great craic

    How do I begin?  I'm sorry it's taken so long for me to get motivated enough to begin to blog.  I've been in Ireland since January 29th.  I live in Coolnagreina, a YWCA of Ireland, in a building that is quite ancient yet already dear to my heart. 

 Above is Coolnagreina, the building that we live in.

 This is the lovely view we have when we walk out of our front door.

 We live in Greystones, which is a village right on the Irish Sea.

 This is the Red Room, where we hang out and do homework (what little we have) a lot of the time.

 This is the DART, which takes us all the way to Dublin or anywhere in between.  It runs along the eastern coast of Ireland.

 This is just one of the thousands of lovely views we have from the shore.

    There are 20 of us-16 girls and 4 boys.  You may think these odd proportions, but really, it's a lot less weird than I anticipated.  In fact, I rarely think of it.  Kyle Lantz and Laura Rodeheaver are our leaders, and Kyle's wife, Kelsey, lives among us as well.  They're all great.  I love our group, and I'm excited to see us become more and more what the Church is intended to be as we live together in close community. 

 This is our group at Old Mellifont Abbey.

    I am rooming with Emily Guebert, or Gueb as she prefers being called.  I am really enjoying it.  Each of our rooms has a sink in it, which is convenient but really strange.

    Anyways, the first Irishman I interacted with upon reaching Ireland in my jet-lagged, lethargic, half-conscious state was the immigration officer.  I went up to the window and said, "Hello, sir," practicing my American politeness that we are taught to use.  He responded with a chuckle, saying, "Don't call me sir.  You're not in America anymore."  This was my first exposure to the carefree, friendly attitude that the majority of the Irish population possesses.  No matter what age, we go by a first-name basis, as Gert, a 70-some-year-old lady informed me at church on Sunday.  Everyone is very friendly.  On our Dublin scavenger hunt, several people approached us, asking if we were lost and needed help.  We weren't even aware that we were sending this message, but we certainly were lost and were happy to accept the directions of whoever wanted to help us.

     I do love Irish accents.  However, I was never expecting there to be so many variations!  Each region of the country, even though it's only the size on Indiana, has a different way of speaking.  Some even still speak Gaelic, the ancient Irish language.  Monty, one of our teachers, is from the North, whose accent I can only describe as emphasizing R's, although it's so much more than that.  Power, hour, shower, all words sound like Parrrr, harrrr, sharrrrr.  It's very interesting.  The accents in Greystones and Dublin are a bit more tame but still have a very different sound with different intonations and emphases. 

    Yet another thing I have to get used to is that you drive on the left side of the road.  Because of this, I have to look right before crossing the street, and whenever I approach people on the sidewalk coming toward me, I have to walk to the left.  It's amazing how difficult it is to change this habit that I didn't even know I had!

    I find that my efforts to not appear like an American work sometimes but most of the time fail miserably for many reasons.  First of all: there are almost no blonds in Ireland. Shocking, I know!  That kind of makes me stick out like a sore thumb, especially as a tall blond.  But I always hold out hope that people will mistake me for being from some other country in Europe.  I actually had someone ask me the other day where I was from instead of, "Are you from the States?".  That was quite an accomplishment and gave me reason to hope.  Second of all: I travel with a bunch of Americans.  By being in a large group in public (something I usually try to avoid in order to be properly immersed in the culture); by my companions' (or my) brightly-colored rain jackets, Ireland Studies Program sweatshirts, or Irish history books, and by the general louder and less subtle American way, the Irish people can typically distinguish our home country.  I try to pick up on whatever mannerisms, social cues, and even phrases I can in order to be less conspicuous, but my accent still gives me away.  (I still, much to my dismay, cannot properly imitate a Greystones accent.)

    So about my classes.  The first class we started is Celtic Christianity, or rather the history of Christian Doctrine followed by a study of Celtic Christianity.  Monty, the Presbyterian pastor, teaches this class to us.  It's very interesting thus far.  Contemporary Ireland is a class in which we are currently learning about the politics of Ireland, since their election is February 25th.  It's quite exciting to be here in the midst of it!  I have a presentation tomorrow on the Sinn Fein party, whose history closely ties in with the history of Ireland itself.  We've also begun Irish History and, although the reading can be dry, I also find this interesting.  The most interesting parts, though, are those that tie in with the places we visit. 

    We have been blessed with sunny days for the majority of our trips so far, except our Dublin scavenger hunt.  Above, I am pictured in front of Newgrange.  This is a passage tomb built in 3200 B.C.  That makes it older than the pyramids!  It is truly an amazing structures, built with quartz, granite, and other stones that were brought by way of the Boyne River from places far away without means of horses or wheels.  Only at the winter solstice, Dec. 21, does the sunlight enter the chamber.  On that day, it lights it up for 17 minutes and then retreats, and this only happens if the sun is out, which can be a rare occasion in Ireland.

    This is at Old Mellifont Abbey, which obviously displays the Roman influence through the arches you see above and below.

Roomie Photo!

    These are some of the beautifully carved high crosses in Monasterboice.  The cross in the foreground contains depictions of the crucifixion and several other Bible stories.  They were amazing!

     Here's Monty on the Hill of Slane.  It was on this hill that St. Patrick lit his bonfire before the pagan Irish King did during a ceremony, which was a terrible act of treason.  Because of this, he was taken to the king, enabling him to share the Gospel with the king.  This is what began the spread of Christianity in Ireland.

    The group in various windows of an old schoolhouse on the Hill of Slane.  In order to get in my window, I had to climb up through a chimney-like hole in the wall.

    Here is the GORGEOUS Tara Hill.  In the mounds are buried people and artifacts from long ago, although they haven't all been excavated.  When on top of this hill, you can see for miles in all directions.  It is absolutely breathtaking when the sun is out!  This is my favorite place we've visited so far.

    This is in the middle of the hike we did at Glendalough, a monastic community in a valley with two lakes.  This was the most physically taxing hike I can remember doing, but it was certainly worth it.  The view was one of the most beautiful I've ever seen.  I didn't take any pictures on this hike because I didn't want to carry my camera and bang it up, but hopefully when I get more pictures from Gueb I can put them up.

    Another class we've begun already is Engaging Ireland, during which we simply talk about how we can get involved in the surrounding community.  I'm very excited to see in what ways I'm led to get involved! (This is something you can be praying about.)  I also would love to make some good Irish friends and relationships, including a mentor relationship of some sort with a local lady, perhaps from my church.  This would be another prayer request, especially since I haven't yet decided on a church.

    Living cross-culturally is a class taught by Jen Lewis, an amazing English woman who lives in Ireland, and is largely a debriefing, thinking sort of class.  I've enjoyed it so far and have already come to realize many characteristics of myself that I've never before noticed.

    The other class we've started is drumming-a class we just started today.  The verdict?  I LOVED it!  We play a traditional Irish drum called the bodhran drum with a stick thing.  It's super fun!  I can't wait to have our next class.  If you want to hear what it sounds like, listen to some Celtic Woman music.

    Now for the group:  I've already mentioned how much I like all of them.  I really do.  They're wonderful.  It's such a great conglomeration of personalities of people from all over Taylor and even the U.S. (Emily McCardle is from California!)  Emily, Ryan Conners, and I are the Personnel Assistants for the semester, which is very exciting but also slightly intimidating to me.  (Prayer request: that I would be wise in my actions and be daily renewed that I may pour into others the way God intends)  We've already completed our first event: a Valentine's Day party.  We had a cookie decorating contest (in the shape of hearts of course), games, love music (including Emily's fave: JB), and Valentine card-making.  It was a great time to hang out and just have fun together (which is pretty much what we do all the time anyways).

    Well hopefully that wasn't too random and disorganized, but I have a lot of time to catch up on.  Hopefully I will be better at posting more regularly, but with a random schedule like ours and so many distractions like the Irish Sea or the pool table, it's hard to tell how faithful I will be.