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Category Archives: Irish University
More Than Meets The Eye
In a world dominated by the visual, beautiful sounds often get overlooked in favor of beautiful sights. For many people, “sightseeing” is synonymous with traveling—we go searching for interesting things to look at and rarely notice the unique noises around … Continue reading
Posted in University College Cork
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I’m not an alcoholic, MOM, I just have culture
As someone with the habit of testing the water with both feet, I’ve gained a certain level of comfort when outside of my element. Of course, I applied to the Mitchell Scholarship—I knew why I wanted to go to Ireland; … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized, University College Cork
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constellations
As summer approaches, Dublin has finally begun to thaw: after a half-year disappearance, the sun has warmed from a lifeless winter sulk to a cheerful spring glow. In the lengthening days, larger crowds than ever have been flocking to the … Continue reading
souvenirs
Known in the musical community as a viola hickey, the welt under my left jaw has purpled significantly since September. Its coloration has suffered from long hours in the Trinity Orchestra (including getting stranded in Scotland by storms during our … Continue reading
footsteps
I’m in Germany after midnight on New Year’s Day, walking alone through darkness. An hour ago, I was in the city center, admiring fireworks among cheering strangers; now, my footsteps echo on a rural road. It has started to snow. … Continue reading
colors
“Irish weather is supposed to be rainy year-round,” I told my family, trying to convey a certainty I didn’t feel. Truth be told, I had no concept of Ireland. I could only picture my destination as a haze of permanent … Continue reading
The Irish Way
When I first landed in Dublin last August, I had very little idea what the year had in store. I had not been to Ireland, I knew only the basics of Irish history, and candidly, I had not even been … Continue reading
Posted in Trinity College Dublin
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Gestalt
There’s a compositional idea in some 20th– and 21st-century music known as gestalt, referring to the perception of a larger structure created by many unique components. In composition, it basically means the juxtaposition or superimposition of different ideas without connective … Continue reading
You’re Very Welcome
You’re very welcome. Very welcome to University. Very welcome to the pub. Very welcome to church. Very welcome to Ireland. Ireland is often said to be the land of 100,000 welcomes. Almost wherever you go across the island, Céad Míle … Continue reading
On the Pacific, In Pubs, With Time
On Sunday afternoons in the oldest pub in Dublin, there’s music in guitars and in glasses of Guinness. I go sometimes. I duck under waving pints and make my way to the center of the room. It looks like every … Continue reading
A Close Fall in a Year of Lessons
When I was an EMT in college, I responded to a 911 call to find a man in his fifties, white as a sheet, panting in a stairwell of a parking garage. The paramedics’ ECG quickly and unambiguously confirmed that … Continue reading
An Idyllic Irish Year
This spring’s schedule has been a whirlwind for me, and I still have over a month remaining in Ireland, but this last Mitchell blog post has suddenly thrust me into a mode of reminiscence. Not to worry – I hail … Continue reading