Reflect.

I'll be flying out of the Dublin airport in 10 days, back to the sweet land of the USA. I am ready.

My time here has gone by so quickly, but yet sometimes I feel like I have lived here in Ireland forever. It is home to me now. But I guess the concept of home changes every so often, doesn't it?

This semester has been full. When I reflect on everything I have done, seen, tasted, and experienced here, I really can't believe that it all fit into only one semester. I mean...I have traveled around the entire country! What?! At the same time, I feel like there is so much that I still have yet to do, and probably never will get the chance. But that is okay, because I can at least say that I lived here, studied this country for three months, and also learned a lot about myself and "what makes me tick" as our wonderful Irish friend Jen would say.







This country is small but extremely rich, and it is an impossible task for me to capture the essence of it in a blog post, picture, or word. I am still learning every day about this place, and mostly I have learned how to fully engage in a culture for an extended period of time; going beyond a week or a month of a short term snapshot. My view of Ireland is no longer romanticized like it used to be, and I am so thankful for that.

Orla Kiely

The patterns of the Irish fashion designer Orla Kiely are everywhere. Whenever I step into a shop in Dublin, I recognize her design right away. It is unique, simple, and usually colorful and cheery. At first I thought she only designed stationary, but she actually has a wide variety of products selling all over the world.

I have not seen one thing of hers I haven't liked, especially the kitchenware. I bought an Orla Kiely journal today. I got super excited about the texture of the cover and the paper inside...I can't wait to write in it.

The Cat and the Moon

William Butler Yeats is my favorite literary figure we have been studying here in Ireland. I am fascinated by his life story, and I absolutely love his poetry. He writes of fairies and forests and cats (my kind of guy), plus other more important things like the history of Ireland.

We spent an entire day in the West of the country traveling to places that inspired some of his most well known poems. We saw a waterfall, lake, forest, and his grave and memorial. Plus we went to his exhibit at the National Library of Ireland. I bought a giant and beautiful white book which contains all of his poems along with commentary and explanations from other writers.

I love learning about things and people that truly come to life. But I guess this whole semester has been like that really.

Here is one of my faves,

The Cat and the Moon

The cat went here and there
And the moon spun round like a top,
And the nearest kin of the moon,
The creeping cat, looked up.
Black Minnaloushe stared at the moon,
For, wander and wail as he would,
The pure cold light in the sky
Troubled his animal blood.
Minnaloushe runs in the grass
Lifting his delicate feet.
Do you dance, Minnaloushe, do you dance?
When two close kindred meet,
What better than call a dance?
Maybe the moon may learn,
Tired of that courtly fashion,
A new dance turn.
Minnaloushe creeps through the grass
From moonlit place to place,
The sacred moon overhead
Has taken a new phase.
Does Minnaloushe know that his pupils
Will pass from change to change,
And that from round to crescent,
From crescent to round they range?
Minnaloushe creeps through the grass
Alone, important and wise,
And lifts to the changing moon
His changing eyes.

-- William Butler Yeats