A Kansas Student’s Fall Semester in Ireland
Rachel is from Abilene, Kansas and is studying English and pre-law.
She’s doing it in Ireland, at UCC, and she’s blogging her experience.
Just over a week ago she flew out of Kansas City, and the problem for me is that it’s too good to highlight an odd paragraph.
But I’ll try.
Among other things on arriving, Rachel went to a game of football:
We cheered loudly, only somewhat intimidated by the fact none of us really knew the rules, the score wasn’t displayed anywhere, and the frequency with which the “f word” was used truly boggled the mind. Probably the most surprising was the man two rows above us who clutched a toddler in one arm and shook his fist with the other, shouting the word of choice over her little blond head. She gazed about with the kind of unconcerned confusion I thought might be visible in my face, too.
Rachel made some anthropological field notes:
Irish students don’t reliably come to class, even though it is only a few days a week, according to my English professor. The consistent attendance of visiting students is one of their most endearing traits, as far as the faculty is concerned.
In Ireland dogs are not expected to be kept on leashes or necessarily in yards. They are very savvy about traffic and uninterested in strangers.
Irish young people are very political and very informed, and will inadvertently shame any American student who thinks herself moderately aware of the dynamics of the presidential campaign.
And Rachel went on a field trip:
On the roads most heavily wooded on each side, it seemed we were rocketing down an emerald tunnel, the air interrupted ahead of us by the bus’s coming so that limbs and long blades of grass bent back from the road in a ripple, within centimeters of brushing the bus, before settling back into place behind us. There was everywhere a mood of restfulness, of avoiding hurry, even when the driver applied a leaden foot to the accelerator.
My selections don’t do it justice, so just go read it. Read it all. And follow it. It’s great stuff.
Related Posts:
• Where is Wei?
• Kansas Cousin Visits Ireland
• A View of Ireland from the Kansas Lakes
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