First of all, I would like to wish my mother a very happy Mother's Day! It's Mother's Day in Ireland today, though I realize that we've a couple months to go before the U.S. version... I love you, mumsy!
Anyway, this past weekend was our MA group's second trip to Carraroe, or An Ceathrú Rua, in the Connemara gaeltacht, or Irish-speaking region. It went over much better than the last trip. The classes this time around were helpful, and really pushed us to use our Irish. My speaking was not very good, but I was surprised by how much I could comprehend. I probably understood about half of what was being said, just from the words I did know. We also weren't given a lot of pointless activities-- we watched some Irish language short films, got a tour of Raidió na Gaeltachta (the Irish-language radio station), and went to a concert. The concert, put on by the school, had quite a variety of acts, including a couple of folk/rock musicians, button accordian trad, sean-nós singing, and sean-nós dancing. The sean-nós dancing in particular was cool, and I think several of us (myself included) left the concert determined to take a class before leaving Ireland.
Of course, as before, the best part of the weekend was the socializing and bonding with our group. Our Bean an Tí made delicious food for us and I think I ate my weight in biscuits and tea over about 36 hours. Each evening, of course, ended up in An Cistin, one of Carraroe's three pubs, with a lot of laughter and music-- ceol agus craic.
Unfortunately I'm back in the real world, which means I have plenty of reading I wasn't able to do over the weekend. Still, it was nice to get away for a little bit.
1 comment:
Go deas! I love the Cistin! I studied two summers in Carraroe through NUIG and lived with the Kelly's. I miss the chips at An Pheadog (hope I spelled that right). Enjoy every second you have over there, and hit it up at Ti Josie's!
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