An Irish Farm
26oct07
Dublin was, for some of us, one of the most anticipated ports of the first semester. We first arrived in the city at noon, just in time to starve before lunch while admiring the city view from the top of the royal yard while furling.
Our first day's port program was a visit to a countryside farm an hour and a half away from the ship. When we got there, we started the visit by learning a traditional Irish dance. The thirty-five students and six teachers all danced and swung together on the confined space of the barn's dance floor. From there we went outside and attempted to bring back a cow to its barn from the very far end of the farm. Teamwork and cooperation were put to a rough test while the mad cow was trying to escape and scare the Floaties by doing something pretty similar to roaring. After a while we got better and better so that we were able to bring that cow back at the farm to begin new activities. While some of us went to the kitchen, some of us went to the field to learn a traditional Irish game. For those of us who started in the kitchen, we learned how to bake a traditional Irish bread that we were to enjoy for lunch. For those in the field, we played a game called hurling. The game consisted of two team equipped with sticks that looks like hockey sticks mixed with axes. One baseball-sized ball is placed in between both teams and the only thing we could understand was that we needed to get the ball on the other side of the field to earn points.
After what was a nearly bloody and deathly game, we were shown how good dogs are when they are ask to bring back dozens of sheep. Their master only had to say one word and the two super effective dogs started running faster than I could ever imagine possible. They snuck behind the herd of sheep and chased them straight toward us. In less than thirty seconds, they were all back to the farm and a new challenge was presented to us. We needed to get in teams of four to bring sheeps to their enclosure. As easy as it might seems, it was a very hard task.
After such a hard work, we got a little further in the woods by climbing on a trailer pulled by a tractor. Once in the middle of nowhere, we learned about the Irish soil and the peat bogs. The visit of the farm's bog ended in a massive mud fight.
When we got back to the farm, the hot bread was waiting for us with a traditional pumpkin soup and we ended the visit with scary Halloween stories of funeral traditions in Ireland.
Dublin
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Geoffroy
Our first day's port program was a visit to a countryside farm an hour and a half away from the ship. When we got there, we started the visit by learning a traditional Irish dance. The thirty-five students and six teachers all danced and swung together on the confined space of the barn's dance floor. From there we went outside and attempted to bring back a cow to its barn from the very far end of the farm. Teamwork and cooperation were put to a rough test while the mad cow was trying to escape and scare the Floaties by doing something pretty similar to roaring. After a while we got better and better so that we were able to bring that cow back at the farm to begin new activities. While some of us went to the kitchen, some of us went to the field to learn a traditional Irish game. For those of us who started in the kitchen, we learned how to bake a traditional Irish bread that we were to enjoy for lunch. For those in the field, we played a game called hurling. The game consisted of two team equipped with sticks that looks like hockey sticks mixed with axes. One baseball-sized ball is placed in between both teams and the only thing we could understand was that we needed to get the ball on the other side of the field to earn points.
After what was a nearly bloody and deathly game, we were shown how good dogs are when they are ask to bring back dozens of sheep. Their master only had to say one word and the two super effective dogs started running faster than I could ever imagine possible. They snuck behind the herd of sheep and chased them straight toward us. In less than thirty seconds, they were all back to the farm and a new challenge was presented to us. We needed to get in teams of four to bring sheeps to their enclosure. As easy as it might seems, it was a very hard task.
After such a hard work, we got a little further in the woods by climbing on a trailer pulled by a tractor. Once in the middle of nowhere, we learned about the Irish soil and the peat bogs. The visit of the farm's bog ended in a massive mud fight.
When we got back to the farm, the hot bread was waiting for us with a traditional pumpkin soup and we ended the visit with scary Halloween stories of funeral traditions in Ireland.
