Hurling: 22 June 2008

Today the group (12) went to its first hurling match. We took the bus to the pitch which was in the suburbs of Cork. The stadium was surprisingly large and surprisingly expensive to go watch a game. It was a ten Euro entrance fee but it was worth it, when am I going to see a hurling match? The game seems relatively simple: two squads of 13 and a goalie attempt to score by either putting the ball in the net or between the uprights by hitting the ball with the “hurl” in a similar fashion to a baseball. It is a combination of lacrosse, hockey and baseball. The craziest thing is that the only protective device that people have the option of using is a helmet, and not everyone even uses them. These guys are whirling these hefty paddles around each other’s heads with no real regard for the opponents. I was shocked people were not hurt more often. I learned later that it was an inter-county league as opposed to the national league which is made up of the different counties playing each other. Now I just need to see a cricket match, a soccer match and a rugby match.

irish children: 24 June 2008

Today we went on a day trip to the town formerly known as Cove which was then known as Queenstown and is now known as Cobh. It was a dreary day and I had a rough evening out on the town (it was a group member’s birthday). We took a 15 minute train to visit the Heritage Center/ Queenstown Museum. The museum was dedicated to the immigration of the Irish, being a port city and the tragedies of the Lusitania and the Titanic. My favorite part of the day was the food and the train ride home with the Irish kids.

As everyone knows the Irish really helped settle the United States, what I did not realize was the Irish also helped settle Australia. Much of the settling was actually forced; the British sent many of the Irish to Australia because the prisons were filled. This seems like an extremely harsh punishment but I suppose it worked out in the end. It’s a bit warmer there with more consistent weather. That is quite an improvement from the erratic nature of Ireland’s weather.

Being a port city like Cobh entails international cruise liners, exporting and importing goods for the surrounding cities, the Irish navy and, of course, fishing. There were displays for all of these topics. The most interesting section in the museum was the start of the Irish navy. As an island I would expect there to be more of a navy than Ireland had. I suppose it is a testament to the amount of control that the British had over Ireland to not allow an island nation to have a navy.

I ate my first Irish meal today. It has taken me nine Irish days for me to have an actual Irish dish and it was worth the wait. I purchased a shepherd’s pie for the slightly pricey price of ten Euro. It was worth every cent.

Stuart and I sat on the train ride with several very young children from extremely different backgrounds that went to the same school. They were extremely chatty and excited to tell us what they had been up to. The boldest of the kids had sat down beside me, he was a tiny African child that only wanted to play soccer and refused to eat fruits and vegetables, despite Stuart and I recommending that it will make him big and strong. As I mentioned, the kids all came from different ethnicities. There were two Africans, one Pole, and one darker-skinned young girl from what could have been Italy, Iraq or Morocco.

The coolest thing about how different they looked was how they spoke. Every one of them had an Irish accent. The little fellow sitting next to me even corrected me when I said “three” by pronouncing it “tree.” Furthermore, when I asked if they spoke any other languages other than English, they responded with, “We don’t speak English, we speak Irish.” That was just a shock to my system. I had not realized that Irish was the language spoken. I believe that I witnessed how children are being instilled with a sense of Irish pride from a young age. From what I have heard from our guest lecturer there has been trouble with people trying to identify with what it means to be Irish, I think the school systems are doing a great job with the youngest generation to teach what Irish is. These kids were Irish despite their diversity. The train ride was one of the most telling intercultural connections that I have made with the Irish thus far.

Let the games begin: 14 June 2008

My first international experience began on a very hung over afternoon in mid-June in the beautiful city of Newark, New Jersey. The previous evening I decided that I was going to go all out so I would be completely exhausted for my long trek over the pond. I accomplished this mission with gusto. My weary body arrived at Newark International four hours early with my overly parental parents. We weaved our way through the maze of Newark, finally arriving at the Continental Airlines Check In area. To my surprise the entire check in experience only lasted 20 minutes. After my goodbyes with the parentals I eagerly walked to the waiting area to begin what I imagined would be a ten to 15 hour slumber that would be periodically interrupted by transitioning modes of transportation. Little did I know that I would be bombarded by two chatty females that would reduce my slumber time quite significantly. Part of this was my own doing, as I offered my new friends, Amy and Emily, the seats next to me. The seats were vacant and I saw it as an opportunity to better know the people I would be spending the next six weeks with. We arrived at Shannon International following a three hour delay due to inclement weather and a six hour flight. I merely slept eight of the possible fifteen hours. This was more than the combined sleeping time for Amy and Emily so they held that against me.

First Impression(s): 16 June 2008

I stepped out of the plane and into a very awkward situation. Amy, Emily and myself were seated towards the front of the plane so we were a few of the first people to get off the plane. We walked down to customs to the passport checking area to be officially welcomed into the Emerald Isle. Amy got to the official customs man first. He asked what her business in Ireland was, she answered that she was a student. The man looks at her and points to a desolate looking bench off to the side and commands her to it. Emily and I receive similar treatment as the rest of the plane shuffles in to line after us. So there we are, shunned to the bench, watching the entire plane gawking at us, like we were the first ones out in a game of dodgeball, never to return until the end of the game. Of course, not a single person had an issue getting into the country. Finally the flow of people dwindled and the customs man told us to come back. We showed him our official papers and explained how long we planned on staying. Once he was satisfied we were real students he turned into a semi pleasant man, he even joked with me about golf. This was my first impression of Ireland.

I think this one experience is actually a typical manner in which the Irish deal with people who may be trying to use them. I have spoken with a few Irish and they are very stand-offish until they realize that I am not a threat or perhaps more importantly, a belligerent fool. And than people warm up into conversation and “crack.”
On the “Get lost in Cork for a few hours” assignment I wandered around Fitzgerald Park for a time before stumbling into what turned out to be a fascinating museum. The displays were made up of artifacts dating back to the 1500s and as recently as ten years ago. The artifacts were displayed in chronological order and all had captions explaining what the role of the item played during its period of active use. As a male interested in war and guns, I was immediately drawn to the weapons. I saw a rich history marked by consistent violence. Seeing the evident of such a violent history brought me to an understanding as to why the Irish are suspicious of outsiders. It has become ingrained in their psyche. I feel that this knowledge has given me a more clear view of the Irish people and the culture that is distinctly Irish.

Got crack? Issue I

I have been impressed with the amount of good times, or as the Irish like to call it, “craic” (according to Prof. Tom McHardy, spelled according to Jackie Walsh) that I have had with this randomly assembled group of individuals. Some of the reason behind the crack is because of the Irish lifestyle—beer—but much of it is the good nature of every person involved on this trip. I did not really know anyone coming into this trip but in one short week I have become very acquainted with nearly everyone through various means, the most obvious being “the hot seat.” The group has become a big fan of this game. I refer to the group because everyone hangs out in a group when we go out to Cork city centre for an evening of relaxation or to check out Cork’s entertainment. The favorite pub is called Em Brogh. I have been there four times to date.

Professor Collins takes the stage: 17 June 2008

This morning at the painfully early hour of ten we were treated to a lecture by a professor of government from the University College of Cork. His main topics were Ireland’s political history and the Lisbon treaty. I was not at all familiar with either of these topics so his entire rambling lecture was relatively interesting. Professor Collins did a good job of illustrating how exactly the Irish government works. My favorite quote of his was something along the lines of, “The British believe the Irish government is very similar to theirs and the Americans believe it is very similar to theirs. But if you wanted to think about who it is more similar too in a geographic sense, than Ireland would be in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean somewhere, directly in between America and Britain.” That quote really summed up his discussion of what the Irish government was like for me. I am really glad the Katie asked Professor Collins about the Lisbon treaty because we have been seeing so many signs up around town and we have been guessing as to what they meant, needless to say, none of us was even close in our guesses to what the treaty actually entailed. The discussion of the treaty was not very useful but it did clarify how the European Union works because the Lisbon treaty is an EU treaty.

The gift of gab: 18 June 2008

Welcome to the first tourist trap of the 2008 JMU Ireland program: Blarney Castle. The weather was typical for Ireland, a mix of rain, mist and wind with a mild to slightly chilly temperature. I was prepared and motivated for an Irish experience and the weather was not going to get me down. Following the same path that we have walked so many times before, we headed to Cork city centre to catch a bus at the bus station. Apparently there is a bus that takes people directly to Blarney Castle. I did not realize the castle was such a typical place for people to go, now I know.

I could tell we were in for a long day of touristy adventures as we sat down on the bus. The warming up of the cameras began as the group began fiddling with their cameras in preparation for a long day of use. As we arrived and stepped out into the quaint town of Blarney the cameras began documenting every step of the journey between the bus stop, the Blarney Stone, the gift shop and back to the bus stop. It was a glorious sight.

I stuck with my trusty accomplices Amy, Emily and Jaynell. We immediately broke away from the group and took the path less traveled. This led us to caves beneath the castle. Of course we had to traverse every possible step of cave because there were unlimited numbers of pictures to be taken. So after a few photo shoots and near decapitations we left the underground and headed for the sky.

Following our tradition of exploration, we walked into every possible room in the castle and took pictures of the castle and landscape from quite a few potentially unique angles. We extended a twelve minute walk to the top of the castle to at least forty minutes. I was proud of our progress.

We reached the zenith and I nearly lost my head and not in the decapitation sense. Being on top of a castle is not something you can really prepare for. I caught myself after a minute or so and began the debate as to whether I should actually kiss the Blarney Stone. It was a debate because I had heard that locals would often urinate on the Stone. According to rumor they thought it was funny that so many people came from around the world to put their mouths on a piece of rock. I came to the conclusion that I had already climbed the castle and was on the line, so I may as well follow suit. I kissed it and have photographic evidence, as could be expected. Jaynell has a fantastic shot of me with the Blarney Stone. Upon removing my lips from the Stone I felt a wave of eloquence rush through me as I began a new life with the fantastic gift of gab inside of me.

Pictures taken during the trip: 25