6/21/2018 1 Comment cultural observationsThe culture here isn't all that different from American culture, which is probably because of the influence Irish culture has in America. The most prominent aspect of culture is in the music. Even just walking down the street in Galway, we were surrounded by the sounds of an Irish band playing upbeat, fun music. Our group decided to stop for a second and watch them play, along with a sizable crowd. The group had 4 men and 1 girl, who played the fiddle. Instantly, my mind went to the song "Galway Girl" by Ed Sheeran. The lyrics are "she played the fiddle in an Irish band, but she fell in love with an English man." The song fit perfectly, and the music they played filled me with energy and joy.
During our dinner at Bunratty Castle, we were again treated to Irish music and dancing. A guitar, accordion, and fiddle made up the background music for the 4 dancers. Everyone clapping along and cheering on the dancers every time they performed some impossibly fast dance move made for a very lively and exciting environment. All Irish music I have heard gives you the same effect of excitement. The dancing was also incredible to watch. Some of the steps the dancers did were so fast that if you blinked, you'd miss it. It was a style of dance that I was not used to watching, but it was so much fun because the dancers looked like they were having fun. The entertainment at Bunratty made for a very fun night. Finally, last night we got to watch the last half-hour of Muireann's music practice. The group had harps, accordions, banjos, flutes, fiddles, and other instruments that I couldn't even recognize. The songs they played were so lively and engaging the whole time, and I really enjoyed listening. Her music is a huge time commitment, but you can see that it has payed off. Other than music and dance, the importance of sport here is easily visible. On Sunday, we went to the Clare v.s. Limerick hurling match. Clare and Limerick are two counties that have a huge rivalry, so the turnout for the game was huge. It was really hard to get tickets, but so so much fun in the end. Since Ennis is in Co. Clare, Annette bought me a Clare jersey to wear to the match. Everyone around us was shouting and singing songs while waving their blue and yellow flags. The entire town was buzzing with excitement leading up to the match and I heard "are you going to the match" about 50 times. The Clare team won in the end, after a very exciting game. It was so much fun and a great way to experience a sport that is very important here. I am really enjoying the culture here, along with everything else. This trip has been amazing so far, and I'm excited to see what comes next!
1 Comment
Suzie baerst
6/21/2018 06:49:35 pm
Your English teacher would be proud! Your blog makes me feel like dancing. Only thing I could add would be that your grandparents are wonderful people. Can’t wait to meet Aisling.
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