Center for Catholic Education at UD

By Mariam Couri

Over the past summer, I went to the island of Ireland with the University of Dayton School of Education. My trip had a multitude of unexpected scenarios and conditions. A key aspect of my study abroad experience was the feeling of constant motion, I was constantly moving around and encountering new experiences.. Traveling allowed me the opportunity to see a wide variety of places, people, and cultural nuances in a short period of time. However, traveling and exploring at such a rapid pace is draining. 

The most peaceful part of my trip was when I was able to sit on a train or bus and simply look out the window at the scenery. It was the only time that I truly was able to relax, reflect, and appreciate the scenery around me. 

It rained almost every day in Ireland. One young doctor that I met on the train to Belfast told me that on the few days of the year when it does not rain Ireland is simply the most beautiful country in the world. I had to agree. That day on the train the sun was setting in a golden blaze over the hills of Newry county and the green fields full of sheep and cows seemed to extend far beyond the horizon. I felt like I was in a scene from a movie watching an almost too-perfect world right outside my window. Such a peaceful and astounding moment.

 That same day on the train hundreds of sports fans were returning home from Dublin and the train was woefully overbooked. Passengers were standing in the aisles, in between train cars, or crammed  into too few seats. I was seated across from two young children returning from the hurling match. Upon hearing my distinctively American accent they immediately began asking me questions about the United States. They wanted to know if I ever ate Chick-fil-A, if my accent was real or not, and if I liked Ireland. I assured them that my accent was real and that I loved their country. I raved about the mountains in the distance and the green hills. 

The children were unimpressed by my praise and responded by saying “Oh sure but did you know we have McDonald’s too?” The mountains, hills and incredible sunset were nothing but ordinary to them. The scenery was as common to these children as the cornfields and gas stations that I drive through on my way home across the Midwest portion of the United States. When we become accustomed to beauty in our surroundings we forget just how incredible our lives can be. 

You can see the mountains as ordinary and just “there”, or, you can see them as someone who has never seen them. As something huge and majestic and unknown. Travel has taught me that the mundane to one person is astonishing to another. The things we take for granted about our lives are truly much more unique than we could ever realize. Only by stepping back and away from our routines and ordinary situations can we acknowledge the great beauty and grace behind them. 

God calls us to a similar form of reflection. 

Where in our lives is the extraordinary hiding? 

What mountains have we been overlooking? 

What are the great and small blessings God has bestowed upon us that we have forgotten to thank Him for?