We started off this day venturing across the Liffy to the EU Commission Office, a quaint little building tucked away. We were buzzed in by security and lead to the Parliament room where we were given the skinny on the European Union by our host Pedro. From what I gathered from the presentation, and some additional research on the side, I think I have a solid conception on the EU. After World War II, many of the nations were in trouble from the amount of resources lost and the economic fall throughout the continent, so six countries (Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Italy, West Germany, and the Netherlands) signed the Treaty of Rome which was with the purpose of unifying the resources of the agreeing nations to bolster their economies. They all established a universal currency, the Euro, to help solidify the unification of their nations. It also had the purpose of taking away some of the extreme nationalism, that had partially lead to the conflicts in the past.
A smart call on their part from what little I know about countries. It seems that, while nationalism and pride for ones nation gives a sense of uniqueness and home at the same time, it often goes a little far. Keeping culture of a nation alive is great and all, but when it leads to the bastardization of any nation that is not your own or disagrees with a belief held by your people, then you begin to have a problem. Also the unification of the currency is a concept that honestly we shouldn't limit to the EU, that if feasibly possible within the near future, we could have a global, universal monetary system that we could make it so that there was a monetary system that was accepted regardless of where you traveled, than that would level the playing field for countries and bring us even further to a true global trading system. Now there would have to be qualifications to enter, not to create an elitist system but inducting every country instantly would put the poorer, developing countries at major disadvantage until they were able to play on a global level. Tangent aside, more on the EU.
As the years progressed, additional countries were accepted into the Union, including Ireland in 1973. Though I feel like some rules in the EU might be changed around a bit in the future. We discussed in class that the Irish don't really serve fish dishes as much, since part of the agreement with being in the EU means that you must be a licensed fisher for the EU meaning individual fisherman cannot sustain their business and feed their families. Actually Greenland, being a fishing dominated country, left the EU in 1985. Considering Ireland is also dependent on fishing, as are many countries in the EU, this rule might have to be changed around a bit. That or people will continue illegally fish as they do now, which I'm not complaining because the fish and chips is fantastic.
After the lovely info on the EU, we ventured off back to the Chester Beatty Library to admire the history. The collection consisted of two floors: the first containing art and calligraphy from the East, and the second containing historical texts from religions such as Hinduism, Taoism, Islam, Christianity, and Confucianism. All of the artifacts contained in the this exhibit were incredible! Each of them were incredibly detailed, with engravings and gold ink lining the bound text, and the level of detail that was present in the art was indescribable. All of the prints were not available for photography and the site doesn't allow for copying and pasting of the files so you'll simply have to look them up for yourself, but believe me they are worth the visit. It was just awe inspiring to see that much history, that much dedication to the collection of ancient, valuable artifacts, and that level of generosity to give it all away contained in a single man. On top of it all, the items that were on display, and there were a number of them, only accounted for 1% of his total collection!
For the last event, we were invited to the event Interchanges: the Showcase of Fulbright Artists. The head of Fulbright in America, Tom Healy the man we had met yesterday, had mentioned frequently that he wanted to get in touch with some of the local artists that were there in Dublin. So, Colleen Dube put on this performance with some of the best that Fulbright had to offer. Performances included: readings of poetry and literature, illean pipes and piano playing, and personally composed vocal pieces including our own Judy Coe. Overall the event was very enjoyable filled with good food and company (I'm beginning to see a trend in this culture) and was a great end to the day.
Stay tuned for tomorrows adventure.
A smart call on their part from what little I know about countries. It seems that, while nationalism and pride for ones nation gives a sense of uniqueness and home at the same time, it often goes a little far. Keeping culture of a nation alive is great and all, but when it leads to the bastardization of any nation that is not your own or disagrees with a belief held by your people, then you begin to have a problem. Also the unification of the currency is a concept that honestly we shouldn't limit to the EU, that if feasibly possible within the near future, we could have a global, universal monetary system that we could make it so that there was a monetary system that was accepted regardless of where you traveled, than that would level the playing field for countries and bring us even further to a true global trading system. Now there would have to be qualifications to enter, not to create an elitist system but inducting every country instantly would put the poorer, developing countries at major disadvantage until they were able to play on a global level. Tangent aside, more on the EU.
As the years progressed, additional countries were accepted into the Union, including Ireland in 1973. Though I feel like some rules in the EU might be changed around a bit in the future. We discussed in class that the Irish don't really serve fish dishes as much, since part of the agreement with being in the EU means that you must be a licensed fisher for the EU meaning individual fisherman cannot sustain their business and feed their families. Actually Greenland, being a fishing dominated country, left the EU in 1985. Considering Ireland is also dependent on fishing, as are many countries in the EU, this rule might have to be changed around a bit. That or people will continue illegally fish as they do now, which I'm not complaining because the fish and chips is fantastic.
After the lovely info on the EU, we ventured off back to the Chester Beatty Library to admire the history. The collection consisted of two floors: the first containing art and calligraphy from the East, and the second containing historical texts from religions such as Hinduism, Taoism, Islam, Christianity, and Confucianism. All of the artifacts contained in the this exhibit were incredible! Each of them were incredibly detailed, with engravings and gold ink lining the bound text, and the level of detail that was present in the art was indescribable. All of the prints were not available for photography and the site doesn't allow for copying and pasting of the files so you'll simply have to look them up for yourself, but believe me they are worth the visit. It was just awe inspiring to see that much history, that much dedication to the collection of ancient, valuable artifacts, and that level of generosity to give it all away contained in a single man. On top of it all, the items that were on display, and there were a number of them, only accounted for 1% of his total collection!
For the last event, we were invited to the event Interchanges: the Showcase of Fulbright Artists. The head of Fulbright in America, Tom Healy the man we had met yesterday, had mentioned frequently that he wanted to get in touch with some of the local artists that were there in Dublin. So, Colleen Dube put on this performance with some of the best that Fulbright had to offer. Performances included: readings of poetry and literature, illean pipes and piano playing, and personally composed vocal pieces including our own Judy Coe. Overall the event was very enjoyable filled with good food and company (I'm beginning to see a trend in this culture) and was a great end to the day.
Stay tuned for tomorrows adventure.