Dia dhuit! Hello! I am currently located in Dublin, Ireland, where my story begins.
For revisiting readers or for new comers, I just spent my spring semester of my sophomore year at NYU in Buenos Aires, Argentina, a four months adventure whose tales can be found here on my other, now finished blog.
Context for my travels: NYU has an incredibly wide range of study abroad opportunities and locations (one of the main reasons why it ended up being my school of choice). I have been to their Buenos Aires site, and am now taking advantage of their summer program in Dublin. It takes place on the campus of Trinity College (also called University of Dublin… the two names are synonymous), the city's oldest university, established by Queen Elizabeth I in 1592. It is located in the city centre, which I have found thus far to be quite convenient.
I arrived on June 29th, where I spent the day getting to my hostel and resting. After a nice nap, however, I decided to walk around a bit for my first time in Dublin.
I have been to Ireland before, just a little over four years ago, as a family vacation. We traveled on the west coast, seeing parts of County Mayo, Galway and Clare, but never went to Dublin. I'm so glad to be back in the land of Guinness and Gaelic, in an entirely new locale.
And Dublin is quite different from my previous images and experiences of Ireland.
From that short walk on my first day, I was enchanted by pedestrian streets of red brick (Grafton Street, branching directly off of the front gates of Trinity), road signs in both Gaelic and English, live music sounding from pub corners, certain areas (albeit they may be somewhat touristy) such as historic Temple Bar, the River Liffey and its series of lovely bridges like that of O'Connell Bridge, and thick Irish accents sounding left and right. And do not worry folks, I made sure to have a Guinness on my first day there. Ah… the head of a Guinness on tap, direct from the source, its country of origin… it's thick and soft like a rich Wisconsin custard… BUT FOR GROWN UPS!
So here I am now, on the second of July, having moved in to my graciously spacious dorm on campus and having had a sort of brief 'orientation' for the program and our new home. There are only about 30 of us, I would say, with a handful of graduate students also taking the same courses. The program is for six weeks, and so we are only to take 8 credits, where each class is a three hour long lecture. I am enrolled in Irish Culture: Tradition and Modernity, and Contemporary Irish Literature (which I already really enjoy, even though the first class is tomorrow, because I've already started reading some of our books for the course). Today was the first day of classes, and they continue up until August 11th. So homework will be heavy, since these are essentially intensive summer courses, but fun is still to be had! I promise!
To end my introductory post… I will answer the question that was asked often during my last semester abroad: why did you choose [Ireland]? Why are you here? I would like to answer this question with a series of interactions I have had here so far:
Immigrations officer: Miss Kilkenny… any relatives living in Ireland?
Me: No, not anymore.
Immigrations officer: Are you sure about that?
Check-in assistant at TCD: Second name?
Me: Kilkenny.
Him: Ahh… hmm… yes, that makes sense… first?
Me: Mary.
Him: Good God…
Professor Pádrig Ó Cerúill (taking roll) : Kilkenny. Hmm. Yes. That is a good Irish name.
I am a fourth Irish from my father's side, and a little bit more from my mother's side. I have pale skin, dark hair, blue eyes, and freckles all over, and that with the name has gotten me more than enough remarks back in the States of my heritage. I love it. I love being Irish, having a pool of ancestry from this place (which I hope to learn more about in my years), being associated with this place on any account. I never take off my Claddagh ring and I wear it with pride as it being an Irish symbol and as a believer of what it represents. I have learned a little bit of Gaelic in my free time, and will continue to learn the language. Part of me has always wanted to return from where my ancestors came… so here I am.
More posts to come soon, particularly of trips we take via the program's agenda, and any class excursions. Dublin is much smaller than Buenos Aires or New York City, so I am very excited to truly get to know this city, despite my short time here.
Slán!
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