This is mainly a blog to keep my folks and beloveds updated on my European travels. I am currently studying anthropology at Transylvania University in Kentucky, but have traveled abroad to Galway, Ireland for the semester. Here, I am a student at the National University of Ireland at Galway, and am taking Gaelic and Irish Studies classes.
I moved to Dublin on New Year's Day, then to Galway January 3rd, one week ago. It has been one of the longest weeks of my life!
I have only been to a few pubs, but Galway is famous for them and their live trad (traditional) music sessions that often take place in dark pub corners. A girl in my program, Caroline, plays the flute amazingly well, and joined in with the musicians. There was a singer, a fiddler, a banjo player, and a bodhran (a traditional Irish drum) player. I sat with the musicians in the corner and was contently sipping my Guinness and taking in the improvisational music and the loud Irish accented conversations happening in the tiny pub. Two traditional cloggers were in town for just one more night, and they danced right at my feet for the whole pub while the band played. It was exactly how you would imagine and hope it would be.
I met a man, the trad singer, who lives in Illinois but was born in Galway. When I asked him why on earth he would leave this beautiful community, when his voice had proved how passionately and emotionally connected he was to Ireland. He pointed to his wedding ring and said, "Five years ago, I met a girl right in this very pub. The rest is history." Yes. It brought tears to my eyes, although - as many of you know - that is no rare occurrence.
Today I started classes at NUI. Campus is a 35-40 minute walk from my building and it is only full daylight here from just before 10AM until 4:30PM or so. Class was at 9AM, so I walked in the dark windy rain alone, but my class was thoroughly interesting: Celtic Mythology, Religion, and Folklore. My home institution is quite limited in what it can offer us anthropology students, so anything specific is a huge gift.
I'm headed back out with some people in my program in search of some musical pubs in the dark rainy night!
<3
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