food for thought

Two tests under my belt and a paper completed - who knew we had school to do while here??!

"STUDY"ing abroad. Right.

As I immerse myself in readings about burials and rituals of the Neolithic and Chalcolithic eras I gain a certain respect for Irish history.

While the US surely has history and America has made their debut into the world with force and power - it's easy to forget that we're not the only ones. Our history is the span of several hundred years and mostly consists of WW1, WW2, American Revolition, Civil War, sex, drugs, scandals, and money ... that's what we learn about. All these massive wars and battles and disputes that we participated in or ended. While that's impressive and mighty, I'm left wondering what our heritage truly means to us.

Hear me out.

I'm reading of Ireland's content and beautiful styles of living. They exchanged pottery across the country with all communities, shared in traditions that are thousands upon thousands of years old. To me, learning about your ancestors in 4000BC and 750AD is real history. Being able to look at your family's land that has been in the line for 5,000 years, to be able to visit the history that you're learning about — it's makes it all the more real.

Beyond that it's incredible the care that they take of their land and their history. There are prehistoric graves, untouched. 2500BC "bee hive" huts in an elderly woman's backyard. She just lets everyone park in her driveway and check it out by walking through her yard - FO FREE. (She waved goodbye as we left. We hollered, "Bye Grandma!")

If a prehistoric or place of historical value exists in the US we would have ripped it up, revamped the structures, made a tourist office, and profited immensely. Irish have a far higher respect for land they've been given and all the richness of what it has to offer, without getting rich. They want to spread knowledge, not gain wealth.

Yesterday, I traveled to the Burren to climb a "mountain" and see a cliff tomb - but then on the way back down we stopped at the Abbey. Here is O'Connor's resting tomb and the burial site for many family lines. While there we were informed that mass was about to start, inside the ancient church. This building didn't have a roof, was missing a wall, and had nothing but gravel inside. Elderly folks carried their folding chairs in before the service was to begin. But this piece of pure Irish history is just a normal mass for some, and a quiet place to visit. It's astounding.
(( I later learned that this church was built in the 12th century. That's 800 years of mass being held in those walls. ))

While traveling to the Cliffs of Moher our bus driver told of us the low incomes and struggle of the Irish common folk in today's society. Let me use this example -
a house used to cost 400,000 Euro in 1999
a 15 bedroom hotel cost 400,000 Euro in 2012
= ON THE SAME BLOCK.
But as Gary the bus driver said, "No matter the money situation everyone continues living life and doing what they can until it's fixed. There's no need to panic. As the saying goes."

Not sure where this rant is leading to - or what I'm really getting at - but I just can't help but smile. All the time here.

Every time we drive by a field and there is a random stone structure in the middle. Celtic high-crosses in people's yards that were left behind. They built around the land NOT on top of it.


Realizing you have than two weeks of the greatest experience of your life is a little unsettling. Therefore, I'm going to finish that "When I lived in Galway" bucket list and the posts might become shorter and less frequent but I won't leave out a single detail when I get back at it.

"May flowers always line your path and sunshine light your day.
May songbirds serenade you every step along the way.
May a rainbow run beside you in a sky that's always blue.
And may happiness fill your heart each day your whole life through.- Irish Blessing"