below. 

When we finished with all of our planned activities, all of the students in attendance wanted to get something to eat. We walked into a small cafe that was just down the street from the heritage center, and that was a big mistake. The second we opened the door, everyone was looking at us. Some girls actually took out their phones and started taking pictures of us, which was insane, but I also don't understand why. We weren't being loud or anything, my guess is just because there were so many of us, but it is still unclear. After having to deal with all of that, we didn't even end up eating there because the girl working the counter said there wasn't room for all of us. So we left, and ended up just getting snacks at a grocery store. Which, honestly, was the better choice. I ate half a baguette and it was great.