Denis Bergin greeting CofC students

After eight days on the west coast of Ireland, CofC study abroad students wearily returned to Dublin today.  Along the way, we rested for tea at Ballyshane Cottage, Shannon Harbour, in County Offaly.  The house is three hundred years old, and Carol and Denis Bergin, great friends of Irish and Irish American Studies, restored it to its current beautiful condition.  The property backs on the Grand Canal, and Denis assures us you could “walk to Dublin” from his yard.  The tea revived us, as did the homemade scones and kiwi cupcakes baked by neighbor children, Amy and Hazel.  We have been here for fifteen days now, and the highlight of my trip was talking with Hazel, the younger of the two girls.  She gave me a lesson in how to handle a hurley and took the students on a tour of their farm.  Cows and donkeys.  Amy and Hazel.  Carol and Denis.  Thank you for the hospitality.  Your kindness was like buttered scones and jam, and we picked each crumb off our saucers to waste none of them.  The visit came at a perfect time, and I only wish we were spending three days in the midlands.  (We finally saw a bog shortly after leaving Ballyshane–another marvelous sight for naive Americans.)

Ballyshane Cottage

Hazel teaching Joe the magic of the hurley