Leaving Ireland was... painful. Well, yeah.. it was kind of like ripping off a band aid. You know it has to be done so you mentally prepare, then you just GO. Just take off. I was excited to be home and everything, but it was the lingering days afterwards in which I felt longing to go back. My defense for the weird sentence structure is that I'm reading Dracula by Bram Stoker. Yeah, take that sentence and make it 3 times more complicated than it has to be and that is the narrative of Dracula.
Sorry, I'm only blogging because other Ireland friends have continued their blogging. I really don't have much I should talk about via online unless I'm going on these crazy excursions. I feel like most of the time I would just complain about things on here if I wasn't traveling.
Quote of the day:
"There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed."
-Ernest Hemingway
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Monday, August 1, 2011
"But then I thought, I'm in feckin' Ireland!"
One day it just hit me.
I'm actually going to miss it here. It is extremely rare that I am in a place where I am not missing my home in Beloit, Ohio. Throughout college, going home has always been something to look forward to. And believe me, this is something I worry about often. Like, what the hell, Anna? What're you gonna do when you graduate and have to be a real person? And get a job in some sort of city? Am I going to just be miserable? Or am I seriously going to model together a whole new feeling of home somewhere that is not Beloit, Ohio? Well I freaking hope so.
I'm sorry, my point is that I am actually going to be sad to leave here, which completely shocks me. I may even cry... No. Doubtful. I just want all of my 8 followers to know that this country should definitely be in some sort of top-5-places-to-visit list of yours.
On July 20th we took a day trip to Derry- I've officially been to the U.K.! -We got there and took a tour in the museum with Gerry from Derry, who I couldn't stand at first but then slowly warmed up to. Gerry took us through the history of Ireland and the Troubles and stuff, and then we explored Derry and walked the walls, watched some documentaries on the Troubles, and saw a Banksy! And now I have pound coins which I will never use.
The festival is over now. I can't believe it went so fast. Some final events I went to were the play called "The Crowing Guest", which I didn't enjoy at all. And another play called "The Far Off Fields", which was a sad story about a woman who got hired on a farm in 19th century Ireland in which her employer raped her for 5 months. Don't worry, she gets away, but she's with child. We went to kind of a wrap-up party thing for the festival on Thursday, it was a lot of fun with free food and drinks. And especially since the 13 of us were the only ones on the dance floor.
We went to Dublin this past weekend. Good times. I'm feeling too lethargic to go into any details. All I really feel like saying is that it was on more than one occasion that I stopped and said "I love Ireland."
I have finished a first full draft of my script! I have no idea if I'm good at adapting; I'm thinking no, although my story was really easy to adapt. Which is why I don't think I'm good at it. Mostly now I need to work the documentary project and on the transcribing process, which is extremely tedious. It helps that I have a pretty interesting subject, which is if you dont know, a profile piece on the local storyteller or "shanachie" if you will, Joe Brennan. He's pretty fantastic. It's basically about how he's keeping the Irish oral tradition, the oldest form of entertainment, alive in the Irish culture and the world actually by going to the schools, having workshops, and performing at festivals and stuff. We only have 5 days left here, it's going to be quite a task getting everything done on time.
Irish culture rant:
When you're about to order something, they ask you "You okay?" or "You alright then?" I just want to answer, yes I'm okay.. can I order something? And I know that's what they mean, but the tone is like.. they want to know if you're ok. And I always pause because I have to think about the right thing to respond with.. and I usually just spit out "Can I get a blah blah blah?" I just really like the bluntness of our culture- "What do you want?" Ya know?
"An Irish guy invited you to go surfing, YOU GO"
-Emily
"All Irish people talk about is how depressing the weather is"
-an Irish guy
I'm actually going to miss it here. It is extremely rare that I am in a place where I am not missing my home in Beloit, Ohio. Throughout college, going home has always been something to look forward to. And believe me, this is something I worry about often. Like, what the hell, Anna? What're you gonna do when you graduate and have to be a real person? And get a job in some sort of city? Am I going to just be miserable? Or am I seriously going to model together a whole new feeling of home somewhere that is not Beloit, Ohio? Well I freaking hope so.
I'm sorry, my point is that I am actually going to be sad to leave here, which completely shocks me. I may even cry... No. Doubtful. I just want all of my 8 followers to know that this country should definitely be in some sort of top-5-places-to-visit list of yours.
On July 20th we took a day trip to Derry- I've officially been to the U.K.! -We got there and took a tour in the museum with Gerry from Derry, who I couldn't stand at first but then slowly warmed up to. Gerry took us through the history of Ireland and the Troubles and stuff, and then we explored Derry and walked the walls, watched some documentaries on the Troubles, and saw a Banksy! And now I have pound coins which I will never use.
The festival is over now. I can't believe it went so fast. Some final events I went to were the play called "The Crowing Guest", which I didn't enjoy at all. And another play called "The Far Off Fields", which was a sad story about a woman who got hired on a farm in 19th century Ireland in which her employer raped her for 5 months. Don't worry, she gets away, but she's with child. We went to kind of a wrap-up party thing for the festival on Thursday, it was a lot of fun with free food and drinks. And especially since the 13 of us were the only ones on the dance floor.
We went to Dublin this past weekend. Good times. I'm feeling too lethargic to go into any details. All I really feel like saying is that it was on more than one occasion that I stopped and said "I love Ireland."
I have finished a first full draft of my script! I have no idea if I'm good at adapting; I'm thinking no, although my story was really easy to adapt. Which is why I don't think I'm good at it. Mostly now I need to work the documentary project and on the transcribing process, which is extremely tedious. It helps that I have a pretty interesting subject, which is if you dont know, a profile piece on the local storyteller or "shanachie" if you will, Joe Brennan. He's pretty fantastic. It's basically about how he's keeping the Irish oral tradition, the oldest form of entertainment, alive in the Irish culture and the world actually by going to the schools, having workshops, and performing at festivals and stuff. We only have 5 days left here, it's going to be quite a task getting everything done on time.
Irish culture rant:
When you're about to order something, they ask you "You okay?" or "You alright then?" I just want to answer, yes I'm okay.. can I order something? And I know that's what they mean, but the tone is like.. they want to know if you're ok. And I always pause because I have to think about the right thing to respond with.. and I usually just spit out "Can I get a blah blah blah?" I just really like the bluntness of our culture- "What do you want?" Ya know?
"An Irish guy invited you to go surfing, YOU GO"
-Emily
"All Irish people talk about is how depressing the weather is"
-an Irish guy
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