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How I fell deeply in love with Ireland despite no Irish roots

How a Hollywood movie captivated me and made Ireland my special place

LAURA BRYN SISSON,

IrishCentral Intern

Published Tuesday, July 3, 2012, 7:21 AM

Updated Wednesday, July 4, 2012, 1:52 PM

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Laura Bryn taking in the beauty of Yeats county, Sligo

Photo by Grace Afsari-Mamagani

Of the places I visited, the Aran Islands provoked the strongest sense of an identifiable ‘Irishness.’ On Inis Mór, I remember approaching a group of middle-aged men to ask for directions; they had been chatting in Irish outside a whitewashed house, leaning on the rough stone fence. They looked at each other, I presumed thinking something like, “Which of us must go speak English to that American tourist?” By some unspoken consensus they seemed to designate one representative to talk to me, while the rest continued their conversation in Irish.

But of course, the Aran Islands are a tourist destination, and in many features an exception rather than the rule. The Aran Islands were the Ireland I envisioned growing up, stone walls and grass and thatched roofs and sea, not the current Ireland in its entirety.

Ireland is a modern nation; Dublin was the first city in which I ever lived. The students I met at Trinity were both intensely connected to their heritage - in their free time actively promoting the Irish language and its use among their generation - and cosmopolitan. I think it’s this productive tension between old and new, between uniquely Irish culture and world culture, that makes Ireland great.

I don’t claim to be an expert in what it means to be Irish; I just want to absorb as much as I can. Returning isn’t even a question. If I get the chance to live and work in Ireland in the future, I’ll take it. For now, I like knowing what “craic” means, and how to use the word “grand” correctly. I love working in a New York City office where my American accent is in the minority. I love having an opinion about Bulmers (approval) and I love being able to recommend places to go in Dublin.

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Seanmor | Jul 19, 2012, 01:15 PM EDT

dibble: I too learned in primary school the Irish state's officiam language, which was highly recommended and strongly encouraged by the teachers, but never "forced down our throats". For a few years in the 80s I attended a mass in Irish said at a guest house in the Catskills during out summer outings. But the Bishop of Albany soon prohibited this Irish language mass. Then on Good Friday a few years ago, I attended services in my wife's Methodist church, where the minister invited anyone who spoke another language to use it saying The Lord's Prayer. From the back of the church my version was as follows: "Ár nAthair atá ar neamg, go naomhfar d'ainm...". At the end of the service the minister approached me and said: "Seán, I could hear your prayer very clearly up at the altar". As a London-born U.S. citizen, my only regrets about the Irish language is that I know so little of it. An Ghaeilge abú.

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jacersagain | Jul 06, 2012, 07:32 PM EDT

I enjoyed reading this article and the nice things it says. Laura doesn’t mention that Ireland is changing, and changing rapidly, probably because she has little to compare it against the older romanticised image of Ireland. She doesn’t mention, for example, that Ireland’s greenery comes from all the rain we get. Anyone will tell you how green Ireland is these days from the pouring rain we’ve been having these past few weeks. In fact I think all this rain is a portent of the growing “Islamic-isation” of Ireland. Our Irish weather is now said to be partly Sunni, mostly Shi’ite.

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jacersagain | Jul 06, 2012, 07:30 PM EDT

Well, I did enjoy this article and the nice things it says. Laura doesn’t mention that Ireland is changing, and changing rapidly. She doesn’t mention, for example, that Ireland’s greenery comes from all the rain we get. Anyone will tell you how green Ireland is these days from all the pouring rain we’ve been having these past few weeks. In fact I think all this rain is a portent of the growing “Islamicisation” of Ireland. Our Irish weather is now said to be partly Sunni, mostly Shi’ite.

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ciaradexy | Jul 05, 2012, 11:41 AM EDT

George, youre correct, There hasnt been physical punishment in Irish schools for years but the people in their 20s to their 40s that you speak of, have parents who had the language beaten into them in school and so have a negative attitude towards the language due to this. Anyone I know who likes the language either went to the gaeltacht or had a parent who spoke the language. You made an error in another part of your post. Youre from Georgia so when you were here, you WERE a tourist.

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Murph46 | Jul 04, 2012, 10:49 PM EDT

Laura,no surprise here-even though I'm predjudiced!

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chicksooze | Jul 04, 2012, 02:27 PM EDT

Hmmm strange that, the Irish language is widely spoken in parts of Ireland, and that includes teens and 20 somethings, so obviously the Irish language is loved, and still being practiced widely by the young.

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WoundedKnee | Jul 04, 2012, 02:15 PM EDT

dibble articulates a commonly held opinion in Ireland. Many Irish people hate the Irish language. The Oirish Tourist Board etc won't tell you that. in fact the Irish themselves won't usually say it to a foreigner, I don't know how many times Irish people have tried to convince me that they all love Irish. It's called kissing up to the tourists, even tho I wasn't a tourist. You have to live there for a while to see the extent to which some Irish people (maybe one in four?) hate the Irish language. Dibble sounds like s/he is well into middle age, 50 plus at least, as there has been no physical punishment in Irish schools since the 1970s. But what s/he calls "brutal teachers" can't be the reason people in their 20s 30s and 40s hate the language.

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chicksooze | Jul 04, 2012, 01:26 PM EDT

Lovely article Laura. Please ignore all the debbie downers and angry fools on here.

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dibble2008 | Jul 04, 2012, 09:58 AM EDT

Well I had the Irish language shoved dwon our throats by merciless brutal teachers who have destroyed any interest in any Irish language. I am born and reared Irish and I believe it should be optional in school or abolish it altogether. The below comment quoting Pearse is outdated and not relevant to the modern world. At least if I had learned German French or Italian instead of irish i could use it to get a decent job abroad rather than suffer through a miserable depression of austerity in Ireland.

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IrelandNorth | Jul 04, 2012, 05:58 AM EDT

"Tír gán teánga is tír gán ánam!" (Phon/pron Tear gone changa iss tear gone onem!) A land without a language is a land without a soul. - Comdt. P. H. Pearse, BA BL. Irish Patriot. Important to appreciate distinction between nation and state, often incorrectly used interchangeably, not least by historically illiterate Irish baby boomers courtesy of revisionist education and partitionist Irish press/media. Some posters consider delusional that which doesn't accord with their own heliocentric paradigm. Others betray a disturbing Celtic/Gaelic Ayrianism whilst pretentiously professing trendy multiculturalism. We may need St Patrick back to exorcise the reptiles of begruggery on this site and the island as a whole. Good article Laura - maith thú (good on ya!)

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italiangirl | Jul 03, 2012, 11:42 PM EDT

I have been fortunate to visit Ireland two times in my life. In those two times I didn't want to come back to the US. The Irish and their country are very beautiful. In my opinion, Ireland is one of the most "beautiful" countries in the world.

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Seanmor | Jul 03, 2012, 07:53 PM EDT

Laura mentions the Free State in her last paragraph and that apparently is the part of Ireland with which she identifies. By describes herself as "Mayflower-old American", she probably means that her ancestors were pilgrims. That, however, doesn't make her truly "old American" because the Native Americans inhabited this continent for ten thousand years before the pilgrims reached these shores. In at least some ways, Laura apparently 'fits in' better in Ireland than do I who was raised there (but my nationality was never restricted to the Free State). My wife, a New England Methodist, usually feels mujch more at home in Ireland, North and South, that do I, even though he Anglo-Saxon ancestors reached the New World a few decades after the Mayflower arrived. Now she is a DAR member, as were both her grandmthers - agus tá cúpla focal Gaeilge aici.

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antoman | Jul 03, 2012, 06:45 PM EDT

We'll have to stand along the coast lads with long sticks and push them back into the water. Tis a small island we have like.

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kateinkk | Jul 03, 2012, 06:22 PM EDT

Read Twenty Years a Growing by Maurice O'Sullivan and To School Through the Fields by Alice Taylor, you'll get the feel you're looking for I think! I moved to Kilkenny 30 years ago from Ohio, and settled here. No Irish connection either, just loved it, and still do.

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borefield | Jul 03, 2012, 04:02 PM EDT

A very heartwarming story. Nice change from the usual negative news articles on IC. Ireland would be lucky to have you there. Sounds like you have a lot to offer. Good luck.

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