Why I Call Ireland “Home” After Two Months

By: Agape Deng (M.Phil in Speech and Language Processing)

I started pondering whether my soul was dead when I was fourteen years old after reading a patriotic poem by Sir Walter Scott titled, “My Native Land.” In it, the narrator asks if there exists a man who is so soul-dead that he has never loved or longed for his homeland. He warns readers that “if such there breathe, go, mark him well,” for he is, in short, a proud, vile wretch doomed to die alone in shame. So there I was, a little Chinese girl living in Russia learning this English poem about what it is to love your country and feeling, on one hand, guilty that I possessed no such loyalty, and on the other hand, forlorn that I had no country to call my own.

Discovering Dublin the City: Old and New

By Xinyi Ye, Visiting Student Blogger

 

If you are studying in Ireland, then you are studying in a country with dazzled autumn, mild winter, shiny springtime, and glorious summer days – if it doesn’t rain. And if you are studying at Trinity, you are lucky to study in one of the most beautiful cities in the world, a city full of both old things to admire and new things to discover! Take a walk from Trinity’s college green to see the history of the city and explore.

Finding Balance in Ireland

Words and Photos by Michaela Vitagliano, Visiting Student Blogger

 

Like many of you, I’m not someone that delights in change and its accompanying uncertainty. But naturally, deciding to study abroad for a year is a decision that is greeted with unknowns and uncertainties. After almost a full year here, I can definitely say most of my worries – Will I like Ireland, will I make friends, will I find things to do here that I enjoy – were for naught.

Irish Language Classes at Trinity

 

By Michaela Vitagliano

Visiting Student Blogger, Yale University

 

Coming from a high school that was predominantly filled with Irish-Americans, I was not thrown for a loop when I saw Saoirse /Seer-sha/ or Meabhdh /Mayv/ scrawled on name cards at a party function. The two that got me, however, were Colm and Eoin which I mistakenly pronounced as /Kohlm/ and /Ey-oh-in/. Thank goodness I hadn’t come across a Caoimhe that night, for I am sure I would have said something along the lines of /Kow-im-hay/ which is drastically different from the correct /Qwee-va/.

Exploring Dublin: Favorite Walks

By Isabella Gentleman

Visiting Student Blogger, St. Olaf College

As a visiting student at Trinity, it has been important to me to learn as much about the city of Dublin and its people while I’m here, in addition to everything I’m learning at Trinity. Being from America, Dublin’s centuries-old architecture and history is remarkable. Its city centre alone offers an abundance of things to explore – I have never been bored.