Living the Dream in Waterford

On Saturday, students woke up early for day number three of classes. Their morning began with Angie's Irish literature class. Students learned about James Joyce and how he is considered one of the most influential writers of the early 20th century. Angie touched upon Dubliners, Finnegan's Wake, and Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Zoe said she thought it was very interesting, because she had never heard about some of his works. She's expressed how much she is learning in Angie's Irish literature class. In Irish history, Dan gave the students background into the Pre-History of Ireland. He spoke about St. Patrick to Strongbow. Strongbow is significant, because Christ Church Cathedral in Waterford is where he married the Irish Princess, Aoife, daughter of the King of Leinster in 1170 AD. Levi will be giving his fantastic Waterford Walking Tour Workshop on Monday, so he will be pointing out Christ Church Cathedral along the way. It will be a nice connection to their Irish history class. Taryn taught a genealogy class and demonstrated to the students how to research their roots when they return to the states. She also found each student's family crest and talked about what the designs meant. Kelly said she enjoyed learning more about where her families origins came from in Ireland. Dan discussed the famine and the Irish Catholics in America. After classes were done, students had a short amount of free time in Waterford. We then went to the local hurling match at Walsh Park. While it was just a small club game, students were able to see first hand one of the national sports being played in Ireland. Dance and drama were next. Edel practiced the Siege of Ennis with the students. She said that this group of Irish Life Experience students are the best Irish dancers in all her years of experience. She was so impressed. The evening was devoted to a game of soccer and everyone participated. It was a lot of fun and even the students who haven't played much, did superb. Sasha had some incredible plays-once again. Sallie said it was a great workout. To wind down the evening, students watched a mandatory movie for the ILE-Michael Collins. Starring Liam Neeson, the movie is about an Irish patriot and revolutionary who died in the Irish Civil War. Many of the students enjoyed the film. However, a few girls thought it was very sad and left the theatre misty eyed. Everyone is doing well and seem to be adjusting to Ireland more with each passing day. More to come later...

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