At this point, I really should have trusted that these visits were going to be awesome just as the previous ones were. RTÉ did not disappoint whatsoever. I was already excited for the Irish dancing, so that took no convincing.
Our RTÉ visit was unique in that we had the opportunity to watch an actual live broadcast happening on their television station from the control room. I was not expecting this at all and being someone who participates in our school television station, U-View, it was SO fun getting to see what we do in a more real-world setting.
After getting to see the studio, we were able to hear from Brian O’Connor who was the Washington D.C./States correspondent for RTE 2018-2021. Being that he was in the States for both Trump and Biden’s presidency, he was able to speak on the culture shock between Ireland and the U.S. during two significant political eras. He was happy to report on more feature stories once Trump was out of office.
I asked what qualified for Irish news considering that I find it kind of hard to distinguish what would necessarily affect or be of relevance to those out of our country. I was fascinated hearing his explanation where he basically said how when Trump was in office, most stories revolved around him, but during Biden’s presidency, it was more regular to do feature stories where they would report on Irish people in the States or on various other topics. Hearing about his experience related to where we are from was very interesting to me.
Later in the day was our IRISH DANCING CLASS HOOPLAAAA. I was excited about this ever since receiving our schedule right before the trip. To start it off, our instructor showed us a few traditional Irish instruments. We then got to dancing, very fun partner work. I SO wish I was able to practice the newly learned skills in a public setting, but alas, so far only the Champlain College basement has seen my skills.