Locals

    Since being here in Ireland I have noticed the locals whether around in Spiddal, Galway, or even on some of our field trips have been nothing but kind to us since our journey here. That caught me off guard when we first came here, and we noticed everywhere we went people were nice to us even though we are American. My first preconceived thought when we got here was ‘what if the locals do not like us, or are not kind to us’ but I was pleasantly surprised that whenever we went somewhere the locals treated us with kindness, and did not see us as annoying Americans but saw us for who we were individually. I had that thought because I had assumed that other countries in the world were not a fan of Americans because of some of the things we are known for that give us a bad reputation, however I was glad that the locals kept an open mind, and accepted us. Once when I went to Spiddal, and went into a jewelers shop to buy a Claddagh ring one local man that worked at that shop he was absolutely friendly towards my friend and me. My friend, and I were buying bracelets, as well as my Claddagh ring, and he was striking a conversation with us, and being kind towards us he was just awesome I will definitely not forget him. When we bought our bracelets I had gotten 2, and my friend had about 12 but he let us have one more bracelet free of charge, and he was just amazing about it my friend, and I both tried to say no but he insisted, and so we did he was really nice, and we were glad that we met him. Some other locals that we have gotten to know is the Jane Marie, Geraldine, and John Paul and they actually all run the Park Lodge Hotel, and it has been an absolute delight to have gotten to know them! Jane Marie taught us Gaelic, as well as runs the hotel while John Paul does many things, but one of them is puts coins in our cottage twice a week for our electricity, and Geraldine she cooks for the hotel because other people stay here while we have been here. They are all so wonderful I will truly miss them so much!!

 Geraldine, and I

 Jane Marie, and I

John Paul, and I

    This week in general has been a week I have been dreading/gotten excited for I go home tomorrow, and it is very surreal to me. I have loved Ireland, and gotten to know about it, as well as seen so many remarkable places that I thought I’d never go to but on the other hand it is time for me to go home, and be with friends and family. However I do not want to leave all of the people I have gotten to know so well (which would be my group of students, and the workers of Park Lodge Hotel). I will most definitely miss so many things, such as the ocean, Irish scenery, the atmosphere, but the one thing that I will miss the most of Ireland will be the locals. Because, although some people in America are nice Irish people are more kind, and friendly than most Americans, and every part of Ireland I have been to I have had nothing but friendliness towards me in America you do not get that as much which saddens me, because everything would be better if people we more kind towards each other. This journey I have been on has been amazing, exhilarating, and much more all at the same time I definitely have a different outlook on life, and how people from other countries view Americans, but most importantly I feel like I have grown as a person, and I would not trade this opportunity for anything in the entire world! I know I plan to study abroad again, and I do not want to leave Europe, but I will be back to Ireland again in the future I know it!        

My study abroad group, and I. Love these guys so much!!!!!!

  

Áras Chois Fharraige

         Over the course of studying here in Ireland our instructor asked us to complete an ambassadorial service project in the community of Spiddal. The goal with this ambassadorial service project is to provide service to the community that surrounds us. However doing this is not to “give back” (or volunteering to say) to that community exactly, but the ultimate intent is to build bridges with the surrounding community for the future study abroad programs here in Ireland. A group of students, and I had chosen to do our ambassadorial service project at Áras Chois Fharraige, in which is an nursing home and what we do is we go once or twice a week (depending how much we can go) and make connections with the residents in the nursing home.

 

Áras Chois Fharraige: Nursing Home 

 

            What Áras Chois Fharraige provides to residents is 40 members of their “Caring Team” provides the highest standards of resident-centered care, in an environment where the needs and dignity of residents is cherished. I think that is wonderful that they make sure they have high standards for their facility, because that would make people feel better that their loved ones will have the best care, and feel loved/cared for. When we have gone to the nursing home I can always tell each of the staff members cares for the residents very much. The way I can tell that they always strike a conversation with every resident they see, and say hi to each person they see if they are walking down a hallway for instance. Especially the head nurse I always see when we visit, her name is Katie Folan she is the sweetest person I have met, and it is always so precious to see her interact with the residents because I can definitely tell that she loves her job, and the residents.

Katie, Nancy, Me, Sydney, Nora, Kendra, Pat, Marissa.

            I will share some experiences of mine from when we had went to the home the last couple of times. If you read in one of my blogs (my 4^th blog: ‘making connections’) I had described my first experience going to the nursing home, which that was such a fun time for the first time being there. But another time when we went what they did on that particular day was they asked every resident if they wanted to go to a big room upstairs, and do some chair exercises to get them up and moving. A lot of residents turned out, and we watched as Katie got residents doing easy exercises, such as lifting their leg up and down or have them circling their arms around (amongst other exercises she had demonstrated for the residents to follow along). The residents seemed to enjoy that, then Katie moved on to have us help her with having all three of us throwing around a ball around to each resident to make sure they all feel included (started out with a small beach ball then got up to a big exercise ball). The residents, especially enjoyed that exercise the most because everyone felt involved and not left out, by the end we all were laughing and having fun (because some of the residents knew how to throw and they threw fast/hard which was unexpected. Patty, and Nora had a very good throw and each time I threw to them I dropped the ball a few times because they threw so well) but in the end we were all very amused with each other’s company, and it is so nice when we leave all the residents say goodbye to us and thank us for coming which is so amazing! Another time we came in Katie had a woman come in and she would sing to the residents, as well as have them singing too if they knew the song that she was playing. At that time we sang with the residents or at least tried to interact with them before the singing commenced. That day was a lot of fun as well. Having gone to Áras Chois Fharraige it has been really great to interact with the residents, and try to bring brightness and laughter into their day. I have also met some nice residents since we have been going (like Patty for example he is a nice gentleman). I am very glad I had the opportunity to be around such awesome residents for such a short period of time we have been here, I will definitely remember them and whenever I will think of Ireland I will think of those residents, as well as Katie. Getting to know the residents, and Katie has been especially great, my time here would have been different if not going to Áras Chois Fharraige I will truly miss them all.

Me, Sydney, Nora, Marissa, Kendra

Goats that are outside of the nursing home, so adorable!

 

Westport

This past week was a very exciting week we had an amazing short two day field trip to Westport. We started the trip off by stopping at various places on the way to Westport, so we could get out of the bus to take amazing photos. Although, I wished we had gotten to Westport faster but the time we took to stop to take extraordinary pictures was great, and I am definitely glad that we took those extra stops because I definitely did take advantage of the opportunity to take astonishing pictures, and I could not beat the views that came with each stop we took. Then after a while we made it into Westport, and as soon as we got there we went to Croagh Patrick, and what we did there was climb a mountain. Just let that sink in I attempted to climb a MOUNTAIN with no experience whatsoever, however it was fun trying to climb the mountain. It was certainly very hard to climb it because there was no real set path to climb up, instead I had to walk over little rocks that moved around when I tried walking (and was really hard on my feet, as well as almost rolled my ankle a couple of times but thank goodness I did not), and when I was climbing up I used muscles that I have not used in a long time (like my legs and calves they were burning!) but nonetheless I was very sore on my lower extremity afterwards. I also did not make it to the top of the mountain that would have taken such a long time, and we did not have a lot of time for the pace I was going at (which was slow). In addition I did not even make it halfway up the mountain that is where I stopped, and thought I could not make it to the top at the pace I was going at. I was a little disappointed that I did not try to push myself to try harder, however I was proud for the progress that I did make considering this was my first time climbing up a mountain (and was not mentally and physically prepared for it, but maybe I will attempt this again in the future). After our adventure on the mountain we headed to our hostel then to dinner, and had a relaxing evening since we had such a hard, tiring workout. The next day was a free day, and we went to the Westport house, but we did not go into the house instead we just walked around the outside of it, and took in the beautiful view.

 One of the pictures I took when we were stopping before getting into Westport.

 View looking up at Croagh Patrick.

 Croagh Patrick. Where I stopped climbing up..

 Westport house

         Later that day when we headed back to our cottages we had stopped in a town called Cong, and I went saw a castle it was absolutely breathtaking, like not exactly the castle itself but the water that was behind the castle that view was without a doubt the best part about the castle. Overall Westport was a fun place it was exciting to have had a field trip I felt like it had been a long time since we had one. Having a field trip like this always makes me grateful that I am here in Ireland, and how lucky I am to experience everything so far.

 Castle in Cong

Beautiful view from behind the castle in Cong.