Jesus had blonde hair?!

(Note: This post is for Thursday, July 31, 2008.)

Today we had our last institutional visit at Trinity College Dublin, the oldest college in Ireland. Trinity is set in the heart of Dublin, with the city sprawling around it. While none of the original buildings survive, many of the buildings date back to the 1700s, and those are breathtaking. It was a short day on campus. First we met several of the student services staff, all of whom were similar in position to those we had met on other campuses. We then took a tour of their new sports complex before taking a very educational tour of campus, led by a professor of philosophy who himself was a graduate of Trinity. (Interesting enough, this man lives on campus, as he is also part of the judicial board, and happens to live in the same room where a former professor was shot by students after they were shot at by him - the most rebellious event ever to occur on Trinity's campus). This man was extremely knowledgeable about Trinity's history, and had a sarcastic wit to him as he described various aspects of the campus buildings to us.

The tour ended with a trip to see the Book of Kells, often regarded as Ireland's finest national treasure and held on Trinity's campus. The Book of Kells is an extremely detailed and illustrated translation of the 4 gospels, created in the year 800. The book was separated into the 2 separate volumes and encased on Trinity's campus, allowing visitors to view the first pages of each gospel. A hall showcased large, illuminated reproductions of other pages, since visitors cannot flip through the actual books themselves. Something interesting that I immediately noticed was that all of the pictures of Jesus Christ (and similarly, other saints and disciples) depict him as a man with curly, blonde hair. This just happened to catch my eye because all pictures that I have ever seen as depictions of nearly anyone of importance from biblical times, particularly Jesus Christ, show them all as brunettes.

The tour ended in a BEAUTIFUL library (which an arched, wooden ceiling that I would like to have replicated in my home one day) where 2000 of the world's oldest books are stored. (Something interesting about Trinity ... it holds a copy of any copyrighted written work in the EU since the early 1800s.)

After our trip to Trinity, most of the group dispersed to do some shopping for the rest of the day. We then had our farewell dinner at the Purty Kitchen. Prior to dinner we all meet in the dance club in the upstairs area of the Purty Kitchen to fill out some evaluations, receive our group pictures, and end with some "icebreakers" where we all got to share our favorite memories from the trip. It was fun to recap everyone's experiences, and to hear from Pam and Tony how impressed they were with our group this year. Dinner was great - we had wonderful service and food, and got to listen to a very impressive musician play his guitar and sing throughout our time there. Sadly after dinner we said our goodbyes, and now Sabrena and I are packing to return home tomorrow. The end is bittersweet ... I'm excited to go home to see friends and family and get back to a "normal" routine, but I am sad about leaving this beautiful country and such great people at these institutions. It's definitely been the experience of a lifetime!