In April and May of 2004, I traveled to the small Irish parish of Gleann Cholm Cille in County Donegal with 22 of my students from the Evergreen State College. The students had just completed an intensive six month period of preparatory study in Irish history, music, theater, film, politics, spirituality, language, literature, and poetry with myself, Patrick Hill, and Doranne Crable. We spent five weeks primarily in Donegal, with short visits to Connemara, Clare, and Derry. As their profcessor, my goal for these students was for them to learn about Ireland, Irish culture, and Irish people by combining the theory they had learned in the United States with the practice of doing: taking classes in language, music, art, natural history, economic development, poetry, dance, and other topics. We lived in a beautiful valley that opened out onto the winds and waves of the Atlantic ocean; our cottages and dorm and classes echoed with the sounds of hundreds of sheep and their newborn lambs. We worked closely with local teachers, and built lasting friendships that transcended the boundaries of classroom and pub. We were humbled by the rich diversity of regional accents in the Irish language, and did our best to carry the language forward in a time of extraordinarily rapid change. The Donegal Gazettes, to the left, are my best effort to capture some aspects of my experience at a particular place and time. My students have their own thoughts about the relative successes and/or failures of the visit! If you stumbled upon this page, be sure to check out the main website for the Irish program at Evergreen.