I’ve been very fortunate to have several family visitors while here in Ireland! First to come were my Uncle Tom and Aunt Carroll. I met them up in Dublin and spent some time exploring the city with them along with my cousin who attends medical school at University College Dublin. I loved getting the chance to see St. Stephen’s Green and Trinity College! It was very nice to see faces from home just a few weeks after settling into Galway. My dad’s twin brother was my next visitor, and I got to explore the town of Cong with him. I’ve never seen the movie “The Quiet Man,” but I guess I’ll have to watch it now that I’ve been to the town where it was filmed!
My parents came over to visit in late October. After an away game in Carlow, I was able to stay in a hotel on the grounds of Kilkea Castle with them. It was truly a once in a lifetime experience! While we were in Carlow, we visited the cemetery where some of my distant relatives were buried and then attempted to find the old “Morrissey” house. We drove past two girls on the street, and my dad rolled down the window to ask if they knew of the Morrisseys. The girls told us that they knew exactly where the old house was and that they were related to us! In true friendly Irish fashion, we were invited into their house to sit down for a bit and talk about our familial connections. They even pulled out some old pictures of the Irish Morrisseys that we have copies of back home in Chicago. We learned that the Morrissey brothers loved hurling and that some of them were very good at it too! It was one of the craziest days of my life. We are definitely looking forward to staying in touch with them. In addition to the Carlow trip, we also visited Kylemore Abbey and Ashford Castle—2 beautiful landmarks in the west of Ireland. My parents had a great trip, and I was very happy to show them my new life here!
