What a lame excuse for a travel blog.

This blog was intended to document a whole lot more from my trip here, in Ireland. But as I experienced more and more, I found it increasingly difficult to reflect on anything at all. Here will be my lame catch-up attempt.

The first week of classes in Gleann were difficult for me to adjust to. We had language class in the morning from 10-11:15/30. We would enjoy tea with our classmates, and then the second group had class from 11:30-12:45. We would then break for lunch, and start back at 2. Lunch during the first week for us at the Prance house consisted mostly of grilled cheese. We must have ate that everyday! After 5 days or so I realized that I was starting to feel really disconnected from what we were learning, the program, and just being in Ireland in general. Squid and I talked about this, and the other squirrels felt the same way. It was disconcerting. A lot of poetry sessions frustrated me because it's hard for me to come to the point where I feel comfortable with it all. Cathal O' Searcaigh's poetry was interesting, but by the time we got to work with him, I was feeling very frustrated.
Week 1 classes: Tunes with Mick Brown (sunday); hike to the tower, poetry with Don Byrne; seminar, weaving; bodhrán, gaeltacht studies; knitting, dancing; sean-nos with Lilis; archaeology (dolmens around Donegal); Mick Brown again!; Poetry with Cathal O' Searcaigh (sunday).

The Prance House agreed that we were all feeling very frustrated (unknown to me at the time, but we were all just adjusting), so we invited Sean over for tea. We scrubbed and cleaned the house to make sure it looked GREAT for her when she came over! Oh! how fun it was to have a couple hours with Sean to chat about classes, Gleann, and the future of our educations. She really is a fantastic motivator! After tea all of our spirits were raised. I was starting to feel more settled in, and excited about all the different things we were doing. Mick Browne especially was a lot of fun; he taught us 3 tunes by ear! I played Haley's whistle, and she played her low whistle.
Week 2 classes: Dolmens in Malainn Mhoir, poetry with Don; seminar, gaeltacht studies with Donncha O' Baoill; bodhrán, weaving; knitting, dancing;

By the time week 3 rolled around, I was in disbelief that we'd already finished half of class! It hadn't felt like we'd done anything yet! I really wanted to get out and talk to local people in Gleann, but it seemed like the only way to do so was to meet young guys at the pub, and I felt really uncomfortable doing that.

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