Concerts and Churches

It has been an exciting two days. On Friday, we had our first concert at St. Mary's Cathedral in Limerick which went amazing! The space was beautiful, and our audience was so appreciative of our performance.

Then we traveled to Killarney where we got explore the city. This weekend is the Bank Holiday Weekend in Ireland, so the town was decorated with flags on the streets; there were many people there. But this made exploring the town more exciting! 

Next came Saturday. We went on a tour of the Ring of Kerry which was a scenic drive through the County Kerry. The land is beautiful, and it was easy to see how Ireland's nickname is the "Emerald Isle." Over the course of the tour, we came across a hospital that was built by a wealthy Englishwoman who provided care to the predecessors of the IRA in the early 1900s. It also served as a community center for the townspeople as a means for trade. When she died, she left it in her will to the IRA under the condition that all of the counties in Ireland would be united as one country again. Since this didn't and hasn't happened, the buildings were left to ruin, and nobody definitively owns the property. This served as a visual cue to what division can do in a community. Though this is a singular example, it is a model for what division can do in any society.

After our tour, we had a rehearsal for our concert in St. Mary's Church of Ireland in Killarney. The beauty and the history of the places that we have performed so far have left me completely in awe. Not only that, the acoustic qualities of the church were, for lack of a better word, happy. I don't know how else to describe it. I've never been in another space like it where I could feel the sound take on such a joyful vibrancy. Later that night, we performed our concert which was a solid performance. Again, the audience was so appreciative of our concert! Seeing the joy that people feel when we perform will keep me singing for a long time. On a side note, a large portion of our audience was from the U.S. There were people from Ireland as well, but while greeting people, I had a number of people from the U.S. talk to me. Killarney is a tourist city, so that explains that discrepancy. Overall, an amazing experience.

Caves, Cliffs, and Chips Oh My!

Today was exhilarating despite its rocky start. Which means I overslept. I woke up at 6:00 am because of an unfortunately overlooked alarm, and then I proceeded to fall back asleep, by-passing my intended wake-up alarm of 8:00, missing breakfast, and being awoken by my fellow choir mates knocking. But, regardless of this unfortunate start, amazing events followed.

Our first stop was at the Poulnabrone portal tomb which was constructed nearly 5000 years ago. Over 30 human remains have been found at this site which is located in the Burren; the Burren is a national park with a karst landscape. The ground was composed of mostly rock with some soil situated in deep cracks. Though this might make it seem barren, it was beautiful. But then our coach driver said something that stuck out: at one time, people being punished were sent to live in this part Ireland which made it difficult to live because crop farming is not an option and livestock would find difficulty grazing. It made me think about how much history is everywhere we seem to go. That landscape was used as a punishment by someone nearly 400 years ago, and I get to see where it happened. This also makes it clearer to me to understand just how many hands have a say in making Ireland what it is today. Those who were sending people to starve their sheep in the karst landscape were not the first to be in charge. For that reason, the traditional culture here is a mixture of influences which is eerily similar to the story of the United States though Ireland's process has been on-going since the 12th century.

Among the many exciting things that happened today, I got to see the Atlantic Ocean for the first time. And I got to play in it! Just running around in my bare feet, but it was enough. Before that was hike on the cliffs of Moher which are these gigantic cliffs on the west coast of Ireland. GIGANTIC! Doesn't do them justice, so you'll have to wait until I post pictures.

We also went to the Aillwee Cave. Being from the Cave State prepared me for the awesome cave experience, but what surprised me was at the very end of the tour when our cave tour guide asked us to sing a song in the cave. We looked at each other, and our director informed us that we were going to sing our closer MLK which is by the Irish rock group U2 (I don't really know if they are Irish, but our director says so in order to make ok to use that piece in our set over here). Our tour guide was genuinely impressed and astounded once finished a snippet of it and completely sweet. It was rewarding to have someone genuinely feel happy because of what we do, and it made me realize today, again, that people are people no matter what country.

That's all for tonight. I cannot even try describe everything that has happened so far because I wouldn't be able to do it justice. Pictures will come soon to this page, but I'm going to sleep now. Tomorrow is our first official concert of the tour!

Departure and the First Day

These two things go together because they were actually the same day. But, before I start on this conundrum, I have a few thoughts on my preparation process. In essence, my expectations as to packing specifications and regulations were not realized; I was expecting a nightmare of grueling security checks and customs exchanges, but I was instead met with a fairly relaxed process. I spent at least 3 hours checking to make sure that my checked bag, carry-on, and personal item would be accepted by the travel gods. When I went through security, I was not forced to prove that my bag met the qualifications nor was I prodded to insist that I was not harboring narcotics in my quart-sized bag of under 3.5 oz liquids. All of the nightmares regarding the security and specifications process went by without appearance.

To be honest, I said a quick prayer before the first flight started its take-off process, but, as soon as we were in the air, I had the biggest grin that I could not wipe off my face. I LOVE flying! I never knew it! My favorite parts about both flights were the take-offs and the landings. Seeing the ground rush past at a ridiculous amount of speed or come closer with the promise of another adventure was thrilling beyond belief. Even the flight to Dublin had its perks with the infamous addition of airplane food which was sufficient though lacking in imagination.

The worst part about traveling for such a long period of time was the amount of sitting that had to be done. Leaving Neosho at 6:30 am and arriving in Ennistimon at 3:30 pm the next day took its toll on my body. In essence, my ankles are like puffy marshmallows. Another thing that I would try to avoid or do differently is take the time to better research how basic things like travel through airports or customs worked.

Well, eventually we arrived at 6:00 am in Dublin. The first thing that I noticed was the multiple languages on all of the signs. The first language was Irish, and the second was English. In Ireland, the recognized national language is Irish though schooling is conducted in English. Students are required to learn Irish, but there are few villages that proclaim Irish as the primary language. The second thing that I noticed was that Irish drivers drive on the Left side of the road; in my research, this fact escaped me. The third thing that I noticed was how quickly the development of the city gave way to more of the rural parts of the country.

Our first stop was at the Barack Obama Plaza. This gas station, rest-stop, landmark was surprising to me because I had no idea that President Obama had Irish heritage. He does, and when he came to discover more about this in 2011, the Barack Obama Plaza was formed. Here, I got my first taste of both Irish cuisine and the Irish people. The food was  not necessarily authentic despite my "Mini-Irish Breakfast" order, but the beans, tea, eggs, sausage, and bread literally were my first taste of Ireland. Also, I figured out that people are people no matter which country you happen to be in. The people there were so helpful and kind! With this meal and lesson under my belt, we headed to Limerick.

In Limerick, we were given the chance to explore the city built on the River Shannon, the longest river in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, or England. After walking around the city, my group decided to tour King John's Castle which began its construction in the 12th century or so. The history here gave me a real-life glimpse into Ireland's turbulent evolution of takeovers from the Vikings, the Normans, and the English. I also got to touch a castle that was in existence before the Americas were discovered by Columbus.

On a side note, it was raining. My cheap umbrella decided to break. Life lesson: Don't buy cheap umbrellas.

After our Limerick excursions, we boarded our coach and made it to Ennistimon (or Ennistymon; I've seen both on signs on the way in to town and on businesses in the town). After a dinner at the hotel, some of us decided to experience some of the local life by going to pub. Completely unexpected, the owners found out that we were a singing group and invited us to sing in the pub. So aside from multiple first hand experiences of how normal, kind, and down to earth the Irish are, I can also say that I have sang in an Irish pub.

There have been so many wonderful and exciting things that have happened today, but I cannot fit them all into one post. I feel like this experience has not been real which is because of the 48 hours I've gone without more than 2hours' sleep, so I'm going to bed. I will post pictures of this adventure soon!

Tomorrow is the day! Also packing. And packing. And packing.

Tomorrow is the day that I get to start this incredible journey. It's a little surreal, but I guess I'm delaying the inevitable by making every single project take as long as possible. My packing process has been going on for three days now. Every time I've sat down to do it, I immediately think of something else that I should be doing. For example, I had to make my bed before I could start packing. I never make my bed. I'm not dragging my feet, but the whole build-up into this trip is making me hyper aware of every single thing. I cleaned out my car that we are driving to Kansas City which was a necessity. I even stopped while typing this post to clean my water bottle. I think I'm just excited, and I don't want to forget anything. While this has caused the last three days to drag on longer than any three days have ever dragged before, I leave tomorrow. Am I ready? Not quite; I need to finish packing!

Preparation

If you can't tell, this study-abroad trip is going to be my first travel experience out of the United States. To say I'm nervous is pretty accurate, but I'm beginning to become more and more excited the closer our departure date gets!

 

With this excitement comes a flurry of my last minute preparations for this trip. These include things like making sure my luggage actually meets the specifications for international travel. It does, it just took me about two hours of measuring, himming, and hawing in order to come to that conclusion. I don't want to be that person that didn't make sure his baggage could actually get on the plane. Luckily another member of our choir put together a packing list for everyone, so we could check things off as we put them into our luggage. In other words, so we don't forget anything. Among the music, tuxes, and umbrellas I hope to find some sanity.

Tonight, we have another rehearsal as a choir. The song list that we have put together for our concerts has three main sections: Masters of Choral Literature, American vs. Irish Folk Songs, and American Spirituals. When our director gave us this list, I became even more excited for this tour because I could see both us learning about the traditional music culture of Ireland with songs like "Danny Boy" and "Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye" and us teaching about the traditional music culture of the United States with songs like "Shenandoah" and "Nelly Bly." Also, American Spirituals are one of my favorite types of choral music, so I'm ready to share that with a new audience. I love to sing, so even though we'll log up about 20 hours of rehearsal time before we even get to Ireland, I know it's going to be worth it.

Other preparation activities I should probably finish up. I should make sure that my tux pants are still hemmed. Other small but important things like that are on my To-Do lists underlined with my determination.

I should also mention that this blog and this experience are also encouraged by the Honors Program at MSSU. They require for members to study abroad and to document the journey with a blog, and I am so thankful for this because it gave me a reason to travel which is something that I've always wanted to do.