National University of Ireland--Maynooth

We spent the weekend at the National University of Ireland--Maynooth. The photos here are the section of the campus that is part of the seminary. The newer part of the campus is located a short walk away and isn't quite as picturesque. The chapel is St. Patricks and was very ornate. It is set up like the chapel at William and Mary with pews on either side facing each other for the seminarians and priests to do choral presentations and responses back and forth. There are currently about 60 men enrolled in the seminary which is a seven year program. We ate in the cafeteria with them--it was exams weeks on campus so everyone was pretty busy studying and taking exams. We had workshops in Irish, on Irish history and literature, and on Irish mythology. It was quite interesting. We traveled to Rath Chairn, a small community which was settled in 1930 in attempts to keep the Irish language alive. The night we were at their center was a talent show night. We saw some of the competition in which entrants had to do three different talents--several sang, danced, played the pipes or drums, or the guitar. This all transpired in Irish. By the end of the evening we felt woefully inadequate since we couldn't speak Irish and had no talent. We were trying to think if presenting a paper or writing an article would count and thought not! Laura bought a tin pipe at the store to begin practicing. Here is a website with more on the settlement. http://www.rathcairn.com/