Our students have been here for eleven days and they have
been very busy. They’ve been to Emo
Court, the Rock of Dunamaise, Clonmacnoise, a trip on the Viking Boat up the
Shannon, and climbed to the top of Sliabh na Caillighe, also known as the Hill
of the Hag. My constant refrain to them
is that the best souvenir is a good story, so we spent some time in class today
talking about easy ways to frame personal experience stories. They all chose something they had experienced
over the last week to tell about and we heard a quick story from each of
them. Not one of them mentioned anything
about any of the wonderful cultural places we have taken them! They all told stories that in one way or
another had to do with adapting to their social environment. No surprise, I guess. All good stories revolve around problem or
conflicts, and people are a very reliable source of that.
Here are quick summaries of some of the stories:
Haley Maffia told us about an impromptu marriage proposal
and that she learned that you should “give everyone a chance and something fun
will happen.” One of the funniest parts of the story was that her
would-be-fiancé told an older couple that they had just got engaged, and the
couple congratulated them warmly with tears in their eyes. Ah, the cruelty of youth.
Diana Lucente told about a group of them trying to get into
a tour at the Tullamore Dew factory only to be told the tours were full. But then they got to talking with the woman
there. She liked them, especially since they were Americans, and she let them
just tag along behind one of the tours. She told them that they were all “a
little bit Irish”, and she pretty much gave them the run of the place.
Jamie Brewer told us about looking forward all week to the farmers market in
Athlone on Saturday. She walked down
town and tracked down the location of the market. When she found it she was disappointed to
find a single truck selling olives and few other odds and ends. She bought a little, visited and made the
best of it.
Zack McKenzie and Steve DesMarais were part of a group that
rented a car and did some touring on Saturday and Sunday. They both told about the tragic loss and
triumphant recovery of Edward Hernandez’ wallet at Dun na Si, a heritage park near Moate. Edward, as it happens, had lost his wallet
while rolling down a lovely green hill – or so I’m told!
Keely Parrish told us about feeding a horse an apple. He bit off half of it and the other half fell
near nettles. Keely was trying to be
very careful as she reached down for the apple.
Once she had it, she snapped her hand up quickly to get away from the
nettles as quickly as she could. Unfortunately, her forearm grazed the nettle and
began to burn instantly. She had a nasty
patch of blistery hives as a result . .
. but the horse got the other half of the apple!
Bayliann Livengood told us about accepting a spontaneous
invitation to go to Sean’s Bar in Athlone down by the Shannon. She didn’t realize that it would be
completely slammed with people. Her
claustrophobia kicked up and she was miserable.
She realized it was because she hadn’t been prepared for the space she
was going into. She came to Flannery’s
on Saturday night, which was also very crowded and warm, but because she was
expecting it she was fine.
The photo at the top shows Ernestina Montoya, Megan McDermott, Zack McKenzie, Haley Maffia, and Spencer Avalos at Flannery's.
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