The students are on their first field trip today. We start classes tomorrow because today is a bank holiday and the Athlone Institute of Technology is closed. So, they are off to Boyle Abbey and the Cruachan Ai Center in Tulsk.
I stayed behind to contact Gavin and keep an eye on the complex. One of the young women had her purse stolen last night and in the purse was her apartment key, apartment number, and the address of the complex. Gavin is going to have to send someone over to re-key the apartment, but since it’s a bank holiday it is not too likely that anyone will be coming today. I look out the window every half hour or so to see if anyone is carting off the television. I’m not sure exactly what I’d do if someone was – call 999 I guess, which is their 911.
I’m glad to have a day to myself. I really needed a day to get my act together before class begins tomorrow. In the previous summers I’ve been able to immerse myself in Irish stories and articles about the Irish tradition, but not this year. This year we were finishing the book right up to the last few days before I left. In fact, I’m still chasing down some of the releases for stories and pictures.
Our schedule this summer is packed, so I’m spending today tweaking the sequence of readings, and integrating the guest storytellers we will be having. I’ll write more about them later. They are all part of the first annual Three Rivers Storytelling Festival that local storyteller Danielle Allison has put together with assistance from librarians Mary Dillon in Ballinasloe, Mae Mclynn in Athlone and me, representing Study Abroad Ireland.
The picture at the top is of a few of my neighbors standing out in the rain. I’d just gotten back inside after taking the photo when they walked over to a muddy patch and took turns rolling and writhing on their backs in the mud with their hooves flailing around in the air. I’d never seen horses do that before, but of course they were all up and walking to the barn before I got my camera back out.
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