Preparing For The Trip

Since I am going to be living in Ireland for the summer, I decided to study the history of he country. Not only do I want to know more about the culture, but this knowledge will also help me with my internship over there. I am going to be doing an internship with MLI International Schools in Ireland. This school is where kids from around Europe can go and learn or practice their English. I will not be teaching English, rather I will be in charge of planning field trips for the students around Dublin and around Ireland as a whole. Not only that, but I will also be able to go on the trips! Needless to say, I am very excited! Visit www.mli-group.com to learn more about the place where I will be working!

Studying the culture of Ireland will help me plan these trips for the students. I read two books that I hope will help me. The first was "The Oxford History of Ireland" by R.F. Foster. The book outlines the history of Ireland from around 77 AD to the modern times. Not only does it include the history of Ireland, but the last chapter goes into depth of the importance of Irish literature in learning about Irish culture. Being a literature major, I really enjoyed the last chapter! It is a great argument in how literature is very important to society. This book gave a lot of information about Ireland, but it was overwhelming. I have never really studied the history of Ireland before, so all the names that the book mentioned kind of went over my head. I would recommend this book if a person has a base knowledge of Irish history and is looking to expand their knowledge. But it truly helped me understand Irish history better.

The other book that I read was "How the Irish Saved Civilization" by Thomas Cahill. The book begins with how the Roman Empire fell and what was lost in the fall. It then goes on to outline how the Irish saved the knowledge that was gain during the Roman dominance. What was lost in the fall was knowledge and writing. Since Ireland was never under Roman rule, they were able to develop in a different way. When the Roman world lost the ability to read and write, Ireland was beginning to develop their deep love of reading and writing. It was monks that took the books of the ancient world and copied them to make sure that they would last. Without these monks, we would not have literature from the ancient world. So those who think that religion is not important or is all bad, I believe that this is an excellent argument about the good of religion. But that is another rant..... I highly recommend this book. The book does not cover all of Irish history, it mostly concentrates on the Dark Ages.

Another book that I recommend is the "Eyewitness" travel books. These books are fantastic and I always buy them for the countries that I am traveling to. These books either outline a whole country or you can get one that focus on one city. What makes these books great is that they divide the country or city into sections and give you detailed information about each section. They have great pictures as well and they make a great resource in giving yourself a guided tour. I bought one for when I lived in Hungary and I would take the book with me into the Hungarian countryside or in Budapest and I gave myself a tour of the town or city.

Not only do I hope that these books help me with my internship, but I also hope that it helps me explore Dublin and Ireland. With knowing the history of a city or country, it can help a person plan their trip.

The new knowledge that I have about Ireland has made me appreciate the country even more and I haven't been there yet! So, everyone should study the country a little before they go there in order to really appreciate what you are seeing.

Knowledge is power.