Dear Grandma,

It was Spring break for two weeks, and I did not give you a lot of news, sorry about that … But let me tell you that : it was A M A Z I N G.

Indeed, I made a little road trip across Ireland with some friends and we had a great time. We went from Dundalk to Dublin to begin the adventure and spent a few days there. After this, we went to Wicklow mountains, at the South of Dublin. It is a place where you can be in harmony with nature and enjoy the sound of the bird singing in the trees. It was like breathe new life into.

Then, we hit the road to Galway and spent about a week there. One of my friend do her semester in this city, and gently put up me. Because of the location of the city I could visit several place such as the Cliff of Moher, the Connemara Lacs and the Aran Island.

By visiting all this places, I think I can tell you that my favourite place in Ireland is probably Aran Island. It reminded me Belle Isle (your place) and made me feel like home. We spent an awesome day there. It was very sunny and the fact that we rent bike gave us a feeling of freedom. We were able to go wherever we wanted and spent the time we wanted in every place of the island.

The other places were absolutly incredible too, but my heart leans towards this place and Wicklow mountains which were wonderful with there landscapes and atmosphere. 

You can watch all the pictures from my trip in the gallery 'Road trip across Ireland' and try to live the experience I lived in every place.

Love,

Clémence

Dear Grandma,

Today, we climbed the mountain of Carlingford !

It has been a long time that we wanted to do that with some of my friends and we decided to go at the last minute in the beginning of the afternoon.

It was very nice but very weary, especially when you arrive at the middle-top of the mountain.

Here are some pictures of the climb and of the view you got from there. Enjoy it.

See you,

Clémence

Dear Grandma,

I do not remember told you about my visit of the Guinness Storehouse … Let me explain a little the experience I lived there.

First of all, the warehouse is laid out over 7 floors within a shaped glass atrium pint of Guinness. The ground floor has the four ingredients of beer (water, barley, hops and yeast), while the other floors focus on the brewery's founder, Arthur Guinness, the evolution advertising around beer, its history and its creation method, and accountability activities of the consumption of alcohol. The last and seventh floor houses the Gravity Bar, which offers a vertically 360° view over the city of Dublin.

This historic building is one of the pillars of the Dublin and Irish heritage, and has been regularly brought up to date, so much so that today it is at the crossroads of the fascinating industrial architecture and the most contemporary modern.

In there, there are a lot of attraction such as the little lesson in order to let you know the right way to taste and appreciate Guinness, the place were you can learn how to serve a Guinness and the place where you can take interactive picture of you in a Guinness publicity.

I went there with three of my friends and had a really good time !

See you,

Clémence

Dear Grandma,

I do not know if you learnt, but this is it : Ireland said 'YES'.

Indeed, Ireland has become the first country in the world to introduce same sex marriage on the basis of a popular vote, after the ‘Yes’ side won a resounding victory in the marriage equality referendum, taking a decisive 62% of the vote on the 22d of May 2015. One leading gay Irish politician, Leo Varadkar, described the result as a 'not just a referendum, more like a social revolution'.

It is good to know that homosexuality itself was only decriminalized in Ireland in 1993, and that this vote shows an historical event for the Irish society.

It was a polemic situation all around the country for the 'No' and the 'Yes' parties. Both sides raise awareness among about this topic and tried make us join up to there party. For example, during the Rag Week, a lot of people (students, teachers, …) campaigned for the 'Yes Equality', trying to know who was against and who was for. They handed out some pins and flyers and discussed with us in order to alert us about same sex marriage. Moreover, during all the campaign, you were able to see posters across the streets.

   VS   

It was a topic that apprise all the citizens of Ireland. Across all the country, people were explaining there point of view. Both sides had there arguments and exposed them to everyone.

The "no" vote comes mostly from the Catholic Church, which has historically enjoyed a firm grip on Irish society. Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin has publicly announced his intention to vote no. "Marriage is not simply about a wedding ceremony or about two people in love with each other," Martin said. "Marriage in the constitution is linked with the family and the concept of family and to the mutuality of man and woman as the foundation of family."

Meanwhile Taoiseach of Ireland Enda Kenny has declared his support for marriage equality, seeing it as a human rights issue and stating he and his party believe it is "time to do this". The Marriage Equality Referendum seeks to insert a new sentence into the Constitution: “Marriage may be contracted in accordance with law by two persons without distinction as to their sex”.

A large amount of people was in favour of the 'Yes' as you can see in this graph :

Same sex marriage has been a controversial, and that all around the world. As you can see in this video of 15 minutes (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TJxnYgP6D8) that everyone have an opinion about it, even the youngest.

One of them, Maxim (age 7), use a beautiful metaphor to explain is point of view : “Person who wants to do something, and they can’t… that means… something in your life is like impossible. Like if there’d be a wall, all around you. And you want to go to that tree… and you can’t pass over that wall. Would you want to move out? Yeah… but you can’t. It’s like you’re trapped.”

 Today, eighteen countries, including thirteen in Europe, have legalized same sex marriage, but each time through parliament. Ireland is the first one to introduce it by vote. 

I am glad to be in Ireland at this time, to support the vote that has been made and celebrate with all the Irish citizens this historic step.

Kind regards,

Clémence

Dear Grandma,

This is it. The end of the semester. And what semester ! I have spend such a good time here, discovered amazing people, saw astounding landscapes, learnt incredible facts about Ireland and the Irish society, and increased my wealth of the English language.

I cannot describe fully the experience I lived, because there is too much to say. The only thing I can say is that I am going to miss it.

I wish to everyone to live the Erasmus experience. It is very rewarding and it makes you grow. You learn how to live in a foreign country. How to adapt yourself with a new culture and way of life. This semester abroad is full of emotions, meetings, constant discoveries and the feeling of being a little 'special' by the fact that you are from another country.

I would like you to know how glad I am to have the opportunity to go to Dundalk. At first glance, it is a small city with a good location and not a lot to do in. But, when you are there, you see how incredible the people are, you learn to deal with the temperamental weather of Ireland and discover all the nice places around the city.

See you in a few days …

Love,

Clémence