Shamrock Shenanigans: There's a first time for everything: 14-20 Jan

Second week of classes down. I won't go into too much detail because it was basically the same as last week. The only big difference is the addition of the choir to my schedule on Monday nights. It's not exactly what I thought it would be. It's more of a community choir than a University choir. The music is certainly interesting. We're doing Shenandoah and a piece in Irish. That one is intimidating because the pronunciation for the word does not match the spelling. For example, the first word is sliebh. The pronunciation sounds a lot like leave...Oh was I confused when we started singing. Even some of the Irish members were confused on the pronunciation. I'm not sure what other pieces we'll do, but it will certainly be fun to see how it goes.

On Tuesday nights in Blarney, local musicians go to the pub to play traditional music. Margaret, our dance instructor, invited everyone to come out, and since I can't pass up a night of fantastic music, you can guess where I was that night. We had some great fun and got to watch Margaret dance. A little birdie had told me she was in Riverdance at one point, but I couldn't find her listed. Unless she had danced before 1995, which would make her under 10 at the time, I don't think she did it. However, she is a fantastic dancer. I'll have to get her permission and maybe put up a video of her.

Wednesday's bit event was earlier in the day. I am working a literature review as part of a research project for UNK. When looking for information on a region or a population, the best place to go is to someone who is involved with said region/population. I contacted the UCC Social Work Department and was forwarded to a professor, Alastair, with specific interest in racism and whiteness, sort of what my review will involve. So now I have some small guidance from a professional in Cork, and have maybe forged a link between the Social Work Department in Kearney and the one in Cork. Alastair certainly seemed interested in getting more students from the US involved in the department. In regards to the research, he forwarded several links to me and has given me much to consider. I certainly got a new light on things in Cork, and Ireland, that I was not expecting. You learn something new everyday.

Thursday was my first nervous breakdown. While planning for the upcoming weekend trip, I got a good look at my finances. ... My heart about stopped when I started adding things up. However, I know things are do-able if I just keep a tight reign on my spending. No more eating out because I'm too lazy to make something from what's in the kitchen. The situation is working out now. A bit of advice for anyone planning a trip: bring a heck of a lot more money than you think you need because expenses pop up out of nowhere.

Dunguaire Castle

The Cliffs of Moher

After dance class on Friday, in which I learned a new step for the reel, we took off for Galway. We didn't have any plans for when we got there. A few general ideas of what we wanted to see and do for sure, but nothing concrete. The bus ride was long, especially since I had missed lunch. The cit of Galway isn't particularly large. However, it was incredibly friendly, and I decided if I ever came back to Ireland, Galway would be at the top of my list of places to return. We took things easy on Friday night, walked around the city a bit, headed towards the bay, essentially just relaxed. Saturday was our big tour day. We caught a tour bus heading to the Cliffs of Moher and stopped at a few other big sights along the way, such as Dunguaire Castle. That's right, I saw my first castle. It wasn't as big as I was expecting, but it was also not Buckingham Palace. If I'm ever around in the summertime, there are great medieval banquets and field days at Dunguaire. That would be so much fun. Anyway, we saw so many different things, such as the ocean. First time I saw the ocean was standing on the Cliffs of Moher. Incredible. That night, after a quick dinner of giant pizza slices, we went on a pub crawl. If you really want to get to know a town, wander a bit during the day, then do a pub crawl in the evening. A large part of the crawl participants were foreigners studying English at a school in Dublin and had also come to Galway for the weekend. Somehow we got on the topic of dancing, specifically Irish dancing. It came out that I was learning. A Brazilian offered an exchange: I would show/teach him to step dance and he would show/teach me a Brazilian dance. It was good fun. I'll have to see if I can get the video from Jemma. It certainly gave me something to talk about the rest of the night because i had people asking me when and where had learned. Sunday afternoon we decided to do a walking tour. However, it wasn't particularly interesting and it was cold outside. So when we got to the Claddagh museum, we dropped off and had fun looking at all the handmade jewelry inside. We even bought a couple pieces. There's a tradition behind Claddagh rings, which are passed from mother to daughter. If you are open to a new relationship, the heart should be pointed away from you when you wear the ring. But if you are in a committed relationship, the heart should be pointed toward you So you can tell someone's relationship status by simply checking out their Claddagh ring. After a warming lunch, we headed back to Cork. After a beautiful, clear weekend in Galway, it was difficult to return to the ever misty Cork. But, life moves on and Monday brought a new week of classes.