These Are The Days

There’s than three weeks left for me on the Emerald Isle now, which is slightly depressing to think about. School is definitely starting to pick up for us with projects, papers, and finals looming around the corner. It’ll be busy for the next week, that’s for sure.

This past week has kept us pretty busy too. Thursday we hiked down to Kylemore Abbey for probably the fourth time this semester. It was such a gorgeous day, I think it was the warmest and sunniest day that we’ve been here. We toured Kylemore and then saw the gardens, and those of us that wanted an adventure hiked up to the Jesus Statue that is located behind the castle (only this time we were successful). It was the perfect day. After we got to the statue, we found a stream running down the mountain and we all took our shoes off and stood in the stream and admired the views. I loved it.

Friday we departed for our trip to the South at 7:00 a.m. It was a rude awakening, but I woke up to an awesome sunrise over the mountains. It was beautiful.

One of the best ways to wake up.

On our way to the south we stopped at Cahir Castle. We’ve seen so many castles that I’ve lost count, but this tour was one of the better tours we had. After the castle, we walked about 20 minutes to the Swiss Cottage. It’s totally secluded from the rest of the city and completely revolves around nature. No two things about the cottage are the same; all of the windows, entry ways, etc are made differently. Again, another highlight of the trip for me. Shortly thereafter we made it to the Bed and Breakfast and then explored Kilarney, the city we were staying in for some food and proceeded to pass out from the long day’s journey.

The outside of the Swiss Cottage. I want to live there.

Saturday we toured the Dingle Peninsula, which was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. We stopped for multiple photo opportunities and got to walk down to the ocean a few times. The weather held out for us too which made it a good day. We then stopped at the Muckross House, a Victorian Mansion where Queen Elizabeth stayed in the 1850’s. The Mansion also encompassed some gardens and a lake that we were able to check out for a little while. After the Muckross House, Dr. Dawson surprised us with a stop at Torc Waterfall, which I again loved. We ran to the top of the waterfall as we were pressed for time, but it was worth it. Afterward, the guys plus Beth went out to dinner together and then Jake, Ken, Rian, Beth and I met up with Maggie and Heather for a pint at a pub. It was our Dublin Pub Crawl group reunited, only much more tame. Overall, Saturday was one of my favorite days that we’ve spent over here. The sites were remarkable and I loved every second of it.

Brit, myself, and Hannah during our tour of the Dingle Peninsula.

Sunday we left at 9 in the morning to start our trip back to Tully Cross. On the way, we passed through the Burren, which is land made up of Limestone from 350 million years ago. The land was created by the water and the ocean, and ironically, the ocean is what will soon destroy the land. Within the Burren we saw the Cliffs of Moher (or Cliffs of Insanity), another highlight for me. It was cloudy and was slightly sprinking while we were there, but the sun eventually came out for us and we got to enjoy the views and the Cliffs. I was really impressed to stand at the Cliffs. We made our way toward Galway and we got to do some Grocery shopping for the cottages and then headed back to Tully Cross. During the two hour trip from Galway to Tully Cross on the bus, we had “Rian’s Variety Hour” which basically is what it sounded like. People read poetry, sang, told jokes and stories. It was the best and most entertaining bus ride I’ve been on. I didn’t show off any of my talents, but perhaps next time. After getting back, we all went to the chipper for dinner and then called it a night.

The Cliffs of Moher. Simply beautiful.

Monday we didn’t have class, but the hiking class went for a hike at noon only to be rained out about halfway through the hike. We turned around early and spent the majority of the afternoon working on homework. Later in the day most of us went down to the pitch and played Quidditch which was organized by Heather. Liam was the snitch, which was interesting to watch. It was a lot of fun and the field was muddy, so we ended up doing some laundry after the game. Rian got the award for dirtiest player. After the game Beth made us Gallahad Stew and we went out to Coynes for the usual live music from Aiden and a few songs from Beth. It was a fairly successful day.

Tuesday I woke up early to conquer the pile of homework that is looming over my head this week before Lit Class that evening. After watching some Scrubs, the night was spent at cottage six playing Bananagrams and simply hanging out.

Today I’ve tried to get some more homework done, but motivation escapes me currently. I’m hoping that I’ll find some soon. We have our History Class this evening and that’s basically it. Tomorrow we were supposed to head out to Innishbofin but the weather doesn’t look too good, so we might skip that. This weekend will be low-key, spent working on a lot of homework I’m sure.