Gettin Down to Study

This past month I have been learning a lot from my classes about Ireland, such as history, culture, and other topics. The classes I have been taking so far I think are challenging in their own ways. Classes start at 10 am, and they last to 2 pm usually (sometimes we get out early depending on the day). Mondays are my Irish language and culture class. Jane Marie who happens to run the Park Lodge Hotel teaches us Irish (just beginner’s things like greetings, weather and much more). After our language portion is done Janie Marie’s sister teaches us the culture of Ireland, such as different folklores (which folklore is just another word for a tale), she also has talked about St. Patrick (history about him), as well as many other topics. This past Monday we had an exciting class, because someone came in to teach us how to play an Irish penny whistle (or what looks like a recorder). We learned simple songs, like ‘Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star’ and ‘Mary had a Little Lamb’ before we were taught some complex songs that are polka style music like ‘Rattling Bog’ and ‘Britches Full of Stitches’. Learning the penny whistle reminded so much of when I used to play the Clarinet, because the fingering of the notes is very similar to a Clarinet’s, so the penny whistle wasn’t too hard for me to learn since I have previously played an instrument (though that was ages ago). After our penny whistle session we had our usual Irish language class, but the penny whistle instructor is going to come next Monday as well (which I can’t wait for!).

 My own Irish penny whistle out of the box.

Irish penny whistle in the box.

 

Tuesdays is my Irish literature class, so far what we have done in the class is read poems, short stories, as well as plays and talk about what ever our assigned reading was (like what did we think of the reading, answer some questions our professor asks us about the reading and so on). I have enjoyed the poems and plays that we’ve read so far. For this class we also have to read two books by our eighth week of being here (we have to choose a books from a pile that are his books), and so far I’m working on my first book, however I am almost done with it (but the book has been very interesting, so I think I’ll get it done soon then start on my second book).

 

 This is my first book that I am reading for literature. It's very interesting!

This is one of my favorite poems from literature so far.

 

 

 Wednesdays is my Irish history class and that class is usually entertaining. Because our class loves to debate each other and express their opinions. Just last week we went to The King’s Head pub for class we went there to learn about the history of the pub, and how it got its name. After we acquired knowledge about the pub our class moved upstairs to the highest point of the pub called the Ruby Room. While up there our class had a debate about Oliver Cromwell and that was very interesting to watch, because everyone really got into the debate and trying to get their view across. That was a fun class since we were able to get out of the classroom and do something different to actively learn about Irish history. There’s so much history in Ireland everywhere you go. I can’t wait to gain more knowledge about Ireland with the help of these classes.

Here's the fireplace in The King's Head. This is a shield representing a husband (left hand side) and wife (right hand side) in marriage.