Newgrange and Newjob

An exciting bit of news for the day- I was finally assigned my internship for here in Dublin! The program I'm in has us take classes for the first seven weeks, break, and then work as an intern somewhere in the city, depending on our majors, etc. As an advertising major, I was assigned-- bodhrán drumroll please-- BLOOM.

Bloom Advertising is an up and coming agency now looking to expand and broaden its client base. Like all agencies in Dublin, it is quite small- consists of five full-time staff. It is the only north side advertising agency in the city, and is known for an emphasis on creativity and new ideas. I'll be mostly shadowing at first, just learning about small specialized advertising agency work and then later participating depending on interest and ability.

I'm REALLY excited about this new internship. A lifetime of art class, recreational drawing, and volumes worth of daydream-induced doodles might finally pay off! My interview is February, so until then I'm concentrating on class and doing some research on the company- and hopefully trying to figure out some good answers to the question, "Where do you see yourself in five years?" Sadly, I don't think Broadway with a beautiful Irish husband is a valid answer.

In other news, today we saw Newgrange in Meath. It is a passage tomb built approximately 5,000 years ago- making it older than Stonehenge. It's best known for the annual event for Winter Solstice on December 21st, when fifty lucky people are chosen in a lottery to enter the tomb to watch the sunrise, which only enters the tomb on that day. Apparently it's an amazing thing to see.

Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take pictures inside the tomb, and while I took plenty of the outside, I'm temporarily without my camera cable. So, here's a website! The answer to everything!

http://www.knowth.com/newgrange-interior.htm

Which shows you a pretty good idea of the designs on the inside. I loved the swirly designs, and all of the possible inspirations for them. The most amazing thing about the site is how long it took to construct, and how the people laying down the first stones and even those decades after them knew they would never see the completed product, but their commitment to their community and the spiritual significance it held motivated them to build what has survived as one of the oldest sites in history. Today I stood in a 5,000 year old building. Not too many people can say they've done the same!