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Category Archives: Irish University
A Scattered Traveling Reflection
For the first few weeks in Ireland, I successfully hid my identity as a naval officer through my beard and hair. This was useful because there is a man in my program from Baghdad. Both of us are foreigners on … Continue reading
Travel and thought
We are well into the second semester, and we’ve settled into an academic groove here in Limerick. Last semester started slowly but finished strong with a grueling set of final examinations, lengthy papers and tough presentations. Without a doubt, the … Continue reading
Dublin Marine Corps Ball
I am in disbelief that more than half of my Mitchell year has already passed. Apart from a calm and snowy two week period in December, time spent on course work, with new friends, and with Mitchell Scholars has kept … Continue reading
A New Home
What can I say that pictures cannot? They describe family, friends, travel, and experiences that I can never hope to convey in words. Heather and I arrived in Ireland at the beginning of September and have loved every moment of … Continue reading
Posted in Class of 2011, National University of Ireland Maynooth
Tagged graduate fellowship, military and strategic studies, mitchell scholar, mitchell scholarship, National University of Ireland Maynooth (NUIM), post-grad in Ireland, Steven Sifuentes, study in Ireland, US Naval Academy
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Yo, Belfast! How YOU doin’?
Ecoutez et Ecrivez Let me start by stating the obvious: I’m one lucky son of a gun, as my grandfather would say. Returning from a weekend in Barcelona where I attended my first ever football match (FC Barcelona 2 – … Continue reading
Welcome to Galway
As I got off the plane at Dublin airport, I remember the strange looks of those around me as I started laughing to myself that I was actually moving to Ireland for a year. You see, a combination of lack … Continue reading
Alive, alive, oh!
Shortly after I arrived in Dublin, whenever I spoke to a stranger I often received a puzzled look. For a while, I thought it was simply because I am American. There are mixed opinions of American politics in Europe, and … Continue reading
Settling in Galway
I took a trip to the “chemist” yesterday and a woman across the shop, a woman I didn’t recognize, called out my name. “Deirdre!” she shouted, with obvious affection. I nearly dropped my small bundle of purchases. Now, who was … Continue reading
Athmhachnamh
I have never truly examined who I am, what I stand for, and in what I believe. My first two months in Ireland have not revealed concrete answers to these questions, but this time has given me the opportunity to … Continue reading
Quiet life in Limerick
Living in Ireland has been a complete, and welcome, departure from American life. Life is simpler, and I am so grateful for the opportunity the Mitchell Scholarship has provided me for meaningful reflection and further engagement in my academic life … Continue reading
Dublin Marathon
Early in the morning on October 25th, I hopped into a taxi and rode towards St. Stephen’s Green to see hundreds of runners gravitate towards Merrion Square Park, the location for both the beginning and end of Dublin’s annual marathon. … Continue reading
Craic from Stroke City
Many folks think of where I am in contextual terms–perhaps as the site of the outbreak of the Irish Troubles in 1969, or the site of the Bloody Sunday Massacre of 1972, or perhaps as the UK City of Culture … Continue reading