UB Will Offer Summer Study Tour Of Ireland

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The University at Buffalo World Languages Institute (WLI) will sponsor "Ireland Through the Eyes of the Irish," a two-week study tour of Ireland, July 13-28, in which the public is invited to participate.

Mark Ashwill, Ph.D., director of the WLI, said this is the first of several study tours planned for the coming year. The trip will facilitate participation in a Gaelic-language program in Ireland upon the completion of the tour, for those who are interested.

"All will be directed by UB faculty," he said, "and are designed for travelers from Western New York and beyond who want a learning vacation that combines education and adventure."

The tour will be based in Dublin, with visits to Dublin Castle, St. Patrick's Cathedral, and Trinity College, as well as an excursion to the fishing village of Howth. Other sites and attractions featured as part of the tour will include Boyne Valley, where exhibits relate the history and sophisticated construction techniques of nearby passage graves at Newgrange and Knowth that date from 2,500 B.C.

Trips are planned to Giant's Causeway on the Ulster's scenic north coast, which is named for its spectacular rock formations; the Ulster American Folk Park near Omagh, whose exhibitions trace the strong ties between Ulster and colonial America; the counties of Derry and Donegal, and Glenveagh National Park.

Proceeding down the west coast, the tour will visit the town of Sligo, home to many historical and mythical sites memorialized in the poetry of W.B. Yeats, who grew up in Sligo and is buried in the town. Next, the tour will head southwest to the rugged coastal region of Connemara, site of Kylemore Abbey and the Cliffs of Moher. Also in the southwest, it will visit the port town of Tralee, the Dingle Peninsula, the towns of Kenmare and Kinsale, and Muckross House near Kilarney.

A day trip to the Aran Islands is planned as well. It is one of the few regions of the country where Irish Gaelic is still the vernacular and whose people retain many traditional ways of farming and fishing.

Program director Margaret McGrath, a native of Ireland and lecturer in Irish Gaelic at UB, will lead the tour. Participants who are interested in studying Irish language and culture at the end of the WLI program may enroll on their own in a program in one of Ireland's Gaeltacht regions -- counties Galway, Kerry and Donegal -- where the Irish language is widely spoken.

The cost of the tour is $2,600, which includes international transportation, luxury motor coach transportation with driver/guide for 15 days, double-occupancy hotel accommodations, pre-departure orientation materials and readings, and miscellaneous fees, charges and taxes.

For more information, contact WLI at 645-2292, or at ub-wli@acsu.buffalo.edu.