Visiting Irish Students

This week we were given the opportunity to gain some insight into the world of "high school" or secondary school here in Ireland. Our group took a short trip to a Post Primary School that is west of Spiddal by about 2.5 kilometers. After a brief wait, we met with the school's principal who gave us an idea of what to expect and divided us up into two groups of eight to interact with two different classes. Once in the class, we further divided into two groups of four to speak with two different groups in the classes. As the class split, it was the typical boys on one side and girls on the other, and I opted to sit and chat with the guys.  As a future educator I could only conjure up the lame inquiries such as "What is your favorite subject(s)" and "What kinds of school activities are you guys involved with?". It was no surprise that my lack luster questions we met with the answer equivalent to that of your ordinary American high school student. I've also come to understand that learning the Irish language is not very popular among the students. The vast majority would rather be taught in English, but due to a movement in the revival of the Irish language, most of the schools in the area where we are located are all taught in Irish.
We did find however that the students were very active in sports, mostly Gaelic Football, and had a diverse interest in American sports, and even a few questions about American politics and policies. It was refreshing to see students who were interested in what was going on in other parts of the world and had realistic questions for us to attempt to answer. They were also kind enough to show us their skills in music and dance. As a class, they sang a few traditional Irish songs for us, and one of the girls displayed her fantastic talent to perform the traditional Irish dance. This was overall a good experience for myself and our group. It was nice to be able to see the similarities in the American school system and the Irish school system, as well as their differences.

The people of Ireland

Sligo

I had always heard that the people in Ireland were friendly and welcoming, but you can only really understand that once you have been here for some time. I would like to compare the hospitality of the Irish to that of those in the Midwest, but that is still not quite true.
From day one up until now, the friendliness and kindness that the locals show us is truly humbling. I was apprehensive at first and thought perhaps this was some sort of facade towards the tourists here, but I was most definitely wrong. This last weekend a small group of us took a trip to two smaller cities, Sligo and Letterkenny. Not knowing what really to expect, we meandered through the city streets looking for shops or other attractions to visit.

We found a small shop with many different wood carvings in the window so we decided to go inside. Once inside we found an older gentleman named Micheal. He was an older man, but his face told so many stories. As we were looking about his shop, he stopped working on his carving and came and talked to us about the history of Sligo and the lore behind the lands. He even cut smaller pieces of flat wood so he could make each of us our own wood etching! 

This kind of kindness is not exclusive. Waiters and waitresses at restaurants will show you the same kindness, as will any. After departing from Sligo we made our way to Letterkenny, a small but beautiful town. We met and conversed with many different people here, and the same welcoming tone was common. Its not something that you can get totally used to. Coming from the states, it continues to be a wonderful experience.

Letterkenny Church

Academic Life

We are now over four weeks into our courses and I can say that they are indeed interesting and challenging, and they are not classes to be taken lightly. While they are comparable to 200 level courses back in the United States, the amount of work you have to put in to stay on pace with the class can be, at times, somewhat demanding. The Instructors keep a constant stream of literature for their classes, and the focal point of the classes is to have read what they provide and have a thoughtful discussion over the different ideas and topics throughout. At certain intervals in the class we do spend some time deviating and discussing other ideas, but overall the materials that they provide often tie in well with the direction that our discussions go. As of now, it is my opinion that the most challenging class we have is Irish language (Gaelic). It is different than any other language that I have come across. The pronunciation and lack of derivative words make this language very challenging.

The Kings Head Pub

This past week we had an exciting opportunity! We were given the chance to take our academics outside of the classroom. Dr. Marley, our history instructor, was able hold a class in a local historical pub in Galway known as The Kings Head. This specific building holds its significance in its ownership. In 1653 Cromwellian forces had forced the city of Galway to surrender. The person in charge of these forces was a man known as Col. Peter Stubbers, the man who is believed to have beheaded King Charles I of England (hence the name Kings Head). We were given a tour of the old pub by one of Dr. Marley's colleagues on the history of the building as well as the different architectural features that we could come across in this historic pub. We were then taken to the highest room in the Kings Head known as the Ruby Room where we held a debate on a topic in Irish history. Overall this was a wonderful experience. It also added to my depth of understanding of how the Irish perceive different aspects and tangents of their own history.