Once again, its been awhile since I've updated the blog. This week has been somewhat uneventful (as it has been the first week of classes for me), but the weekend was fairly interesting. Let's start with Monday...
For my first day, I attended "Irish History" and "Contemporary Irish Catholicism." It seems as if the classes will be a good compliment to my experience abroad, and homework for next week
is just a bunch of reading (nice!). I used the rest of the day to run, walk into Spiddal and back, look for my I-Pod (which I had temporarily lost), and watched a movie with my fellow students.
Tuesday, my second day of classes, we began our Ethics Seminar Class with Dr. Davis. We discussed the questions, "What makes a place, a place?" and how our experiences thus far have impacted us. We recounted the weekend and mapped out the places that we visited in Galway, and discussed what we would be working on academically for the semester. I'll admit, it doesn't sound easy, but at least I'll be doing it in Ireland.
Wednesday, I attended "Irish Literature" with Gerard O'Brien. This is the class I'm most excited about... lots of poetry and prose reading, and plenty of entertaining moments. For Wednesday's class, we distributed a script and read through a short story comedy (I've forgotten whom it was by). It was a great time, and very reminiscent of high school classes with Mr. Unverzagt's class (The BIG Leagues). We read quite a few Seamus Heaney poems because we will be seeing him on Saturday night in Clifden as a part of the weekend trip that is planned. Dr. Heaney is supposedly a big-time poet, and I am excited to see him "live" this weekend. During the afternoon, we had a 'family meeting' with the whole group and discussed plans for the weekend. Our destinations included a few mountains, national parks, a castle, and Clifden, all a part of the Connemara area (which I found out is central JOYCE country).
Wednesday afternoon we made our way into Galway to explore a museum and the town. After taking in the Galway museum and purchasing a Guinness Rugby Shirt at a local sports store, we made our way over to the University of Ireland, Galway to sit in on a board of professors who fielded questions for us. The session was insightful and very enlightening about the Irish culture.
After the 2 hour board session, we were let free into Galway. I went with a bunch of people to the "Hole-in-the-Wall" Bar, were beer was a measly 2 Euro. With cheap prices, young collegiate irish men and women flocked to this location. We got the pleasure of meeting some nice irish chaps who had just started at the University. Afterwards, I moved over to Taffe's Pub where traditional Irish music was playing. I enjoyed a pint and a few songs and dances with my fellow Johnnies and Bennies, and then called up Rori (our personal "hackney," or irish word for taxi) to hitch a ride back home.
Thursday, a second session of Ethics seminar, then basically relaxed and/or worked for the rest of the day. I got some homework done, played a little football outside, and ate some absolutely delicious soup made by my fellow cabin-mates David and Kris. At night, JP op
ened up the bar for us and had a Welcoming celebration. I was recruited as DJ and made sure that everyone had a great time dancing the night away. Terrific night! Lots of fun...
Friday, we woke up at 8:15am to prepare for a 9:15am bus ride. Because we would be staying in a hostel in Clifden that night, we needed to pack a change of clothes and supplies. We mounted
the bus and made our way to Mamean, a mountainous place where (legend says that) St. Patrick stayed and prayed at. This was the first day that was thoroughly overcast (no rain though!), and the mountain was still beautiful and serene. I climbed very high with Jimmy on the mountain, so high that we were in clouds! The clouds were probably low-lying, of course, but the view was still very spectacular.
On the way to Clifden, Alan (our tourguide) explained that JRR
Tolkien often visited the Connemara Area. It is said that he lots of inspiration from the area to use in his books (The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings). I could tell! The area was very "Middle-Earth-like," and one could definitely imagine orcs, elves, and goblins running all over the place.
The ride to Clifden was awesome. We encountered a herd of cattle which almost collided with a herd of sheep on the road! It took us awhile to get past the confused animals (especially when the
sheepdog kept the cattle off the grass on both sides of the road for awhile), but it was certainly a humorous scene.
We stopped at another town called "Leenane" where 1990 movie "The Field" was filmed. I have not yet seen this movie but I'm very excited to; as I am typing this in the lounge, JP is setting up a VHS player with "The Field" closeby! Anyway, we sat in on a "wool-making" session in the Wool museum. It was kinda boring.
We arrived in Clifden at around 4-5pm. After settling into our hostel, I went out with Jimmy to
explore the cheap supermarkets and purchase a cheap breakfast. After picking up some juice and bread, and exploring the rest of Clifden, we headed back to the hostel. At 7:30pm we all met up at St. Joseph's Cathedral to listen to Seamus Heaney speak.
The reading was very interesting. I was quite drowsy at some parts, but it only lasted a bit more than an hour, and one could tell what an honor it was to hear Seamus speak from his incredible introduction. He was a funny, very smart old man, yet he was very young at heart. His last poem was the best, and everyone offered a very enthusiastic applause.
After the poetry reading, we went out and explored the town. I met another "Joyce" after talking to some Irish students.. but other than that the night was pretty average. We listened to some live irish music, watched a little bit of a rugby game on a TV, and went to bed.
Got up on Saturday morning and ventured up the mountain called "The Diamond" in the Connemara National Park. This was a thing that only a few of us did (Jimmy, myself, and a few others) while others explored the rest of the park, but the peak of Diamond was WORTH it. It was beautiful (see pics). We also visited a castle on the way home that was built and controlled by the O'Flaughtery Clan. It was interesting, but I didn't appreciate it too much because the O'Flaughtery Clan was the arch-rival of the Joyce Clan... not cool.
The rest of Saturday was used for getting settled back in, hanging out, and planning fall break plans. I've got quite a plan for break, but it's not 100% sure right now, so I will let you all know what's going on once I plan out everything. Saturday night was just a casual walk to Spiddal and a bit of Irish music in Hughe's Pub.
Sunday (this morning) included a mass at the beautiful St. Nicholas Cathedral and a shopping spree for food at Tesco and some supermarkets. We picked up a few soccer balls and a hurling ball called a Sliotar. I was fortunate enough to find a hurling stick under my bed, so I'll be walking down to the pitch down the road from PLH and trying out my hurling items.
Right now, I'm in the lounge in PLH, enjoying some music and watching... a New Orleans Saints game??! It's the only game they show over here... but a little taste of home never hurts.
mahalo...
Thomas
The Lounge
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