Summer of International Shaun

Hope you will enjoy the simple musings of a simple man. Since I love telling stories, often embellished (but it’s funnier that way) this blog will usually just entail the wild and wacky life that is me.

To start though I will do a day by day account of the Irish adventure of July 2009. It will include many pictures of the beautiful island and some brilliant insight into the Irish culture. Please forgive me, but just like any conversation involving myself, the topics change quickly and severely, thus the title of the blog Tiger Town TANGENTS. A segue is merely a moped like thing and nothing more to me. Hope you can handle it.

Most pictures will be of churches...


or castles...


or the beautiful countryside




When I first found I would be able to take this trip I was uber excited. I would talk to people and about a minute into the conversation, I would say, “Yeah, that’s great. Guess where I am going this summer?” I have never been out of the country except for a day in Nassau and a day on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls. So, I am quite the rookie as I travel globally. Because of this, as the day drew closer those feelings of excitement were slowly replaced with some trepidation. I usually don’t worry about too much, but I had a feeling of something going terribly wrong. Like losing my passport and being denied entrance back into the country. This still may happen, but hopefully not and definitely not worth worrying about.

As most of you know, I have seen much of this great nation and have often said there is so much to see here before you go off and spend tons of money seeing the rest of the world. But, except for San Diego, Hawaii, Alaska and skiing in the Rockies (I guess that still is a long list), I’ve done most of what I want to do in the states. Plus, it will be very interesting and exciting to experience a new culture. And as anyone who has ever looked at me can attest I have a lot of Irish blood in me. I have many of the Irish traits: a love of potatoes, a love of booze, a love of the fiddle, a fiery temper, the love of good story telling and the love of leprechauns.





I spent some time trying to formulate a family tree, with not too much success. My family is pretty sure, like millions of other Irish immigrants, both the Haggertys and the Brennans came over during the famine in 1848ish. After that, the tree is missing a few branches until I pick up my grandparent’s grandparents. Not a big window there, but enough to ruin any genealogy research.
Anyway, I am excited to see the culture. I have the feeling these are really my kind of people. From what I have gathered and the few Irish folk I have met, they seem to be a fun people who just like to hang out, tell stories and of course drink. Hopefully they are as friendly and hospitable as their reputation.