I think it may have been the fresh Irish air flowing into my lungs as I awoke from a dream filled sleep that gave me such refreshment, but there are other times when I have felt that instantly refreshed feeling too. It has come with certain songs or music I listen to, which some of you may relate to, or it will come when I am in a certain place at a certain time, or during a certain physical or mental activity. It is just this feeling of pure enjoyment, relaxation, and refreshment and it is really just awesome.
The reason I bring this up is because after a somewhat stressful, but most enjoyable, travel period before arriving in Ireland, these moments of refreshment and relaxation come as such a normal thing in everyday life here and it is nice. I hope I can take with me this relaxed feeling as I move about in Ireland and eventually back home at SJU and Minnesota in general.
Anyway, today marked the end of our first week of class and it absolutely flew by! All of my classes seem interesting and will pose a different view of learning in Ireland that I am excited for. Last night we took a trip into Galway to National University of Ireland-Galway and participated in a round table discussion of sorts with some faculty and a few grad students about what made an Irish person Irish.
The discussion was very interesting and in short, we talked a lot about being a tribe and how from the most basic level to the country level, there was this feeling of tribes. The people you know from the pubs, from your athletic endeavors, your family all constitute a different tribe. It goes from a sense of tribe within a family to a national sense of tribe around, say, the national soccer or rugby team. This is a very interesting concept to me because it doesn't leave anyone out, even a stranger is welcome to become part of a tribe for a night or an event. For example, one of the speakers referenced the regulars at a pub as a tribe. He said that on a certain night, you could go in as an individual or small group of 2 or 3 and mingle with the locals. He specifically said that we should do this, go in and strike up a conversation and make it known that you want to be a part of something and you will become part of the tribe, even if it is just for the night. This is a very prevalent concept as we have found in our experiences. We were in the pub in Spiddal the other night and the local Gaelic Football team had just won the regional championship and they were celebrating and we just happened to be there, amongst the celebrations. It happened that the giant trophy they had was filled with a mix of whiskey and Irish cider and was being passed around for everyone to drink out of, whether you were a part of the community, the team or not and if you did not drink you were offending them. For that period of time, we were part of the tribe.
We discussed numerous other bits of information that make an Irish person Irish, but the idea of tribes was the most interesting and stuck with me the most.
As I said today marks the start of the weekend and we are off to Connemara (check out the link) tomorrow morning bright and early at 9:15 am our time or 3:15 am your time! Now from what I know Connemara is not a county or a province of Ireland it is an area. We were told that it is an area like we would describe the Iron Range back home in Minnesota as an area, it isn't necessarily marked, but you know you are there when you are there. We will be staying at what looks to be a very nice hostel in Clifden called Brookside Hostel on Friday night and returning to the PLH late Saturday afternoon. It should prove to be a very interesting weekend and I am excited for it! I will write about it and inform everyone of the details in coming posts.
For now I need to get some homework done and then probably a little exploring and a run! There is also word of a small party like event tonight to celebrate our first week, so we will see what happens!
I hope all is well back in the states and I will leave you with some pictures of the PLH and our view of Galway Bay, enjoy!
A view of our cottage and my laundry
The Park Lodge Hotel from the front, very nice.
A view across the bay from the rocks.
Looking across the bay
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