WEEK SEVEN

“For this past weeks adventures, seven of us students hoped on a plane and flew into the wonderful country of Ireland.  Once landed we were welcomed by the wonderful sound of english speaking.  It was a nice change of pace actually being able to understand everyone where ever we traveled.  The trip was based off of one sole event, saturday march 17th, where we and 1.6 million other people celebrated the 23rd birthday of David Patnode.

Our trip started off with two days in Dublin, followed by two days in Bray, one night in Cork, and ended with two nights in Galway.  Although we were traveling all over, I feel we barely tapped into what Ireland had to offer.  We saw as much as we could time permitting. 

One of the highlighted buildings we were able to tour was the Aviva Stadium.  This stadium is home to Ireland’s rugby and futbol team.  The building itself was thought to have the appearance of a bedpan according to a local Irishman.  After given a personal tour of just us seven students we learned there are around thirty games played there a year and there is seating for 51,000 fans.  The main attraction to the building to me personally was the heating and cooling polycarbonate panels all around the exterior of the building.  They were also designed in a way were if it were to rain the angles of the panels allowed the outer skin to be self-cleaning.  Once entering the stadium though the first thing you notice is the exposed structural truss beams which varied in size holding the curvature of the open roof.  The pitch, or field, was not typical to what we see in the states.  It was 100% seeded grass that was pushed mowed every two days.  There was also heat lamps on certain areas that had more damage than others.  In other words it was safe to say the grass was treated like royalty.

The second most memorable tour we took was a bus trip through the southwestern part of the country.  The attractions of this tour was seeing many old castles that were once owned by the O’Brien and McLaughlin, two of the more wealthy families in this region.  One thing I found to be interesting about these aged buildings were that some were still serving a purpose to the locals in the area.  One of the castles was still be used as a center for a renaissance festival every year.  After the castles the tour ended with a stop at the Cliffs of Moher, probably the most visually moving sites of the whole trip.  Once standing and looking over the edge, it is a shear drop of between 400-700 feet to Atlantic waves smashing into the lower portion of the cliffs.  Conveniently for me, my camera battery decided this was the perfect moment to die and I was forced to videotape the event.  Our group also thought in order to get the full experience we would jump over the fence and go right up to the edge of the cliff with no safety rails whatsoever.  I am deathly afraid of heights, it took some coaxing to get me to the edge which involved a stomach crawl from about 20 feet back.  The rest of the group was a little braver and were sitting right on the edge with their feet hanging down.  We were soon kicked out of the area by security but luckily we got a bunch of group pictures.

The overall experience in Ireland was all positives.  We definitely made some memories that will never be forgotten.  I would absolutely suggest a trip to Ireland to anyone who has any interest at all.”  - Drew Kierzek

           

Note: I have five cameras to document this momentous event.

"Spring time?

It is kind of a joke when you think about it that twenty-some students in anticipation of a nice European spring time would be greeted with one of the strangest snow and rain storms and coldest long lasting temperatures in the last three decades in Europe . And most ironically, the weather in one of the most miserable winter areas in the continental United States would see the sunshine and weather that they anticipated!

Well, at least spring has sprung. The fountains are babbling, people are sitting outside the cafés, and plazas are busting with people.

After arriving in Lille, I have to say that I was experiencing a strange kind of "culture shock." After flying into Brussels Belgium and taking the TGV to Lille [about a 30 minute ride] I was not sure that we had even crossed into France. The buildings still looked like those of the Flemish brick flats of Brussels. After arriving in the city's TGV station Gare Lille Europe, and stepping outside, I wondered, am I in the right place? Where are all the old buildings?

Lille is a really nice French city.

It is a blend of the very Flemish architecture of Belgium and regions North as well as that of Paris and the Beaux Arts style. They are on a connecting TGV [which translation mean very fast train] route between Paris, Brussels, and London. The city is a blend of an old fortified city, a former textile and mining industrial center, and a modern service industry city.

I have enjoyed my weekends with being able to travel and experience many different cultures. The first weekend a few of us went to the Louvre Museum because on Sundays it is free to anyone. After spending the day there, I could honestly say that I thought my feet might be numb from walking because of the sheer size and vastness of the art collection. 

France is such a diverse nation in a relatively small area.

 That diversity is in the landscape, the architecture of regions, and the people themselves. In the south, when we went to Marseille and had a nice time on the coast of the Mediterranean sea. With its white clad buildings and large high rises  it is a beautiful city nestled between the mountains and the sea. The city was a Greek and then Roman city and is known as taking the claim to being the oldest 'city' in France. The church and crypt of the Abbey St. Victor in Marseille is an old repurposed Roman building with crypts that are decorated with their former pagan motifs and early Christian burial grounds as well. We also went by the famous Chateau d'Iff where the idea of the story of the count of Montecristo was based off.

I said no matter where I studied abroad that I had to go skiing, so I went to Chamonix Mt. Blanc in the French Alps and just had to make a weekend out of it to enjoy the landscape. It really was not like skiing in the US, they don’t groom the slopes at all, and by the way, you can ski on the Glacier as well!  Just make sure you bring a harness, because if you fall in a crevasse, you will need to be taken in a helicopter off the mountain as the ski patrol will not risk their safety to come to your aide.

Spain…

After an 18 hour train ride all night, a few of us went to 'calatrava world' aka the Arts and Sciences Complex of Valencia. When we were in Valencia it was a holiday time known as las Fallas. There were explosions and fireworks around the eventual source of the flames. Large Paper Mache statues are a product of neighborhood group known as a casal fallero. The statues are anything from political figures, social critiques, and cartoons. After the weeklong celebration with parades, dancing, and religious processionals [and more fireworks than the 4th of July] all the statues are lit on fire at once. 

Unfortunately/Fortunately we were heading to Barcelona the day before the fires. It was probably a good thing considering as we were leaving, they were covering buildings in fire-retardant screening…

 In Barcelona, I went to the Gothic Quarter with its still existent Roman fortified walls and of course had to see the works of Gaudi. In Sagrada Familia, the sheer scale and detail of every element is really quite remarkable, yet still controversial and polarizing to Barcelonans today.  I was not aware that many of the plans and models of Gaudi were destroyed after his death during the Spanish Civil war, as well as many works on the building. Anarchists were cited as sacking the model room and almost all of the plans. Gaudi's designs that are still in place are based off remnant plan, his built dwellings, and his studio work. Work is steadily going on the building all day every day, and it is estimated to be semi-completed in 2026 for the 100th anniversary of Gaudi's Death… I am going to venture out on a limb and say hopefully it will be done in my lifetime.

A few of us are taking an additional studio with the French students focusing on Materials and approaching architecture as they would. It is an interesting and discussion worthy approach to an architectural education as they never fully complete a project, but rather they do iterations of sketches and models and then detail out their changes.

 In addition to these places, I have been to Paris quite a few times, to Brussels, Amsterdam, Chateau Versailles, Luxembourg… and am hoping to travel to many other places before I return home!"  - Kevin Gamelin