Hi there! My name is Annie McLaverty and I am from Missoula and study elementary education at UM. I studied abroad in Cork, Ireland for spring semester of my sophomore year. I took a variety of classes as this was my chance to expand my horizons and knowledge. Those classes included topics such as the Great Famine, Modern Ireland, Women in European history after 1800, Pedagogical foundations, and Irish Folklore. I would have to say the most interesting class was folklore as I learned many stories in which the Irish use to believe and how silly they seem now. One of these stories said if no one said "God bless you" after you sneezed three times, then the fairies would come and bring you into their world. The class that related back to my GLI theme of culture and politics was the Great Famine. This time period in Ireland showed a rise of community, media, and different economic classes succeeding or being targeted. When mentioning media the biggest source was newspapers. Hundreds and thousands of newspaper companies rose in the height of the famine, but the problem was the poor were the subjects but could not read or afford these papers.
From my time in Cork, I learned about myself as well as a new culture. I have never been more independent in my life than these five months abroad. Managing my way around an airport alone was the scariest, but other experiences were having my parents nowhere in sight, knowing nothing or no one around, overcoming a little language barrier, walking as my main form of transportation, managing money as there was no income coming back in, and managing fun and schoolwork. Going to college in my hometown meant that I never left, but this was my time away from home, family, and friends. It was a whole new world for me. Thankfully, the Irish speak English as their primary, but their accent makes it feel like a whole new language. West Cork, where I was, has the thickest accent of all of Ireland and I can attest to that. Instead of "three" they say "tree". Hearing my professors speak at a fast pace was hard the first couple weeks as I truly scraped by with context clues. Along with growing my sense of independence this experience also grew my leadership skills. Having to navigate through many unfamiliar places I took a role in directions after the group was getting lost. Instead of being a follower I took out my tools and information to get us home. If I would have kept following the scenario would have been very different. Instead, I used my voice and what I had on hand to lead us back on the path.
Growing up in Montana there is a lack of diversity and rain in comparison to Ireland. I traveled over to Ireland two years previous of my study abroad to visit my brother who was doing the same exact thing. That first time was eye opening as not just Irish people lived in Ireland. I am used to seeing a majority race of white and two minority. That was not the case in Ireland. Different cultures and ethnicities are intertwined into Ireland making it even more unique. This corelates back to my theme of culture and politics. I experienced many different cultures within a city block. On the other side of this theme is politics. I went over at a very peaceful time in Ireland. Northern and main Ireland are not at war, but still see differently. The parties are using words and laws rather than bombs and guns to express their political opinion.
Another note to be made about being outside Montana is how different Ireland's pace of life is. It is okay when they take vacation time or as they say "holiday". It is okay to take a year off when having a baby. It is okay to not rush your day away. It is encouraged you take the day to complete a task to its best potential and then move onto the next. I am used to go go go.
One of the coolest experiences I had while over in Ireland was meeting some of my family on my mom's side. Both sides of my family come from West Cork near the Beara Peninsula, but my mom still has some family living right outside of Cork city. This would be my fourth cousin, but we spent a day together at his house with wife and two dogs. I heard stories about my grandpa, the history of how my family ended up in Butte, MT and stories about them living in Ireland, especially when the country was not in political or cultural unison.
I now have the travel bug and cannot wait for my next adventure.
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