Let’s Start from the Beginning…

Hello again, everyone!  I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to get my blog going again, I’ve been having a lot of trouble finding an internet connection out here.  I’m in Dijon now, but it’s been a bit of a journey getting here.  I flew out of JFK on Thursday night, and arrived in Dublin at 6am local time, with a 13 hour layover.  I sweet-talked the customs officials into giving me a day pass so I could go out and see the city a bit rather than spending 13 hours sitting in an airport, and caught the first taxi I could find into the center of town.  I stopped off at a McDonald’s in order to get some breakfast and message my Mom while I waited for the city to wake up, and then set off exploring.  Unfortunately, since I don’t sleep very well on airplanes, I was pretty tired, and tired of walking around the city by about 10am.  I was about to call it quits and head back to the airport for a nap when I spotted one of those double-decker tourist buses.  I followed it back to their base and purchased a ticket, and proceeded to spend the next 2 hours being driven around the city and learning the history of all of the major stops.  I decided to take a less traditional approach to the city, and rather than descending to tour any of the famous churches or the Guinness factory (Ireland’s second religion) I opted for a tour of a local prison.  It was called the Kilmainham Gaol, and was active from about 1796-1924.  The prison had an extremely interesting history, as it was one of the first to consider the role of a prison as a reformative institution, and to separate the prisoners into separate cells and enforce silence at all times.  Several prisoners were also sentenced to death at the prison, and were either hung or shot by a firing squad in the courtyard.  One prisoner was gravely ill when he was sentenced to death, but they brought him in from the hospital on a stretcher in order to kill him.  The newer wing of the prison was constructed in a similar fashion to gothic churches, where everything is designed in order to draw the eye upwards, towards the heavens.  This was meant to encourage the prisoners to repent their sins.  This wing has also been used as a set in several films, such as the Italian Job.  Once I had finished at the prison, I headed back towards the airport, and caught a short flight into Paris, where I stayed for two days at what may be the coolest hotel I’ve ever seen.  It was called Citizen M, and everything in the room (lights and their colors, TV, music, curtains) could be controlled by a tablet that was right next to a super-comfortable bed.  Sunday morning I hopped on a bus which took me to Gare de Lyon (a Parisian train station) where I caught a train to Dijon.  I was supposed to be taking a shuttle to the school from the train station, but I waited for a few hours and never saw one so I eventually just gave a taxi driver the address that was listed on my paperwork stating that the University had promised me accommodations.  Thankfully, the address was for the building where I was supposed to be staying, so I suppose everything worked out for the best.  I just wish the communication had been a bit better going into the trip so some of these problems could have been avoided.