In this final essay, your job is to combine the theory of Irish Studies with the lived practice of it during your time in Ireland. You will be exploring all of the following subjects: language, history, bodhrán, politics, spirituality, weaving, knitting, drawing, herbology, poetry, singing, dancing, food, social life, literature, family stuff, archaeology, Irish Studies, and more.
First, explore this selection of introductory paragraphs from previous students:
The essay should comprise a series of about ten sections of two or three pages each. Each section should include the following, in the following order:
- a photograph of a place/thing/person or experience in Ireland
- optional: use an Irish proverb as a caption or a section or phrase from a poem to start each section
- a full paragraph — not just a caption — describing the photo or what is taking place as part of the photo (who is there? what is happening? where exactly was it taken?)
- several more paragraphs linking the physical practice of being in Ireland (whatever is represented by the photograph) with the theory of the subject as you learned about it in the program at home, whether by hearing a lecture, reading about it, seeing it in a film, or understanding it through a song, poem, or play
- add a conclusion that sums up the photo, experience, and especially what you know now that you didn’t know before
One of your sections should be about an experience you had outside the class activities in either Gleann or Derry. Here are some examples that you might experience:
- visiting the sacred fire of Brigid at the abbey in Kildare
- going to a Polish pub in Dublin
- seeing Newgrange, north of Dublin
- exploring the monastery at Clonmacnoise, near Galway
- encountering anti-Irish sentiment in London
- spending a week working on an organic farm in Kerry
- watching alllll the Irish-American tourists on “heritage tours”
- your visit to the Famine memorial on the Liffey River
- experiencing class distinctions in Ireland
- learning a skill, one on one, with an Irish person
- being an ethnomusicologist at the Cobblestone Pub in Dublin
- revisiting the Easter Rebellion at Kilmainham Gaol
Once you have written up your sections, check them over to make sure they reflect what you want them to. Be sure that every sentence is complete. Learn how to effectively insert photographs into a Word document. Polish your writing. Do not turn in a first draft! Turn in a final draft; make it your very best work and a fitting end to a full year.