Ireland
Shakespeare famously asked (through the conduit of his character Juliet), "What's in a name? That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet" (www.bartleby.com). At no time is this question more appropriately asked than when dealing with the issue of the Republic of Ireland, a nation that governs five-sixths of its own land but whose northernmost reaches are under the administrative auspices of England. So: The Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Éire in the Irish language-all of these place-names refer to an island nation west of England in the cold waters of the North Atlantic. So to answer Willy's question: A name carries with it a lot of baggage, a ton of history, and innumerable stories. But at the end of the day, whatever you choose to call it, Ireland is a singularly complex and beautiful place.
Few countries have exerted the pull on outsiders that Ireland has. From its famously lush and green landscapes to its history as the birthplace of so much of the great literature of the past 500 years, Ireland remains, to this day, one of the most fascinating and alluring travel and study-abroad destinations in the world.
Its history goes back thousands of years, though the development of Ireland as we know it today is considerably more recent. "Ireland was mostly ice-covered and joined by land to Britain and Europe during the last ice age. It has been inhabited for about 9,000 years…History maintains that in AD 432, St. Patrick arrived on the island and, in the years that followed, worked to convert the Irish to Christianity. The druid tradition collapsed in the face of the spread of the new faith. Irish Christian scholars excelled in the study of Latin learning and Christian theology in the monasteries that flourished, preserving Latin learning during the Early Middle Ages. The arts of manuscript illumination, metalworking, and sculpture flourished and produced such treasures as the Book of Kells, ornate jewellery, and the many carved stone crosses that dot the island. This era was interrupted in the 9th century by 200 years of intermittent warfare with waves of Viking raiders who plundered monasteries and towns. Eventually they settled in Ireland and established many towns, including the modern day cities of Dublin, Cork, Limerick, and Waterford" (www.en.wikipedia.org).
It is, however, in the last 200 years that Ireland has made what are arguably its greatest contributions to world culture, especially in the realm of literature. "Ireland has produced four winners of the Nobel Prize for Literature: George Bernard Shaw, William Butler Yeats, Samuel Beckett, and Seamus Heaney. Although not a Nobel Prize winner, James Joyce is widely considered one of the most significant writers of the 20th century. His 1922 novel Ulysses is sometimes cited as the greatest English-language novel of the 20th century, and his life is celebrated annually on June 16th in Dublin as the Bloomsday celebrations," so named because of the peregrinations of Joyce's protagonist, Leopold Bloom, that constitute the main action of the novel (www.en.wikipedia.org).
Students from all over the world are drawn to Ireland when it comes time to make their decision about where to attend college or university. It has one of the richest academic traditions in the western world, and students who choose to attend college there will certainly reap the benefits of it. From the National University of Ireland to Trinity College, the range and variety of educational endeavors in which students can engage is nothing short of staggering. And because Ireland is so appealing to so many students from around the world, attending school there will involve exposure not only to Irish culture, but to those of other nations, as well. So whatever you wish to study, in whatever professional direction you would eventually like to go, attending college in Ireland is sure to help you make great strides along the path to academic and professional success.
