Northeastern University students, including English majors Lexi Bond, Olivia Gibson, and Denise Bates, were interviewed by IrishCentral.com after a visit to Ring Gaeltacht. Their stay was part of the summer Dialogue of Civilizations program, “Irish Literature, Film, and Society,” led by Professor Patrick Mullen of Northeastern University and Professor Joe Nugent of Boston College.
“Universities have been coming to Ireland for quite a number of years and they would have been linked in with Connemara and Donegal and other places but I think what we’ve done this week is to show what we have to offer here in An Rinn and in Waterford in general.” Looking about him for a moment, he sees fishermen are preparing their trawlers to head out to sea. It’s hard not to be moved by the charm and loveliness of the place.
Head of literature at Boston College Prof Joe Nugent, the group’s instructor along with Prof Patrick Mullen, of Northeastern, says the students “really came here wanting to know everything they could about Irish culture and history. So it’s a very interactive, energetic, very exciting classroom space to be in. There’s something about summer courses …the intensity of them, the freedom from the typical rules and the requirement to throw oneself headlong into it, means that within the classroom there tends to be really great energy. The students become very deeply engaged straight away.”
Read the full story at IrishCentral.com.
For more information on Dialogue of Civilizations, visit our Global Opportunities page.
