Study Abroad: Day Two

Today began with some wonderful coffee at the restaurant (breakfast buffet) within our hotel.  I believe it was french pressed, and it was just so warm and good!


We headed to the Irish Red Cross today and learned some great nuggets of information.  For example, since the 1980's, they no longer collect blood due to contamination involving Hepatitis C and HIV.  In America, when many people think of the Red Cross, they think of either a) blood collection or b) disaster response.

Original Ceiling Decor at Irish Red Cross (made of plaster and not plastic).

The Irish Red Cross is trained to provide hand therapy and neck/shoulder therapy as a way to communicate with individuals in nursing homes and others in need of care.  They provided Whitney and me complimentary demonstrations!

Campus of Trinity College

I asked a question today during the presentation in regards to response times for the Irish Red Cross for natural disasters (weather-related, terrorist-related, etc.).  For  a recent snow storm, they verified about 2-3 hours.  The presenters verified that they have not had a terrorist-related attack in about 30 years, so I thought it was interesting to think of how they could learn from attacks in the U.S. and England within the past 11 years, and have protocols set in place if the event should ever occur on their soil.  Here is a good link to some of the issues after 9/11 with the American Red Cross: http://www.contributemedia.com/trends_details.php?id=107.

We also visited the beautiful campus of Trinity College, just sprawling with historic highlights and beautiful scenery.  We explored the Book of Kells, which is described as a Latin book created circa 800 by Celtic Monks.  The text of the four Gospels from the Bible is contained in the Book of Kells, which consists of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.           

The Book of Kells was produced in Insular style, which means it is supplemented by decoration, and is a combination of Migration Period Art and Early Medieval Western Art.  The book is said to have been completed by monks, as well as holy relics, that were driven by Viking raids to Ireland and Scotland.  The book stayed in the Abbey of Kells in Kells, County Meath from 1007 to around 1654.  Two of the volumes are usually on display at Trinity College, with another volume (Gospel of Mark) being sent in 2000 to Canberra, Australia. 

In addition, we walked through the "Long Room" within the Old Library, which contains about 200,000 very old books.  I believe we saw one circa 1000.  It was breathtaking.

Unfortunately, we could not take pictures in there, so I found these online:

Book of Kells

The Long Room within the Old Library

Slainte!

Kara