In Irish, cead mile failte means, literally, one hundred thousand blessings. It's a common way to say hello or welcome. Oh, and it's pronounced like this: SEED MEAL FAIL-chuh.
As some of you know, I lived in Galway, Ireland for my junior year of college. I took a leave of absence from my college and attended University College Galway (now known as the National University of Ireland) as a visiting student. I booked my own plane ticket; registered for my own classes, and found my own place to live. For the year, I shared a flat with two Irish women and another visiting student from Spain. Good stuff.
 |
| The main quad at NUI Galway. To be fair, most of my classes were in a more modern building across campus. However, the student bar was located in this building. That's right. The student bar in the quad built in the 13th century. Awesome. |
While there, I fell in love with my heritage and the Irish country and people. I took about half a semester of Gaelic (I can still count to ten in Irish) and traveled as much as possible, while taking the full Irish course load of ten classes per semester. Yes, you read that right. There was no slacking off on my part! (Once an overachiever...)
 |
| Downtown Galway. Image credit |
I am tremendously proud of my Irish heritage. I look forward to teaching Jack to be proud of it, as well. One of the joys of parenthood comes in the non-stop realizations of things you get to teach these awesome little people. For me, today's epiphany is heritage. And that rocks.
Top of the morning to ya,
Heather
Posts
Yet another thing we have in common! I've got Quinlans and Kellys in my family. My hubby's parents are from Ireland and still have the accent, and he has extended family over there. My has Skyped with his Irish cousins! :)
ReplyDelete