After a long 48 hours of sitting on buses, waiting for buses, and dashing through airports, I have arrived in what feels like the very edge of Europe, Gleann Cholm Cille.
Everyone has been extremely friendly and accommodating. I am sharing a room with another student and sharing the house with three others, all from America. Our host, Cait, speaks to us primarily in Irish, but takes pity from time to time and explains in English. This is, at the moment, an unfortunate necessity for me. The Northern accent here coupled with the dialect variant (my professor is from Connemara) has made me feel ill prepared for this trip, but I am sure that I will acquire the means for deciphering both with prolonged exposure. I am off to my first class today, but before that I took a little detour.
To quote Synge, I was “seeing nothing but the mists rolling down the bog, and the mists again, and they rolling up the bog.”
But when it cleared, bhí sé álainn!
This gleann is full of so many wonders: beautiful beaches, cliffs, mountains, ruins, wildlife, and friendly people. More on the people after I attend class though.
Slán go fóill.