June 28- "Dia dhuit!"

Dia dhuit! Is mise Nicole. Cen chaoi 'bhfuil tu? Go deas bualadh leath.
Just some phrases I learned in my Irish Language class today. Of course, learning to read Irish and learning to speak Irish are entirely different things for a native English speaker, as the letters don't correspond to sounds the same way they do in English. To make matters more complicated, Irish is subjected to regional dialects, so the way you would ask someone how they were in Kerry is different from the way you would ask someone in Donegal or Connemara or Inishmore. It's a very complex language to learn, but I really liked the first class. So look out for more Irish phrases in the future!
Today started off with waking up to the sound of rain pounding on the roof. My new rain jacket definitely came in handy (thanks, Dad!) Anyway, I had an archaeology lecture this morning where we talked about rocks. And stones. And rocks and stones that people made into tools. I guess that's why they called it the Stone Age. Dr. Jones told us all about how people came to inhabit Ireland by crossing the land bridge between Britain and Ireland as the glaciers retreated. On the one hand, the melting glaciers allowed Ireland to sustain life, but as the ice melted, the land bridge disappeared, which means that Ireland was isolated and therefore its vegetation and wildlife was less diverse than in Britain or on the continent. We discussed a lot of mesolithic and neolithic settlements and how archaeologists determine the diets and activities of people who lived there. It's unbelievable how much they can prove with so little.
In the afternoon, we had an interdisciplinary seminar on emigration. Ireland's history and national identity is significantly influenced by emigration, as thousand upon thousands of people left the island in search of better living conditions or work. To illustrate the scope of the diaspora, it is estimated that 80 million people worldwide claim some Irish ancestry (about 40 million are Americans)--this is incredible when considering that Ireland's population is only about 6 million people. We had professors talk about emigration in Ireland from the perspectives of literature, sociology, and music/dance. The seminar presented interesting information, though it seemed that a lot more could have been said by each professor. But it definitely presented some interesting points to think about.
The best part of the seminar was a reading by Murph from his memoir entitled "Finding Home," in which he read a portion about his experience traveling to Ireland with his father. His father had been gone for 46 years, and going back was an experience where he was both a local and a tourist. He'd told us a lot of what he read in class, but it was definitely cool to hear it as a personal connection alongside the academic discussion. Plus he's a great storyteller. They honored him after the lecture for all the work he's done in bringing students to Galway and helping in the development of the summer program--it's certainly going to be hard to say goodbye at the end of the summer.