This is the first picture I took at the beginning of our trip!

Today was our last travel day during the trip. We made our way from Lahinch back to Dublin where we began our journey. Being back where we started has allowed me to reflect a lot on the experiences I had on the trip along with the things I learned. I think my first and most important experience has been interviewing the people of Ireland. This allowed me to grow my knowledge on Ireland’s democracy, while also allowing me to grow as a person. I learned a lot about the main issue Ireland is facing right now which is the housing crisis, and changes the citizens want made. While learning this I also had personal experiences which have helped me grow as a student. I learned how to word questions in order to get effective answers from my interviewee. I also learned how to approach people in hopes of making them comfortable enough to answer my questions. Furthermore, I learned how to push myself out of my comfort zone. Between hiking, biking and surfing I had the chance to try so many new things while studying in Ireland. To bring this back to democracy, this class has allowed me to look at politics from a new lens. I stepped away from the government I know at home to understating how it works in different countries. In doing this it has opened my eyes to the whats has been successful in other democracy’s and what may have failed.  Overall this trip has been extremely impactful. I had so many amazing opportunities that I will never be able to replicate.

On our last morning in Lahinch I had the opportunity to try out surfing with a couple of my peers. Although it was challenging and very cold it was a lot of fun! As the day went on we had the opportunity to visit the Doolin Music House. Not only did we get the chance to listen to classic Irish music, we also heard a lot stories about how the music in Ireland originated. With that said, pne thing that they talked about that stood out to me was not trying to be better than your neighbor. He told us that not everything in life is about the things you have or the car you drive. This really stood out to me because it’s definitely a life lesson everyone can take advice from. I think this qoute perfectly explains what we are missing in the United States. The understanding that you don’t have to be better than the people around you. I think in recent years social media has caused us to compare ourselves to the people were are friends with and create this toxic cycle. I think this is something we can relate to our politics today. The world of social media has caused politics become so polarized in recent years. The ability to post your opinions online creates a world where you are often times only seeing post with opinions you agree with. In addition, it allows people to leave hateful comments about other peoples perspectives on certain issues. We can learn a lot from what those gentlemen at the Doolin Music House said today.

This is a picture that I took of the sign that I had seen at the restaurant stating that they were in a water shortage.

On our first full day in Lahinch we had the chance to visit the cliffs of Moher and the Aran island of Inisheer. Both of these locations were absolutely breathtaking. From the views of the cliff to the bike route in Inisheer I had the chance to see so many beautiful sights. When we had arrived at Inisheer we immediately looked for a restaurant to eat at. Once we got to the restaurant I looked around and sign had caught my eye. The sign stated that they would not be able to serve us tap water because of a severe water shortage. These signs had me thinking back to our many interviews from Galway and Dublin. In each interview we asked people what they felt was the biggest problem in Ireland right now. Every single interviewee stated that the housing crisis was the biggest issue. I find it interesting that not one person had mentioned the clear water shortage that Inisheer is facing right now. This sparked many questions for me. One of the main questions I had was, are the people who live on this island removed from the politics happening in the big cities. I also wondered how the people of Inisheer would have answered the interview questions. Would they have said the water shortage was the biggest issue Ireland is facing today?

Picture here are some of the cows we had the chance to see on their farm!

On our way to Lahinch we had to chance to stop at the Burren Family Farm and Coole Park. Out of both experiences, the Burren Family Farm was definitely my favorite. We had to chance to see cows roaming free on their land, wild flowers they were growing and areas of water that were created by the nature surrounding them. Out of everything we saw there was one thing that stood out to me. This was the church that was once in the middle of their farm. The family had many stories to tell us when it came to this church. They explained how it was once more elaborate but eventually burned down. They also told us that a younger couple had gotten married there not too long ago. They explained that the reason the couple chose to get married there was because they traced their ancestors back to that farm. This had me about the idea of pride. Irish pride is something we have talked about a lot during our class time. We considered the idea that the citizens assembly may be successful because of how much pride the citizens take in their country. In addition, during our interviews it is apparent how proud the citizens are to be from this country. After seeing how this couple came back to this farm go get married, it really put into perspective how much the people of Ireland appreciate their homeland.

This is a picture I took of Salt Hill beach in Galway. This was by far my favorite view.

A couple days ago a few of my peers and I had free time to explore the hotel since the weather wasn’t great. This lead us to go to the pool and try out some of the amenities offered. While I was there I had the opportunity to talk to a women who lived in Galway but had lived in Dublin for many years before. I asked her if she liked Galway which she had nothing but positive things to say about. As we continued I asked her how she like Dublin, which she didn’t have as much admiration towards. She went on to talk about how much better Galway had been. This had me thinking back to before we left when I was doing research on both of these cities. In one of the videos I came across a young man was talking about how “everyone knows Galway should be the capital rather than Dublin.” It was interesting for me to put these two comments together and it had me very curious about why some people felt this way. To tie this back to Democracy, I did notice Dublin was much more politically active. The parliament is there, there was more signage for politicians and protest every saturday. Writing this I am curious if these reasons resonate with any of the people who prefer Galway over Dublin. This is something I would definitely have to do more research about in order to have a better understanding.

Photo credit: Alamy.com
Pictured here is a typical charger port seen in Ireland.

During my free time after class today I took the opportunity to walk down and explore the Salt Hill beach. This beach was absolutely beautiful and full of things to do and places to eat. As we were walking to the beach I was observing the houses that we had passed. One thing I had kept mentioning was how fascinated I am by the houses here and the curiosity that they bring me. I am usually curious how the inside of their houses would differ from a typical house seen in the United States. As I continued to admire the houses the thing that stood out to me the most was the car chargers that were attached to the outside of most of the houses here. It made me realize how many people in Ireland have chosen to drive an electric car, which help save the environment. Although this is something that we have in the United States, it’s not most people’s first choice. This is because it is often inconvenient to find charger ports for these cars. After doing research I found that Ireland gives grants for installation of a charging port and has them in various locations. In relation to the democracy, we can see how much people truly care about their country. Whether it’s in the form of getting their voice heard by the government, standing up for people without housing or switching to an electric car to better their own environment. The people of Ireland car about how their lifestyle will affect future generations, similarly to referendums like abortion or gay marriage.

The women who gave us all this insightful information!

On our sturdy abroad schedule we had a free day to explore Galway. With this I was able to explore the center city of Galway through not only the shops but the restaurants as well. As the day went on a few of my team members decided that we wanted to get some more interviews for our documentary. I had the chance to ask a women some questions who had just recently moved to Galway about 8 months ago. She had a good understanding of the citizens assembly and how it can positively impact the peoples voice in their own government. What stood out me as the interview continued was that she felt like the biggest problem Ireland was facing in the moment was a lack of infrastructure. I was interested in her further explanation because most of the answers we had already gotten were specifically the housing crisis. As we dug further into the question, she explained how different the infrastructure was in France where she had grown up. She stated that often times in France they had apartments as well as housing for those who were struggling so that they wouldn’t be living on the street. She compared this with the lack of apartments she has seen in Galway. I thought this was interesting because I hadn’t really compared the democracy in Ireland to other countries outside of the United States. It put into perspective how big of an issue this housing crisis really it.

This is a picture taken by me that inspired my thoughts in this post.

During our time in Galway today I was able to experience the Kylemore Abbey castle. The architecture of this castle was absolutely beautiful, but the facts on the inside had even more of an impact on me. One of the exhibits that stood out to me was the one that talked about the activities children did in school during that time period in Ireland. It stated that the children at Kylemore Abbey often did crafts, read and enjoy music. This had me thinking about how we grew up and how kids growing up in todays society are spending their time. My first thought their time is mostly likely spent on a screen. I left me wondering about the last time I personally did a craft or enjoyed music instead of staring at whatever new social media post just dropped. It put into perspective how much the technological world has advanced. To bring that back to the recent topics we have talked about, I think this has a major impact on the Democracy around the world. Media has allowed people to sell their opinions on social media as facts. In addition, most of the time when people are scrolling on social media they are only seeing the side they agree with as a result of the algorithm. This is, in my opinion, what has causes such a large polarization in todays politics. So maybe it would be good to take a page out of Margaret’s book and focus on things other than the technology we are surrounded by.

In this photo I took you can see the layout of on of the main streets in Center city Galway.

We have officially made our way to Galway after our time spent in Dublin. After spending a short amount of time here I can already see how different the experiences will be. For example, the city is much smaller and definitely more coastal. In addition, something that I noticed was that the signage was a lot different than what we had seen in Dublin. For example, when walking the streets of Dublin I felt like I had seen posters about their upcoming election on every street. Most of the posters saying things like “Vote #1.” On the other hand, being in Galway I have noticed that the amount of posters does not compare. Since being here I have really only noticed one posters that were promoting the Senator positions. I found this interesting because Galway is also a major city where I feel politicians would want to advertise themselves. This leads me to think about one of the interviews I had done while spending time in Dublin. The women we had interviewed was telling us that she lived in the north so she was “a little removed with the politics.” This makes me wonder how the people of Irelands’ political opinions on differ across the country. I am also interested to see how this will reflect on our interviews in Galway and County Clare. I am also intrigued to see if the answers to all the question we ask will result in different answers because of where they live.

Photo Credit: Rachel Schweid
Pictured here is the Crypt where the Magna Carta is held.

This afternoon I had the chance to take a tour of Christ Cathedral. While the architecture was astonishing both inside and outside, what really stuck out to me was the artifacts in the crypt. Especially the Magna Carta exhibit. The Magna Carta was created in 1215 by King John and had stated that the King and his government were also subject to the law. In addition it allowed for free church, reformed laws and controlled the behavior of officials. This document has become important to Ireland because they adopted it as their common law in 1216. As we see today their government has continued to abide by the statements within the Magna Carta. Considering we are studying democracy in this class I felt it was significant that the Magna Carta was on display in the Christ Cathedral. It has shown to play a major role in the way Ireland has run its democracy for many decades. As we were doing our interviews we saw how important the democracy was to the people of Ireland. They want to make sure that their voice is heard and that their government is serving the people. In one interview specially the women we spoke to stated that “the government was created in order to serve the people.” I think this can relate to why it’s important that the Magna Carta is an exhibit in the Christ Cathedral. Although the document is old, they have made sure to persevere it not only the Cathedral but their government.