A DIBBLE DABBLES ABROAD

Hey, I'm Ali Dibble. I'm a student, musician, mountain-lover, fuzzy pajama-wearer, and frisbee enthusiast. Right now I'm exploring the world, one trip-hop-step at a time.

[shewhomovesmountains-blog]

Advice to the Future Abroad Student

I thought I’d use my last blog post to talk specifically to those who are considering study abroad. It’s a pretty big thing, and sometimes it seems too difficult to fit in with all the craziness of your schedule at home. I promise you, though, this is the BEST thing I could do for my educational and personal growth and it will be invaluable to yours. Every effort on your part will be worth it. Here is some advice for you future study-abroad-ers:

Plan before you leave. If you are going with a faculty-led or affiliate program, there will often be group excursions. They are definitely worth your time - many of those opportunities I wouldn’t have gotten had I gone on my own - but also know what time is yours and take advantage of the chance to travel and do other things. I wish I would’ve asked for a schedule beforehand because I could’ve made better use of my time and money while I was abroad. I did get to take a weekend trip to Scotland with some friends, and that was one of the best parts of my abroad experience. Travel! Explore! Talk to people!

Scotland being super photogenic. (Two of the) Three Sisters of Glencoe. I LOVED Scotland, and the opportunity to travel there definitely enriched my abroad experience. 

Ask about the workload before you go. I am an English minor, so I chose to take English classes while abroad. However, I had NEVER taken a college-level English class before (being a freshman) so I was completely unprepared for the 4000-level classes. I survived, but I certainly did a lot of stressing! Just know what you’re getting into, and decide beforehand what you can handle.

Ask for help. If you are doing a summer program like I did, it is likely that your classes will be smushed into a couple weeks. It can be very overwhelming at times between trying to stay on top of classes and making the most of your abroad experience. Your professors know this, and will gladly help you! They want you to make the most out of your experience, too. Ask for clarification, for time, for advice, for restaurant recommendations, for anything. Same thing with your program directors. My professors and directors were some of the nicest people I’ve ever met and were always willing to help.

The view from the estate (now nature preserve) of playwright Lady Gregory. She was the patroness of William Butler Yeats for much of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Along with Yeats, she wrote a multitude of plays and poetry that are now part of the Irish theatrical canon. We visited her estate on an excursion with one of my classes.

Keep yourself open to new experiences. If you come into your abroad experience closed off and unwilling to try new things, you won’t get everything out of your time. I know it can be really difficult to force yourself to try things, especially if they are extremely foreign to you. But you will leave your experience feeling so much more fulfilled if you force yourself out of your comfort zone! I am a self-taught guitarist, and one day I went with a friends to see some local music. During a break I started talking to the musicians and they invited me to play with them. I was so scared, but I knew I would hate myself if I didn’t do it! So I played one song, then another, then another. They were so kind and supportive and lovely - they even asked me to come back the next week. That experience alone made my entire study abroad worth it.

Photo credit belongs to Tori Cline. Carroll’s on Dominick Street, Galway.

Keep a journal. I seriously struggle with keeping a journal, but I’m really glad I forced myself to write while abroad. Now have great documentation of my time abroad. Plus, I will have the names of places I liked when I inevitably go back to Ireland. :)

Have an active sympathetic imagination. This is a difficult term to describe, but it’s sort of like experiential identification with another person. It was introduced to me by a friend during a class hike up Croagh (pronounced “crow”) Patrick, a Catholic pilgrimage in western Ireland. The site was once pagan, but Saint Patrick fasted for 40 days on top of the mountain and since then it has been a religious destination for Catholics. The especially devout will climb the mountain barefoot (NOT an easy feat). Although I’m not Catholic, I tried to practice a sympathetic imagination to help me understand the importance of this site to the pilgrims. In doing so, my own experience became more meaningful. A sympathetic imagination isn’t just a tool to understand religious significance - it can be used to understand political, social, and ethical significance at home and abroad. This is probably the most important lesson I learned on study abroad: your world view is dependent on your willingness to understand and appreciate the cultures around you. If you actively attempt to see things with an open mind, you will be less judgmental, more accepting, and more appreciative of the opportunities you have and the people around you.

The view on the way down Croagh Patrick, County Mayo. 

The lens may be water stained, but the color still blows me away. There are so many colors of green I didn’t even know existed before I went to Ireland. Croagh Patrick is the big ol’ mountain shrouded in mist.

[shewhomovesmountains-blog]

Love Letter to Galway

Okay team. I’m currently sitting in the Chicago airport at a burger restaurant, waiting for my flight home. I’ve been up for about for about 19 hours already and I’ve already taken a taxi, a bus, and a plane to get to where I am… so apologies for the stream-of-consciousness journal entry I’m about to write.

Six weeks has flown by. It’s difficult for me to figure out everything that I’m feeling right now, but it’s very bittersweet. I’m excited to go home, but I cried when my bus pulled away from Galway this morning and I cried again when my plane took off. I feel like I left home to go home.

Galway is the sweetest little city I’ve ever been to. I took my classes through the National University of Ireland, and lived in student housing that was a 20 minute walk from the city center. You can walk everywhere in Galway. The most popular streets downtown are pedestrian-only, which makes it a prime spot for shopping, eating, people-watching, and my beloved street musicians. There are performers ranging from acrobats to solo harp players (shoutout to my pseudo-roommate Felicity) to huge, 10-person bands. Music is EVERYWHERE in Galway. Once I accidentally stumbled into an EP launch, and ended up with a CD and a new favorite band. During my last week I even got to play with a group of local musicians. It was amazing.

NUI Galway quad, the center of campus. Unfortunately I didn’t have classes in these buildings, but I got to ogle at it every time I walked by!

Looking up Shop Street, Galway. This is a pedestrian-only street that houses most of the restaurants, pubs, and shops in the city. It is always busy!

The best way I can describe Galway (for those of you familiar with SLC) is if you took Sugarhouse and the Avenues and stuck them in a town by the sea and gave everyone a snazzy accent. Plus you kept the weather at around 65 degrees and perpetually overcast. And you added a pub for every five people. The sky turns red at night. It rains almost every day (THANK GOODNESS FOR RAIN BOOTS), but it never thunders. Just when you forget you’re near the sea, a seagull will fly over and scream or nearly poop on you. There’s this little red house that sits on the bay and it’s my favorite. I think this is part of why I loved Galway so much: it reminded me of home, in a new and exciting way.

This view rocks my world. Galway Bay.

In addition to being a musical hotspot, Galway is also a cultural and artistic mecca. I don’t know how I got this lucky, but I was in Galway during the Galway Film Fleadh (Ireland’s largest film festival, equivalent of Sundance in the States), the Galway Arts Festival (also the largest in Ireland), and Race Week (when thousands of well-dressed Europeans flock to Galway to bet on horse races and party their brains out). There was something going on every single weekend. I got to see films, plays, musical performances, art exhibitions, and women in extravagant hats parade around in platform heels. It was THE time to be in Galway, and I managed to hit the timing jackpot.

The Irish premier of Bobby Sands: 66 Days in Town Hall Theatre, Galway. This was a powerful documentary about the prisoner hunger strikes that occurred in 1981 during the Troubles in Northern Ireland. 

Galway is widely considered to be the youth, art, and music capital of Ireland. In fact, it won the bid to be the European capital of culture in 2020. It is the perfect place for students, musicians, and travelers (so basically my happy place). Originally I was bummed I wasn’t in a well-known city like Dublin, but man oh man I am so grateful I picked Galway.  

Besides the location being so incredible, the people I met here are even more so. Locals are ridiculously friendly and helpful. I was blessed with the best roommates I could hope for. My friends are the sweetest people you’ll ever meet. We come from all over the place, but we are already planning a reunion trip. Thank you Meaghan, Shannon, Taylor, Tori, Elizabeth, and all the other lovely people in our program. I love you all. Thanks to the USAC directors and professors for broadening my world view and teaching me so much about Ireland, traveling, and why you should never walk with your hands in your pockets (fall risk, folks). And thank you Galway for letting me hang out for the last six weeks.

Friends! Wow, I love them.

[shewhomovesmountains-blog]

When abroad... TRAVEL!

One of the more fortunate parts of my study abroad program was the opportunity to travel and explore outside Galway. The program initiated most of these (Dublin, the Cliffs of Moher, the Aran Islands, Connemara, Croagh Patrick), but I also got to do some traveling on my own. So where did I go? The homeland, of course.

Scotland is incredible. It is beautiful and rugged and lovely and cultural and I’m not sure I’ve ever fallen in love with a place more quickly. We spent two days in Edinburgh and one on a bus tour to Loch Ness and the Highlands (I highly recommend this if you want to see the country but don’t have a lot of time! It was relatively cheap too). I coerced my kind and patient friends into making a music video to document our time there, featuring a lot of finger-pointing and the same outfit for 3 days straight. Embarrassing, but hopefully it will give you a glimpse at Scotland’s beauty. Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAg7wlZgyeM

[shewhomovesmountains-blog]

A Line Between Celebration and Commemoration

Four days ago we left Dublin in a big van and drove the scenic route through central Ireland to Galway, stopping at a medieval castle called Bunratty and the magical Cliffs of Moher. It rained most of the day, which actually made the drive more beautiful. The cliffs were practically invisible due to fog but every so often they would peak through... it made the experience way more romantic and so much more IRISH. I felt like I was in a movie. I also saw wild puffins, which are high on the list of cutest things I’ve ever seen.

The spectacular Cliffs of Moher. The vague silhouette on the cliff in the top picture is an old castle tower. Talk about views.

I’ve been trying to write a sort of summary for the time I spent in Dublin, but I’m struggling to pinpoint exactly what I learned. This year is extremely meaningful, as I briefly explained in my last post. With that said, tensions are also very high in Ireland, especially with the recent Brexit referendum. The result is an onslaught of delicate commemoration in which the Easter Rising of 1916 is acknowledged but not celebrated. At least, that’s the goal.

Looking north down O’Connell Street, the location of much of the fighting during the Easter Rising. Many of these buildings sustained major damage during the conflict. 

The Easter Rising was, in effect, a failed revolution. But due to the way it was treated by the English (executing 16 of the leaders for high treason, putting Ireland under martial law for a while), nationalist sentiment skyrocketed and the country launched into a seven-year period of a lot of conflict and violence. By the time 1922 came around, the Irish weren’t even fighting the English, they were fighting each other. To us outsiders, we know this as the Protestant/Catholic divide that splits the Republic of Ireland from Northern Ireland + Britain. At the time, though, it was more political than that. A lot of unionists believed that Ireland belonged under British control, because most of the people in the northern counties of Ireland were originally English. They were sent there to “civilize” the Irish barbarians a century or so earlier. So their English loyalty makes sense.

Collins Barracks and military courtyard. This was a huge center of power for the English during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

But nationalist supporters also had some political bearing. Ireland was subjected to hundreds of years of imperialism and colonialism by the English, and this left a really bad taste in their mouths. The Great Famine of the 1840’s? Yeah, a lot of people blame the British. As half the people in Ireland starved to death or moved away, England was exporting all of Ireland’s crops. It wasn’t that there wasn’t food during the famine, there just wasn’t food for the Irish. Not exactly good parenting by Mother England.

A statue at the Garden of Remembrance, plus my delightful professor Angus. This statue was erected in honor of those who lost their lives in the fight for Irish independence.

There is still a LOT of controversy surrounding the Easter Rising and the wars that followed, because there are still active unionist and nationalist forces in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The domestic terrorism has calmed down in recent years, but I would be lying if I said people aren’t still nervous. With the recent Brexit vote (which is pissing a lot of people off over here), violence isn’t unlikely, especially in Northern Ireland.*

*Note: I will 100% be okay, mom and dad. I just won’t be going to Belfast anytime soon.

ANYWAY. What this all amounts to is a very delicate commemorative effort on the part of the Irish government. To many, the revolution is viewed as essential for the formation of the Irish Republic. To others, it’s a bitter reminder of the lives lost and the conflict that has plagued the country ever since. So the Easter Rising is NOT celebrated, but more acknowledged as a part of Ireland’s history. They’re leaving the judgements up to individuals.

The library at Trinity College. I wish I had a better picture, but my hands were shaking... I definitely got emotional when I walked in this room. It was breathtaking.

My time in Dublin was intense and fast, but I learned a lot. It is a city of travelers (most people who live there are not originally from Dublin) and a city of a lot of history. All the buildings blend together, the street names change four times in ten blocks, and it is always VERY loud. Though I was happy to leave Dublin, I’m very grateful I did the Field Study.

The houses that blend together... before the Easter Rising, these houses were slums. A total of 852 people lived in the 15 houses on this street.

The view from Tara, the longtime seat of Celtic power in Ireland. It is situated in the middle of the most fertile farmland in the country. It has been the site of centuries of power struggles between ancient Irish tribes, Vikings, Christian missionaries led by St. Patrick, and English imperialists. This spot has seen more Irish history than anywhere in Ireland.

Newgrange, a Neolithic burial mound from the earliest agricultural communities in Ireland. The white stone is a result of a controversial restoration process that occurred in the late twenty-first century. Probably not original, and certainly not very attractive. It was designed for sunlight to light the interior of the tomb during the six days surrounding the winter solstice every year.

NEXT TIME - I promise more about Galway, classes, music, instant coffee, and my glorious rain boots. xo

[shewhomovesmountains-blog]

The Difference Between Fear and Gratitude

Hello from Ireland!

I am starting off my abroad journey with a few days in Dublin on an intensive field study about revolutionary Ireland. This year is the centenary commemoration of the Easter Rising, a brief revolution that accelerated the movement for Irish independence from England. It is a time of controversy, as the Easter Rising began the liberation of the Republic of Ireland, but also sparked the religious civil war that plagued the country for decades. My group and I spent the last three days tromping around castles, museums, streets, parks, and churches that played a significant role in the Easter Rising. I had no idea the importance of this year, but man am I glad that I’m here.

In this cemetery, 14 of the 16 leaders of the Easter Rising were buried in a mass grave after their execution by the English. Interestingly, the cemetery is now bordered by Ireland’s highest security prison (hence the watchtower).

Rewinding a little bit to two days ago, when my plane from Chicago landed at 8 am Dublin time (around 2 am Mountain Time). I was sleep deprived, hungry, physically and emotionally exhausted, and riding on some kind of emotional high as I craned to catch a good glimpse of the city on the cab ride to the hotel. I met about 30 other American students who will be taking courses through the same University in Galway. They all seem very nice, but I can’t help being anxious and a little awkward about the socialization process.

Getting weird in the Salt Lake airport pre-departure.

I’ve been planning this trip for months, and finally being here is amazing. I realize, though, that I am definitely guilty of getting bogged down by my fears, especially when traveling. I am generally charismatic and social, but when I get nervous I always go back to the worst-case-scenario part of my mind that creates ridiculous failures and pitfalls that will hurt or embarrass me. I spend so much time worrying about things - packing, socializing, homework - that I begin to dwell only in a place of sadness and stress, and the enjoyment is taken out of my traveling experience.

Instead of stressing about the details, I am trying instead to focus on how lucky I am that I get opportunities like this. I am incredibly grateful for my family, my friends, and my teachers for convincing me that study abroad was a good idea. I am thanking my lucky stars that I made it here in one piece, without falling apart or crying.

This same sense of gratitude is also keeping me engaged and excited about where I am. When I am in an unfamiliar setting, it can be easy to hold myself back. I worry about embarrassing myself in front of other students, coming across as annoying, or seeming too goofy and weird. I am very aware of the image I am creating for myself, so I try to be likable and friendly. I’m pretty sure this is normal, but I realized that I have way more fun when I let myself be me. It is infinitely more fun when you ask questions until your professor politely tells you to stop because we need to move on to the next activity. Even though you’re super jet lagged and kind of cranky, go to a pub and watch the Ireland-Italy soccer game. And scream your head off when Ireland wins. Embarrassing yourself is not the worst thing that could happen.

St. Patrick’s Cathedral, founded in 1191.

I have been given this opportunity to learn and explore a new place, and I am very determined to prevent fear from stopping me. Fear and gratitude come from the same place - your reaction to a new situation - but they come through a very different lens. I’m learning to make mine a positive one.

Looking south down the canal that divides North and South Dublin.

[shewhomovesmountains-blog]

Social Media Submission: A Love Letter to Salt Lake City

But, soft! what light through yonder mountains breaks? It is the east, and the Wasatch is the sun…

I love this place. Salt Lake is a severely under-appreciated city, and only recently has the rest of the world begun to realize what the skiers and the Mormons realized long ago - this place is a gem.

I grew up along Wasatch Range, at the base of Mount Olympus. Every morning I would drag my butt out of bed and watch the ever-photogenic mountains on the way to school, thinking about Zeus and various godly shenanigans.

Mount Olympus, from the hiking trails at the top of Olympus Cove. Autumn in the Wasatch is my favorite.

To a certain extent, I took the beauty of the valley for granted. It took me moving away and moving back to realize that this place is insanely special. I mean, where else can you go skiing under bluebird skies (on some of the world’s best snow), eat your weight in fries at Five Guys, go see a ballet performed by a premier ballet company, bike up a canyon to get breakfast, play ultimate frisbee in the evenings, and top it off with a chocolate-tasting class? All in ONE WEEKEND?

So, for ye residents of the city of salt and elsewhere, here’s a list of my favorites. This city has so much to offer so I’m lending a little local pride and support for some pretty freaking awesome places.

Restaurant: Meditrina. Seriously, this place is like God and Chef Boyardee had a baby in the form of melt-in-your-mouth pork belly and caramelized bananas with Nutella mousse. Like, WOW. Ski Resort: As a local, I’ve skied most of the resorts within an hour of my house. Officially, I’m a Solitude girl. No lift lines, good snow, and Honeycomb Canyon is the stuff of dreams.

The view from the Alta ski resort parking lot on a bluebird day.

Biking trails: I’m a huge fan of the trails up behind the University of Utah, near or off Emigration Canyon. Good trail running too! Perks include a killer view of the whole valley. Music: For a classical scene, the Utah Symphony is incredible. If you’re into smaller bands and venues, go to Kilby Court - they house awesome local and under-appreciated artists. Tickets are cheap, too! Coffee: 3 Cups in Holladay. I’ve actually asked the pastry chef to adopt me. Her name is Amber, and she is a goddess. Her gelato and Meyer Lemon cakes will make you cry.

My lovely sister at 3 Cups. Meal courtesy of Amber, the food wizard.

Perhaps the most wonderful thing about Salt Lake City are the people. You won’t meet kinder, friendlier folk. Honestly. Earlier today a total stranger helped me put my bike chain back into place when it popped off mid-shift.

Part of being in such a beautiful city is people actually stop and pay attention to the pretty little things - and this means smiling at strangers, holding open doors, and appreciating what is around them. They realize how phenomenal this city truly is.

[shewhomovesmountains-blog]

My Introduction to the Tumblrsphere

Hello, Internet. My name is Ali. I figured before I did anything too disruptive to the blogosphere I should introduce myself. Here’s a bit about me:

Things that make me happy: dogs, inky pens, Heloise (my guitar), ultimate frisbee, cinnamon rolls, mountains, kick butt singer-songwriters, and Utah. My home.

Things that make me uncomfortable: the sound that parchment paper makes when you unroll it, ski boots (worth the pain, though), people touching my wrists.

I am studying Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Utah... and soon English Literature in Galway, Ireland. 

So, tumblrweeds and my humble following of fans (thanks mom & dad), this is my electronic journal of my adventures in another part of the world. 

Happy exploring!

Ali