Just Everything I can fit for now...

“Everything that happens, happens for a reasons…” I am a firm believer in this phrase. I have been alive for 17 years and something I’ve learned is that every second of your life is precious. Like the choice between doing something right and wrong, there’s always a a different outcome depending on how you spend your choice. I’ve learned so much while I’ve been away from home… and being abroad itself gives you time to just think for yourself. The one thing that is really annoying me though is just that I’m so eager to learn anything I can get my hands on, but then once I’ve learned it, it doesn’t ever really stick. It’s sort of like I enjoy learning for the sense of accomplishment from it but I’m not really learning anything at all! I’m sure this isn’t entirely true, but it just feels like that right now.

As of this day today, I’m in Churchill Donegal- The one place out of every place in Ireland that I would call home. Every day I’m here I learn, do or see something interesting, new places, faces and ideas all the time… I really miss the gaeltacht, but I’m not sure if it’s for the right reason, because to be honest, I seem to be learning a lot more here because there isn’t quite as much distraction. At the gaeltach, sure, I had everything I need and all the opportunity in the world sitting in front of me, but then there were a million other distractions keeping me from using the lovely opportunity to its complete and full extent- which is very frustrating now that I think of it. See, the thing about most gaeltacht schools is that most of the kids who go are just going three weeks to get away from the parents to have a great time and do whatever you want oh yes and speak irish only because they make you speak irish. So I myself, having come only for the sake of the exact opposite of what every other kid there came for, was just having a bit of difficulty the first few days getting used to the situation. For example, the first couple of days I would ask a hundred million questions during class (stupid questions and all), and then I might be reading or studying notes from class during free time. So naturally a lot of the kids would approach me and say “Do you actually LIKE Irish or something?” and I’d be like…uh no… I’m just…doing homework? Haha, so then they just thought I might have done something bad to have to get homework to work on. Which is sad really because they really don’t understand how lucky they are to have such a wonderful tradition right in their midst, and they just see it as a burden. But all in all, I really did learn a lot of Irish. I met TONS of lovely new friends. I did more things in Gaoith Dobhair than I ever thought was possible. And most of all I just had a blast .

List of Highlights at the gaeltacht,

My Bean O’ Tigh… Marie Sweeney is the name of the woman who took care of us 14 girls that lived in ‘Teach Sweeney’ for the remainder of the three weeks. Right when I stepped in the door of her house my first day, I felt so comfortable. She had a lovely smile and of course she never spoke anything but Irish unless I needed her to explain what she was saying in English or if she just was being casual or something. My heart really went out to her the time I was there because she NEVER left the kitchen! She never stopped working to keep us girls full to the brim which she believed we liked when most of us would rather just eat little bits here and there. She never slept, because firstly she has a 6 year old boy to look after all the time, a husband to keep happy, and 14 girls to keep from slipping out of the windows in the middle of the night! (and yes that actually did happen once with one girls who just didn’t believe in rules). But Marie was nice enough not to send her home. There was ALWAYS drama in that house. Whether it be about something the boys had done earlier or about something someone said about someone that wasn’t true or just something silly. I was always trying my hardest to be the big sister of the lot because most of the girls were much younger than me as well. So that would be a part of the distractions that might have kept me from learning as much as I could’ve. But all in all I loved my Bean O tigh, I loved the girls in my house and I loved the teachers as well.

So second highlight – My teachers. They were all extremely lovely and never failed to help you when you needed a question answered.

Another highlight would be the town itself and the long walks, whether it be to school every morning, or the long walk to the seashores in the evening. Even when we thought that the day was to yucky to do anything we were still outside playing in the rain if that’s what we felt was fun at the time.

Every single day there was an adventure and to be honest I couldn’t pick a favorite part because of that reason. I loved every moment I was there and I really hope to go back next year, especially being that I was offered full scholarship to come back.


I plan on explain my highlights of the gaeltacht in detail soon. I feel so bad for not writing on here at all. I’ve just got so much to say and not much time to say it! Like right now for instance, my clothes are all wet and my shoes are squishy with water in them because I went for a nighttime walk around the village of Churchill with my aunt. When we left the weather was gorgeous but by the time we headed home it started pouring down rain. To be honest though, I don’t think any other place in the world has more history in it than Churchill and Gortan (the lake in the middle of the town). During our walk my aunt explained so much of it’s history that I never wanted to get back to the house. But alas, I’m back… the fire is dieing and my feet are cold, hehe. So I believe it’s time to put this up for now before I catch a cold again! (oh yeah that was one of my ‘High-lights’ of the gaeltacht, I had a nasty bug the first few days… but of course my Bean-o-tigh babied me the whole time!

So tomarrow I’m planning on staying on task but also just enjoying everything about being here, being that I know I’ll be gone before I know it. Time is flying by so fast and I really wish I could just make it stop! But I do miss everyone back at home sooo much and I send my love and thank you’s again to all who have helped me along the way. You all mean so much to me and I offer all prayers and blessings to you all!

Gach Beannacht

~Mary~