Off Traveling Again!

I just got an internship in LA for the summer. I’ll be interning at Intuitive Entertainment for two months. I’m going to be driving from Wilmington, NC all the way to the other side of the country and stopping along the way. It’s my chance to see amazing places in the US and visit California again. I’ll be blogging all summer, again!

Mom & Dad have arrived in Ireland!

Okay, so my parents arrived around noon. Thank goodness the Garmin here recognizes places such as a park (Eyre Square) in Galway, otherwise I don’t know how we would’ve found each other that morning. I got in the car and we went off and found a place to park at. Then we walked into town and went walking around Shop Street. 

I should mention that the Galway Races are currently going on. It’s a lot touristier here right now. I don’t like it very much, haha. Anywyas, since the races are going on, there’s a TON of people in Galway and the streets are packed full of people. It was a gorgeous day so there were plenty of street musicians out, which made me happy because that’s one of my favorite parts of the streets of Galway City. I’m glad my parents could see that. We got some souvenirs and walked down to sit by the river. Then we walked to the cathedral and took a few pictures in there. I love that cathedral so much. It was actually built in 1965, though, which is sad because it looks like it’s been there for quite some time. It is one of the last European churches to be built resembling the old look of cathedrals. After, my dad wanted to see my campus so we walked down to it. And then we decided to take the walk all the way to my apartments. I’m glad we ended up walking it instead of driving it because then they could walk the same scenic way I would walk with my friends. When we got to my apartment, I noticed that other people were already living in there. How sad! We took a quick picture of me outside number 3 and then walked back into town. We decided to go eat dinner real quick before heading to our B&B. I took them to McSwiggans for the best fish ‘n chips in the city. Delicious! Mom got to try a Bulmers and dad tried my favorite beer here, Smithwicks.

After, we were all pretty tired. I hadn’t gotten much sleep at my hostel the night before and they had been up for so long from all the flying so we decided to call it an early night and go hang out at our B&B. Mom and I ended up staying up for awhile, chatting and catching up while we drank some hot tea. I love moments like that.

The next day, we got up and went downstairs for breakfast. There was a little menu of things we could choose from. Mom and I got scrambled eggs with smoked salmon and dad got the traditional Irish breakfast. They served us coffee, tea, and toast as well. It was so wonderful. I forgot to talk about the B&B. It is quite gorgeous, almost like a mini mansion. There’s a huge room for the breakfast area and even a little sitting room in the front. There are apparently 7 rooms that they rent out to other people and the couple bought the house 15 years ago to open as a B&B. I cannot imagine doing this for 15 years! After breakfast, we decided to head out to see the Cliffs of Moher. It took us about an hour and half to get there and we stopped along the way to take a few photos. It was a misty day and raining a bit, but when we actually got to the cliffs, the rain stopped so that was perfect.

I think the Cliffs actually look so much cooler when it is foggy and misty out because it makes them look eerie. Mom and dad loved the Cliffs, so I’m really glad that’s the one thing we got to see.

After walking around there, we realized we wouldn’t make back to Galway to have lunch because we were hungry and it would take us nearly 2 hours to get back, making it 4:00. Instead, we went into Doolin, the little town right outside of the Cliffs, and eat at the pub I ate at last time I was here. It’s called Gus O’Connors and it has awesome seafood chowder with bits of salmon in it. Mom got that and Dad and I got Bangers & Mash (sausages and mashed potatoes). Dad and I also split his first Guinness in Ireland here. It was a perfect drink to go with our Bangers and Mash. After lunch, we went to the little fudge shop in town. The fudge is made right there in Doolin and it’s delicious! Once we got our fudge, we went back to the car and decided to start heading back to Galway. We stopped at Dunguaire Castle on our way back. When I went on my tour of the Cliffs, we just stopped to take a picture, so I was really excited to actually go in the Castle. To be perfectly honest, I’m not as excited about the castles as I first was. I mean, they’re still really awesome though.  Anyways, we got to the castle around 4:30 and they were just closing up. How sad! I felt really bad because I knew my dad was really excited to go into his first Irish castle ruin. I hope we find another castle to go in at some point on our trip! I’m hoping the one in Cork is great (:

We got back into Galway and found somewhere to park. We walked around some more and picked up a few more souvenirs. Then I took them back down by the water to show off a great view of the city. We ran into some drunks who struck up a conversation with dad. All I could make out of what the drunken man’s conversation was something about eating swans and then he said Bush and Obama in the same sentence… we quickly got out of that situation! Haha.

After this, we were pretty hungry so I took them to get a real homecooked Irish meal. We went to Riordans, which serves HUGE portions. We all got shepherd’s pie and it was so yummy. Afterwards, we decided to head to the King’s Head early since there were so many people in town and I wanted to make sure we would have a place to sit and chat. The King’s Head is my favorite pub in town. They have live music every night and it’s a pretty chill place. It was SO different in there. It made me sad again… why is everything so different here lately?! Almost all of the tables were gone and it looked so bare in there. They had moved most of the tables out for all the people they were expecting from the races. I asked if they were going to have music later and the bartender told me the band would come on around 10pm. It was about 8:30 and we had found the only open table left upstairs. We grabbed some pints and sat to chat. So 8:30 is normally a very early hour to be at the pub.

I wanted us to go early to get a table and then we wouldn’t have to be out very late. However, I guess everyone got back from the races and went straight to the pubs because it was already pretty crowded in there. As the night went on, it got extremely hot because of the amount of people in there. I was nearly sweating. Cute, right? We kept waiting for the band to come on and they didn’t start playing until 11pm. It was grand though because we had great conversation and really enjoyed our evening. We left around 11:30 and headed out into the streets. It was so unbelievably crowded! I could not get over how many people were in the streets! We stopped to say hello to my friend Cormac in the street. I’m glad I got to see him one last time. Then we made our way through the immense amount of people and got to our car to drive back to the B&B. It was such a great way to spend my last night in Galway.

This morning, we got up and went down for breakfast. I got French toast with sausages, mom got the scrambled eggs with salmon, and dad got French toast with bacon. It was al so delicious again, of course. We packed up our stuff and left the B&B. We stopped in town to grab a converter for mom and it really hit me when we were standing there that I was really leaving Galway. Last time I left I knew I was coming back in a few days. This time, however, I have no idea when I’ll be back. It makes me so immensely sad, it really does. I cannot get over how great my time in Galway with my friends was. I’m glad my parents were able to see the environment I was in and got to see the town I stayed in for a month. Dad kept talking about how great the atmosphere is of the entire place. He’s so right. That’s what makes me miss Galway already. I love the laid back feel of just walking around town on a sunny day and then going to get a few pints with your friends at night. It involves a lot of actually talking to people and getting to know your friends. It’s not as much like this in the states. I’ve never gotten so close to people in such a short amount of time. I mean, I only knew my friend Cormac for about two weeks, but we hung out and talked enough that I know I’ll keep in touch with him. And all my CEA girls I miss so much. Who knew I could become SO close to people in a month? I’m realllllllly going to miss Galway and everything about it. I cannot wait to come back and visit with some of my CEA girls again one day. I know a few of us might at least come back for our bachelorette parties, haha!

We’re on our way to Dublin right now as I type this. I’ll have to update it to my blog tonight when we have wifi. We’re staying at a hotel here since it’s the city, then we return to B&B’s when we go on to the rest of our journeys. We’re going to see Peter Pan in the theatre when we get to Dublin. I’m so BEYOND excited. It’s lifting my sad mood of leaving Galway right now, thank goodness. Oh shoot, I’ll be crying on the plane when I leave Ireland. I mean, even on our drive to Dublin it’s gorgeous out. The views on the side of the road are so pretty and green. I’ll miss the green everywhere. And the temperature! I love it being in the 50s and 60s. I’m not ready for the 100 degree weather back home, haha. Alright, sorry for being sad at the end again! I’ll update again soon (: 

Croagh Patrick & Westport

Croagh Patrick won. Haha. But really, I could only make it up Croagh Patrick halfway before my sickness got the best of me. Stupid head cold! Besides, it was so foggy as I went further up, so I would not have been able to see anything by the time I made it to the top. I’m still so happy I did it. I sat down before I turned to descend back down the mountain and I talked to God for a bit.

I got the wonderful religious feeling I was hoping to get by climbing this mountain. I kept thinking about how so many elderly people, children, and people of all ages climb this mountain every day. It is absolutely amazing to me. And to think that St. Patrick climbed all the way up this and fasted for 40 days and 40 nights amazes me even more. People used to be so much more religious. When I got closer to the bottom, it wasn’t very foggy anymore and you could see a spectatuclar view.

the extremely foggy part. you can’t even see down the mountain:

County Mayo is probably my second favorite county in terms of beauty (county Galway being the first of course haha). Both County Mayo and County Galway share the Connemara region, which I visited a couple weeks ago. It was probably my favorite part of Ireland. Croagh Patrick is in County Mayo, right outside the town of Westport – where I stayed that evening. The view from up on Croagh Patrick shows the Clew Bay, which is a huge gorgeous bay of water in County Mayo. There are some views you know you won’t forget. My pictures honestly do not do it justice. In the distance you could see mountains and you can’t see them at all in my photos.

After climbing all the way back down (1 hour up, 1 hour down. It normally takes people 2 hours to go up and 2 hours to go back down if they do the entire climb), I went to the pub next door to the mountain and treated myself to a pint of Guinness. I was a little hungry and definitely a bit parched so the Guinness was the perfect solution. Then I called my taxi and got a ride back into town. I decided to go and see a movie because I had some time to kill. There was an Irish film playing at the cinema that I had not gotten the chance to see yet. My friends Meggie, Jamie, Cormac, and Paul had seen it about a week or so ago and said it was really good so I decided to watch it. My only other choice would’ve been to see Harry Potter for a 3rd time, and as tempting at that was, I went to see the other film. Haha. It was called “The Guard” and I quite enjoyed it. I even got some popcorn and crispy m&m’s. (Seriously, why did they stop making these in the states?!) When the movie was over, it was a little after 9. I walked around the town for a bit and then grabbed some food. The only thing available to eat at this time was either fast food or Chinese take-away. (They say “take-away” here instead of “to-go”.) I opted for some Chinese food since I haven’t had that in months. I got chicken curry and rice. Who knew curry was such a big thing here in Ireland?! I took the food back to my hostel and ate it while I read my book. Then I went to bed and watched a little bit of one of my movies until I fell asleep.

a picture from the hillside of croagh patrick: 

The next day (Tuesday July 26) I had intended to get up around 7am. Instead I woke up at 8:08 and had to catch an 8:40 bus. UH-OH! Haha. I showered (didn’t have a hairdryer at this hostel either…. Ugh!), got dressed, and packed all my stuff up by 8:20. This is record time when you think about it! I left my hostel and walked to the bus stop. I got there around 8:30 and my bus pulled up before I even had time to set my bag down. I could not believe my luck. I definitely could’ve missed the bus if I had taken even another minute in that shower! At this point I was getting quite excited to go back to Galway. It truly is my favorite city in Ireland. It feels kinda like home to me now. I do wish my friends were going to be here with me, though. Anyways, the bus ride was about two hours long and I arrived in Galway around 10:45am. My parents’ flight was delayed 2 hours in the states, so I am waiting for them to get here around noon. I walked down to the river and sat down to write my blog entry down before I forget everything I’m feeling. I haven’t had Internet for the past few days, so I will have to update this all at once when I finally get some. It’s such a gorgeous day here in Galway city. I almost started crying when I sat down here by the river. I feel like I’ve talked about crying a lot lately in my past few entries. I honestly don’t cry much anymore. I used to be able to cry on queue when I was little, but now it takes a lot for me to cry. Lately, though, I’ve been an emotional mess. Haha. I guess that means it truly has been quite an experience for me.

Six more days in Ireland! Itinerary for time with my folks:
Tuesday & Wednesday – Galway
Thursday – Dublin
Friday – Cork/Cashel
Saturday & Sunday – Dingle

I’ll be back in the states on August 1st. I’m still going to be writing in this blog while I’m with my parents, so expect a few more entries :)

Wicklow Mountains and Glendalough

Okay, so I wrote this two days ago, but I wasn’t able to post it because I didn’t have internet. Sorry if it’s got some past tense voicing…

Wicklow Mountains National Park and the Little Town of Glendalough (July 23rd & 24th) 

I got to my hostel last night and decided to stay in for the evening. There were a few reasons for this. First, there is basically no town to walk around. There is one tourist shop, a pub, a hotel, my hostel, a visitor center for the park and a restaurant. Seriously, that’s it. Haha. And second, there was an outrageous amount of bugs outside. It’s not really humid and definitely not hot, so there must just be so many because I am literally in the middle of a mountain right now, haha.

I woke up the next morning around 9 and showered, got my breakfast (all the hostels I’ve been to give me cornflakes and toast with butter & jam…. I had to pay 4 euro here for this. Wow. Haha. ) and then took off to the visitor center in town. They gave me a map of the trails and I followed a group of people into the mountains. The main focal point of these mountains is supposedly the round tower. I’ve already seen one of these. I saw one on my first class trip in galway. Nonetheless, it was pretty cool looking.

After that I ventured on further. I passed by the lower lake and stopped to take a few pictures.

I could hear the faint sound of a waterfall and followed all the signs to get up to Poulanass Waterfall. It was a short but very steep climb. Gorgeous of course.

On my way up, I met an Irish man with his family. He asked me if I’d been on this trail before. After saying no, he pointed me in the direction he and his family were heading. He told me it was a very steep 15-20 minute walk up the mountain and it would be a little tough, but I’d be so happy once I’d done it. He waited for his family to catch up with him and I went off. He was right about the steep and difficult part. I was getting so worn out from the climb! Oh, and I’m still sick so I can only breathe through my nose. I was huffing and puffing a little. I’m not going to lie, haha. I’m not sure if this was my best idea, but I really wanted to see the view. And I couldn’t very well have gone all the way to the national park and not seen the view I was looking for. I finally got to the top and he was right; it was a spectacular view of the mountains and the lakes below.

The only problem with being up there was that there was an ungodly amount of mosquetos. I’m not even kidding. They were little swarming around my head. I think I only got a few bites, though, thankfully! I walked back down after that. This was, of course, so much easier to walk down. I passed the waterfall on my way and then got back to the lower lake. When I finally stopped walking, I could feel my legs shaking a little. It was such a weird feeling! I stopped at a little coffee/tea shop and tried to eat a few chips (fries) for lunch. I’m still not very hungry, though, which is so weird to me because I’ve been so active! I tried to look at the maps they gave me for my hike and from what I can tell I walked around 6km… I think. That is so much less than when I was in Killarney, but this time I didn’t have a bike and I was walking up the steep side of a mountain! Haha. After, I walked back down to the visitor center and sat down in the grass to talk to my parents for a little bit. I can’t wait to see them and show them around Galway, my favorite city in Ireland. J

favorite view of the day:
 

I’m sitting in my hostel right now, taking a little break. It’s aournd 3:30 here and I catch my bus to Dublin at 5:30. I’m having dinner with my friend, Liam, whom I met when I was in Dublin with Jamie, Meggie, and Rachel at the beginning of my travels. Then tomorrow I get up and catch a bus to Westport where I will attempt to climb Croagh Patrick. I heard it’s quite the hall… I hope I can handle it! 

Cheers!

Leaving Galway and Heading to Killarney

Alright so Tuesday was my final day of classes. We had exams. Wednesday night was the last night we had in our apartments. I seriously cannot believe it’s all over. Even more, I can’t believe how much I miss it already. It still brings tears to my eyes, and I don’t normally cry very easily. I miss all the girls in my program so much already. Tuesday we had exams and before exams, Jamie, Meggie, Jordan, and I went to one of our favorite cafes (Coco Café) to grab a quick sandwich. That night we went out for one final big night as a huge group. Some girls were leaving early on Wednesday so this was kind of our last night. We really had a grand evening. I wish the big group of us had gone out together more often. 

  
Wednesday I did a lot of last minute things with the girls. I finalized all my plans for my trip and then that night we went out to dinner with Brian, our CEA correspondent. He took us to a pizza restaurant, which was delicious! I got jalapanos, tomatoes, and goat cheese on pizza. I know that sounds like a weird combination, but it was amazing. And since we had 20 euro to spend on our dinner (so nice of CEA to buy our dinner again!) then I got dessert and a diet coke as well. For dessert I got a banoffee pie. It was a banana/toffee pie. UHHHH-mazing. Haha. We went to grab a quick pint after dinner with Brian as a huge group. I wasn’t feeling very well at all so I decided to leave after about an hour. Jamie left with me as well. It was so sad because we had to say good-bye to the girls right then. I nearly cried, but I didn’t thankfully. Haha. I went back and wrote out all the plans for my next day full of traveling to Killarney, and then I went and hung out with Jamie at her apartment. Meggie and Jordan joined us later on and we stayed up chatting for a little bit. It got to be pretty late and some of us had to get up really early so we called it a night. I hugged everyone and this time I really did almost cry. It was so hard not to. I seriously don’t get like this normally when I leave people. It’s just so hard because I really did spend so much time with these girls over the past month, and we gained such a strong connection because we had so much in common with each other. I know we’re going to see each other again though. We have to.

Thursday I woke up and was still feeling as sick as ever. This head cold NEEDS to go away! I showered and left my room for the last time. I’m really going to miss that room. I loved being able to sleep with my window open at night and waking up to a great view in the morning. I could see the cathedral from my window, which was my favorite part. And I lucked out and got a huge room with my own bathroom, that was always a huge plus for me. J I had a few snacks and drinks leftover in my fridge, so I went next door to my friend Jordan’s apartment to give her the things I had leftover. She was staying in a hostel in Galway for the next 3 days so I knew she’d love to have them. She started to tear up on me, which in turn finally brought some tears from my eyes. I cannot believe how soft these people are making me! Haha. I was going to say good-bye to Jamie, but I honestly knew that in that moment I would start balling. It is seriously so weird for me to say that.  So I left and went off to the bus station. I boarded a bus at 10am to go to Limerick. I got there at around 11:30am. I grabbed a bowl of soup with brown bread in the bus station café. I think it was some sort of mushroom soup. I don’t like mushrooms but because of my cold I couldn’t really taste it, haha. I hopped on my connecting bus to Killarney at 12:30pm, and arrived in Killarney at 2:40pm. It took me a full hour to find my hostel, which ended up being located off a side street of the main town. I asked three different people along the way, too! Nonetheless, I finally got there and left my luggage in the luggage storage room and then ventured off into the town. It was quite a small town, but very lively still. It even had Murphy’s ice cream, which is the ice cream we discovered to be so delicious in Dingle! I was so excited and grabbed a cone real quick. After, I walked in and out of the little shops and found a cathedral at the end of town. It had mass at 6:15 that evening so I walked around a little more and then decided to go to mass. A Jamaican priest gave the service; I was definitely expecting a little old Irish man!

Haha. After mass I walked around a little bit more and then decided to grab dinner. After looking at a great deal of menus, I settled on a little restaurant that had a “Fish Pie.” I know that sounds gross, but I figured it would be similar to shepherd’s pie, except with fish. I was right! It came with vegetables and chips (fries). It was so much food. My little sick self could not even eat half, but it was SO delicious. It was kinda like chowder on the bottom with salmon in it. And then mashed potatoes on top. So hard to describe, but so yummy! 

Town of Killarney:

 
It was still pretty early on in the night and I didn’t want to waste my evening so I decided to see how much the ghost tour was. I’m not a huge fan of ghost tours, but I find the history and everything to be so interesting. It was 15 euro for the student price so I decided to give it a shot. I’m not really sure if that was my best decision or not, haha. First, we got on a huge coach bus that was completely dark inside except for small red lights in the ceiling. It had the typical Halloween setting with skeletons and cobwebs everywhere. It was so interesting for a bus! Our driver spoke to us a little bit and then he started to drive off. (Oh, you can’t see out the window either, so you have no idea where you are going.) After a few minutes, a man jumped out from under the large table in the middle of the bus. I happened to be sitting right next to this. Though I was expecting someone to jump out from there, it still frightened me a little. He went around startling people in his complete black attire then he began to tell one of his stories. After, we were at our first stop so we got out and followed him. It was Ross Castle, which is in the Killarney National Park. It was gorgeous and his story was so intriguing. I won’t go into detail of all the stories because I know I’ll probably mess them up, haha.
After we got back on and he told us a few more stories. When we got to our second location it was finally dark outside (ya know, since the sun doesn’t set until 10ish and the tour started at 9pm haha). We walked a little distance to Muckross Abbey, which is also located inside the park. He talked about the history of the building. Apparently when King Albert was ruling over Scotland and Ireland, he ordered that all the friaries and abbeys be taken down. They did not listen, and since they were in a very rural area of Ireland, he never found out. When his daughter, Elizabeth, took the throne, she eventually found out about the active Abbey and sent people to find out what was going on. The monks heard of this before she arrived and fled into the mountains. All except for two monks. They were tortured horribly in the Abbey, but never gave up the secrets of where the other monks had gone to and where the treasure was hidden (as this Abbey had a lot of money). They were executed in the Abbey. It is rumored that they still haunt the place occasionally. This place really freaked me out because we went INSIDE it. All the other ghost tours I’ve been on in the states never involved us actually going into the haunted building, we would just stand outside of it and discuss it. I also believe in spirits to  a certain point. Our guide said that in one of the rooms we were going to go into, strange things have happened. He told of a few people fainting, cameras not working, a drop in temperature, and other little things that were enough to freak me out. I know it sounds silly, but it was almost pitch black in there and though I was with a group of people, I did not know anyone and had nobody to comfort me or hold my hand, while all the other people did. I kept trying to tell myself to toughen up and quit taking it all so seriously, but it was so difficult. Thank goodness this was the final part of the tour because they had achieved their job and freaked me out! Haha. I walked back to my hostel and went to bed.

The next day, I woke up around 8 and got ready. They did not have hairdryer for me to borrow, so I had to pull my hair up. I tried to eat a piece of toast, but realized I had no appetite at all since I was so sick. I left and went into town to rent a bike nearby. It was 12.50 euro to rent the bike for the day and the lady directed me to where I should go in the park. It was so pretty in the park.
She told me to go visit Muckross Abbey (I took a picture, but could go nowhere near it due to the events from the night before, haha.), Muckross House, Torc waterfall, and other little things around there. It was about a mile bike ride to the entrance of the park and then I biked all over the place. I went to Muckross House first. It was 3 euro for a tour so I decided to give it a shot since I’d come that far. I think the tour guide gives that tour every hour of every day. I’ve never met a more monotone tour guide. She was even telling us what each piece of furniture in the rooms was made out of. (eg- “That table is made of oak, that one is made of granite.”) Uhhh good to know, thanks. Haha. Anyways, it was a general tour of a huge house. We couldn’t take pictures inside so I have nothing to show everyone. It was lovely and the Queen even stayed there at one point. (Sorry, I’m afraid I don’t remember which Queen, haha).
After that, I walked about 3 miles to the Torc waterfall. It was gorgeous. I love waterfalls!

I then walked back to my bike and headed off to find other things. I really could not have lucked out for a better day. It was completely sunny out and I think it even got up into the 60s at one point. I decided to head off to see Dinis Cottage. There were signs along the way for it. I though it would at least be a cute little cottage. Boy was I wrong! It took me nearly an hour to bike there and it ended up being a tea shop. I could just pick up a sandwich. I was so disappointed! I grabbed a sports drink and made myself eat a banana, even though I still wasn’t hungry. So weird, especially since I’d been so active all day! After that, I got a little lost and ended up biking a little more than I had intended. When I got back to my hostel (around 3pm) I realized I had biked/hiked over 18 miles! I was so impressed with myself because I had a stuffed up nose but was still able to bike more than I ever have. I really do love to bike. I should train more in it and compete in races! 
That night I was so excited because my friend Jordan was going to be in town. I really needed to see a good friend because I was beginning to feel a bit lonesome. I was overjoyed when she called around 3:30 and said they had arrived. I got changed out of my gross clothes from biking all day and went to meet them in town. We sat down and chatted for a bit and then they said how they were planning on seeing Harry Potter that evening. Jordan offered to walk around the town with me instead since I’d already seen it, but I did not mind seeing it again. I do love Harry Potter, haha. The movie was at 6:30 and it was 3D. I’m not a big fan of 3D, but it was fine in this movie. The movie was just as great the second time! Afterwards, we went to get some grub. I forgot to mention, Jordan is travelling with her friends Molly and Steve. Jordan is my friend from the Ireland program. Molly and Steve also did the summer classes at Galway, but we were not in the same program exactly. Hard to explain haha. Anyways, we let Steve choose the dinner spot. He chose Eddie Rockets, which is basically the same thing as a Johnny Rockets back home. I was happy with anything and was actually quite excited to get a burger, fries, and diet coke. Yummy. After, Steve was feeling pretty tired so he went back to his hostel. Jordan, Molly, and I went to find a pub with live music. Girl’s night was seriously just what I needed. We had a couple of pints and enjoyed listening to a guy play some American folk songs mixed with a few Irish pub tunes. We went back to our hostels after. I almost got emotional again when I hugged Jordan good-bye. Stupid emotions I’ve gained with this program! Haha.
The next day I woke up fairly early becaue I had to catch the 9am bus. It took me to Limerick and I arrived there at 11am.  I decided to walk around Limerick for a little bit to kill some time. There was a park nearby and I sat down in there and read a book (Peter Pan! Haha) for a little while. Thanks goodness for self-timer on the camera, haha.

I also got to talk on the phone with my mom for a bit, which was lovely and nice to hear her voice. Then I grabbed some different medicine from the pharmacy. Hopefully this stuff will cure whatever I have!! I’m so ready to be done with this sickness. L At 1:30, I got on a bus to Dublin. It arrived in Dublin at 4:45. I loved this drive the most. We went through such cute little towns and drove through SO MUCH greenery. When we got closer to Dublin, you could see the industrialized difference. It reminded me a little bit of California as we were driving into the city because there was so much greenery on the side of a huge interstate. Once inside the city though, it felt much more like a huge city in the states. I took a taxi to where my next bus would be picking up. Once he took me there, I knew where I was. Also, he was super nice to me. He answered all of my questions and when he told me my fare was 6.30 euro, I handed him 10 euro and waited for my change. Instead, he handed me back one of my fives and told me he’d give it to me for 5 euro. I was so shocked. I asked him if he was sure, and he told me I could buy myself an ice cream with that extra 5 euro. Haha. I had some time to kill again and walked around the streets of Dublin for a bit. I figured I should get some real food in me since I hadn’t really eaten all day. I found a small Italian restaurant and got mariana spaghetti with salmon and tuna in it. YUM. I knew some carbs and protein were just what I needed. After dinner, I headed back to wait for my bus. It was leaving at 7pm. It cost me 20 euro for a roundtrip to Glendalough. I got here around 8:30 and decided to stay in a catch up on my blog. I really am in the middle of nowhere right now haha. It should be nice to walk around Wicklow National Park tomorrow. Oh, I forgot, my itinerary has changed up a bit. Here’s the entire schedule, including what I’ve already done:

Thursday- Head to Killarney

Friday- Spend the day and night in Killarney

Saturday- Head to Glendalough

Sunday- Spend the day in Wicklow Mountains National Park and then head back to Dublin. Spend the night in Dublin.

Monday- Head to Westport and do Croagh Patrick in the afternoon.

Tuesday- Wake up and catch a bus back to Galway. Meet up with mom and dad in the afternoon.

Sorry my blog posts seems to be so long lately! I miss everyone and I cannot wait to be reunited. I am not excited about this 100-degree weather, however. Haha. 

Summing up the past week

I know two blog posts in one day is a bit much, but I’ve been meaning to do this for days. It’s a way for me to remember everything that happened while I was here as well, so I don’t want to wait to do this any longer. I’ll start with the end of last weekend, right after Dingle. 

Sunday (evening) July 10th- After getting back from Dingle, I went to see a documentary at the Galway Film Fleadh around 6pm. I know 2 posts ago I mentioned how I had seen some Irish film shorts at the festival as well. I love documentaries and although this one was an American film, I was super stoked. It was called “The Last Mountain” and it’s about the destruction of the Appalachian Mountains for the use of coal. Robert Kennedy Jr was a huge spokesperson in the film, which I though really helped the film. Who doesn’t love a Kennedy? Haha. Anyways, the film completely blew my mind and I felt kind of dumb for not knowing that all of this had been going on, when my own state shares a great deal of the Appalachian Mountains. The producer of the film answered questions afterwards and I felt better when I heard her say that most people in the States don’t know that this is going on because it isn’t publicized very much in the news. It really makes me sad to be in a country like Ireland and see their love for the land and how well they preserve it and compare it to the states where we are blowing up gorgeous mountains, which are one of the oldest mountain ranges in the world. The thing that really surprised me the most was when an Irish woman said she was now fearful of coming to the states since the destruction of these mountains has contaminated our fresh water and fish. I know we don’t have as clean of an environment as Ireland, but it still was weird to hear someone say that they were fearful of coming to America. The producer said the film just premiered in the states about 3 weeks ago. I seriously recommend that everyone see this if they have the chance. Here’s the trailer for the film: http://youtu.be/c5wmUkpOCKE. Also, I saw the film in a cinemoble. It was a theatre on wheels. It looked exactly like a normal theatre on the inside, but from the outside it looked so different: 

 
Alright, sorry for rambling on about that for so long. Just trust me and go watch the film (:

Monday July 11th- I got two letters from my friend Brittany! It was quite exciting receiving letters. Too bad it takes nearly a week to send and receive mail all the way over here. My friends Jamie and Meggie and I had met a guy named Cormac who works for one of the clubs in Galway. We met up with him that night and hung around the city in different pubs and ended up at a nightclub. They dance differently here, which I prefer. It looks kinda ridiculous at first, but they really jump around and move to the music as if they are dancing around in the morning while getting ready for the day. It was great craic! (good fun) (: Oh, also, he bought us curry cheese fries at the end of the night. I know that sounds weird, but it is a pretty common thing to find in fast food restaurants here. He was completely surprised when we told him they don’t have curry cheese fries in the states, haha.

Tuesday July 12th- I had class all day and ending up spending nearly my entire day on campus instead of walking back to my apartment each time. I did meet my friends for lunch at one of our favorite lunch spots. It’s called Wards and it’s a little sandwich shop/conveince shop about 5 minutes from campus. The sandwiches are SO delicious and the cheapest meal in Galway. I tried the a new sandwich which had sausage, potato salad, and dijon mustard. I know it sounds weird, but I figured it had to be delicious if it was on the specials menu, haha. It was so good. Never would’ve thought to put all of that on a sandwich.

We saw the film Michael Collins late in the afternoon for our literature & film class. It was a wonderful film about the man who was the main force in the reason Ireland was able to gain independence from Britain. I would also recommend this film. I haven’t told you about the films I didn’t care for that we saw… and there were a few, haha. But really, it was a great film. It stars Liam Neeson and Julia Roberts.

Wednesday July 13th- Jamie, Meggie, and I went into town to get a little shopping done. I can’t seem to decide on what exactly I want to get as my souvenirs from this place, so I’ll have to go back soon and pick them out. Jamie and I did get our Claddagh rings though. For those who don’t know, the claddagh ring is a ring with two hands holding a heart with a crown on top. It symbolizes friendship, love, and loyalty. The arts festival is also going on in the city right now, so we walked around the market they have set up for it. We stumbled upon this lady who makes necklaces and keychains out of old Irish currency coins. (Ireland moved to the Euro in the late 1990s). I got a necklace and a keychain because I thought they were so cool and unique. This was also the hottest day I’d ever seen in Galway. It got up to about 75 degrees. There were a TON of musicians and performers out on the streets. It was a great day to be in town. 

Thursday July 14th- We had class in the morning this day, but in the afternoon, our CEA advisor, Brian, took us on a short river cruise boat. It went down the river corrib, which is the river that we cross over to walk to school, and it runs through the city. It was a gorgeous scenic tour, but it got a bit chilly at the end! haha. 

Later that night, I went out with my friends Meggie and Jamie. We had a great time listening to music at one of my favorite pubs here, The Kings Head. 

Friday July 15th- Our final papers for our classes were due this day. I had procrastinated and worked on them mainly thursday, so I was SO happy to finally be able to turn them in and be done with them. That night, we went to see a concert in the city. It was at a pub called Monroes. The concert was advertised in the packets for the festival. The duo was called “The Walls.” They are based out of Dublin and have opened for U2. They were fantastic! It was all Meggie’s idea to go see them, and I’m really happy we did.

After the concert, I was starving because I had forgotten to eat dinner before going. We found a pizza place that was open late and I split a pizza with Meggie. On my half I got jalapenos. FINALLY! haha. I’ve been missing my spicy food big time. There’s nothing spicy here! Even their curry cheese fries are not spicy.

Meggie, Jamie, and I at the concert:

Saturday July 16th- I had hoped to join some other girls and go to Scotland for the weekend, but it ended up not working out because airline prices had gone up severely. It’s okay though, because Jamie, Meggie, and I had a fantastic weekend wandering around the streets of Galway. It was the first weekend we got to actually spend in the city. Saturday we got up rather late since we’d been up pretty late the night before for the concert. We had not been able to get Harry Potter tickets for the midnight showing on thursday night/friday morning (though that would’ve been awesome because I would’ve been able to see it 5 hours before anyone back home!) because the theatre near us didn’t offer a midnight screening and the other theatre further away from us was all sold out. Instead, we went and saw Harry Potter around 1pm on Saturday. Before going, we stopped to grab a quick lunch at McDonalds. It is NOT cheap here. My meal was around 6euro, which is $9 converted. Gross way to spend my money! Haha. But it was fast, which is what we were looking for. We went to see Harry Potter and it was amazing. For those that know me really well, you know that I don’t often cry in movies. I can name the five other movies I’ve cried in. Seriously. But Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2 is officially the 6th movie I’ve cried in. Haha.

After the movie, we hung around our apartments and I did a little shopping at a store near us. It’s called Dunnes, which to me is very similar to a Wal-mart, except a little nicer and not as cheap haha. We ordered pizza for dinner. (I know, what a horrible choice of food for the day! Haha) Later, we met up with the rest of the girls from our program who were still in town and we went out for the night. It was great finally being able to get most of us together to go out as a huge group because we usually broke off into smaller groups to go out. It was a FANTASTIC night (:

This picture is missing Olivia, Kali, and Takara, but this was basically the group that went out for the night:

Sunday July 17th- I was feeling so sick when I woke up. I knew I had been catching some kind of a cold the past few days, but when I woke up on Sunday I really felt it. So sad because I really haven’t been sick in awhile. Like I think the last time I was really this sick was before I started college. Anyways, we woke up kinda late again because we’ve been so behind on sleep. And I am sick so I need even more sleep. We decided to go into town to grab a few more things we had forgotten to get yesterday. After awhile, though, I couldn’t walk around anymore because my head felt so heavy. We decided to grab some soup at one of our favorite restaurants, McSwiggans. After, Jamie and I stopped to pick up some medicine for me and then we headed back to the apartments. I got back and skyped my parents, which we hadn’t done in awhile, so that was great. The arts festival was having a small parade that night and I knew I’d be upset with myself if I didn’t go, so I got myself down there with Jamie and Meggie around 8:30. The parade was supposed to start at 8:45. It was FREEZING and I was wearing my comfy and warm Aran sweater, but since I was sick it felt even more cold. The parade didn’t start until around 9:45 and it only lasted a half hour. I wish it would’ve started on time since it was so cold out, but it was quite an interesting parade. I had no idea what to expect out of an art parade, but I don’t think that was it. Haha. All the floats and everything looked like they were hand-made. There were sparklers and other forms of minor fireworks used, which I thought was one of the coolest parts.

Another weird thing was that all the photographers were allowed to be right in the midst of the parade. It made it impossible for me to get any decent photos and it got really annoying when a bunch of photographers were standing in front of you. Weird because you would never be allowed to even step off the curb in the States during a parade.  When we got back home around 10:45, I went straight to bed.

Monday July 18th- My last day of class! So weird. I don’t think it’s hit me yet. I’m going to miss this city and the girls I’ve become so close with. I had class at 10am with my friend Jordan. After class we met Meggie and Jamie for lunch at a place in the city around 11:30. We had intended to get lunch, but they were only serving breakfast and didn’t start serving lunch until 12:30. So I decided to finally try the traditional Irish breakfast. I’m not much of a breakfast person to begin with, but it was pretty delicious. I’m glad I tried it. It has bacon, irish sausage, a fried egg, potatoes, pudding (not what you’re thinking… it tasted like an extremely weird form of sausage… I did not like it at all), and beans (which tasted very similar to baked beans, but they were a little sweeter). It came with toast and coffee. I got the mini one (by no means a small portion though!), but the full one had tomato and extra meat & potatoes with it. 

After breakfast/lunch, Jamie and I went back to the apartments. Meggie went to look in town for a little bit and Jordan went back to use a computer on campus. I wrote some of this blog entry and worked on something I needed for my next class. My final class was a seminar for my society class. My group was supposed to look up the difference in the cost of living in Ireland compared to the US. I learned that overall, it’s cheaper to live in the States, though some things vary differently. After class I went to see my grades for the last exam and my society paper. I got an A on my society paper and my first society exam. How exciting! Oh, and I received a B+ on my Lit and Film exam, but I don’t know the grade for my final paper in that class yet. Now I’m back in my apartment and I’m going to have an easy going night in and attempt to study for my finals that are tomorrow. I may take a break and watch a movie with some girls in between (;

Sorry this entry was unbelievably long! Didn’t intend for it to be so lengthy, haha. Hopefully I’ll be better at updating it next time. A few of my friends were asking about what I’m doing for the next several days after my program officially ends on Wednesday. Well I’m traveling for 5 days on my own, then my parents will meet me in Galway and we’ll travel around Ireland for 6 days. So I won’t be back in the states until August 1st. For those who care to know, here’s my itinerary for those 11 days:

Thursday - Go to Glendalough, a small village near the Wicklow National Park. 
Friday - Spend the day at the Wicklow National Park.
Saturday - Head to Kilkenny and spend most of the day there.
Sunday - Get up and head to Killarney halfway through the day.
Monday - Spend the day biking around the Killarney National Park.
Tuesday - Get up early and meet mom and dad in Galway.

I absolutely LOVE national parks and mountains so I’m really excited that I get to see two. Also, I love biking so I can’t wait to rent bikes for each of the parks. I may change part of this itinerary to fit in something else I want to do, but I don’t know yet. I’m taking a bus to get to each place and staying in a hostel each night. Should be quite an experience in itself for me since I’ll be traveling on my own. Also, I really hope the weather is kind to me since much of my travels involve outdoor activities. 

After that, my parents are in charge of the itinerary. I know we’re doing 2 days in Galway, 1 day in Dublin (where they’ve gotten tickets for me to see Peter Pan on the stage!!), 1 day in Cork, and 2 days in Dingle. Should be lots of fun because I’ve been to most of these places (besides Cork) and I can take them to some of my favorite spots.  

Dingle for the Weekend

Alright… so things have been a little busy here lately, hence why I haven’t been able to update this since last week. Sorry it’s taken so long! Last weekend I went to Dingle. Dingle is located in County Kerry, which is in the southern part of the country. On Friday July 8th, we started our morning at 11:30am, which was directly after my society class so I had to take my tote of weekend stuff with me to class. We left from the center of campus on a bus. I shared a seat with my friend Jordan. Right away I fell into a small nap, though it was extremely uncomfortable in the seat I had chosen! Haha. When I woke up, we had arrived at our lunch stop for the day. We had stopped to see Bunratty Castle.

The castle is huge and completely preserved on the inside. Each of the rooms and bedrooms were set up as they had been left.  We walked up so many steps inside the tower and the stairs were so narrow! The views from the top of the towers were wonderful.

Around the castle were small thatched cottages that were each painted vibrant colors such as coral pink, pale yellow, and electric blue. As we walked past these, we were suddenly in a small town. After touring around here for a bit, we realized we had run out of time to have a real sit down lunch at a pub, so we grabbed some sandwiches. Of course we got our chicken and stuffing sandwichs! Yum.  Back on the bus, everyone fell asleep. We had about 4 more hours to go after stopping at Bunratty. The views along the way were amazing. I absolutely love the landscape of County Kerry. At one point, it was completely sunny out. Then it started pouring rain for 3 minutes. Then it was completely clear after 2 minutes. I’m not even kidding about that short rainfall. I looked at the time I took my pictures on my camera. 

We arrived at the hostel in Dingle. It was called Dingle Harbour Lodge and it sat on a hill, overlooking the harbor. We had the evening free, so we went into town to find some dinner and see if there was a pub playing traditional music. We found a pub to eat some grub in. A few of us were craving fish and chips and they gave us such a HUGE portion. My friends Meggie, Jamie, Jordan, and I went off on our own from the group after dinner. I really have made some great friends here and I know we’re going to keep in touch. 

We ventured in the little shops and walked around the town. It’s a cute little town. The harbor was one of my favorite parts of the town. The sun had begun to set and we sat on rocks near the water and looked at the boats for a little while. 

We found a small pub that had live music at 9pm. The two guys were playing a mix of folk music and American tunes. We listened for a little bit then went off to find another pub. We found that parts of the Dingle nightlife are quite sketchy. We had a scary experience with some drunk men that involved us hiding in a bathroom for about 15 minutes. Honestly, we were fine. Nothing to worry about. It was just quite weird. After going into a few pubs that we didn’t like, we found one that was packed and playing traditional music. Great way to end the night. 

The next day (July 9th) we had a full day of activities planned by our program leaders. We left the hostel at 9:30am. Our first stop was to visit early Christian Round Huts (or also called Beehive Huts because of their shape). It’s quite amazing to think about how many people would live in these and the fact that there was no ventilation and no way to really contain the heat. 

Next we went to Coumeenoole Beach. I really wish we could’ve stopped here longer because it was absolutely GORGEOUS. I loved how it was in a little alcove in the side of the country. 

The color of the water was so wonderful. I had no idea ocean water could look so green, yet so blue. Hard to explain, haha, but phenomenal! 

Next we went to the Blasket Island Cultural Center. It was pretty amazing to hear about the people who lived on the Blasket Islands, which are 3 little islands located about 5 miles off the coast of county Kerry. The only thing I really hated about all of this was that we were at a tourism visitor center. I would’ve preferred to see something outside. Anyways, we had lunch here and then we left to see our last two stops. 

Next we saw the Gallarus Oratory. It is the best preserved unmortared early christian church. I can’t believe there used to be mass held in such a tiny building. Our tour guide told us that only the very upper class of the town would actually be attending the church, so not very many people would be in there at one time. It still amazes me that people were able to build something like this. Each of the edges are so perfect!

Next we saw Kilmalkedar. It’s a 12th century church on early christian site. Here there is one of the only sun dials in all of Ireland. It is believed that the reason there is one here is because at the time it was the new cool thing to get for your church. Funny to me since it’s not very sunny in Ireland. I guess you could only see what time it was sometimes, haha. 

The stone that Jamie and I are standing next to in this picture is what people would stick their fingers through with their finance to show their engagement. Pretty interesting. Also, I guess this means Jamie and I are engaged, haha. 

After this, we had the evening free to us again. We did basically the same thing as the night before, but found new pubs to try out. We met a stag party (I hadn’t heard this term until being here. I don’t know about anybody else. But that means it’s a bachelor party. The bachelorette parties are called Hen parties). These men we a little weird and we finally got away from them after awhile. Basically, we missed our Galway nightlife and Galway in general. It was weird, but we all kept saying “I can’t wait to be home” and we meant Galway. I guess we’ve just grown to be very comfortable here. Earlier on in the night we discovered an amazing ice-cream place. It was called Murphys and it made homemade ice-cream of all kinds of interesting flavors such as Sea Salt, Balsamic, Brown Bread, and so many others. I got Baileys and Brown Bread. So yummy. Baileys is always my favorite and the brown bread was quite interesting! Haha. 

The next day (July 10th), we left the hostel by 10am. At 12:30 we stopped in the small village of Adare, located in County Limerick. It was a cute little town and we didn’t have much time to venture around so we grabbed some grub first. I got a burger at the pub we stopped in. It tasted different, but so delicious. Before getting back on the bus, we walked around a little park and took some pictures. I’m really going to miss all the green here in Ireland. 

Okay, so later today I’ll update about this past week. Sorry I’ve been so behind! I can’t believe I’m done with school here on Wednesday. I love you all! Thanks for continuing to read this blog (:

Venturing to Inis Mor

On Sunday (July 3rd), I went to see one of the Aran Islands. The Aran Islands are 3 islands off the west coast of Ireland, about a 45 minute ferry ride from the coastline. As part of an excursion with my university, we went to see Inis Mor, which is the largest of the 3 islands. We left from the school extremely early (around 9am) and boarded a large double decker bus. It took about an hour to get from the university to the dock where we were to get the ferry. Once on the ferry, it was another 45 minutes to the island. I took this as an opportunity to catch up on a little sleep, so I did not even realize the ferry ride had taken so long. Once we got off the ferry, we went to rent bikes. We were given a course to set off on and told to meet up at a certain place by 1pm. That left us a little less than 2 hours to get to this place. We biked all along the coast of the island.

I could not believe how much rock there was all over the place. Never in my life have I seen so many rocks! The ride was gorgeous. I did not know how desolate the Aran Islands were though. Long stretches of land and stone seemed to cover the entire island. I truly believe that only twenty people live on this island. Okay, I’m only kidding of course. But I only saw a few houses on my bike ride… so I don’t know where all the houses are hiding! Oh, and important fact… the island is only 9 miles long. We biked a little over half of it one way. So for the entire day we biked 7 miles. We were all pretty proud of ourselves when we figured that out later!

Anyways, we biked all along the coast. We stopped to gaze at the gorgeous ocean for a little bit. It’s so weird how the waves are so gentle when they crash into the shore line. This is my friend Jordan and I:

getting a little creative with the sand:

After stopping at the beach, we rode on and finally got to our first destination. We were told to get lunch here and drop off our bikes. I got my favorite meal in Ireland: creamy vegetable soup with brown bread (: Afterwards, we had a little bit of time to waste, so we walked into the 3 shops nearby. Two of them had the famous Aran sweaters. I decided to wait and find myself a sweater at the huge store near the ferry at the end of the day. Here’s a picture of a few of those famous Aran sweaters: 

We walked around for a bit, then our tour guide told us we were going to head up and see the Fort early. Dun Aonghasa fort was built around 1200 BC. It is truly amazing to me that a fort is able to stand for so many centuries. 

The fort lies at the highest point of the island. Off the side of the fort are cliffs. Those these cliffs are no comparison to the Cliffs of Moher, it is weird to think that people used to live next to these cliffs every day. Our tour guide for the fort was an older gentleman named Padraic (gaelic version of Patrick). He had this creative idea for me to do this pose:

of course, I’m standing on a huge ledge and I have to squat in order to make it look like I’m hanging off the cliff. Such a creative idea on his part! I loved the cliffs because I could climb all over them. Ireland has turned me into a person who loves to climb. 

This is a picture of some of the girls in the program and I sitting on the rocks near the edge of one of the cliffs: (top- jamie, me, kathleen, olivia, and sarah. bottom- kali and nicole)

After venturing around the fort, we decided to bike back because we had to be on the ferry by 4:30 and we still needed to look at the Aran sweater shop. This is right before we were about to bike back: (Jordan, me, Nicole)

And, while we were biking back, the sun decided to show itself! I was so happy because the view was so much more lovely. 

I decided to purchase an Aran sweater. It’s so warm and comfy and I’m told that the sweaters last for YEARS, so I sure hope so! I enjoyed visiting the Aran Island of Inis Mor, but I don’t think I’d ever go back. It was glorious to be able to bike around all day and I loved being in such a vast area of Ireland, but I could never imagine living there. It was gorgeous and if anyone is ever near Inis Mor and is up for a wonderful bike ride, then it is definitely your thing to do! Otherwise, I prefer being in Galway and the surrounding towns. (:

Because I’m a little behind on my blogging, I’m going to update my last few days in this post as well:

Monday (July 4th)- The university threw a big barbeque for all the American kids studying abroad here for the summer. It was so nice of them because they went all out. We walked into the college bar and saw red, white, and blue everywhere. They gave us two free drinks and a HUGE plate of food. They grilled burgers, sausages, & chicken. Along with that we had the choice of baked potatoes, pasta salad, fresh salad, and cole slaw. It was so wonderful of the university to throw us an independence day celebration!

Tuesday (July 5th)- The day of my midterms. Isn’t it crazy that we have midterms when my classes are only 4 weeks long?! A bit ridiculous if you ask me. I studied a little monday night. I woke up early on Tuesday in an attempt to study some more, but you all know me… I feel back asleep, haha. I woke up around 9 and took my time getting ready. At 10:30, my friends Meggie and Jordan came to my apartment and we walked down to the Cathedral in the city. We had decided to attend mass because we were unable to attend over the weekend due to our busy traveling. It took us about 25 minutes to get there, so we were just in time for the 11:00 mass. Okay, shortest mass I have EVER been to. Seriously. We walked out and checked our watches… it was 11:25. I had no idea you could conduct a catholic mass in that short of a time! I think the shortest mass I’ve ever attended back home was 45 minutes. The coolest part of this mass was that the entire parish recited the Lord’s Prayer in Gaelic. I loved it. After mass, we decided to try a cafe in town for lunch. I had one of the best sandwiches ever. (I forgot to take a picture of it… can you believe it?! haha). The sandwich had turkey, brie, cranberry sauce, mayo, and stuffing. Yes, stuffing. As in, turkey dressing on thanksgiving. It was amazing. This is the second time I’ve had stuffing on my sandwich. I got a chicken and stuffing sandwich in Dublin. I guess the Irish like to put stuffing o their sandwiches? Anyways, I quite enjoy it and I never usually eat stuffing at home. After lunch, I studied for my exams until 3. My exams went until 6pm. (Back to back exams… sucked. I couldn’t feel my hand after because of all the writing). I went out for a guinness with some of the girls after, to celebrate finishing our exams and then I called it a night. 

Wedneday (July 6th)- I literally had class all day :(

Thursday (July 7th)- There is a film festival in town this week and weekend, but I’ll be out of town for the weekend so I had to see some films today if I wanted to catch any. I went at noon (in between classes) to see a series of short irish films. I was so happy to be able to see Irish films, even though they were really short ones. I also purchased a ticket to see a documentary on sunday night when we return from our trip. I’m so excited. I also was able to get a t-shirt from the festival!

I had class after the films and then I went into town with some of the girls to do a little shopping. We found this awesome bookstore in town. It has new and used books and some were extremely old. It was so wonderful. I got a little romance book written by an irishman for only 5 euro. After, we decided to get some dinner in town because we were starving. I finally got my shepherd’s pie! It was wonderful, of course. 

I leave for Dingle tomorrow with my university. I’m so excited because, like the Aran Islands, I only have to pay for my meals and whatever else I choose to buy. But everything else will be paid for! And we’ll be there all weekend. That’s why I wanted to catch up on my blogging now… I’ll have a lot to post when I get back! Sorry for the super long blog entry. I love you all!

Random Fact of the Day: How to say “hello” in Gaelic: Dia Duit. (pronounced as dia*gooit) It literally means “may God be with you”. 

Finding True Irish Beauty

Alright, the first time I wrote this, it took me a half hour and then my computer decided to not save it? I don’t know. Anyways, here we go again!

On Saturday (July 2nd) I took another day tour. This time  it wasn’t just Meggie, Jamie, and I. Jordan, Rachel, Nicole, and Kathleen joined us. It was a great size group and we had a grand time. Our first stop was at Ross Errily Friary. It is a 14th century monastery that is not normally seen by tourists. This was my favorite ruin that I’ve seen thus far. It was HUGE. I know that was mainly because it was a Friary, not just a cathedral, but I still loved it. The best part was being able to climb all over it through hallways and doors that used to be. At one point we realized that we had made it onto the second floor. I’ve never been on the second floor of a ruin before. Most of the ruins I’ve been to were just a couple of rooms on one floor, so this one was very different. It still amazes me how buildings such as this have been around for so many centuries. And, at a time when religion was much more prominent in everyday life. 

This is me sitting on the ledge of the second floor of the Friary:

Our next stop was in the village of Cong, which is famous for being the location for the 1950s classic movie “The Quiet Man” directed by John Ford, staring John Wayne. The town was cute and quaint. We walked through a small park nearby. It was so picturesque. We all kept commenting on how great it would be to have professional photos taken here, such as your senior portraits. Ashford Castle is also located here. We took a few pictures in it, but found the park to be much more fun. We found an old fishing house ruin on the lake in the park. Of course we all had to take pictures on it.

Right before boarding the bus again, we stopped in an adorable little coffee shop. I got a scone with butter and jam (along with a diet coke, of course!). It was DELICIOUS. First time I’ve ever had a scone, come to think of it. The europeans sure do know how to make their scones! On the way to Connemara, we stopped for another picture moment. This was the group for the day: (left to right - Jordan, Rachel, Jamie, Nicole, Meggie, Kathleen, Me)

Connemara has got to be my favorite thing I’ve seen in Ireland so far. It is stretches of mountain and valleys, separated by patches of water. It is shared with County Galway and County Mayo. It was so breathtkaing. It reminded me a little of how I felt when I was in Yosemite. I love natural landscapes that involve mountains and gorgeous clouds, so I was in heaven. The reflection of the mountains and clouds in the water was outstanding. I honestly only thought you could achieve that look after a great deal of picture editing. False. (: 

Our tour guide took us down a road that is not normally travelled by tourists. It still amazes me how tiny the roads are here. They look like the size of one-lane roads, yet two cars (or a huge tour bus and a car) can fit if needed! On the way down the road, we stopped to feed a pony named Joey. Our driver has been feeding this little guy apples every day with his tour group for the past year. When we pulled down the road, our driver honked his horn and Joey came galloping down to meet us. Our driver assumes he isn’t given very much care from his male owner because of the way Joey shies away from men. 

Isn’t this the most amazing jumping picture you’ve ever seen?! Everyone jumped at the same time and is at the same height. I love it. Of course, the Connemara background makes this photo even more perfect (:

Finally, we made it to Kylemore Abbey. I’d seen several pictures of Kylemore Abbey before coming to Ireland so I had an idea in my head of what it would like. Surprisingly, it looked just as fake in person as it did in the pictures. I love how it looks. The colors of the building contrasted next to the vibrant green Ireland landscape make it look unreal. In all honesty, I think I’d built the place up too much in my head. I had expected it to be much bigger because it looks HUGE in pictures, but in reality it wasn’t very large. This might have a lot to do with the fact that I had just visited the Biltmore in December, though. The view in front of the Abbey was outstanding though. I’d love to live there for that view. 

Kylemore Abbey is also known for it’s Walled Victorian Gardens. They were gorgeous, but I preferred the Connemara landscape to be completely honest. 

On our way back home, we stopped to see a replica of the cottage used in “The Quiet Man.” It was a typical touristy moment to stop and photograph it. It looked just like it, though I do believe the cottage in the movie was a little more white, haha. 

Overall, it was a very successful day. I’d love to go back and see Connemara any day!

Becoming Daredevils

Okay, I’m going to break this up into three separate blog entries because it’s so much. This past weekend was jam-packed full of adventure and sightseeing. I’ll start with Friday (July 1^st). Jamie, Meggie, and I had the day off of class, so we went on a tour of the Cliffs of Moher and the Burren. Finding the tour company was an adventure in itself! We were passed from person to person before finally finding where we were supposed to be. Our tour began at 10am and we began by traveling along the Galway Bay. Our driver’s name was Desmond and he was quite the character. He was in his late 60s and had been doing the tour company job for over 18 years. He continuously cracked little jokes and sometimes he spoke so fast that it was hard to understand his thick irish accent. He stopped first along the rode for a picture of some gorgeous irish scenery. It was, by far, one of my favorite views. I really have no idea why, though. It just struck me as being so beautiful. 

Our next stop was Ballyalban Fairy Fort, which is said to be home to all the leprechauns and fairies. Dez (as he told us to call him) left little stuffed animal leprechauns out for us to return to see on a tree trunk and he kept claiming to see them running all around us. Quite a silly man, but I enjoyed his enthusiasm. 

After getting back on the bus, we started to drive through the Burren. The Burren comes from the Irish word Boireann, meaning “great rock”. The Burren is an area in County Clare (a county next to county galway) that is made up of a great deal of natural limestone rock. Everywhere you look, you see limestone with grass sprouting up between the cracks. It is one of the largest karst landscapes in Europe. We stopped at the Gleninsheen Wedge Tomb, which is an 5,800 year old Poulnabrone Dolmen. It is a type of tomb that was built during the Neolithic or New Stone Age (when the practice of farming was first becoming established). Over ninety large stone tombs are known to survive in the Burren. The tomb we saw is one of the best-preserved in the country. 

Next, we stopped at Kilfenora to see the famous Celtic Crosses (also known as the Irish High Crosses). These are located in an Kilfenora Cathedral, which was the smallest diocese in medieval Ireland. The crosses here are intricate works of craftsmanship that are left standing inside the church. We went to the town of Doolin next to have a little lunch at a pub called Gus O’Connors. I got seafood chowder with brown bread (duh) and it was superb! My favorite part was the fact that there were huge chunks of salmon in the chowder. YUM. Dez had recommended that we all take a little stop in the fudge shop next door after lunch. What a great recommendation. The shop was no larger than the average size of a bedroom and all the chocolate was made there in Doolin. I decided to try some fudge that I would not be able to purchase in the States and I got Irish Porter Fudge. It was SO delicious. You could taste the subtle hints of porter used. 

After lunch and dessert, we headed off to the Cliffs. They were about 10 minutes away at this point and I was getting so excited. The Cliffs were the main thing I wanted to see while I was in Ireland. I was not disappointed. I was however, completely surprised at how unafraid I was to be so close the edge. They said that people have been blown off the cliffs from standing too close, but we went on such a calm day that there was barely a noticeable breeze. The weather was PERFECT for us to visit the cliffs; the sun was shining and the temperature got up into the upper 60s. My friend Meggie chose not to go so close to the edge, but Jamie and I were so excited to lie down and shimmy our way to the edge to look over. It is such a far drop and it was amazing. I think what amazed me most was how BLUE the water was. It was unbelievable. I had no idea it would be so gorgeous. There’s a point in the path where there’s a sign warning people not to go past. Everyone ignores the sign though. It’s basically there so you can’t sue or blame the cliffs if you get blown off the cliffs. The part that is “crossed off” (really, there’s just a sign) is privately owned property and you can see the farmer’s cows and land as you walk up the cliffs. If someone chose to stay behind the sign, they would not walk along any of the cliffs. So in reality, you have to disobey and walk along. It is quite a feeling to see something so amazing and high that is natural. Man didn’t create this, God did. It was gorgeous. 

There was a lady who offered to take our picture while Jamie and I were walking along. She had a huge Canon camera with her and she knew what she was doing. She got this awesome picture of Jamie and I that looks like we are literally dangling our feet over the edge. In reality, we are a few feet away from the edge and our legs are completely in grass. I love it, though. 

After the Cliffs, we were beginning to feel quite exhausted. The ride back was wonderful of course. We stopped for a quick photo along the coast where the Galway Bay and the Atlantic Ocean meet.

 Finally, we stopped at Dunguaire Castle in Kinvara for a quick picture. Very gorgeous. 

Random Fact of the Day: In my Irish Society class, I learned that the minimum wage in Ireland is 9.70 euro. That’s nearly $14 converted! That would mean I would make almost DOUBLE what I currently make. I’m moving.