Garth and Afro

After our first day of class some of our professors took all of us to the local pub for a beer (all very Irish…). After the pub a couple of us went to our new friend's apartment right across the street. As the night progressed the guy who lives in the apartment pulled out his guitar. He started with some Irish folk songs (singing while drinking is like a national sport here) then started to take requests from the group. One of the girls yelled out “The River” by Garth Brooks. I immediately threw up a time out to the conversation and had to ask “did you really just request a Garth Brooks song?” It became obvious pretty quickly that it was popular enough for the guy to know how to play it and then the entire apartment filled with Irish accents singing “And I will sail my vessel ‘til the river runs dry…”

The night only got more bizarre when a few hours later we were brainstorming more upbeat songs that we could all sing (The River and Irish folk ballads don’t do much for the mood of a party) and someone suggested an Afroman song. Again, I had to pause the conversation and make sure I had heard correctly. “Afroman? Like the Afroman from Hattiesburg who used to work at T-Bone Records?” And yet again the Irish surprised me. They all went into Colt 45. Every few lines I would have to stop them to make sure that everyone knew that “pinebelt” was where I was from.

All in all it was a ton of fun getting to hang out with people from my program and I have a feeling that these sing-songs are going to be a common occurrence. I’ll keep everyone updated on what song makes me feel at home next.

For good measure...

After a little research, I now realize that Garth Brooks is much more of an international superstar than I ever knew. Garth Brooks' Ireland

Cheers,

Chelsea