Howth and a Pig's Head

I didn't get a chance to write about yesterday. It was a long day. Right now, it is 11:30PM and I am waiting for my room service to bring dinner. It has also been a long day.

Yesterday was sort-of a day off. One thing i have found to be the case here is that for the most part, anyone I see here could be seen in America. I had hoped to see some real, I don't know, Irishness?  So, yesterday, when we had a sort-of day off, I went on my own via the DART (train) to Howth (hoath), which is a little fishing village about a half hour north of Dublin. It was extremely cold and I confess I was disappointed. Years ago during my brief visit to Madrid, I took a day trip to Segovia which turned out to be such an incredibly lovely place with it's interesting people, ancient aqueduct, castles and ruins. I had hoped for the Irish equivalent in Howth or at the very least, some real Irishness.

I could have been in cape cod. It was hilly and a it villiage-y, but the thing is, I don't like to photograph buildings for the sake of photographing them. I like the people to be in them. There weren't many people aside form those leaving a church from a funeral. Bummer.

So, as hail started to fall and the wind came in from the side, I got back on the train and headed back to Dublin, sort of wishing I had stayed int he city to photograph it's famous doors. In the little spare time I have had, I ave not seen the city during daylight hours. I mean, when it has been daylight, we've been with the students and I haven't had too much opportunity to look around and shoot the city as itself.

That's OK though. We are here, after all, for the students.

I returned to my room to relax for a little bit and by 6PM, Phil, Alan and I were haded out to meet Sarah and her friends at The Bachelor's Inn restaurant called The Poet's Corner.  The trio had discovered the place by chance and when they first walked in, found that if they paid 20 euro to be "members" they would get one free meal a week. Quite a deal for a college kid.

So, we hung out with them for a few hours, but it was tough. This could have been a pub in Boston. There' was nothing screaming Ireland about it. Again, I see how much we take from Europe.

After that we took the three girls for some Butler's Hot cocoa as a thank you. As it is the queen of hot cocoa makers in the city, they were quite excited. And the cocoa was very tasty indeed.

After they left to study for today's exam, the three of us shot some more at night before heading back to the hotel.

Today wasn't to start until 11, so I planned to get up at 9 and head out to photograph the city during daylight ours. No such luck as I set my alarm wrong. Still, I got a good hour in wandering around during the day on my own and I really enjoyed it! The city is quite different during the day and the doors are in fact really great. So colorful!

We headed over to DCU to meet with out representative, Mary and she helped Alan and Phil find good spots for the kids' sit-down interviews. We had hoped to connect with Matt after his exam today but because Mary didn't realize how important it was that we see him ASAP, he went off to the gym and we waited over and hour for him to return. I know my coworker Alan is very good at what he does, but he isn't  very good communicator.

Later, when Mary was showing us around the campus some more, she asked "Should I get another student?"

I explained, "Well, we need to meet with Mat to get shots of him doing stuff outside his internship so that we can finish his video, so getting another student won't work"

A light went on and she realized the importance of us seeing him before the sun went down.

We managed to connect with Matt and go with him to the market in Dublin and got shots of him shopping in an open air market with fresh produce. We gave him money to buy what he needed and he decided this was as good a time as any to buy a pig's head.

Yup, a pig's head.  Matt has some restaurant experience back home and know how to cook the thing. So for the rest of the shoot he carried around a very heavy plastic bag with a head in it.

We then took over a room in the university to do an interview and as the guys were setting up the lgihts' etc, the campus police arrived, telling us we needed a permit to shoot. That got all settled and we were able to continue.

Back at the dorms we rounded up some of his friends and took them to their local pub where they frequent to get shots of him socializing there. The faces in that place were great! I only wish I could have shot around in there but frankly. I didn't feel very comfortable just getting in the faces of the patrons there. Plus the light sucked.

Back at the dorm, the BU students were throwing a holiday party. They leave a week from Saturday so it was there last hurrah. Alan accepted a beer and I had to roll my eyes to myself. "So, what else are you going to do tonight?" Alan asked Matt. Just hang out, he told us.

When Matt left the room for a moment, I told he guys that he probably would like to go to the holiday party down the hall but as long as we're here, he's not going to do that.

I was basically saying, "It's 10PM on his basically his last friday night, let's leave the kid alone!"

So, we did. And now we're back, and I'm waiting for Beef and Guiness pie.

The End.
(I'll add photos later. Time for bed!)