My interest in and love for the Irish language has only continued to grow over the past few weeks. I think that it’s one of the most beautiful languages I’ve heard, and each word is like a new little trinket. I love turning them around in my brain, and it’s become a routine for me to climb into bed with my Irish notebook, studying the words closely. When Elizabeth Gilbert writes about her love for the Italian language in Eat, Pray, Love, she reflects: “Every word was a singing sparrow, a magic trick, a truffle for me. The words made me laugh in delight.” This is EXACTLY how I feel about Irish.

Thus, I was absolutely thrilled at being able to attend Trinity’s Glór na mBan sa Tradisiún Gaelach, a celebration of women’s voices in the Gaelic tradition—both literary and musical. The event combined virtually all of my passions: Irishness, women’s studies, and literature—could it get any better? 🙂

The two hour long event featured a poet, and two singers from Connemara (their father is actually Egyptian, though, so they also sang for us in Arabic!). I have to admit that I became a little worried when I arrived at the event and was all of a sudden surrounded by people conversing fluently in Irish, but upon taking my seat, I found that people at all different levels were present. And, kindly enough, the poet presented her work first in English, then in Irish. I found myself able to pick out quite a few words, often enough to get the general gist of the poem anyway—but having heard it in English first allowed me to place some new words into my vocabulary! The two girls had equally beautiful voices, singing slow and quick songs alike, providing brief explanations about the songs’ content prior to breaking into song.

As if this week could get any better (or I could get any nerdier…), Trinity is also having their annual huge secondhand book sale (can I repeat, SECONDHAND!!), which I am planning on stopping by tomorrow! Unfortunately, I do have to keep in mind that I absolutely cannot purchase EVERY book that I will want—otherwise, I will very quickly end up with a suitcase of books to ship back to the States. So maybe, just one or two….or fifteen!

The Docklands are literally a two minute walk away from Goldsmith Hall; but you almost wouldn’t believe that from the completely different environments that characterize them both! It was such a beautiful day yesterday, that I couldn’t resist getting out of the library for a few hours to take a walk! Enjoy the pictures!

I knew a good week was in store when my Monday morning began with a pep talk from my Irish Literary Autobiographies professor. Her “rallying the troops” speech reminded us that it was Week 6…and that it only got more stressful from here on out as examinations approached. She demanded that we keep our heads about us as we move (or rather, race) through the last few weeks. Her words, contrary to making me feel nervous about examinations (that will probably sink in later—apparently the level of stress that takes over campus is pretty monumental…), they made me kind of sad. How can it possibly be week 6? That means I’m ¾ through my stay in Ireland; time has literally flown since I stepped off the plane in Dublin on January 15th—and I think I’d like some of it back now!

Following class, I went for tea with a few of my fellow classmates, who are also shocked that it’s already week 6. Two of them are in the process of determining what they are going to do next year following their graduation, and all of them asked me whether I would be making return visits to Ireland, and I, of course, assured them that that was not even a question in my mind.

Last night, all of us HC students (both at Trinity and UCD) met up with our cultural coordinator for dinner and to see the play, God of Carnage, at the Gate Theatre. I won’t give away the plot, but it was very well done and absolutely hilarious! See, I knew my week was off to a great start! 🙂

And tomorrow, I am meeting with the Director of the Graduate Centre for Women’s and Gender Studies. I recently asked whether I would be able to sit in on a graduate course, but as it turned out, because of some fees that would be associated with taking the course, I would not be able to do so! But, I am really looking forward to the meeting tomorrow—and beginning to think more about my own future after Holy Cross. YIKES! Interestingly enough, I’ve had more than a few students and professors inquire as to whether I would be interested in getting my Masters at Trinity. But, as much as I love Trinity and Ireland, I don’t think I could manage another year apart from all of the people I love—unless, that is, they’re up for moving!

Emerald Isle, anyone?

From speaking to the avid travelers of the students studying abroad, I’ve realized that their mantra seems to be “try, try again…and you will succeed, eventually!” Last Tuesday, I greeted Amanda Guarino (who’s studying at the University of Sussex and also blogging) in the Dublin Airport with a big tackle! We were so happy that her plane had taken off from Gatwick and landed in Dublin without either cancellation or delay—a feat we were a little worried about, seeing as in December, after a cancellation of three flights due to approximately two and a half inches of snow, Amanda wasn’t able to make it over when Kelsey and Nora visited!

We spent the first night catching up and planning our Ireland adventures over pizza—and began the next morning bright and early with a visit to Howth, a small fishing village on the northern border of Dublin! It was a foggy morning, but that only seemed to magnify the beauty of the lighthouse and the small seafood restaurants lining the streets. We even caught sight of a seal on our walk to the lighthouse! We returned to Dublin in the afternoon, where we both went to my Uncanny in Women’s Fiction class and then had dinner at Bewley’s, one of the treasures of Grafton Street!

We spent the next two days doing our own little walking tour of Dublin—seeing everything from the Dublin Spire, the Garden of Remembrance, Christchurch Cathedral, Stephen’s Green, the Book of Kells in Trinity’s Library, the National Museum, and the River Liffey. And, of course, we made a crucial stop in Carroll’s, the classic shop for Irish souvenirs—complete with some classic Irish songs playing as background music! Although the store is geared towards tourists and thus, leprechauns, Irish flags, and green of any and every sort is well in abundance, it immediately became clear that the store is already preparing for St. Patrick’s Day. I’m looking forward to seeing the celebrations that take place in Dublin that day!

On Saturday, we took a tour of the Wicklow mountains, a tour which brought us to the site where P.S. I love you was filmed, the Guinness estate and lakes (Loch Tae and Loch Dan), and Glendalough, a site of ancient monastic ruins! Our tour guide kept us laughing—and singing—the entire ride! Amanda and I were nearly coerced into belting out a rendition of Frank Sinatra’s New York, New York—but, luckily, our tour guide took the lead there! Unfortunately, Amanda had to return to Brighton on Sunday morning, as much as I wanted to keep her in Dublin!

But, in addition to being happy that the weather had been on our side and allowed us to see many aspects of Ireland, from city life, to seaside fisheries, to mountain passes that border Ireland’s countryside, I was so happy to have the time to just reconnect and share stories with Amanda! Reuniting with fellow Crusaders never fails to feel like reuniting with family! And, while I’m beyond excited to return to Holy Cross next year and share the experiences of senior year with all of my lovely Crusaders, I’m also excited to continue my journey in Ireland, to continue being part of what will become treasured stories and memories. And, next year, upon the biggest reunion I will have ever experienced, I can’t wait to see how all of our stories will interweave and how, despite our very different experiences, will undoubtedly only bind my second family of Crusaders closer together.

P.S. The picture of the cat is Trinny, Trinity’s very own on-campus cat. She’s a pretty famous member of campus life (I mean, she even has her own facebook page-I can’t say I know another cat that’s on facebook!) Amanda and I ran into Trinny on our second morning in Dublin; she was sitting casually on the benches overlooking the rugby fields-clearly in her domain. 🙂

Right before I left to return to Ireland, I received the heartbreaking news that my high school, Our Lady of Victory Academy in Dobbs Ferry, would close its doors forever in June, due to low enrollment coupled with a large amount of debt that had been incurred over the past few years. Immediately, alumnae, current students, faculty, and administration began to take action; a massive writing campaign, a pledge form, and ideas to expand the school into a middle school or to make the school a charter/independent school were explored.

We just received word that our effort and the viability of these options would simply not be enough, primarily because they would take years to fulfill—and that the decision to close OLVA would remain standing. At this time, I would just ask that you keep the students, faculty, staff, and administration in your thoughts and prayers as they make necessary transitions and shift their efforts from fighting for a school to ensuring that a school’s legacy remains very much alive.

Dia Duit!
Greetings in Irish!

Most weeks at Trinity have a theme associated with them: Fresher’s Week, Rainbow Week, Careers Week, Green Week, RAG week, etc. This week, Éigse na Tríonóide, constitutes Trinity’s celebration of Irish heritage, but most importantly, it’s appreciation of the Irish language. What you may not know is that just as students in America often begin learning a secondary language in elementary school, Irish students study Irish directly parallel to their study of English. Last semester, when I volunteered with Kid’s Literacy, I was immediately struck by the fact that the number line on the board was not in English, but Irish, that a list of vocabulary words that the students needed to learn was delineated in both languages. Thus, it seems to me that, for Irish students, although as they’ve told me, they frequently tend to lose their strength in the Irish language when they move on to secondary school, the Irish language is, at least in the early school years, as crucial as English. While the latter is necessary for communicating on the more general level, I get the feeling that learning Irish is largely cultural, a display of love and appreciation for their heritage.

And thus, I tried to spend the week completely immersed in the Irish language and Irish-ness, in other ways than simply attending my Irish language course and practicing speaking Irish. On Tuesday, Silvia, our cultural coordinator, took us four HC girls at Trinity and the four students studying at UCD for the semester out to dinner at a restaurant called Salamanca (keep an eye on Nora’s blog; she and Kelsey are heading there for the weekend, and it promises to be an amazing trip! I’m going to have to live vicariously through their experiences of the city!). While I was expecting a rather traditional Spanish tapas, I quickly found that, while the food was absolutely excellent, it was much rather like an Irish tapas than anything else, especially considering that many of us finished off our meals with a serving of brown soda bread flavoured ice cream. I know, it sounds kinda fishy, but believe me when I say it was excellent (however, I may not be the most reliable source for this assessment, considering that I am one of ice cream’s biggest fans and would probably enjoy most any flavour)

After our delicious meal, we set out to the Olympia Theatre to see “The Field,” a play about a farmer who feels as though his land is being sold from underneath him when the widow whom he pays for grazing rights decides to sell her field. The cast, headed by Brian Dennehy, was absolutely marvelous! Our coordinators commented on how amazing it was to see an American actor taking on such a traditionally Irish role and noted how well he transitioned into character, despite the few moments when an American accent was outwardly evident. Then, on Thursday, having had such a great experience at last week’s choral evensong, I attended again! This time, however, I couldn’t understand a word of what was being said—because everything, and I mean everything, was done in Irish—from the Our Father to the songs. And, it was absolutely beautiful! It was the first time I had heard Irish spoken so fluently without a break, and I was sure to take the pamphlet with me to look up what all of the words of the songs meant. And, yesterday, I went to see yet another play at the Abbey Theatre. I figured that being a lover of theatre, I should most definitely begin taking greater advantage of the fact that there are three excellent ones within five minutes of Trinity: The Abbey, the Gate, and the Olympia.

I went to see, As You Are Now So Once We Were, a spin-off of Joyce’s Ulysses that attempts to explain his assertion that “A nation is the same people living in the same place.” You can’t really get more Irish than that. The play was absolutely mind-blowing. The four cast members were graduates of Trinity and were just returning from an international tour. The set, consisting solely of cardboard boxes, allowed the viewer to concentrate completely on what each of the characters was saying—and how the boxes were being used became crucial. It was all about perspectives-and timing. For example, one girl took the stage and explained how every morning she would wake up in Howth, go into her bathroom and wash her face, the three other cast members situating the cardboard boxes to allow for appropriate representation of these actions. Then, a half hour later, another cast member took the stage, using the EXACT same motions to depict a scene in a restaurant. All of a sudden, the toilet became a restaurant chair, the sink became the menu, the scene was completely familiar—but the story had changed! Finally, after the set of motions had been repeated time and time again to depict different scenes of the day, the final cast member got up to explain what the play was about in four words: the moment will happen.

The four cast members then began to argue. Had the moment happened? Is it happening? Will it happen? It was one of those things I’d have to see again in order to tease out all of the intricate themes. But, I suppose, in the end, that the moment will happen—again and again. The cast will put on the production again tonight, the girl will wake up tomorrow morning in Howth, and they will all go out to eat and look at a menu again. But, more broadly, the Irish experience is one that happens again and again—precisely because “a nation is the same people living in the same place.” And, I just feel so lucky to be in on that very experience.

Bain taithneamh as an deireadh seachtaine…or, Enjoy the weekend! 🙂

Some days, it’s just the little things in life that make you smile and feel an all-familiar warmth from your head to your toes. Today, two of those minute things-however odd they may seem-completely made my day.

1.When Remy and I got back from lunch over which we discussed our ICIP projects with our advisor, Maeve, (it was a really delicious lunch and we learned a lot about what each other was doing for the project-more to come in a later post about the projects!) I discovered that a book I had ordered for my Irish Literary Autobiographies Class had arrived! You can probably tell that I like—actually, love, adore, live, breathe, etc., etc.—reading and so I raced back up to my room happily, with the square brown parcel tucked underneath my arm. Upon reaching my room, I began to tear apart the package. I got through one layer, then another, then another, to find that the book was beneath four layers of wrapping—talk about safe shipping! (And, it was coming from Dublin—I question whether there would have been that many bumps along the way!) Well, I finally got to the book-and the smell of it absolutely made my day. You know the smell of an older book-you can tell it’s either been on the shelf in a bookshop for a long time, or right next to some really antiquated books that have probably passed from person to person (tell me I’m not crazy here…) And, better yet, this book was second-hand. I LOVE second-hand books; I love them infinitely more than a new book; if I had a choice, every single book I had would be a second-hand book and I’ll tell you why. It’s that feeling of connection with the previous reader, that the book has already impacted a life and is just being passed on. I LOVE THEM.

2.I also attended a choral evensong in the chapel this evening, which was absolutely beautiful! Sometimes it just takes an hour of music to refocus and find oneself in the presence of God. And, ironically, a member of the U.S. embassy was at the choral evensong today-talk about uncanny! (And, I’ve been reading quite a bit of uncanny literature, seeing as two of my English classes are centered around the Supernatural. I don’t even like scary movies, so you can only imagine the nightmares that these readings have produced).

And on this damp, cold day (although, it’s nothing in comparison to the daily pounding of snow that the Northeast seems to be experiencing), a cup of tea is keeping me warm from head to toe…literally.

Anyone who knows me well may attest to the fact that I have the tendency to be a worrier. It’s not something I particularly like being, and so I really do try to hide it; but, nonetheless, it’s a part of who I am. In my own experience, though, I’ve found that as tiresome and stressful as it is that worry often comes from a place of love. We worry about the people we care about, we worry about the things that affect the people we care about, we worry about the ways we can make a tough situation better for the people we care about. So, really, it all comes down to people we care about.

That’s why, on Wednesday, I was truly touched (nearly to the point of tears) when, while volunteering at the annual party that Trinity holds for the Elderly that the Vincent DePaul society visits, I was approached by Mary (one of the women whom I’ve been visiting since September). Her excitement at seeing me was matched by her words: “I saw that flights to the U.S. were being cancelled because of snow, and I tried to call you…because I was so worried about you.” Such a genuinely kind and caring person, Mary had been worried that I hadn’t been able to make it home for Christmas, but as soon as she found out that I had, we entered into conversation about our holidays, with her enquiring about almost every member of my family! Even some of the Irish students that I volunteer with approached me afterwards with big smiles, saying how truly lovely it was to see the sincere happiness in Mary’s reaction.

And, the party itself was quite the success! With a band playing “Brown-Eyed Girl” and “I’m a Believer,” I almost questioned whether I was really in Dublin for a few minutes. But, then, a few of the people we visit on a weekly basis got up to sing some classic Irish songs, encouraging us volunteers to dance along! For me, the party became one of those times where you couldn’t help but simply focus on that very moment and to appreciate the happiness that filled the room, nearly bursting out of Trinity’s dining hall.

And, even though Mary may never read this entry (I’m not certain she has a computer), I have to thank her for being such an instrumental person throughout my time in Dublin; and I hope she knows that her worry for me is one that I would most definitely return for her.

“I don’t even know if I’m in the right place.”

The ten words sounded awfully familiar to me. So did the nervous tone. I think I must have said those words to myself about a billion times within the first few weeks at Trinity and this American student was clearly experiencing the same dilemma I had had more than quite a few times. Was she in the right building? Was she headed to the right classroom? Did she have the materials she needed? So many unanswered questions. As I passed the girl who was voicing her concern to another student, I couldn’t help but smile to myself.

It’s so funny how time changes everything. This time, when I stepped off the plane and took my first breath of the Irish air, I felt strangely at home and put together. I felt like I was in the right place.

On Monday, I attended my Irish Literary Autobiographies class (a small course with only seven students) and was greeted with hugs from all. Our professor was clearly excited to see us and have us back in class. Today, I had my Supernatural Literature class for the first time, a class that is not only interesting in itself, but was made ever more lovable by my hilarious professor. I am in the right classes, ones that make me happy, ones that make me want to reach for more than what’s on the syllabus.

On my way to the grocery store, I stopped along Grafton to observe the street performers, many familiar but some new to the scene, taking in the ever-familiar dynamic. I was headed in the right direction.

This is what I wanted to tell the girl who seemed so worried. I wanted to tell her that she would find her classroom, but more importantly, I wanted to tell her that she would find her place. Maybe not today. Or tomorrow. Maybe not one week from now. Or two weeks. But, I knew without a doubt, that at the end of this semester that she, very much like me, will be sad to leave the place she will have come to know as her third home.

Remember how I couldn’t believe that the semester was over and that my time in Ireland was at its halfway point? Well, now, I simply can’t believe that I’ve been at home for almost two weeks. Time seems to be going faster and faster by the month and all I can say, however juvenile it may seem, is “NOT FAIR!”

Perhaps, the close proximity of the New Year is only furthering my realization that time really is flying. 2010 was a wonderful year during which I established new, wonderful and strong relationships, became involved in activities that reflected my passions and discovered new things about myself along the way.

I just can’t believe it’s already completed and furthermore, that next year at this time, I’ll be preparing for my final semester at Holy Cross. While a part of me wishes that I could rewind and relive, the wonderful memories that I have also make me want to move forward, to create more memories, to make 2011 just as wonderful as 2010.

I’ll leave you with an Irish toast:

“In the New Year, may your right hand always be stretched out in friendship, never in want.”

Wishing everyone a happy, healthy New Year filled with family, friends, laughter, and love. May the wind be always at your back.