Today was the first day of class for students in Study Abroad Ireland 2011. My class, The Irish Storytelling Tradition, is the first one of the day at 8:30 a.m. All 23 of my students were in their seats, enthusiastic and ready to go right on time. Fully present in every sense of the word. Their first exercise was to be paired off so that they could interview and then introduce each other. The questions included name and any nicknames, major, why they came on SAI and why they took my class, whether they have Irish ancestry, and finally, any interesting happenings so far. That took a good hour and many of them had stories to share - another very good sign on the first day of class. We heard about clandestine field romping, terrible bus drivers, tragically weak grocery bags, strange behavior in pubs, the remarkable capacity of the Irish to recognize Americans even before they open their mouths, and much more.
Then we spent another 45 minutes on Learn an Irish Story Fast, which gave everyone the opportunity to learn and tell their first story. After a very quick break, I had about 40 minutes to give an overview of their syllabus and their first set of assignments. It went by in a flash, and if past experience can be trusted, we will probably say the same thing about the whole month-long session!
Clockwise from the left in the top photo are Fidencio, Jesse, Alison, Lucia, Melinda, and Lizzy
Clockwise from the left in the second photo are Kayla, Kalyn, Christine, Ashley, Andrea, Faye, Sarah, and Laura
Left to right in the third photo are Bryan, Angela, Michelle, Shelli, Tammy, Melissa, Nicole, and Kim
