Arcadia Ireland

Our fifth co-curricular event of the Season invited students from all over Ireland to commemorate all those hours spent fixated on Jon Snow! This event encapsulated many of Arcadia University's co-curricular themes; active, global, imagined and for many I would say even spiritual Ireland. Last Saturday some twenty students from Galway, Cork, Kildare, Belfast and all over Dublin congregated at the Dublin Center at the crack of dawn to embark on the memorable journey to Winterfell and the other Game of Thrones locations in Northern Ireland! This event wasn't planned with only Game of Thrones fans in mind but for the wider community of students interested in the outdoors and exploring beautiful scenery through forest parks and learning more about the history by visiting old abbeys in Northern Ireland. It seems that even non Game of Thrones student fans were in fact hugely impressed with just about everything from start to finish; wearing the cloaks, learning about the history of the place, patting the real direwolves, meeting some of the cast...the list goes on!

The first stop of the day was Tollymore Forest Park, (1,600 acres) the filming location for many key scenes. "The pit where Wills finds the dismembered bodies in the snow, Tyrion and Jon’s campfire on their journey north to the Wall and the bridge where the Starks discover a dead direwolf and her pups". (Game of Thrones®) One highlight for students at this point was being able to get fully immersed in the experience by wearing Northern wool cloaks! Another, during lunch, was meeting two of the real direwolves (who were just pups in the first season and are now about 9 years old)!

After lunch the tour took students on the afternoon trek around Winterfell aka Castle Ward Estate. This was 3 km in distance but with a group of energetic, excited and hopefully well fed students, it was a piece of cake! There are nine Game of Thrones® film locations on site, all close together. A 16th century castle and stableyard is the film location of Winterfell. Nearby, on the wooded shores of Strangford Lough, a 15th century Tower House (small castle) served as one of Walder Frey’s Twins and as the location of Robb’s Camp in the Riverlands. Other scenes filmed nearby include the spot where Brienne of Tarth dispatched three Stark bannermen and the Battlefield of Baelor.

The final stop of the day was a photo stop at Inch Abbey an ideal location on the ruins of the 12th century Cistercian Abbey. Game of Thrones fans will know that this was the place where Catelyn and Robb hear terrible news from King’s Landing, and Robb’s bannermen pledge fealty to him as the ‘King in the North’.

The journey home was a scenic drive through Ballynahinch and Dromore. With episodes of Game of Thrones being played enroute to Dublin, this was the perfect end to the perfect day!

Enjoyed reading this blog? Learn more about Arcadia in Ireland!