May 11 - Political Oppression and Discord

Blarney Castle is one of the more well-known castles in Ireland from what I understood. At the top of the castle is the Blarney Stone which supposedly bestows you with the gift of eloquence if you are to kiss it. In order to do so you must walk to the top of the castle, lay on your back with you head and shoulders hanging off the edge, lean backward off the side of the top of the castle, then kiss the stone. It's definitely a unique experience!

Blarney Gardens surround Blarney Castle and consists of a huge variety of flora. While walking around the gardens I was getting the same feeling of serenity as the day prior so I chose to break off for some time alone. It was majestic walking through most parts of the gardens. More specifically, I found the Druid's Circle, the Wishing Steps, and the Witch Stone to be entrancing.

Cork for dinner... Surprised with live local Irish music! This was something I had thought of making it a point to go and find while in Ireland so it was nice to stumble upon it.

Spike Island is analogous to Alcatraz. It was an island that's sole purpose was to house the inmates in a prison that was isolated from the rest of the community. The only way to the island is by boat. It is known to be haunted by the prisoners that were tortured while incarcerated. A few residents lived on the island for a short while but all of them decided to move away after the legends and sightings of ghosts and vengeful spirits became more frequent. It was interesting to think about how people can do, in my opinion, such awful things to others because they believe they are justified. This brought to mind the Milgrim Experiment where participants in the study were instructed to administer electric shocks to another "participant" whom they were quizzing on the other end of a phone upon the other "participant" answering wrong. There was not actually another individual hooked up on the other end of the shocks but the participant was lead to believe there was. The participants would continue to administer more severe electric shocks with consecutive wrong answers to the point they were administering hyper-lethal electric shocks. Even after the other "participant" began failing to respond, as if they were truly dead, the participant would keep administering more severe shocks just because there was an individual behind them in a lab coat, with a clipboard, telling them they must continue. The participant was never told they could not stop, only encouraged to continue on with the experiment. I've come to believe that the only thing I will always have is my choice. I don't care who is telling me to do what, no one can force me to do anything. I am the only one responsible for my own actions.

Late night drive home including a deep conversation with a professor. I'm not going to write about the content. It was just a really humbling experience reconnecting with that professor as we visited and caught up.