Home?

I have been back in the US for exactly 94 days.....it seems like just yesterday I was walking around Ireland. My professor (we don't use that term at Evergreen..we don't use any term actually just Sean) Sean Williams told us before we left that going home would be hard but I didn't understand until I actually got here. Right after I returned to Washington after visiting my brother in NYC for 23 hours I headed to Portland, Oregon for a journalism conference. Although the conference was really interesting I was battling jet lag and the stress of knowing I had to try and sum up my experience overseas in a 20-page paper. I ended up deciding not to venture around Portland with my friends so I could sit in the hotel by myself and absorb what I just experienced and maybe write something. I got a few pages down but I was overwhelmed with sadness that my adventure was over. It was extremely difficult to try and think about my experience when so many emotions about it were clouding my thinking. I still find my mind drifting off to standing on that platform in Bergen, Norway not even worrying about finding my family because I knew they were there, walking down towards the station and seeing two of the sweetest people smiling at me knowing me without even meeting me.
When I think of how I traveled around the world by myself for three weeks I am so proud that I navigated around, survived, made great friends, met my family, and made so many amazing memories. I also think of how crazy my parents must think I am and how nervous I must make them!
But even though I got into some tight spots, it made my trip mean so much more that I was able to, eventually, find my way out of them. For instance when I got into Dublin I stayed the night there and took a bus to Cork city in the morning. I was hoping to make it to the goat farm on Cape Clear Island (halfway across the country) in the same day but once I left Dublin the traffic was so bad it took all day to get to Cork! I had no idea where I was going to stay or how to get to any hostels so I started calling around from the Bus station. Thanks to my Lonely Planet travel guide I had a lot of numbers to call, the only problem was the fact that the Easter holiday had just begun! Everything was booked but thankfully the last place I called had an opening, the Garnish house B&B. The glory of Ireland is when I asked how to get there they told me to hail a cab and ask for the Garnish House! In the states you need an address at least!
For at least a month after I got home I still woke up wondering what country I was in....it was a great feeling until I realized I was in Washington and I had to go to work!
Anyway, as I promised in my previous post I will include post parts of my paper so you can read a bit of what I wrote.....

"Before I left America to go to Ireland I had heard Sean Williams talk about how GlenCollumCille would feel like our home in Ireland. I was one of the students shaking my head in doubt; I even shook my head during my first few weeks in the Glean. I did not understand how anyone in our program could feel that this town of 1,000 people on a good day and 900 sheep on a bad day could feel like home.
On that Saturday morning when our bus pulled out of the Glean for the last time I was crushed. I had that feeling you get when you pack your bags for a trip and your about to leave then you remember you forgot something. Except I didn’t forget anything tangible, I had that feeling because Sean was right the Glean is my home in Ireland. Every time I saw the tower going into town I had this warm feeling of going where I belong, I still can not believe I am gone. One thing is for sure, my time in Ireland changed my life and I will never forget what I learned".

"Although I did not attend a mass in GlenCollumCille, I learned that you do not have to step foot into a Catholic church to experience Catholicism in Ireland. It might be impossible to describe the role of the church in Ireland but I can describe my interactions with self proclaimed staunch Catholics that I met. Paddy Beag is one of the first individuals in the Glean that I connected with, he is the type of person who goes to church quite regularly and everyone knows he is catholic.
The thing about Paddy is he is very complicated, like many things in Ireland. Paddy would go to the pub and get drunk, swear saying “oh Jesus”, do anything possible to make sure Fianna Foil won the election and give me a lift home while highly intoxicated. The most interesting part of getting drunken lifts home from Paddy was not the fact that he rightly assumed animals and cars would just get out of his way, it was his air freshener with a naked woman on it. In the states someone who gets drunk, swears saying “oh Jesus”, and has an unusual air freshener would be considered anything but a Catholic, but this is Ireland".

"Learning the Bodhran from Paddy Mor, a big hippie with a big hippie van to match, was one of the most wonderful experiences of my trip. Not only because I enjoyed learning how to play but because he was a very amazing man with great experiences, if I get to go back to the Gleann one day he is one person I will make sure I find. Paddy gave me so many fantastic memories that I will never forget, one in particular was when I skipped Bodhran class because I forgot my drum at my cottage and decided to stay home and practice my Irish instead. Now usually this would not turn into a life changing experience but Paddy is a very unusual individual, I didn’t know when the class ended but I walked up to Oideas Gael right when he was leaving. After he asked me where I was and told me to come next time we ended up having a really great conversation for the next hour.
Paddy asked me what I thought of my own country and I told him that my own country does not represent me and that I am ashamed to be an American right now. Paddy eventually asked what I want to do and when I told him I want to be a civil rights lawyer to make sure my country does represent me and everyone else in the country he became really excited and told us a story I will never forget. Paddy told us how it felt to be a young boy with his name growing up in Northern Ireland during the troubles, not able to get a job because of his Catholic name and not getting to vote because of his roots. Paddy and I had a discussion about how we both agree it is much better to stay in your country and try and fix things than to leave, he almost left but instead stayed and fought for his rights. I will never forget when he told me that even though they took away his rights and he couldn’t vote they couldn’t take away some things from him, some rights he said can not be taken away. Although he was in the march from Derry to Belfast and was in the crowd with his fellow Catholics and sympathizers when the British who were supposed to protect them turned their guns on the marchers he never quit. Instead of quitting, giving up and emigrating stood up and still believes as he told us that “When push comes to shove, push”.