Category: International
-
Dispatches From A Campus On Fire
Dispatches from a Campus on Fire Everything is happening and it’s all happening right here, right now. The world is spinning fast and slow. A year and a half ago, my roommate and I pressed our faces into the glass of our windows, watching the largest police force in…
-
Irish Hellos and Irish Goodbyes
In 2023, Trinity College Dublin was ranked the 16th most international university in the world. Moreover, Trinity’s website adds that, as of 2021, there were a total of 116 countries roaming freely around campus. What draws so many people from all over the world to merry little Ireland? This…
-
‘Is fearr Gaeilge bhriste, ná Béarla cliste’. Agree, but can’t repeat.
On a dreadfully sunny day this summer I felt, out of the blue and all at once, the pangs of nostalgia for Ireland. I was at home in Rome, selling Capri postcards to some tourist who likely did not have Italy’s geography very clear. Under the heat of an Italian…
-
(Not) Born in the USA
When meeting people for the first time, especially when away from home, I get the same question again and again: “Where are you from?” It’s a standard question, I know. But, no matter how I answer, the reaction always falls somewhere between surprise, dismay, or even distrust. “You sound like…
-
View from the Capitol
November 6th. At the heart of Washington DC, two wide expanses of grass intersect in the shape of a cross. The White House is at one end, Capitol Hill at another. In the middle is the city’s most iconic landmark, a towering obelisk that dominates the skyline. This is where…
-
Bags for Life
When flying with Ryanair, the maximum weight for a checked bag is 20 kilograms. When I move back to Dublin from Rome at the end of every summer, I usually travel with one 10kg and two 20kg suitcases. Among the thick jumpers to fend off the implacable Irish weather and…
-
The Things We Carry
“You could host a flea market in here,” harks my flatmate, hovering in the door frame of my Dublin bedroom. She is right – my walls are hodge-podged with postcard prints and musical memorabilia; my shelves are lined with living and dormant cameras; my windowsills house feral plants and toy…
-
Let it Happen
‘Let it Happen’ is a song by Tame Impala that you probably only like when you’re drunk. It must have been sung by a man who made a Faustian deal with the devil – or possibly some Hungarian club promoters – because it played at least four times in any…
-
Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay
The stereotypical Dual BA student is a creature known to dwell in the Arts Bloc, the GMB and Kavanagh Court. It comes with an international background and entitlement swathed within generic niceties. If you give an American Dual BA student a Guinness, it will attempt an Irish accent and…
-
Friendship in Flight
Published in 2007 and translated to English in 2017 by Jennifer Croft, Olga Tokarczuk’s words in Flights have so far stood the test of time. Fusing science, religion, geography, morality and seemingly every other study of man, Tokarczuk opens herself to the curious reader. Centred on human experience and interconnectedness,…