Being awake in the culture

 "Had I not been awake, I would have missed it." This is the title and a line of a poem by Heaney. I feel like this best describes the time that I have had while being in this country. I feel like sleep can represent two different things here. One of them is actually sleeping. The other is not taking in the world around you. These days it is so hard to not be alert when you are in a place, and I feel like that is because of our phones. We tend to be so absorbed in them that we do not pay attention to what is going on around us. On this trip, that was not the case for me. I did not have an international service plan, so unless I had Wi-Fi, I could not use my phone. I feel like that was the best choice that I made. I was not asleep. I was able to view everything that was happening and able to appreciate it as it was happening. 

Another positive of this was that I really got to know people. Not just the people that I traveled here with, but those whom we have met while being here.  The other night was a prime example. We were invited to a bar, and there were musicians playing music, and it was nice to just sit and listen. I was awake and able to immerse myself in the culture, and for that I am so grateful!

I love a good festival!

 This past weekend was the Waterford Festival of Food! As part of our study abroad trip, service at the food festival was one of our duties! "Through intricate motions ran/ Stream and gliding sun/And all my heart seemed gay:/Some stupid thing that I had done/Made my attention stray." These words resonate with me as I look back on this past weekend. The sun was shining, and even though we were sweating through our sweatshirts, I would not change the experience of this weekend. It felt like the weekend went by fast and not much had happened, but it was quite the opposite. So many things had happened that were catching my attention as the weekend went on. 

On Saturday, I was stationed down at the Dungarvan Castle. This is where all of the children's activities were located. There were carnival rides, a petting zoo, face painting, a couple of food booths, and many children's activities that were going on throughout the day! I was mainly just there to make sure that if any children were to get lost, I could help them find their parents, or if people had questions, then I was there to answer them. Ella was also assigned to me on these duties! It was actually a lot of fun! The sun was shining, and it was really just a perfect day. After our festival duties were over, we changed and went back just to be spectators. There were so many people. The food vendors were located down along the quay, so it was a little tight, but overall, it was nice to walk through and see everything that was happening. 

On Sunday, she and I were back on volunteer duty, but this time we were where the vendors were, and we had the same duties as the day before! It was a little colder on Sunday, but it was still very enjoyable! Festivals are something that I enjoy very much, so being able to be a part of this festival meant a lot! I do not think, though, that I was expecting to be as big of an event as it was! So yes, my attention may have strayed because of all of the lovely food and culture that I was surrounded by, but I was happy, and to me, that is all that mattered 

Cork City Jail

 One thing that has been interesting to me is true crime. It can either be watching it, reading it, or learning about it! This is part of why I am a criminal justice major, and that is what has brought me to Ireland. One of my classes is to compare the criminal justice systems between America and both Northern Ireland and Ireland. With that being said, our adventure as a class yesterday was to Cork to visit the old city jail. This jail was in operation from 1824-1923, which means that it was open during the country's civil war to gain independence from Britain. A little history of the prison. It held women, children, and men all at once at one point of its working life. In the year 1878, it became a female-only prison, but that changed during the revolution to house both male and female inmates, just keeping them in different wings. 

It was a very interesting place to see. There are parts of it that they have kept updated so that people can visit since it is now a museum, but there are some parts of it that they have left to deteriorate and let the elements take over. In a way, this is a symbolic way to show the kind of life that the prisoners were living when they were in there. They were forgotten about and left to sit with very little good treatment. Within the poem Easter 1916, it talks about the Easter Rising and how people were changing because of the cause, and they wanted their freedom. He says in the poem, "He, too, has been changed in his turn, Transformed utterly." Within this line, he says that a man whom he has either seen or known has changed or been transformed because of the conflict that is going on, almost like he has changed for the worse, or was it for the better, because he was fighting for his country. These were the kind of people who were held in this jail during the war of independence. Those were doing what they had to do for their country and in the end, they ended up in jail. 

Amsterdam Flowers and a Blackberries Life Cycle

 As part of our Amsterdam trip, one of the stops that I had to make was to see the flowers. The Netherlands as a whole is known for its flowers, so it was a must! When planning, we did not know if we were going to go out to the fields or what we were going to do! With some further research, we found a floating flower market! It was free to go see unless, of course, if you bought something, which I did. 

In the poem "Blackberry-Picking" by Seamus Heaney, he wrote, “At first, just one, a glossy purple clot/Among others, red, green, hard as a knot." In this poem, he is talking about going out and picking blackberries, and how some are at different stages in their growth than others. The poem also talks about the life cycle of the berries, from how they look when they are ready to be picked to when they are rotting. The same could go for the flowers in Amsterdam. At the market, they were all different, both in their sense of color and the amount that they had grown. No matter what, they were beautiful! When it comes to the life cycle of the flowers, we saw them at their peak. 

I think that it is important for us to look at everything, no matter what stage it is in, as beautiful. That is what is happening in this poem, and I feel like this is something that everyone should be able or at least try to do! If we did this, I think that we would all have a different perspective of things that may be at the end of its life. 

Van Gogh and Art

While in Amsterdam, we were able to go to the Van Gogh Museum. Being in that museum, it was really breathtaking to see the work of Van Gogh. We learn about it in art classes, but to be able to see it in person was an experience I never thought I would be able to experience. Within one of Seamus Heaney's poems titled "Making a Picture," he wrote "Between my finger and my thumb/ The squat pen rests;/ snug as a gun. / I’ll dig with it." 
When there, you can really see the effort that he puts into his work and how much it means to him. I feel like this poem is a good example of that.  Heaney reflects on the act of creation, making art as a kind of anchoring in the world.

I think this is important because without art, the world would be boring, and I take that to include all kinds of art. I could not think of a world without paintings, but not only that works of art like books, music, and poetry. Things like this make the world pretty, and being in the museums, this was really something that I was able to see. Like everything else, this is something that I am so glad that I got to experience. 

Trials and Tribulations

    So, this past weekend, 5 of my friends and I chose to travel to Amsterdam, Netherlands. It was a great experience and a very fun weekend. We went to the Van Gogh Museum, took a stroll through the Red-Light district, went into a couple of other museums, and went to see a floating flower market. As well as just exploring the city and seeing where we ended up. It was a Thursday through Sunday trip starting in Dublin Thursday night, so we could get our early morning flight on Tuesday. May I brag that that flight cost only 13 euros! As much as we would have liked it to go smoothly, there were some bumps in the road. We thought that it would be interesting to call them the trials of Amsterdam, and we kept track of them! Might I add that none of these are really serious, but they are fun. They are as follows! 

The Trials of Amsterdam

Trial 1
-Finding the right bus stop
Trial 2
- Being able to get on the bus (the big green bus)
Trial 3
-The bus hits a truck (yes, we were fine)
Trial 4
- Nicole’s phone died, so we can't check into the hostel
Trial 5
-4-hour bus ride (should have been 3 hours) + Grace clawing at the window
Trial 6
- Stuck for forty minutes on da plane
Trial 7
-Dutch ice cream and French fry shop. We couldn’t read the menu.
Trial 8
- The fire alarm got set off in the hotel, and we had to evacuate. The first exit we went to wouldn’t open, so we had to find another exit. (It was a false alarm, but still annoying)
Trial 9
-Finding Dunkin’ Donuts
Trial 10
- Dodging airplanes on the tarmac
Trial 11
- We don’t know which big green bus to get on
Trial 12
- Grace sings “Wheels on the Bus” while we all suffer from heat stroke
Trial 13

-Trial by fire. This bus is too hot to sustain human life. We still have an hour left on the way back, and there is a biblical amount of traffic. The 9th circle of Hell. Fuck Dante and fuck his Inferno.  

As you can see, they were not very serious, but we thought that they were funny. Within W.B. Yeats' poem "The Stolen Child," there is a line that says, "For the world's fuller of weeping than you

can understand." We understood that there is a lot more hurt in the world than our little trials within a small trip, and there are sometimes when we cannot understand to the extent of what people are going through in other places. As we have learned, the Irish people have gone through so much, so for us this is very minuscule. Any way we had a great weekend, and I am glad that I was able to go on a trip out of Ireland. 

Family

    Family, to me, is one of the most important things. When I told them that I was going on this trip they asked me if they could come and visit. Out of all my family, my dad's parents were able to come and visit. Before they came to Dungarvan they traveled out west and spent some time in Dublin. My weekend with them started by going to trivia with them which was a lot of fun. On Saturday we took the day and explored Waterford. We did a tour of Bishops Palace and Waterford Crystal. On Sunday, we just spent time together and I was able to make them lunch and play board games which was giving me a sense of home. 

    When reading through poems that I felt could resonate with my weekend with them it was "Follower" by Heaney. Overall, the poem is about him growing up and his father was the one who had to take care of him, but as his father gets older, he is the one who has to take care of his father. In a way, I was able to do this for my grandparents. When I was younger, they were able to guide me and show me around when I did day trips with them. I was able to do this for them. I could show them around and be a guide for them as they were for me. They really mean a lot and to be able to give them that experience means the world to me.  

Controversial Opinions

"Wine comes in at the mouth

And love comes in at the eye;

That’s all we shall know for truth

Before we grow old and die.

I lift the glass to my mouth,

I look at you, and I sigh."

Being in Ireland it is only right to talk about alcohol. While being here I have had the privilege of visiting both the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin and The Midleton Distillery which is the home of Jameson. This may be a controversial take, but I am not a fan of either, hence why I can relate to the poem " A Drinking Song" written by Yeats. I can specifically relate to the last line of the poem where it states, "I look at you, and I sigh." 

    I really wanted to do my best to enjoy them but to me, they were just not as enjoyable as they were to other people. When it came to the Guinness, I am not positive about why I was not a fan, but I think it was because of how dark it was and how strong of a wheat flavor it had. I already knew before I came here that I was not a fan of whiskey, but I told myself that I was going to give it another chance. Within the tasting, there were three different types of whiskey that we could taste: Jameson, Powers, and Green Spot. I am going to be clear they were all nasty to me, but if I had to choose one, I would choose the Jameson. Did I like them, no, but was it an experience that I will forever be grateful for, yes! 

The Coast

  Growing up the beach has always been an important part of my life. My family vacationed to many different beaches where so many memories have been made. Watching my aunt and uncle get married on a beach in the Dominican Republic. Even as far as going to Presque Ilse in Erie, both with my grandparents when I was a child or going there with my friends on the weekends during the fall semester. No matter what It has been the coast and beach has meant something to me. So when I read the words of Yeats in his poem "The Meditation of the Old Fisherman" I felt like I could relate to the whole poem. 

Within he is talking about a boy who has never had his heart broken by t
he water playing in the waves and just being able to be happy.  These words really stand to resonate with me. No matter what age i have been the water on the beach and the waves crashing have brought me peace... even all the way in Ireland. When we were at the Giants Causeway and sitting on the rocks just looking out at the horizon, it brought me peace. All of the issues that it felt like I was having tended to just disappear. Yes, there was not a beach there but it was just being on the coast. 

The same goes for when I took a walk yesterday along the river here in Dungarvan. I was sitting in Starbucks and was stressed about the amount of homework that I had to get done within the next week. I decided that I just needed to walk and see where my feet took me. I explored. I walked around town and went into shops that interested me, but if you can guess where this is going. My feet, and heart, lead me to the coast. I just ended up standing there listening to the birds and the breeze blows my hair. Like the poem says i felt like there "was never a crack in my heart." When I realized that I needed to get back to reality, I walked along the water until I could not anymore. It was the peace that was needed after a
long week. 

A Whole New World

 

"I composed habits for those acres

so that my last look we be

neither gluttonous nor starved. 

I was ready to go anywhere."  

Today is a month that I have been in the country of Ireland. I have laughed, cried, smiled, made new friends, built stronger connections with others that I had, and maybe bought one too many pints! The poem by Heaney that I feel best describes the time that I have had so far is " Land" which is quoted above. 

While being here I have brought myself to form habits and to have a schedule. People are starting to look familiar to me and I am not only getting to know the country better but Dungarvan better! I have seen sights that I never thought I would see. I experienced things I never thought I would experience and have enjoyed every moment of it! I will not lie there have been the hard parts, like missing family and friends, and not being home for family events both good and bad, but this is not something that I would ever want to take back! 

It is wild to think that we have only been here a month! We have 4 weeks left in this wonderful place! In that time I get to help two of my friends who are here celebrate their birthdays, celebrate Easter, get to have a visit from my paternal Grandparents, travel to Amsterdam, and those are only the things that I have planned. That does not include spontaneous decisions! I can not wait to see where the time takes me!