Long time no update. I’ll apologize in advance for how long this is going to be.
Going off of my last post, the rest of my day on Monday was pretty low-key. The roommates and I have taken to having “Family Dinner” together and watching episodes of Scrubs (I brought a season with me…go figure). We are slowly working our way through Season 6. After dinner we worked on homework and then went over to Coynes for some live music from Aiden, one of the locals. Beth got up and sang a few songs with him as well. It was a relaxing evening and afterward we all hit the hay.
Tuesday some of us wanted to go for a hike down near Kylemore Abbey. In the mountain behind the castle, there is a Jesus Statue that we wanted to go up and try to get to, so Vaughn, Bailey, Sarah Robinson, Allison (Dr. Dawson’s niece), Bridget, Heather and I set out on our mission. However, the staff at Kylemore Abbey told us that we couldn’t use their trail because it was being worked on and wasn’t safe to hike, so we had to find an alternate route. Heather and Bridget used their common sense and decided to head back while the rest of us hopped barbed wire fences and did some trespassing to get to the mountain. We finally did and we ended up having to hike through the Amazon Rainforest basically. It was a little scary at spots, but we eventually made it out of the forest and continued up the mountain. We couldn’t find the Jesus Statue, so we had to call it a day and resolved to try again another day because it was getting late. We again made our way through the frightening forest and found flat land. The hike took us about six hours and was easily 10-12 miles long. Overall, it was probably both the dumbest and coolest thing I’ve ever done.
That night we had a brief culture class and then Dr. Dawson had a paper workshop with us for a paper we had due for her in her class. We then did homework, or tried to. Most of the night was spent just relaxing in our cottage talking and then we called it a night.
Wednesday I slept in until almost noon because I was worn out from the hike the day before. My legs were extremely tight…no pain, no gain, right? Wednesday we had our history class and then afterward our cottage met with Dr. Duncan to discuss our history presentation. I’m presenting on the jail in Dublin that has been turned over into a museum. I haven’t done much research on it yet, but from what I’ve gathered it was the jail in which most of the people associated with the uprising were kept. We’ll get to see the jail when we go to Dublin next week, so I’m excited. After we worked on more homework, talked, and again called it night. (Starting to see a pattern here?)
Thursday was our Lit class. Nothing special there…We studied poetry from the “Cromwell period.” Cromwell was a ruler who came to Ireland and sort of exiled a lot of the Irish people and took their land from them. The poetry from that era is extremely depressing since it all revolves around Cromwell.
Friday was an interesting day/night. We started off our day hiking Diamond Mountain, something that I’ve been dying to do since we got here. The mountain is part of a national park, so we had a trail all the way to the top, but the hike was still a lot of fun. We reached the top and had a remarkable view of Connemara and the Ocean. After the hike we went to the pub in Letterfrack (where the mountain is located) and had a pint to reward ourselves. The hike took about 3-4 hours, and none of us had much to eat yet that day, so we were pretty well along after one pint. We walked back to the cottage and got things ready for the night ahead. Sammon’s was holding a disco for Gretchen’s birthday which was two weeks prior. That was probably her third or fourth birthday party; I’ve lost count. Anyway, everyone came over to our cottage before we went to the Pub, which was a lot of fun. Rian made another toast which everyone enjoyed. After everyone left our cottage, the roommates and I made our way to the Cottage Café and got some burgers and chips (fries) and then went to Sammons. The students were basically the only ones there, but we made the most of it and danced the night away.
Saturday was a very low-key day as everyone tried to recover from the night before and remember the night before. Most of us worked on homework. My cottage went to the Café again for dinner and then we invited Brittany and Hannah over for some card games and a chill evening.
Sunday I went to church across the road. It’s really convenient. I can wake up at 10:40 for 11:00 church and still be early. I do enjoy going to church over here. There’s not too much music included in the mass which I don’t like, but a different setting helps me to focus more on the mass, so I appreciate it more. After mass, we went over to Sammon’s for brunch. I had the full Irish Breakfast. So much food, but so delicious. After we let our food digest, we continued our Sunday tradition of playing a game of soccer, or football rather. Then we prepared for the Valentine’s Day party that evening at Cottage six. There was so much food; it was so delicious. My stomach was so full. We experimented with some drinks and discovered that Bailey’s and Ice Cream is awesome. Just in case anyone wanted to know. From there we partied in the cottage where too much fun was had and where Ken and I dominated at some games; and then finally made our way to the pub. Overall, it was a much needed night for everyone and a successful night.
Today has been spent primarily working on homework. We had a short review for our Lit midterm which is later this week, but other than that I’ve been doing homework and working on papers. This week and next will be a big test academically before we head on Spring Break. We have both of our midterms, a few papers and my cottage has its presentation due this week. Time to get down to business.
Here are a few pictures from the past week.
This was the view from the top of Diamond Mountain. Minus a little haze, it was a spectacular view. I'll definitely be hiking that again.
From the mountain behind Kylemore Abbey where the Jesus Statue escaped us. Drats.
Cottage 7 Picture during the Valentine's Day party. Note Jake's boxers and Ken's wife beater. We're classy like that.Check Facebook for more pictures, and I'll have another update before we head to Dublin next week.
Peace. Love. Ireland.
Rob
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