Yeah, I'm back!

Everything that has happened to me over the last couple of months has truly been incredible. Even everything that happened before I went to Ireland was amazing because I was able to experience kindness and support from people I’d never even met, and that alone helped me realize how important it was for me to go to Ireland. Honestly, after I placed in the mid-west Fleadh, I didn’t think I’d even be able to go to the All-Ireland championship. Altogether I really shouldn’t have been worried though, because with a lot of great friends and kind hearts, it all worked out and I can’t thank you all enough for it.

People keep asking what my favorite part of Ireland was, and I really find it hard to answer with a short response. Every day there it was a completely different story. Even from the moment I arrived to the very last day, I don’t think I’ll ever forget any of it. I thought I’d mention the highlights of my trip to let yas know how the whole thing went on (I could write a book about it! But not right now... that's what school's for ;)

The first week I was there I stayed with my aunt up in Churchill Donegal- an absolutely beautiful little town. That week was really fantastic, but the day I arrived was really intense. You see, my grandparents came with me from Georgia and stayed there as well. The same day we arrived in Donegal, my Grandmother got sick and had to be admitted to the hospital for a week. Now, originally my grandmother is from Donegal, so you can imagine what sort of welcome back that would be! Though, there was good that came of it when friends and family came from all over to visit her in the hospital, and I was able to meet relatives that I haven’t seen in years. So, I really thought my first couple of days there were fantastic, especially because of my aunt. The reason being is she really helped me out with my Ulster Irish. Since my Irish teacher back at home only teaches Munster Irish, I wasn’t very familiar with the Ulster accents. So, she really beat the Donegal accent into my head, and I’m still trying to convince myself that it was a good thing. Another thing that really got to me that week was realizing how much we all missed my uncle, because he had only just died of cancer two weeks before we arrived. He was a fantastic musician himself, and even before he got sick he told me he was going to help me with my singing when I got there. So, you could imagine how strong my aunt had to have been to hear me practicing. She was a great example to us all, and that’s something I’ll never forget.
The middle of the first week in Donegal was great too because of all the wonderful people I got to meet. I was even able to meet some of the musicians who lived up there. One of them was Martin Crossin, an Uilleann pipe maker up in Falcarraigh, and his wife Mary, who were a really lovely couple. Martin was also able to fix my bad Uilleann pipe reed, and that was a relief because it hadn’t been working properly since I arrived in Donegal. I met a load of other musicians at some of the sessions around town, and that was great because I got to see a lot of them again at the Fleadh itself.
Altogether, I think Donegal was the most difficult to leave. I had been there almost two weeks, and yet to me it felt like I had been there a year. I learned so much there- yet it was the things I had already known that were able to flourish in my heart. For the first time ever, I was able to sing songs that I’ve been singing for years and actually mean every single word that came out of my mouth. For too long I had been singing songs about places and happenings in Donegal in English and in Irish alike, and I really didn’t know what I was talking about, since I’d never really known a love for the place. But after being there, getting to know the people and places, the mountains, lakes, and animals even, I totally fell in love.
The next place I went was Sligo to visit some of the Yeat’s country and then Clare, to visit some relatives, and after that was the final destination- Tullamore. I arrived in Tullamore on the 19th of August because that was when Scoil Eigse Started. Scoil Eigse is the summer school that I received scholarship to go to for getting first or second in any of the categories at the Mid-West Fleadh. Well, when I got there, it was nothing that I had expected. I was put in a house with the nicest family in the world and my room mate, Aine, from Cavan- Ireland, ended up being the niece of a great friend of mine back in Georgia. The both of us hit it right off because she was a singer (in Irish and English), button accordion player, and she also spoke Irish really well. Since we both had some Irish, we made a point to speak in Irish everyday until we ran out of things to talk about, and I really thought that it was neat because I’ve never known anyone my age that speaks it. Scoil Eigse turned out being different then what I thought it was. I thought it was going to be just the kids who placed at the qualifying fleadhs, but it turned out being all of those kids plus anyone who wanted to come and take classes. So, the first night ended up being about three hundred kids from all around the world in the same room playing the same music, which was something I never imagined could ever happen. It was grand. The next morning was when all of the classes started, and for the first couple of days I did singing classes, which were extremely intense. The teacher would even punch our stomach to make us use our diaphragm! She taught us breath control also, which is nothing that I would have expected because most traditional singing classes only work on singing ornamentation, styles, and songs. This teacher ended up teaching all of it in one! That was really fantastic. The last two days I switched over to the Uilleann pipe class, and the teachers gave us really good tips and some really fun new tunes.
Altogether, Scoil Eigse was yet another great learning experience as well as a great time. I learned so many new things and met so many new people whose friendship I know will last a very long time.
Last but not least came the All Ireland Fleadh. I remember when Saturday came along, the entire town of Tullamore was completely full of people (230,000 and more to be honest!) it was incredible. You could walk along the street and in every corner, every shop, every pub, there would be musicians playing. There were also a lot of really neat events going on. After all the fun of playing music in sessions and meeting new people from all around the world, was when my competitions began. Right about then I had to come back down to earth, and everything seemed to hit me like a brick. I was a little home sick for one thing, I missed Donegal, my Grandmother was sick again and back in the hospital (some trip this turned out to be for her), I was about to compete with the great friends I had just made over the week, and I had just found out that three of my competitions where at the exact same time in three different places. But when I thought about it, none of that really bothered me. I knew that if I gave it my all, did my best, and had fun than that’s that counted, because I knew that all of my friends and family back home were rooting me on. So, that’s what I did. Unfortunately, I didn’t actually end up placing in anything (except in flute because I tied scores with the girl in 3rd, but they gave her the medal), but I’m ok with that. I know I worked really hard to get there and that’s what counts. For a while I felt like I let a lot of people down because before I left, people were saying how they couldn’t wait for me to come back with a bunch of trophies and medals. It was after I remembered everything I did during the trip that made the difference, not the trophies.

Obviously, I can’t thank you all enough for enabling me to have the most unforgettable month of my life. If it weren’t for all you and your support, I wouldn’t have been able to go at all. I wish all of you the best, hey, and maybe next year I'll bring you guys back some trphes and what not, now that I know the jest of things ;)

Beannacht,

~MaRy

(ps: I'm trying to make a slideshow of muh pictures, I'll post it on here when I'm done)