Tuesday, May 22
by Gabe Early, senior tenor
We left from Chester, England this morning and set out for
the coast. The drive was quiet
because it was quite early, but I stayed up because I wanted to see the sights.
As we approached the shore, I saw giant wind turbines in the distance. It
wasn’t until we got a lot closer that I realized they were actually out in the
ocean. Eventually we arrived at
the port in Holyhead, Wales. We
were quite early for the ferry so we waited aboard the ship for around forty
minutes. Even in the port, I still
didn’t grasp how big the ocean was though.
It wasn’t until we left Holyhead and were out of view of
Wales that I understood how vast water could truly be. In one of our songs, the
poet talks about a wanderlust that he shares with his people that calls him to
travel across the sea for a chance at a better life. I can’t imagine what sort of thoughts have to run through
your mind before you would leave your homeland and set out to sea in a
direction with no visible destination on the horizon. To think that Peder Nerland came to the
U.S.A from Norway is almost unbelievable now, having made only a short trip
over the Irish Sea.
Once we landed in Dublin, we loaded up the new coaches and
set out for our hotel. Dublin is
an interesting city. It is much
more urban than any place we stayed so far. Another surprising difference is
the large number of palm trees around the city. By first impression, Dublin was not what I expected. We left
our hotel for Trinity College this afternoon and were quite excited to see the
Book of Kells (the ancient Irish counterpart to the St. John’s Bible which we
saw in Minnesota) and the historic Long Room Library. We concluded the day with a wonderful
concert in the Trinity College chapel with the Goethe Institute choir. The audience was very warm and welcoming
and also quite excited to hear us. I’m not sure if there’s a difference between Irish smiles and
Welsh, English, or American ones, but I found myself grinning back at the
audience a lot more than ever tonight.
Following the concert we walked over to a pub with the choir
from the Goethe Institute and shared stores and favorite songs. My wife and I were lucky enough to meet
a couple that really wanted to see us try Guinness for the first time. We both did our best to finish the pints,
but we eventually called in some friends for help.
Overall, my first impression of Ireland has been surprising.
I didn’t really know what to
expect from the audiences in our Irish debut, but their exceptionally warm
welcome and excitement took me by
surprise. I wasn’t expecting to
draw the attention of the whole campus as we waited outside in our tuxedos for
a over an hour before the concert, and I definitely wasn’t expecting to see so
many palm trees! I’m excited to
see what else is in store for us in this wonderful city and this fantastic
nation!
Here are two links to MORE photos from Monday AND the photos from Tuesday, May 22nd:
1 comment:
So about the palm trees of Dublin. Did you first notice them before or after the failed Guinness experiment?
Your loving father
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