Here is an excerpt from my travel journal, written when I was 14 years old, and in Ireland with my whole family. The O’Malley kids ranged from 14 to 4 years old, and, in retrospect, it was quite an amazing feat for my parents to do what they did, pull us all out of school, and take us all over there. I kept a meticulous journal of my time there (what a shock), and unfortunately, since I was 14 years old, my focus wasn’t really on … you know … Irish history, or meeting Irish family members, or anything … really.<\/p>\n
I was focused on other things. <\/p>\n
This series of entries was actually almost too embarrassing for me to post. You’ll see why immediately, but it just gets worse as it goes on.<\/p>\n
These are some of the fashions here: tight jeans and black and gold leather pumps, grey pinstriped blazers, tube tops, jackets that go below the hips, mini-skirts (black velvet), dotted white tights, red velvet crushed boots, Adidas sneakers, tight-tight-tight spray-painted-on jeans are EVERYWHERE. No one has baggies. [Ed: I am assuming that I am talking about baggie jeans here, which were all the rage in the States at this time. Thank God that trend passed.<\/i>] They also love bobby socks here, especially with mini skirts. No one has top siders or loafers. [That whole preppy thing was OUT OF CONTROL at my school. I never got into it, so I am sure the lack of top siders on the Emerald Isle was quite a relief.<\/i>] The girls wear maroon, silver, yellow leather pumps. They seem to be very influenced by the English [Ed: Uhm… what, Sheila? You’re 13. What are you talking about??<\/i>]. All that punk stuff started in England, and it seems to be very big here too. [Oh please, shut up.<\/i>] Tight jeans are the<\/u> thing to wear here. White sneakers (yippee) are also popular. Minidresses too, like I’ve seen in Seventeen<\/i>. All the girls wear kilts, bobby socks, and black leather Mary Janes shined like a mirror.<\/p>\nACHILL ISLAND, IRELAND<\/h3>\n
The towns over here are not towns. Just villages on hills, with like one store and a butcher. The people seem really nice, though. Two boys on bikes literally led us to our B&B. This B&B is called Connaught House. CONNAUGHT, MUNSTER, LEINSTER, ULSTER, MEATH.<\/p>\n
My room has a wonderful view of fields, little houses, and then the ocean. There are lots of peat bogs here, and we might be able to cut some peat!!!!!!! [Wow. You’re a geek.<\/i>] Soon we’re going downtown to look around. But I don’t feel like it because I am SO COLD!!!!! IT’S FREEZING!!!!!<\/big><\/p>\n
Later:<\/p>\n
The walk was ok. It certainly warmed me up. We saw a field of sheep and the babies were the cutest things I have ever seen. All white, with black heads. Siobhan “baaahed” at them all. [Siobhan was 4. The image of her, in Ireland, is a favorite family memory.<\/i>]<\/p>\n
We might go to church tonight but I don’t want to because everyone here dresses up SO much for church and all I have is this plaid skirt that looks like it comes from the 50s. And all the girls wear Mary Janes and I only have my saddle shoes. [Saddle shoes? What are you, Lucy Van Pelt?<\/i>]<\/p>\n
I wonder how Mere and Betsy and Beth and Kate are. OH I MISS THEM SO MUCH!!!!!<\/big><\/p>\n
Just thinking about living on this island makes me sick. No t.v., one school, not knowing about fashions. [Oh my God, that is so embarrassing. NOT KNOWING ABOUT FASHIONS? This from a girl wearing SADDLE SHOES??? I am so sorry, lovely people of Achill Island, for my judgment.<\/i>] All they have here is Irish knit sweaters and skirts. I mean, clothes aren’t everything but I want to know something<\/u> about what is in and what isn’t. [Okay, this is getting even more embarrassing. This is awful.<\/i>]<\/p>\n
Our house has the most WONDERFUL living room [I sound schizophrenic. Achill Island BAD, oh wait a minute Achill Island GOOD<\/i>] with a fire, the softest<\/u> fur rug in front of it and a HUGE tv. [Hm. I seem to recall you mentioning in the paragraph above this one that the people on the island didn’t HAVE tv. Hmmm.<\/i>] We watched “David Copperfield” all afternoon, and now we are going for a drive up a mountain. This is a very mountainous island.<\/p>\n
The old couple who own the B&B are so<\/u> nice. The old man is so funny, so nice. He said to my father that he looked like Kojak from behind. He has been to America and he said that the sand in Florida was so hot that you could “fry a rasher on it”. He also asked us if Rhode Island was very close to Houston<\/u>!!<\/p>\n
[For some reason, the first line of this next entry made me laugh OUT LOUD when I was reading it this morning.<\/i>]<\/p>\nACHILL ISLAND, THURSDAY<\/h3>\n
Last night we watched “Father Damien – the Leper Priest” on TV with Ken Howard. He is SO good. I had already seen the movie before though. [That’s the kicker. I had seen FATHER DAMIEN – the LEPER PRIEST<\/b> twice???<\/i>]<\/p>\n
Today we are going to visit a man’s peat bog, and then we are going to look up some old crosses, etc.<\/p>\n
I washed my hair this morning, and washed my face, and rubbed in face cream and put on mascara. [Extremely important to list my morning skin ritual, apparently<\/i>.]<\/p>\n
I am getting really sick of the same old breakfast every day. But Dad says that there is this coffee shop in Dublin called Bewley’s or something where they sell delicious donuts and jelly pastries, etc. [Sniff, sniff. Bewley’s … one of my favorite pitstops … now no more …<\/i>] My mouth is watering already!<\/p>\n
Tomorrow we’re going to church.<\/p>\n
I should have brought my curling iron.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Here is an excerpt from my travel journal, written when I was 14 years old, and in Ireland with my whole family. The O’Malley kids ranged from 14 to 4 years old, and, in retrospect, it was quite an amazing … Continue reading