Closing Time...

We are about 15 hours away from leaving Ireland. I’m happy, sad, and just about every other emotion you can imagine. Basically, I’m Bi-Polar.

Our last week(end) here has been a memorable one. We finished up our finals and had our Awards Ceremony. I won “Most Likely to Succeed Dr. Dawson as the REAL Dean of Students.” Seems appropriate. The video debuted and everyone loved it. I’m currently trying to get it to load on Facebook, but having bad luck with the internet. After the ceremony, we spent the evening in cottage six celebrating the end of the semester. Some went to the pub, but I stayed in and watched a movie with Rian, Heather and Maggie and then proceeded to fall asleep.

Thursday I woke up to the realization that I had finished my Junior Year of college. It was definitely a bittersweet “epiphanic moment” as Dr. Dawson would say. It was time to start cleaning up and putting things away, so the guys worked on the study cottage and put everything back up in the attic which took up a good portion of the morning. After cleaning out cottage 3, I made hummus with Dr. Dawson for the Thanks party that night. It was SO GOOD. I think I ate more of the hummus than we actually made…whoops. After that I spent the afternoon outside on the picnic tables with Jake, Brittany and Hannah and grilled some chicken for us. That night was our thanks party; I manned the grill with Rian and Heather and Maggie assisted with the burger/hotdog grill assembly line behind Coynes Pub. Not a whole lot of people showed up unfortunately because it was a Thursday night, so we had a lot of food left over that we are still trying to work our way through. After the food, there was some live music and entertainment from us in the form of songs and poetry and then some locals played music for the rest of the night. It was a somber night for most of us, unfortunately.

Friday morning, I woke up at 5:15 a.m. and went down to Tully beach with Rian, Maggie, Heather, Bridget, Bailey, and Sarah to watch the sunrise. It was one of my favorite experiences in Ireland thus far. We all took a rock and sat in solitude for a little while. The sunrise seemed to go on forever, and the colors in the sky were absolutely amazing. I just sat there, not wanting the sun to ever come up, but just hoping that the morning would last a little bit longer. Yet, just as all good things must come to an end, the sun finally broke over the top of the mountain across the ocean close to 7:00 a.m. Sitting on the rocks, the past semester hit me and I really realized how much I’m going to miss it here…

After the sunrise, we got Dr. Dawson to give us a lift down to the Park for one last hike up Diamond Mountain. It was a clear day and the weather was perfect for hiking the mountain. The five of us (Bridget and Sarah opted out of the hike) made it to the top and enjoyed the views one last time. It was so beautiful at the top. We made our way back down the mountain and Dr. Dawson picked us up and brought us back to the cottages where we quick changed because all of us were hiking down to Glasscilun Beach for the day, which was about four or five miles away. We had a picnic on the beach and laid out and got burned by the sun. It was the perfect way to spend one of our last days in Tully Cross.

That evening we had the food that was left over from our party the night before outside on the picnic tables. It was a beautiful, calm, evening. I watched the sun slowly set behind Tully Mountain and then the moon slowly rose over the 12 bens mountains. Topped off with our last disco and a little star gazing, it was the perfect end to the perfect day.

This morning I woke up early and with a significantly large headache, unfortunately. I started cleaning up our cottage and worked on the bathroom and the shower while the guys worked on the kitchen and all of our dishes from the past few days. Today was the start of the Mussel Festival, right across the street at Coynes. Jake and I volunteered to help out at the Festival and I tried mussels for the first time. Tasty! A bunch of us worked the festival and are working tomorrow too. We scored tee-shirts for helping out (they know Aquinas Students too well). After that I worked on packing and cleaning some more and making all of the food that we have left in our cottage, which is a lot actually, and we still have a bunch of food left that I think we’re going to try to donate to the church or an organization. For dinner we had more leftovers from the Party, and there’s still more left. We definitely over estimated that. After dinner, Jake and I joined Hannah and Brittany in their cottage for some Euchre and “sad songs” before hitting up Coynes because Aiden was playing. It was packed because of the Mussel Festival, which was kind of uncomfortable and annoying to have so many people in the pub when we all just wanted it to be us. Beth sang a few songs as always and Jake and I had a few beers. After Coynes, it was a clear night out so Mike and I laid out under the stars for a while and just talked before heading to bed.

This morning I woke up early and did some more cleaning and packing before heading to church where the priest announced that we were leaving and we received a round of applause from the church which was nice and comforting. The plan for the day is to hit up Sammons one last time and then finish cleaning and packing by 7:00 p.m. so we can have the Chipper and then hit up the pubs until they close. Brittany and I are planning to walk to Tully at some point to have a last walk with each other down to the ocean, since that was how we spent our first few days here. (Bringing everything full circle). Our bus leaves Tully Cross at 3:30 a.m. so I’m not planning to go to sleep. We should be back in Grand Rapids by about 7:30 p.m. on Monday if everything is on time.

I’ll post pictures up on Facebook from the past month once I’m home and have better internet access. As of right now, I’m going to live up the last few hours that I have left.

It’s been a crazy, amazing semester and I’ve loved every second of it. Cottage 7 and Tully Cross have been really good for me. I’m going to miss it here.

Thanks for taking the time to read my sometimes awkward and most likely boring updates on life on the Isle. I’ll see you soon. Until then…

Peace. Love. Tully Cross. Ireland.

Rob