January 2007 Reflection

Posted on January 1, 2007 by kclaussen07

It was a not-so-blustery day last month when, while walking with a classmate through the Queen’s campus, I turned to him and said “You know? I really like it here!” I think I really surprised him because I normally fill his ear with my grumbling about destroyed umbrellas, gale force winds and sudden random downpours that we have the privilege of experiencing on a regular basis in Belfast. I was referring to how my Mitchell experience has given me the chance to read everything I’ve been wanting to study, to engage in deep thinking and debate about concepts of interest to me, to pursue the extracurricular activities I didn’t have time for in undergraduate studies, to get to know my fantastic friends and colleagues, and to learn about this fascinating place, especially in the midst of the political developments now underway.

My thoughts on the political situation in Northern Ireland have changed quite a bit from the perspective I described in my previous journal. In the last two months, I have seen an entirely different side of politics that makes my November reflection sound quite naïve and uninformed! I’ve attended community forums (where I was undoubtedly the only resident present under the age of 50!), political roundtables, and local conferences that have opened my eyes to the intricate web reflective of the dilemma in which the parties find themselves as Northern Ireland approaches another set of “landmark” elections in March.

As part of my internship with a think tank called Democratic Dialogue, I helped to put together an assessment of the level of democracy in Northern Ireland. For my research on that project, I examined the intimate workings of the social, political and legal developments in the region and have come to re-consider my initial impressions.

Though I’m not studying local politics, I have found myself having long talks with community figures involved in the political process. Over pheasant stuffed with black pudding (my first real taste of Northern Ireland), I chatted with a founding member of the Northern Ireland Women’s Coalition about her concerns with flagging constructive civic engagement among the public. Over crumpets (my next culinary milestone), I talked to the spokesperson for Sinn Féin about her party’s role in shaping human rights legislation. Over Scotch broth (translation: delicious vegetable soup), I learned about the ongoing violence against civil society groups from the leader of a local community association.

Through all my conversations, I have taken away observations and insights on which I will continue to reflect as I try to make sense of the current situation and the prospects for the future. As Belfast has now truly become “home,” I feel highly invested in the political processes due to take place this coming spring.

And I feel equally invested in the gastronomic discoveries I have made during this holiday season. I am vigorously taking note of some of the most wonderful and delicious treats Northern Ireland has to offer! Of course, I would be remiss to neglect mentioning the fine cooking talents of my fellow Scholars who outdid themselves for our Thanksgiving celebration (extraordinaire!) in Dublin in November. Particular highlights included an unforgettable birthday cake and some mouth-watering apple pie qua crumble.

Last month, my church in Belfast held a Baking Night where I learned how to make potato bread, Irish soda bread, and mince pies! One bite of any of the three was enough to keep me in Belfast indefinitely! At home during the holidays, I frantically went searching for sweet mince, soda bread flour and bread sauce to make our Pennsylvania Christmas a wee bit more British and Irish.

I will carry those recipes along my travels for years to come – just as my experiences in Northern Ireland thus far have become a part of my life that I will treasure always.

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January 2007 Reflection

Posted on January 1, 2007 by mhaney07

“Hey Matt. I heard you were in Dublin! Wow! That must be amazing. How do you like it out there?

“Yeah, it’s great, but actually I wasn’t in Dublin. And technically I wasn’t in Ireland either.”

Blank stare.

“I was in Belfast. I can tell you about that.”

Blank stare.

I lost count of the number of conversations I had just like this one while back in California for my winter break. For some reason, all of my family and friends were convinced that if I was in Ireland, I had to be in Dublin. Then, when I told them that I had been in Belfast, they really didn’t know where to go from there. So though I spent a lot of time over the break talking to people about my experiences, in each case, I always found myself giving the disclaimer that I really didn’t feel comfortable telling them much about “Ireland” or “the Irish.” I had been in Belfast and not only is Belfast in Northern Ireland, it also is a very unique history that has made it a unique place. For that reason, I could never really be sure if the things that I was experiencing in Belfast were distinct to Belfast or something characteristic of Ireland more generally, or even of Northern Ireland. Luckily most of my friends were willing to listen as I told them about my lovely experiences in that oh so un-Irish place (at least in their minds) called Belfast.

All of that is to say that though I had a wonderful experience last semester, it was a Belfast experience. I made many friends at Queens and had the opportunity to learn about the Belfast/Northern Ireland situation, particularly in the area of human rights. With regard to learning about post-conflict issues, Queens is likely the ideal institution and Belfast the ideal laboratory. Yet at the same time, I was very much looking forward to moving on to Galway for the “Irish” phase of my “cross border” LLM program.

I learned right away after getting off the plane that the North and South are two distinct places. I had been so rushed when leaving LA that I forgot the letter from the Mitchell Scholarship folks to show to show at passport control confirming that I would be studying at Galway. I tried to explain to the passport guy my situation. He asked if I had anything to show to prove it. I pulled out a bunch of syllabi from my Queens classes, an evaluation of an essay I wrote there, and some other stuff with Queens’ name on it. He looked at me, still dissatisfied, “Okay, so you studied or are studying in Belfast? What does that have to do with you studying here in Ireland? These are two different jurisdictions you know. “ Ouch, burn. Eventually he let me through, but it was as though he wanted to make it clear to me at the outset, despite whatever rhetoric you hear on either side, we treat the North and South as two different places.

I noticed immediately upon getting to Galway that the accents in the North and the South are substantially distinct from one another. The Northern Irish accent is notoriously difficult to understand, kind of like a cross between the Irish and Scottish accents. Yet during my first few stops and conversations with people in Galway, at restaurants, supermarkets and department stores, I realized that I was having a having a hard time pinning down the Galway accent as well. Then I started to see that many of the people I had come across thus far were in fact not Irish at all, but rather recent immigrants from Poland and other Eastern European countries. Galway, much like other parts of the south of Ireland, has seen a tremendous amount of immigration into the country in the past few years. Being a small country (and Galway a small city), this immigration is extraordinarily significant and noticeable. Galway, perhaps even more than most other cities in Ireland (save maybe Dublin) is quickly becoming a multicultural city. I hope to learn more about how Galway and Ireland are responding to these demographic changes and what it means for the future of Ireland.

Everyone who visits Ireland has a taxi driver story. The taxi drivers here are pretty much uniformly warm, honest, humorous, and full of knowledge. Much of what I learned in Belfast about how “regular” people thought about the changes that were going on there, I learned from taxi drivers. Already here in Galway I have had conversations with taxi drivers about views in the republic of the north, immigration to Ireland, the Irish language, the war in Iraq, population growth in Galway, and Gaelic football. With the right question, taxi drivers in Ireland are willing to open up to you on just about any topic.

Galway itself seems like a great little city. It’s at the same time feels like a thoroughly “Irish” town and a thoroughly student town. The university dominates the city, without a doubt, yet there’s enough separation that you feel that there is definitely a life of the city that exists separately from the university. I can understand why it seems to be most people that I’ve met in Ireland’s “favorite Irish city.” Both people who visit and people who live here seem to love it. There are pubs and live music everywhere and people clearly like to have a good time. There are also lots of Americans here, which is different than Belfast. The weather has been hard to deal with (rain, wind, more rain), but such it is, and as they say, those rolling hills don’t get green by themselves!

I’m also excited about my program. The Queens course was much more focused on the local Northern Irish experience, as it should be considering the resources that are available to analyze that experience. The Galway program on the other hand is much more international, in its scope, students and professors. I had my first international criminal law course here, taught literally by one of the world’s most foremost experts on the topic, and the students in the course were from all over the world. It made for some interesting comments and perspectives and I think that there is a great potential here to learn from what the students have to offer.

There are clearly going to be both advantages and disadvantages to choosing a “split” program. I miss my friends in Belfast, and Galway and Belfast are not all that close to each other, so there won’t be much going back. Also, most students here in Galway have already made their friends and routines and thus it is going to be hard to fit into that. Though I knew a lot of people in Belfast, I don’t know anyone here and am really going to have to start completely from scratch. Yet there are also advantages as well. Not only will I get to experience (albeit for a shorter time period) both the North and the South, I think that spending time in each place will help me understand some things about each of the places in a way that would be hard to otherwise. Having just been in Belfast, there are little things that I notice here in Galway, little differences and similarities, that I think have actually helped me understand Belfast a little bit better than I did before.

Stage 2 of my Mitchell experience has begun and I’m excited to find out what these next few months will bring. I can only hope that they will be as thoroughly interesting and enjoyable as last semester.

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January 2007 Reflection

Posted on January 1, 2007 by kcook07

The best part about Ireland so far, other than the people, the cultural experiences, and my academic program, has been the easy access to travel. Last month I was able to travel to Spain and France with two other Mitchells, Karly and John, along with another student who goes to the University of Limerick. We saw Barcelona, took a 12-hour bus from Barcelona to Nice, France, visited Christmas markets on the French Riviera, and then stayed in a chateau in Barcelona (thanks to Terry Cross). I learned that I don’t speak as much French as Karly speaks Spanish, and decided that I will never again take a bus from Spain to France. These were important life lessons. I also became a tourist in my new home, Dublin. My mother and stepfather came to see me, and we did all the bus and train tours that we could cram into one week, allowing me to see a new side of Dublin and Ireland. I especially enjoyed the town of Kilkenny, which has great shopping, restaurants, and a gorgeous 12-century cathedral, not to mention an impressive (and closed) castle. We went to Malahide Castle and Powerscourt Gardens, as well as another trip to the Wicklow Mountains, although our hike was somewhat less intensive than the Mitchell trip to Glendalough. My mother’s favorite part of the trip was the delicious Irish desserts, and getting to see Bono’s house in Dalkey.

My internship at the James Joyce Centre and participation with the Tae Kwon Do student society and the Law Society have been very interesting and rewarding. The Centre has allowed me the opportunity to attend various workshops and conferences on postmodernism and Finnegan’s Wake, and because of these opportunities I have come into contact with several local Dublin authors. Victoria and I also attended a book reading by a local Dublin playwright, as we sat in the cozy environs of Bewley’s Black Box Theatre. I also participated in a campus debate on abortion rights for women, which gave me a new perspective on the complicated issues surrounding this topic in Ireland. A volatile topic in the US, this issue is approached with a great deal of posturing in Ireland, as well. But I enjoyed the way that the Law Society wants all sides of an issue to be explored fully, and so it has people switch sides on the debate after a round–I thought that this was a great way to encourage people to see both sides of an issue. Tae Kwon Do has been exciting for me, since I am a person notorious for my lack of athletic ability. I am able to center my body and balance myself more effectively, which was useful on the Barcelona Metro! It has also taken away from some of my fear and apprehension about large cities, and made me more cautious, rather than afraid (useful also on the Metro–when I caught a pickpocket before he grabbed my wallet). I am glad that I stepped outside of my comfort zone and decided to take Tae Kwon Do.

My academic coursework with Anglo-Irish Literature continues to complement my interests outside the classroom and challenge me intellectually. In December I was consumed with take-home final exams, which although difficult, ultimately clarified my thoughts on a lot of questions I had been struggling with. I was able to decide on a subject for my thesis, which right now is taking shape as an exploration of the similarities in influence between Walt Whitman and James Joyce as developing the consciousness of their respective nations. My work with the James Joyce Centre should allow me to bounce ideas about this topic with other scholars. I also want to have a component about the effects of racism within a society in forging a national consciouness, an aspect that Joyce was especially concerned with. My contact with so many new people in a new, multidimensional and polyglot Ireland will give me a new perspective on how I will formulate this thesis. I think that has been one of the most important ways I have grown this year; not just learning new things, but meeting people who have had so many different experiences from myself.

I am taking twice as many courses next year as I was last semester, including three classes with authors Frank McGuinness, Paul Dirkin, and Hugo Hamilton, respectively. I have previously only had two classes in my life with published poets and prose writers, and I have never had a course with a playwright, so I am extremely excited about this opportunity. I am hoping that these courses will expand my interests and widen my perspective on the process of writing and the influences that writers have in their work. This is an important aspect for a literary scholar, especially since many scholars are accused of not taking the writer into account when writing literary criticism. I am also taking Chinese next semester, in preparation for spending a year in China next year, working with the World Wildlife Federation. Fellow Mitchell Scholars, most of whom have travelled and lived throughout the world, have inspired me to take what I would once have considered a rather drastic move–going to live in China. But when I speak to so many people who have had exciting and fulfilling life experiences through travel, it makes me want to have similar experiences. While everything about Ireland has expanded my perspective, the opportunity and the encouragement to travel has been especially influential on my life.

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January 2007 Reflection

Posted on January 1, 2007 by vsprow07

I have to admit, it was a little tough coming back to the cold and the drizzle after spending Christmas break in the Cayman Islands! But after a day mourning the loss of summer weather, I consoled myself with planning my trips for the rest of the year. Itunes—especially the Travel Channel’s Passport to Europe—has been really helpful. It inspired me to learn about cities I never would have thought to travel to—Brussels, Berlin, Lisbon… one of the best things about living in Ireland is the cheap cost of plane tickets and the close proximity to dozens of fabulous countries and cities. And the thousand dollar travel stipend really helps out with costs! I know I am so lucky to be able to visit all of these amazing places just a year out of college.Before I went home for Christmas, I spent a week in Paris, which was absolutely beautiful. Breathtaking lights.

I’m also really excited about starting a new term. One thing I love about Trinity is the trimester system—terms are only 2 months each, with a month break in between (December and March), and there are no classes for Masters students in the third term—leaving a lot of time to travel, write, and work on my thesis/novel, without getting drained by months and months of coursework at a time. This term I’m taking a course on the Irish novel, which has been incredibly interesting. It has introduced me to some amazing books, like Mary Morrissey’s Mother of Pearl. We’ve also been introduced to a new Writer Fellow, Anne Haverty, who is down-to-earth and a great teacher.

The new year also brings the responsibility of heading up Trinity’s Creative Writing anthology. I’m especially excited about this, since it will actually be sold in bookstores throughout Ireland! We are thinking of doing a book launch in Belfast and possibly Galway, in addition to Dublin. As the months go by, I am becoming better and better friends with the people in my classes. It has been very interesting to see the diversity and different points of view a creative writing program can elicit.

I’m also looking forward to seeing more of the Mitchell Scholars this year, especially Friday night dinners in Dublin! Unfortunately, I won’t be able to make our trip to Belfast in March, as I’d booked a 4-week tour around Spain and Italy back in October. So I’m sad that I won’t get to see everybody all together probably until May. So that’s what my next few months are looking like—enjoying Dublin, traveling a lot, working on my novel and compiling the anthology. It’s going to be a busy few months! In March I find out where I will be going to graduate school next year, so I’m crossing my fingers!

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January 2007 Reflection

Posted on January 1, 2007 by swappett07

So we left off at Thanksgiving. My fiancé, Jeff, was over, and we went to Paris for a few days. The Lourve was unbelievable, so much so that I begrudgingly might have to consider it more grand that the Vatican Museums. We wandered around for a solid eight hours only to get on a plane with our feet very thankful that we were sitting.

Thanksgiving Day, Jeff and I made a turkey dinner of sorts in my dorm kitchen and then went to see Casino Royale. I was really happy that all of the Mitchells assembled in Dublin the next day so I could introduce them to Jeff before he went home. As a group we pooled our talents to come up with an amazing belated Thanksgiving Dinner, and Trina didn’t even kill us with the turkey and potatoes as she had threatened. We always have such a good time in each other’s company, and I am really looking forward to the two trips this coming semester that will be outside of Dublin.

The new Mitchell class members were announced, and my alma mater was well represented!! I personally knew both winners and am really psyched for them. I also enjoy being contacted by them and the new Mitchell who is coming to do my program here at DCU. It is nice to help, and nicer still to know what a help it really is (Thanks Brit!).

Back in class, the first semester wound down. I’ve been trying to come to grips with a certain dichotomy all semester. The Irish like Americans, but you’d never know it if you walked into one of my classes and listened in for 10 minutes. Granted, my program is very much a foreign policy/international relations all to do with the high security matters of war and peace. And I might understand the wrath if it were just aimed against the current administration, but it seemed to go much further. In my last class of the semester though, my professor opened the floor to a public airing of emotions, and I think I may have a good idea about what is going on.

It isn’t really that the Irish hate all American foreign policy. Ireland is a neutral country and an intelligent one. America is an open country whose every move is fodder for immediate examination and critique. This touches on two very Irish truths. First, the Irish are inquisitive and love to debate. They will question every move of the US as superpower, not out of spite, but out of a true desire to get to the heart of the matter. Second, Ireland considers itself a close friend of the United States and therefore feels, in the manner that only close friends and allies can, obligated to let the US know when it disagrees.

I went back to the States after lectures ended. I made good on my desire to finish all of my finals papers before I left, and so now I have but one final exam in International Law and the Use of Force on January 18th. I joined my extended family in Florida for Christmas where Jeff came and met us after visiting his own family. It was a tough holiday as weeks before, my beloved grandmother passed away, and we were there to celebrate her funeral. Still, I love my family like none other, and we did as we always do – get through things together.

I then went back to DC for two weeks. It is now official, Jeff and I get married in the chapel on Georgetown’s campus August 16th, 2008. Our friends threw us a lovely engagement party right before I hopped on a plane back to Dublin. Now it is time to buckle down and get ready for an exam, and then it is off to Palermo and Rome to collect a few sources I’ll be needing to get started on my dissertation.

I’m really looking forward to the new semester and what look to be very engaging courses as well as an involved travel itinerary!

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January 2007 Reflection

Posted on January 1, 2007 by akurman07

As I look back over the past two months, I can divide the time pretty neatly into two categories of activity: traveling and studying. In November I took two trips to Dublin. The first was with my fellow MA students to meet with various Irish officials and politicians as well as the British Ambassador and an official at the U.S. Embassy. These were by and large interesting meetings in which we learned more about the role of the Irish (and British and American) government(s), and the interests of various Irish political parties, in the peace process in the North. It was also a nice opportunity to get to know my classmates better and to hang out with some of the Dublin Mitchell Scholars (let it be known that Daniel and Adar are excellent chefs!). At the end of the month I returned to Dublin for an enjoyable Thanksgiving celebration with fellow Mitchell Scholars and an unexpected reunion with Marcus Weisner, a Mitchell in 2005-2006 who lived across the Lawn from me at UVA and had just returned to Dublin on his way back to the States after a summer spent backpacking around Africa. We saw the new Bond movie together, which I really liked.

Aside from a weekend in London, most of the rest of November and the first half of December were spent reading and writing essays for my classes. I had to write two essays, one on the peace process in Northern Ireland and one on United Nations peacekeeping. While I found both topics quite interesting, I spent a considerable amount of time learning about UN peacekeeping. Two books I’d highly recommend are Roland Paris’s At War’s End: Building Peace After Civil Conflict, on the effectiveness of international peacebuilding missions in the 1990s that promoted political and economic liberalization in order to build the conditions for sustainable peace in societies emerging from civil conflicts; and Samantha Power’s “A Problem from Hell:” America and the Age of Genocide, on the generally ineffective response of the United States to a number of genocides in the 20th century.

After finishing my essays I was treated to a visit by my parents, who spent several days in the third week of December touring in and around Derry before we headed first to Belfast and then to Dublin together. Despite the stresses of the end of the semester and the very foggy weather, it was really good to see my parents and I think they enjoyed their first visit to the island of Ireland.

When my folks headed back to the States, I set off on a 20-day journey to Cyprus (via Prague) and Israel/Palestine. In many ways this was a Seeds of Peace reunion trip for me, as I spent much of my time in both places visiting former campers and co-workers from my three summers as a counselor at Seeds of Peace (SOP) International Camp. [SOP runs two three-week coexistence programs each summer for teens from several international conflicts (including Israelis, Palestinians, Egyptians, Jordanians, and other Arabs; Greek and Turkish Cypriots; Indians and Pakistanis; and Afghans) at a camp on Pleasant Lake in Maine.] In Cyprus, I spent four nights in Nicosia at the home of a Turkish Cypriot camper who had stayed in my bunk in 2004. He showed me around some gorgeous parts of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (including Kyrenia, Salamis, Famagusta, and the stunning Kantara Castle). We also met up with a number of other campers from the summer of 2004 in Nicosia, which was really special for me. I spent Christmas touring both the Turkish and Greek sides of Nicosia, crossing back and forth through the UN-monitored Green Line that runs through (what I believe is) the only divided capital in the world. The last half of my trip I was based in Larnaca. In addition to visiting with many Greek Cypriot campers from 2004, I also managed a day trip to Limasol and a nearby archeological site, and a long (approximately 85km) bike trip up the coast to Aiya Napa (a summer beach destination) and then back to Larnaca through Pyla, the only town in Cyprus that both Greek and Turkish Cypriots have continued to share since the occupation of the northern part of the island by Turkish troops in 1974. Overall Cyprus was great; I loved the sunshine (after so much rain in Derry) and really appreciated the hospitality extended to me by my old campers.

From Larnaca, I flew to Tel Aviv for 11 days in Israel/Palestine. I had visited Israel once before, in August 2000 (just before the second intifada began and just after the failed Camp David summit), with my family and a group from our synagogue. This time, I was on my own and arrived in Israel with a list of friends and family I wanted to see but no set itinerary. It worked out brilliantly. My first day in Tel Aviv I bought an Israeli Sim card and got in touch with some of my relatives, who were undoubtedly surprised to learn that I was in Israel. Nevertheless, two of my cousins met me for coffee that afternoon (after I had walked around Tel Aviv and visited the square where Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated in 1995) and two more took me to a Shabbat dinner with other family in the evening. It was an unexpected and greatly appreciated warm welcome! I spent the next three nights at the apartment of a friend working for SOP in Tel Aviv. I attended an SOP event in Haifa and spent an afternoon touring the Old City of Jaffa. SOP friends and I rang in the New Year at a club in Tel Aviv and a great little bar called Norman.

On the first of January I traveled to Jerusalem, where I spent the next six nights at the home of another friend and regional SOP employee who lives in French Hill, a well-established Israeli settlement in East Jerusalem. I really liked being in Jerusalem, where I spent a day walking around the Old City and also had the opportunity to meet up with a number of friends (from SOP, UVA, and home). I had a surreal experience one afternoon when, after spending most of the day at a conference on the psychological barriers to peace in Israel/Palestine hosted by Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam, a joint Jewish-Arab village in Israel proper, I learned that an undercover Israeli military arrest raid in Ramallah had gone wrong and left 4 Palestinians dead and approximately 20 injured that same afternoon. It really hit home for me how unpredictable and insecure life is for Palestinians living in the West Bank. On the other hand, the second-thoughts I had riding Israeli public transportation and going past security guards into cafes in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem made me reflect on how Israelis also must internalize such a perpetual feeling of insecurity. Having worked at SOP and also studied the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for several years, my trip reinforced for me just how complex and taxing the conflict is on the ground for both Jews and Arabs living in Israel and the Palestinian Territories.

My trip ended with a wonderful family reunion in Tel Aviv and then a day-trip with relatives to Haifa and Acre. After 26 hours of travel I returned to Derry, where exams loom on the horizon before another shorter break and then the new semester. Hopefully I’ll have many more adventures to report next time around.

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January 2007 Reflection

Posted on January 1, 2007 by kburke07

Since my last journal entry, I have been busy with final semester projects, exams, and travelling. With exams concluded, I hopped on a plane with Kara and John. Thanks to our USIT stipends, we had unforgettable adventures in Barcelona, Nice, and Bordeaux. We watched the lights turn on across Barcelona from the towers of La Sagrada Familia. We went ice skating in Nice and gazed at the sunset over the French Riviera. However, the highlight for me was our stay in Bordeaux. A generous sponsor of the Mitchell Scholarship opened up his chateau for us, and it was incredible. The chateau had history, good wine, and rooms to inspire the imagination. It was almost bittersweet to return to the Irish rain and wind from such a beautiful place.

My mom visited me after the Christmas holidays. It was wonderful to travel around Ireland with her. We visited landmarks around the country, from the Cliffs of Moher to Christ Church Cathedral. My mom visited me after the Christmas holidays. It was wonderful to travel around Ireland with her. We visited landmarks around the country, from the Cliffs of Moher to Christ Church Cathedral. Mom kept remarking how green the countryside was in wintertime. Just walking around was a joy and novelty to my mother. It reminded me of what I felt when I first arrived- excited, relaxed, and tired from taking in new sights. It was nice to see other parts of the Emerald Isle, though I think I will remain partial to Galway.

I find that my introductions to various aspects of Irish culture are rife with humour. On St. Stephens Day, I was invited to dinner. Unfortunately, I was unsure what to do with the Christmas crackers. They are brightly wrapped packages in the shape of a tube. I remember reading about Christmas crackers, but those stories never explained what the fictional characters did with them. When I began tugging at the string to unwrap it, I heard muffled laughter from around the table. Thankfully, I was stopped before the cracker was unwrapped. Apparently you and a partner pull it apart like a wishbone and the cracker makes a bang. It is for these events where I have to laugh at the differences between Irish and American traditions. It is somehow satisfying to learn about these traditions the hard way.

Derek and his friends invited me to the Conradh na Gaeilge after the Christmas holidays. The Conradh is a social club where only Irish is spoken. Despite appearing like a deer caught in the headlights when the barmaid tried to make small talk with me, I learned enough Irish to order a couple of pints. I received a round of applause for my efforts!

My attempt to learn Irish dance was less successful. Irish music was playing and my friends began to dance. One-two-three. One-two-three. No matter how hard I tried, I was hopping around the place and out of sync with the music. Apparently I wanted to add an extra step, kick in the wrong direction, move my arms, and ended up exasperating my four teachers. We had to discontinue the lessons from laughing too hard.

I am gaining a great appreciation for the pride that Irish citizens have for their small country. It is deeper than the “Kiss me, I am Irish” t-shirts that I have seen in the States or the wearing of green on St. Patrick’s Day. It may be more subtle than saying the Pledge of Allegiance; yet it is evident when businesses market themselves based on their Irish origins for Irish consumers. The Irish have a sense of their rich history, which is reflected in their music, pub culture, and sense of humour. Furthermore, as I read and talk with people, I realize what an amazing opportunity I have to learn about a culture that is similar and different to the American culture in which I was raised.

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November 2006 Reflection

Posted on November 1, 2006 by swappett07

And so begins my Mitchell Journal and the longest time I’ve ever spent away from the States.

True, I spent 4 months in Italy as a junior at Georgetown, but it was in Georgetown’s own villa with fellow Hoyas I had known for years. Now I’m one of a few Americans in a foreign university, and even though it is all English, I get picked out as an American here a whole lot faster than I ever did in Italy (that my Italian accent is a good deal stronger than my Irish one is a strange prospect). All I have to do is open my mouth, and the question is, “So where in America are you from?” comes back at me. And if I say DC, I have to explain that I mean Washington, DC. It’s funny, everywhere else I’ve been in Europe, saying that I am American was plenty, but the Irish are curious, and love to strike up a conversation; even if it means nearly passing out in the gym’s steam room because you’ve lost track of time.

Daniel, the other Mitchell Scholar at DCU, and I arrived together on the same flight, and instantly we couldn’t have been more impressed with the attention given us. We were met at the airport, driven to the campus, guided to get our keys, and helped with our luggage up into our respective apartments. Immediately after unpacking, we endeavored to get acquainted with our surroundings. DCU is in a suburb setting where the houses are carbon copies of each other as are the street names if you aren’t very attentive. Over the course of the first week we learned where to grocery shop, how to negotiate the buses to the City Centre, and how everything we could ever want was to be found at Argos – a one room department store in which you select items from a catalogue, and they are brought out to you.

Registration and such was quite the throw back. I can’t count the number of stations and desks and forms and different dates and times there were to keep straight. The Garda (national police/immigrations too) was about as much fun. As Americans we have a status somewhere between that of the EU crew upon whom there are no restrictions and the rest of the world that needs full-fledged visas. We just needed to plunk down 100 euro for a “registration” card by braving a 2-3 hour process of more desks and forms.

My program was different that I was accustomed to as well. First semester, all courses are required, but only 3 have assignments. All classes are from Tuesday-Thursday, so I have four day weekends as a rule. In the middle of each semester, there is a “reading week” without classes to allow students to catch up on work. Cleverly, my first three papers are due the week following it.

Academically, I was surprised to say the least. While my peers are incredibly talkative outside of class, it is rare that anyone but the Americans and the seventy-something year-old Irish colonel in our class says anything. He, however, is quite the character. Quick to pick a fight with myself and another outspoken American conservative, “class” usually continues at the campus pub in small session continuing to hash out the nuances in a perfectly convivial, if spirited, tone.

I quickly gained an appreciation for the fact the DCU’s campus is close enough to Dublin Airport to be accessible by local bus. That fact plus Ryan Air has resulted in a great number of travel plans. The first trip was to London where I met up with my boyfriend who I hadn’t seen since I left. We had been talking daily via Skype, which allowed us to talk as long as we wanted through our computers and webcams, and importantly for me, allowed me to see and talk to our beagle puppy, Lori. The big news from the London trip is that Jeff is no longer my boyfriend, but my fiancé! He proposed in Hyde Park, and after consulting with our families, it looks like an August 2008 wedding is in store. (We’d like to make sure I survive my first year at the Georgetown Law Center).

Outside of Ireland, I have plans to visit Paris for fun, Palermo and Rome for research, and Corfu for an academic conference. On the island, I hope to crash at each of my fellow Mitchell Scholars’ places at some point over the year. If there was one thing I learned while in Italy, it was that traveling is one of the best parts of being in Europe for an extended period of time.

Thanksgiving is coming, and I couldn’t be more excited to see all the Mitchell Scholars again for a weekend. Orientation was a blast, and I am beyond thankful for all of the very personal and sincere care and attention that Trina and Mary Lou have lavished on us to make sure that we have everything we need to make the absolute most of this still unbelievable opportunity; many thanks to them and all of the program’s sponsors and benefactors.

Until next time…cheers!

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November 2006 Reflection

Posted on November 1, 2006 by acohen07

A dear friend from home bade me farewell with the words of Thomas Merton—monk, poet, and tireless social activist—just before I left for Ireland: “In one sense we are always traveling, and traveling as if we did not know where we are going. In another sense we have arrived.”

Such has been the nature of my first month in Ireland, a negotiation between Traveling and Arriving. I’ll be rushing across Trinity’s magnificent courtyard—hallowed cobblestone paths worn smooth by centuries—with my head down, my thoughts tangled up in the paper I’m writing. Traveling.

Until I come upon tourists—droves of them—who have come to the very courtyard I traverse every day to take pictures and admire the architecture, the history, the beauty of the campus. So I look up, too, and marvel with them for a while. Arriving. I study at Trinity College in the International Peace Studies program of the Irish School of Ecumenics. Simply put, it’s the perfect program for me. Holistic and interdisciplinary, the program attracts all kinds of students. They are from all over the world (from Burundi to Sri Lanka to Germany), come from a range of academic backgrounds (from human rights law to molecular biology), and have held widely divergent careers (from humanitarian relief to animal husbandry). Everyone in the program is someone I want to learn from and get to know. The lectures are illuminating, the workload is formidable, and the school itself—located a short distance from Trinity campus in Milltown—is very welcoming. There are couches and lamps all around and we all enjoy frequent tea breaks. I am taking the following courses this term: The Politics of Peace and Conflict; Ethics in International Affairs; Conflict Resolution and Nonviolence; and Human Rights in Theory and Practice. I have begun working as a tutor for the impressive Trinity Access Programmes (TAP), an initiative which represents Trinity College’s commitment to “tackling social exclusion, through a range of innovative, targeted initiatives for individuals who, for socio-economic reasons, have not yet realised their full educational potential.” (TAP website) I work with students on a one-to-one basis each week.

I am reveling in the opportunities afforded to me by this outstanding scholarship program. Here I am, studying exactly what I want to be studying (in Dublin of all places), continually amazed and inspired by the scholars (see you all at Thanksgiving) and overwhelmed already by the opportunities that have emerged for next year. All of this is possible because of the vision and commitment of Trina Vargo and Mary Lou Hartman, the staggering generosity of those who support the Mitchell Scholarship and the US-Ireland Alliance, and, of course, Senator George Mitchell himself. Thank you all; I am endlessly appreciative.

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November 2006 Reflection

Posted on November 1, 2006 by jvelasco07

I’ve been here just about two months now and from the moment I stepped off the plane at Shannon Airport throughout each and every day, life has been non-stop, but not in the way one might think. Life here is fundamentally different than it was in the United States and with each passing day, I learn to appreciate the culture, the people, and the opportunities afforded to me through my study in Ireland.

Last week, I had my first opportunity to experience traditional Irish music and dance. Kate and Lizzy, two Americans who ventured to Ireland to pursue their undergraduate degrees in Irish Dance and Music at UL’s Irish World Academy, invited me to a small one room pub along the Shannon River to watch a “session.” Since I was not familiar with the lingo, I had no idea what I was getting myself into; needless to say the night turned out to be one of the best of my time here in Limerick. I not only got to hear traditional Irish music, but I also got to watch the first year Irish dance team tear up the dance floor. It was certainly one of those nights that will be amongst my favorite here in Ireland and I will look back upon it with fond memories.

One of the aspects I admire most about Ireland is its people. The Irish are kind, light-hearted, always willing to help, and truly value time spent with friends and family. One of my favorite things about being here is having time to get to know people, whether it is over coffee or tea at lunch or over a pint in the pub at night. Even two months into this remarkable year in Ireland, I can tell that one of the most valuable and long-lasting aspects of this experience will be the friends I make, friends not only from Ireland, but from throughout Europe and the United States. The friendships that I have started to forge here will be close friendships that I carry with me well beyond my time in Ireland.

Being a Mitchell scholar, the doors of opportunity have really opened up. From the receptions with business and government leaders in Dublin during the Mitchell orientation in September, to the informal events that we organize together, such as trips to the Aran Islands and nights at the theatre in Dublin, to the generous travel stipend that is afforded to each scholar to familiarize themselves with Ireland and Europe; being here for me represents one of the best opportunities I’ve had in my life to grow as a person. In the two months I’ve been here I’ve traveled to Dublin, Galway and the Aran Islands, London, and Rome. In the next two months, I plan to travel to Barcelona, Nice, Aix-en-Provence, and Paris with fellow Mitchells and friends. Beyond traveling, I’ve taken an active interest in student government, recently being elected to represent postgraduates as Deputy President for the Postgraduate Student Association at UL. Finally, a few of the Mitchells are working to organize an Ireland-wide service day where on a single day in the spring we will each coordinate a series of service projects in our respective university communities that will engage our peers in community service.

I don’t think it is easy to express in words how much the culture, the people, and the opportunities I have had as a Mitchell scholar will impact me in the future, but I know one thing is for sure – I’ll miss this place. I hope to take advantage of every moment I have here to grow, to learn, to have an impact because I know this is an opportunity of a lifetime.

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November 2006 Reflections

Posted on November 1, 2006 by akurman07

Two months ago I arrived in Derry, Northern Ireland, with a mixture of excitement and ambivalence. Excitement generated by the prospect of exploring a new place while studying a subject that its inhabitants had lived for the past 35+ years: peace and conflict. Ambivalence due to the difficulty of trying to place the upcoming year within my own life story: as I see it now, my first 21 years were like rafting with the current down an academic river that, upon college graduation, fed into a great bay from which I could choose from any number of routes – once of course I discovered what those were. After exploring different coves of the bay this past year – taking on a succession of short-term jobs – I was feeling the urge to set a course out into the sea. I hope and trust that my year “across the pond” in the North will help me do so.

So far, I have been enjoying my time in Derry and learning a lot. Derry/Londonderry is an interesting city, particularly for someone studying the Troubles. The name itself has been a point of contest. Originally named Derry (a derivation of the Irish for oak grove, which it was when originally established as a monastic settlement in the 6th Century CE), the city was renamed Londonderry at the start of the 17th century when members of London guilds were charged with rebuilding it as part of the Plantation of Ulster, in which (mostly Protestant) English and Scottish settlers took control of large parts of Ulster (the northernmost province of Ireland). Situated at the mouth of the River Foyle just inside the northwest border of Northern Ireland, the city became a flash point in the late 1960s and early 1970s as the civil rights protests gave way to Free Derry, Bloody Sunday, and decades of sectarian conflict throughout the North. During the Troubles, the name of the city was an issue; some (nationalists) would only call it Derry, while others (unionists/British) would insist on Londonderry. Though it is now officially Derry, some still call it “Stroke City” (for the “/” in Derry/Londonderry) to avoid controversy.

I”ve enjoyed getting to know the city – walking around its historic walls; running alongside the river that divides it and out towards the mountains that surround it; drinking pints of Guinness while listening to traditional Irish music; exploring the Bogside with its famed “You are now entering Free Derry” wall and countless Murals (commemorating scenes from Bloody Sunday and the Troubles); celebrating Halloween with 1000s of other costume-wearing revelers in the streets, pubs, and clubs on what is the biggest night of the year in Derry; trying to decipher the cheers of a fiercely loyal crowd at a Derry City Football Club match.

Two other Derry experiences stand out. For one, the Derry Anti-War Coalition hosted a conversation with Ibrahim Mousawi, an editor of Al Manar, Hezbollah’s news syndicate in Lebanon – someone whose perspective on this past summer’s war and the Arab-Israeli conflict in general I doubt I would have had the opportunity to hear back home in the States. Also, when a guest speaker called my professor to cancel a meeting with my class, scheduled for later that afternoon, my professor quickly arranged for someone else to come – John Hume, the Nobel Laureate from Derry who holds the Tip O’Neill Chair at the University of Ulster (my school) and, as leader of the SDLP (the biggest nationalist party in the North during the Troubles and the 1990s peace process), played a crucial role in laying the groundwork for, and then negotiating, the Good Friday Agreement.

I’ve also enjoyed opportunities to travel within the North and to the Republic. I’ve visited Belfast twice and Dublin twice as well. My second two weekends after arriving corresponded with the Jewish holidays of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. With one of my Derry flatmates, I celebrated Rosh Hashana with the only remaining Jewish congregation in the North -in Belfast. The small Orthodox community welcomed us and a number of other young visitors into their synagogue in north Belfast; no doubt they appreciated our forming part of the initial minyan (the minimum of ten worshipers needed for services to begin) each morning! The next weekend was off to Dublin for a whirlwind orientation with my fellow Mitchell Scholars. We stayed in the lovely Westbury Hotel, just off of Grafton Street, a lively commercial street closed off to cars. Almost immediately after arriving it was off to the Guinness Storehouse’s Gravity Bar, where we were treated to the black magic straight from its source (and yes, it is better over here!) and to an excellent dinner and a speech by the outgoing U.S. Ambassador. The rest of the weekend was full of good craic, highlighted by our front row seats at the Ryan Tubridy Show, which is Ireland’s Saturday-night equivalent of the Late Show. It just so happened that the night we were there David Hasselhoff “The Hoff” was the main guest. Whatever else you want to say about the Hoff, he is absolutely a charismatic performer and a surprisingly good singer. I also enjoyed a rainy hike in the Wicklow mountains outside of Dublin. I stayed on in Dublin for an extra day to observe Yom Kippur, this time at a good-sized Orthodox synagogue where the congregation and rabbi were again quite friendly.

A couple of weekends later I made it back to Belfast – this time to coach a girls’ basketball team from Limavady, a town about 30 minutes from Derry, in two games against other teams from around Northern Ireland. I am working with the Limavady club, which also has a boys team, through an American organization called Playing for Peace (PfP). For the past five or so years, PfP has been using basketball to bring together children from Catholic and Protestant communities in Northern Ireland. Unlike soccer, rugby, and the Gaelic sports, which are either associated specifically with one or the other community or have been sources/outlets of sectarian conflict (i.e. the sectarian rivalry within the North between fans of the Glasgow Rangers and the Celtics, also from Glasgow), basketball is a relatively new sport here and does not suffer from sectarian associations. Coaching the girls from Limavady has been a lot of fun – they are a spirited and energetic bunch!

After the games, I spent the rest of the weekend touring around Belfast, which I’ve found to be a very interesting city. The City Center is bustling and quite cosmopolitan, highlighted by an impressive City Hall building and the Queen’s University campus. Walking around, I got the sense (projected in all of Belfast’s promotional tourist information) that the city has moved decisively past the era of the Troubles and is now a bustling European capital. Just across the Lagan River, the docks where the Titanic was designed and constructed are being redeveloped into new commercial, residential, and leisure areas. Yet just blocks away from the City Center, in the republican Falls Road and loyalist Shankill Road areas of west Belfast, there are still countless political murals, graffiti, and other signs that mark the sectarian divide just as clearly as the Peace Line – the wall that physically separates republican from loyalist neighborhoods. On the Falls: many murals commemorating the Hunger Strikers; Irish tricolours and flags commemorating the 25th anniversary of the 1981 Hunger Strikes that left 10 republican prisoners, on hunger strike for the restoration of their status as political prisoners (rather than common criminals), dead; murals linking the republican cause with that of other revolutionaries seeking to liberate their countries of colonial oppression; graffiti promoting the CIRA and the RIRA, factions that broke away from the Provisional IRA in the wake of its ceasefires in the 1990s; and several memorial gardens to commemorate those members of the IRA who died fighting for Irish freedom as well as local community members who were killed during the Troubles. On the Falls: countless murals of armed paramilitaries from the UVF, UDA, LVF -some of the main loyalist paramilitary forces; British flags; several murals of the Queen of England and another celebrating Oliver Cromwell’s role in Ireland; and commemorative gardens for loyalists and local community members who had died during the Troubles.

This second trip to Belfast helped me getter a better understanding of the nature of the sectarian conflict here in the North, which is the subject of one of the two courses I am taking this semester in my MA program in peace and conflict studies. The other course has to do with theories and methods of peace and conflict research. Both are interesting and I’ve enjoyed getting to know my classmates, who come from around the world. We spent a few days in Dublin together at the start of November in a number of interesting meetings with Irish officials and Parliament members working on the Northern Ireland issue. This second trip to Dublin also afforded an opportunity for a great dinner with some of the Dublin Mitchells.

As I look ahead, I’m excited to spend more time with the other Mitchells and to get more into my coursework and, next semester, my thesis. I’m also very much looking forward to seeing more of Northern Ireland and the Republic (especially Donegal) and to traveling to other places in Europe and beyond. More immediately, I’m looking forward to a flatmate’s concert at a pub in town. Until next time then. Peace.

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November 2006 Reflection

Posted on November 1, 2006 by ssexton07

When my friend invited me out for a pint, I assumed it would be a quick jaunt to a close by pub. I had no idea this excursion required me to be equipped. Luckily my friend’s roommates came armed with their own flashlights. The journey began at the opening of a dirt path beside the “on-campus village” that lay so far away from campus it is in a different county. There were no lights on this path, nor were there any signs of life other than the mooing cows in the meadow hidden behind trees. This dirt path continued on for about half a mile until it met a country road. We walked down this road, taking care to walk single file over the narrow bridge as the infrequent car passed. Finally we saw a light in the distance; it hung over the door of the Lame Duck. Upon entering this pub, I was overwhelmed with the smell of Aqua Velvet and couldn’t help feeling that I had just stumbled into my grandpa’s basement. There were three other men in the pub watching a rugby match and all was silent except for the occasional expletive shout at the TV screen. We took our seats in the corner and ordered our pints, there were only two options, Guinness or Coors. We wisely chose the Irish creation and waited for the publican to slowly pour the perfect pint. After the thick, dark foam had settled I sipped what was the finest Guinness I have had in my life.

This was one of the only moments in my two months in Ireland, where I felt like I was experiencing the “Ireland” I had imagined before arriving. Growing up, I spent a great deal of time with my large Irish Catholic family in Chicago. We tried to preserve traditions like making soda bread, celebrating St. Patrick’s Day, and listening to traditional music like the Chieftains. To me these were things that made up my Irish heritage. I thought because of this heritage I knew what Ireland was like and what it means to be Irish. My romantic visions of a green land of devout, practicing Catholics, with old men in wool sweaters and hats sitting on pub stools singing away, living in small villages barely connected to the outside world formed the personal mythology I held about Ireland before I arrived in September. My experience living in Limerick for the past two months has challenged every preconceived notion I had.

From my first day in Ireland I was surprised by how developed the economy is and how expensive certain things are in comparison to the United States. My picturesque visions of rugged Irishmen and women struggling to get by were quickly replaced by images of families driving to the strip mall on a Saturday and business people in suits popping in and out of the many shops in Limerick on their lunch breaks. The rolling green hills I envisioned were still there, but they were dotted by suburban housing projects and large shopping centers.

My fantasy of University of Limerick was also revealed to be incorrect. As I began my courses in Peace and Development Studies and met my professors and fellow classmates, I quickly learned that school would be quite different from my previous experience in the States. The pace of life is much more relaxed and my program particularly seems to reflect this. It is generally less organized compared to what I am accustomed. I am slowly trying to build up a sense of humor about this, reminding myself it is a cultural difference to which it will take time for me to adapt. Otherwise, my many frustrations over this disorganization will turn me into an unpleasant student. Thus far, the mid-class tea breaks are helping. During every three hour class we are given a 15 minute tea break. This time is spent drinking tea in a campus cafeteria while commiserating with my classmates about lectures and assignments. I am also enjoying the subject matter that we are studying in my courses. Although I had hoped for more of a development and practical focus, the many peace keeping, peace building and conflict courses are new and interesting to me. I am learning an incredible amount about subjects I had not had the opportunity to study before like the United Nations, Africa, and smaller historical conflicts.

Another benefit of my course is that there is sufficient free time built into the schedule. That, in combination with the generous travel stipend provided by the Mitchell Scholarship, has made it easy for me to travel around Ireland and Europe. Although I have only been here two months, I have already been fortunate enough to visit Dublin, Galway, the Aran Islands, Bunratty, Rome, London and Oxford. Traveling has been the best way for me to develop a better understanding of what modern Ireland is. Even my trips outside of the country have helped me place Ireland in a European and global context. By viewing the similarities and differences between Ireland and other countries I am forming a view of Irish culture. I believe it is an exciting time to watch this culture unfold as Ireland is now a vibrant member of the European Union and the country is changing with time and economic convergence. I do not know what will happen in the remainder of my time here, but I am now wiser in knowing that generalizations about a place or people do not necessarily hold true and that deeper exploration is necessary to truly obtain an understanding.

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