When I came to Ireland and started my studies at the National University of Ireland in Galway I knew that I didn’t want to simply go to class and then travel abroad. I wanted to create a home for myself at the university just as I did when I began my time at USC. So I made a point of signing up for any club (or “society” as they call it here) that I found interesting, and I found three: Choral Society, International Student Society, and SIN the Student Newspaper. Well I haven’t found inspiration to write an opinion piece for the newspaper (they really want me to write a piece about Ireland or the university from the point of view of an American), so I haven’t truly gotten involved with that group. But in a week I’m heading off on a discounted trip to Northern Ireland with the International Student Society, and I attend rehearsal for Choral Society each week.
Choral Society is going so well partly because I became even more involved with the group by becoming Vice-Secretary. Now I don’t have a whole lot of responsibility, basically I just take notes when the Secretary can’t be there, and I’m the photocopier, but the benefit of being on the Executive Committee is that I’ve had the opportunity to get to know some of the other singers better. Wow what a great group! The society is really filled with friendly and funny people! I’ve really enjoyed getting to know them, and we even have a night out on the town every other week after Tuesday night rehearsal. We go to a local pub and eat free food, relax, and get to know each other. I’ve also gone to a concert at the campus bar with some of them, and it’s definitely a good way to get to know other students, not just international American students! We rehearse every Tuesday evening from 6-8pm, and thus far we’ve learned 3 songs with 2 more in the works. Thus far we are singing “Joshua Fit De Battle of Jericho,” a Swedish lullaby called “Vargsangen” translated to “The Wolf Song,” and the popular Beetles song “With a Little Help from my Friends” (I have a solo in this one!). Last week we even performed them! It was Múscailt, a week-long festival on campus celebrating the arts (both visual and performance), so we did almost what American students would call a “dorm storm” where we went to 5 popular places on campus and just started singing. It was pretty successful, although not as many people showed up to sing as we would’ve liked, but hey it WAS in the middle of the day! Two weeks ago the choir was also recorded singing “Vargsangen” so here’s the link if you’d like to hear our talent:
Choral Society is going so well partly because I became even more involved with the group by becoming Vice-Secretary. Now I don’t have a whole lot of responsibility, basically I just take notes when the Secretary can’t be there, and I’m the photocopier, but the benefit of being on the Executive Committee is that I’ve had the opportunity to get to know some of the other singers better. Wow what a great group! The society is really filled with friendly and funny people! I’ve really enjoyed getting to know them, and we even have a night out on the town every other week after Tuesday night rehearsal. We go to a local pub and eat free food, relax, and get to know each other. I’ve also gone to a concert at the campus bar with some of them, and it’s definitely a good way to get to know other students, not just international American students! We rehearse every Tuesday evening from 6-8pm, and thus far we’ve learned 3 songs with 2 more in the works. Thus far we are singing “Joshua Fit De Battle of Jericho,” a Swedish lullaby called “Vargsangen” translated to “The Wolf Song,” and the popular Beetles song “With a Little Help from my Friends” (I have a solo in this one!). Last week we even performed them! It was Múscailt, a week-long festival on campus celebrating the arts (both visual and performance), so we did almost what American students would call a “dorm storm” where we went to 5 popular places on campus and just started singing. It was pretty successful, although not as many people showed up to sing as we would’ve liked, but hey it WAS in the middle of the day! Two weeks ago the choir was also recorded singing “Vargsangen” so here’s the link if you’d like to hear our talent:
Although I wouldn’t necessarily classify my work at the local Homework Club as “extra-curricular” since it is partly for a class, I still thought I’d give a quick update. Last week and this week were fabulous. Last week I worked with the same little girl named Cody that I’ve been working with for a while now, and another little boy named Kuku (pronounced like Cuckoo). We had a lot of fun getting their homework done, while they asked me if I lived next door to Hannah Montana and other famous Americans that they assumed I was best friends with! At one point Kuku wanted help with his Irish homework, when he learned that I didn’t know any Irish he and Cody were appalled and Kuku suddenly declared, “Well if I have to do my homework, you have to too” and he made me a worksheet of my own. He copied down Irish words that he thought I should know and told me to copy them a few times, and then he made me memorize what they meant. For instance, “bia” is “food” and “fia” is “deer.” That day when I left, Cody ran up to me and said “Caitlin, I don’t want to leave you!” I promised that I would see her every Tuesday, and she smiled made me pinky swear. This week when I walked in Cody grinned and stood up saying, “Caitlin, over here!” I walked over and before I had even sat down Cody began talking a mile minute, “Ok, so I have some news. Last week I went to my aunts. I played with my cousin and we went swimming. He accidently punched me, but I know he didn’t mean to etc…” After about 5 minutes of nonstop chatter she turned to me and sweetly asked “So what about you? Do you have any news?” Suddenly she was like my little sister, and it made my heart ache a bit. Cody is an only child in a low-income household, and its clear that she craves attention and approval. I only hope that I can help to provide a bit of that for her while I’m here.
Apart from my volunteer work and my involvement in societies, I have also rediscovered a lost love of mine from childhood. For those of you who don’t know, I Irish danced competitively when I was younger, from about Kindergarten until third grade when we moved to Northern California from Pasadena. I LOVED Irish dance, and I wasn’t too bad at it. Now, this wasn’t the last time I danced. In fact, when my high school had us do a senior project where we could do anything from a research project to creating a piece of art I decided to relearn Irish dance. I went back to class with 7 year olds and rediscovered my love of the art form. However, once my project was done and I graduated I again put up my soft shoes. So, when I came to Ireland I figured what better time to start dancing again! So, now I am taking a beginner’s class on Thursday nights from 6-7pm (it’s fairly easy but I’m not quite ready for the intermediate level as I never learned my hard shoes). After my first class I also decided to ask the instructor if she would give private lessons, so now I’m taking private lessons on Thursday afternoons. My teacher’s name is Gillian, and she’s a 22-year-old med student at NUIG. This in and of itself is pretty impressive, but not only is she a full-time med student while teaching Irish dance on the side, she is an amazing dancer in her own right and is a member of the dance group that popularized Irish dance and made it world-famous, Riverdance. In fact, she had to cancel my lesson for this week because she is in the Middle East traveling with Riverdance. Thus far I’ve already learned 3 dances, and we are working hard to FINALLY get me into hard shoes for the first time. I’m completely enjoying this. Below is a video of Gillian doing one of the dances she’s teaching me (I recorded her doing it so that I could practice while she is gone and ensure that I wouldn’t forget anything).
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