Tuesday, November 26, 2013

What is your most interesting class and why?

My most interesting class is called Communication and Social Skills. Sounds like a public speaking course doesn’t it? It is actually a course on how to counsel children. The professor is a man who has worked with children with attachment disorders for many years. I find this course to be extremely interesting because he actually shows the class how he counsels. Also, we have groups that stay after class in order to learn group counseling skills. I really enjoy this because this is not how we are taught counseling skills at Carlow University. Instead, we are learning hands on skills, which I truly enjoy.

Where is your favorite place to study and why?

My favorite place to study is still my room. However, the house can get a bit loud. There are also coffee shops near by that are actually quite peaceful. Unlike Starbucks, people do not chat as loudly at the cafes and coffee shops. There are also places all over campus to study like the library and common rooms. The quietest place to study is the common room on the first floor. Students do not live down there so I get a chance to concentrate on my essays.

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Language Barriers

The Irish may speak English, but do they speak your English? Probably not...

There have been many miscommunications between myself and the Irish throughout the semester. For one, sarcasm is a language not understood by all. The Irish have their own forms of sarcasm that are not compatible with American sarcasm. They tend to take what you say as very literal if you’re not using their sarcasm, so watch out. In fact everything they say is very literal. This is one aspect I have to watch out for when writing essays because they may apear to be too broad to the Irish. Second, the Irish use a lot more slang terms that I initially expected. The term ‘crack’ is a term that means good. So if you enjoyed watching a movie you could say ‘that’s a good crack.’ When I do not understand a slang term that is being used, I typically ask them what it means.


Another interesting aspect of the Irish language is that they do not pronounce the ‘th’ in words. Instead, they pronounce ‘th’ as just ‘t’. This is because the celtic language does not use the ‘th’ when pronouncing words. As the Irish were learning English, it just kind of stuck. If you were to ask an Irish person what time it was, and it’s three o’clock, he or she would pronounce it as tree o’clock. It sounds odd at first, but once you get used to it you’ll be better at understanding the them.

Sunday, November 10, 2013

Glendalough

My favorite field trip that we have been on was definitely Glendalough. It was very different from the museums that we typically go to. Glendalough is a valley in Ireland with many beautiful sights. It begins with a tour through the monastery where the monks used to live and continues through the woods on a beautiful trail. We even got to see three different waterfalls. This was the most amazing experience. Ireland is known for its beautiful natural landscapes, and Glendalough is the perfect example.





Irish Dining



Just like the States, there are three meals a day. However, they tend to be a little further spread out in Ireland. I think this is because the Irish have tea time twice a day from 11am-12pm and 5pm-7pm. There are pretty good portion sizes here  like back home. One major difference is when dining out, you have to order your entire meal all at once. That means if you’re planning on eating dessert with your dinner, you order that at the beginning of the meal. There is also no such thing as refills unless you ask, which typically costs more money. The best part about dining out is that the servers do not constantly come over to check on you every ten minutes like the do in America.

Although dining out is quick and easy, making meals allows us to save money. We make most of our meals in the dormitory but there are many places to eat in the town of Carlow. Many fast food places are open pretty late. Also, since this is a college town there are a lot of student deals at many of the restaurants. My favorite restaurant is the Roadhouse. This is where you’re able to get fast service for a cheap price. A definite meal to have while in Ireland is the traditional Irish Breakfast. This typically consists of eggs, sausage, beans, toast, haggis, and hash browns. Don't think about the haggis, just try it. Its a pretty large breakfast, but its amazing!