{"id":4091,"date":"2017-08-23T18:30:54","date_gmt":"2017-08-23T22:30:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2017\/?p=4091"},"modified":"2017-08-24T16:57:48","modified_gmt":"2017-08-24T20:57:48","slug":"go-raibh-maith-agat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2017\/2017\/08\/23\/go-raibh-maith-agat\/","title":{"rendered":"go raibh maith agat"},"content":{"rendered":"

Since I left Ireland almost two weeks ago, I have had so much time to reflect over the incredible month that I spent there. Leaving was difficult; the country and people felt like my home after only four weeks. I had to catch myself at the airport in Boston because I was so close to saying \u201cthank you\u201d or \u201cexcuse me\u201d or a million other phrases in Irish. I came home and had to explain to my family all the Irish jokes and phrases that I am so accustomed to saying now. It was hard to get myself back into the rhythms of home. I had my first Irish class of the semester today and it really put into perspective how far I\u2019ve come in my mastering of the language. I am so grateful that I had the time that I spent in Ireland because if I had taken 4 months off, my abilities would have suffered. Instead, I feel very confident in the coming school year. I understood my teacher completely and am feeling motivated for the rest of the semester. I feel as though I am right on track to make my learning more efficient and effective. I won\u2019t have to waste time relearning grammar or basic conversation skills. I can focus on going into greater depth so that I can hold more complex conversations. Not only have I reflected on my improved Irish, but also on the experiences that I had over the course of the month. I feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to spend a month in the most beautiful country I have ever seen and to meet people from all over the world. It was such a unique experience to take all of these different people and immerse them in a culture that is foreign to all of them. We were all learning how to be true Irish locals together. I had so much fun learning about everyone else\u2019s background and their interpretations of the study abroad experience. It was a small group of people and we were all experiencing a new culture for the first time together so we became close quickly. I love that I have friends all over the world. Being so far from home also made me reflect on what I really want to do and what\u2019s important to have in my life. I want to be able to experience more cultures like I did in Ireland. I think it\u2019s really important to meet a diverse group of people and to actually live with them. I definitely have a special place in my heart for Ireland; I would love to someday move there and raise my children with Irish. I recommend that everyone apply for the SLA grant because I know that the month I spent abroad will be with me forever. It is so important to expose yourself to new people, experiences, and traditions. I can\u2019t wait to go back and explore more of Ireland!<\/p>\n

Thank you again to everyone who helped me get to Ireland, especially my parents, Notre Dame, and the generous donors. I am incredibly grateful for everything you have done for me!<\/p>\n

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the coast in Carraroe<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Carraroe from the top of a hill!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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top of Croagh Patrick<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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my friend Rachel and I on Croagh Patrick<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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my friend Bridget and I at the Cliffs of Moher<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Since I left Ireland almost two weeks ago, I have had so much time to reflect over the incredible month that I spent there. Leaving was difficult; the country and people felt like my home after only four weeks. I had to catch myself at the airport in Boston because I was so close to … Continue reading go raibh maith agat<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1169,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[125],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4091","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4091","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1169"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4091"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4091\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4099,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4091\/revisions\/4099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}