Welcome to Gaia! ::

I would say you are part Celtic, part Germanic, although it's quite possible your dad might have Celtic connections. I would take no offence to you calling yourself Celtic, but it may not be strictly accurate. It's not something I would quibble about though biggrin

We don't usually use the word Celtic much to describe ourselves, we might say "Irish" or "part Irish" or "half Irish" if people ask. Celtic is a much broader term used for all the race, so in Ireland one would not usually refer to oneself as Celtic, as such, although we are.......it's kinda hard to explain lol In your case, the most common thing to say would be "Irish on my mother's side". That pretty much makes you Irish in anyone's eyes. We love claiming people as ours xd

You need a sense of humour biggrin Irish people can be pretty sharp, they like to poke fun a bit. You have to be able to take a "slagging", which means not take "joke" insults seriously. Give as good as you get, be relaxed. Really people are much the same all over. Bring rainwear! You will find a degree of American as well as British influence here, so don't try to be too Irish, if you know what I mean. Nobody wears a lot of green lol You will find a lot of it very familiar really, including plenty of McDonalds xd It's just all smaller, and wetter.
The most Irish areas are West and South West, where you will find things more traditional, Irish is spoken a lot, loads of Irish music and the landscape is uniquely Irish.
Sligo, in the West, is not the most exciting area, I'm afraid, but it's close to many beautiful areas.

If your part Irish and Welsh, you would more than likely have strong Celtic connections. Tbh those people are just eejits, dont listen to them. Why should they care? (probably jealous biggrin ). I guess being called a Celt is a very old term to describe ones roots or whatever, usually people just state whether they are Irish, Welsh, Scottish etc in the modern age. Even though Irish, Welsh and Scottish have Celtic pasts and bloodlines the culture has developed differently (dancing, writing/literature, music etc) and thus influenced each differently. Personally, i think if you feel Ireland is your homeland, then by all means be Irish 3nodding

Pretty much what Azyure has said is spot on (you live in Ireland Azyure?). Irish mentality is very laid back and as she said the Irish people 'like to poke fun' as in people like to have a laugh at themselves and others (sland being called 'craic'). If you want to experience Ireland for its more traditional views then yeah the west is best, albeit i wouldnt restrict to being just to that one spot. It's nice to vist all over, Dublin city has some sights (Book of Kells in Trinity College), Wicklow (where im from) has Glendalough, which is a fabulously preserved monastic settlement. Every county will have somthing that will entice you to go and have a look.

And shes also right, we dont wear alot of green lol

Yeah, it aint all lucky charms (damn kellogs) and pots of gold when it comes to Leprachauns xd . Hmm i do not know much about Sligo myself, i only went there briefly when i was around 6-7 years old as we were holidaying in Mayo (small little bungalow in the middle of nowhere, peat turfs and everything! loved it!). But it is on the West/North-West of Ireland so im sure it will have strong traditional feeling there. You could do some reading here?

Thats great your getting some Irish School books, if you have no problem with your current school you wont have a problem with ours. The thing i found with Gaelige is that the Basics are easy, then once the it becomes more structured it becomes harder (pretty obvious, but it would be harder than some other languages i think). But if you have a genuine interest and love for it, it wont be a problem. It would be better learning it here in Ireland