Irish culture has always interested me, watching the St. Patrick’s Day celebrations and how proud are the Irish. Irish musicians are my favorite because in my opinion they’re the best like such as U2. Also one of the things that of course once I finish my stay in the country would be to know the local language, it’s a language in which I would like to know at least same basic words, as it is very beautiful.
The trip from Italy to Ireland was scary to me at the beginning because of how I would go from Dublin to Drumshanbo. In the airport, to pass the security check was really funny because the officer saw something suspicious in my briefcase and asked me to open it. Once the briefcase was opened he realized that I had a box of baking soda! This is something I use for my personal hygiene.
While waiting for the bus, I talked with a man from India who explained Irish culture and its idioms. Once I stopped at the bus stop in Carrick-on-Shannon, Mariangela wrote to me that she would arrive in a few minutes and not move from there. Then I saw a public toilet near to the bus stop and I didn’t see the time to run there! The team picked me up and left me at home; presenting to me all the team, introducing themselves and obviously asked me a lot of questions. It was funny because the first thing they said was you’re gonna live in the party house and I said it like a kind of fraternity and everybody started laughing. Arriving at the party house, Alessandro introduced me to the house. He gave me the instructions and the daily chores to do, but not before offering me a delicious pasta with ‘pomodoro’ with spices that he had just cooked. After dinner I had a warm chamomile tea and went to sleep after midnight after a long chilling together.
The next day it was Saturday and I took a walk with the other volunteers around Drumshanbo and Nacho told me about the vegetation and the rivers and why these kinds of plants and species of animals. He surprised me with his knowledge. After, the volunteers invited me to Monica’s Bar where I tried the real and delicious Guinness and played pool with my future colleagues. And the most impressive thing was meeting a guy in the local italian pizza who’s an Italian living in the town of Drumshanbo.
I grew up in Mexico, have lived for many years in Italy, and I see the differences in people and communities in every country. I look forward to spending some time in Ireland, learning about its people and culture and of course, also learning about sustainability and how we can improve life for local communities.