“I smelled the spring on the smoky wind”

This past weekend a group of us set out for the charming little town of Doolin. I had visited this area over the summer with my family and had gone horseback riding there for the first time, so naturally I couldn’t wait to get back! Luckily, Doolin is the lunch stop on the Galway Tour Company’s Cliffs of Moher/The Burren tour, and thus we were able to get a free bus ride there and back! I know I said last week that our hostel in Dingle was incredibly adorable, but I think the one in Doolin was even cuter! The renovated 300 year-old cottage was right next to a river and had a very warm feeling (both literally and figuratively) to it. After dropping our stuff off we walked about ten minutes into town. Only a few stores were open since it is still the off-season, but one of them was having a sale on wool sweaters. Deciding I probably wouldn’t find one for a better price while I’m here, I caved and bought one. This is one souvenir that is at the top of everyone’s list when they come to Ireland, so I was really happy to find one that I liked that wasn’t too expensive!

After some shopping we walked a little way up the coast to Doonagore Castle. The walk was very tranquil, as the sun was beginning to set behind the Cliffs of Moher in the distance. When we arrived at the castle the gate was unfortunately locked, as it is apparently private property. That didn’t stop three of our group members (who shall remain nameless), who proceeded to hop the fence to get some better pictures of the castle up close (at one point, I believe the words “do the garda even exist out here?” were spoken haha). While these shenanigans were taking place, our friend Brianna was visiting with family members whom she’d never met before that still lived in the area. To say I was a bit jealous would be quite an understatement!

Since it was getting dark out, we headed back into town and eventually made our way to the Russell Cultural Center. The reason for our visit to Doolin this particular weekend was to experience the Russell Music Festival. Micho Russell was one of Ireland’s best-known traditional musicians in the latter half of the 20th century. He was born in Doolin, where he lived all his life. Around the anniversary of his death, musicians from all over come together in Doolin to celebrate his music and legacy. Friday night’s event was a large music and dance performance by multiple groups. It was really interesting to listen to all the different songs, and it was a great indicator of what we would be enjoying the rest of the weekend.

On Saturday we sat in on a traditional (trad) music session. These sessions were taking place in all three of Doolin’s pubs throughout the entire weekend, so odds were good that if you happened to wander into one that some good music would greet you! After listening for a while, we decided to rent bikes in order to explore the area better. We rode them down to one side of Doolin’s beach, where Brianna and Amanda insisted on putting their feet in the water. I can’t even imagine how cold that must have been. This is also where Kate played hero of the day and saved the cameras from a wave! Good job Kate J We spent about an hour there and then rode out bikes over to another side of Doolin’s shoreline. It was really pretty since the sun was close to setting, with the Cliffs of Moher once again providing a beautiful backdrop.

Saturday night saw us pub crawling between a whopping two locations that were literally right across the street from one another. Both places (McGann’s and McDermott’s) were really crowded due to the festival, but the music was great! We were all having such a great time that we ended up staying until 4am, when we were finally kicked out. Sunday morning we went back to the pubs for some brunch. It is quite an interesting experience to recognize people from much earlier in the day right back in the same spot a few hours later, complete with Guinness in hand! What some champs. After a little more shopping we caught the bus back to Galway (driven by none other than Desmond!). We had a great weekend in Doolin listening to some amazing music, and all of us hope we have time to get back at some point this semester! J

Click here for pictures from Doolin!

“This could be para-para-paradise”

This past weekend a group of five of us travelled southwest of Galway to the town of Dingle for its annual Walking Festival. We set off on Friday afternoon with a walk to the bus station in the rain (gotta love Galway!). This was the first time I was going to be travelling via bus (that hadn’t been chartered), so I should have anticipated the adventure that was to follow. First, after arriving at the bus station, we were notified that Bus Éireann (the company we were taking) actually had its own terminal around the block. Surprise! We hustled over and made it in plenty of time. The same could not be said of our first connection, unfortunately. There was an unusual amount of traffic leaving Galway and therefore we were stuck in Limerick for an extra two hours. We got lunch in a cute pub to kill some time and ended up meeting an, um, interesting man. Part two of our bus ride brought us to Tralee and then after a quick switch we were finally on the road towards Dingle!

Our hostel, the Dingle Gate Hostel, was actually about a 20 minute drive east of Dingle. The bus dropped us off right in front (so convenient!) and we were soon greeted by the manager, Brian. We were originally supposed to have seven people in our group, but since we were down to five Brian graciously upgraded us to an en-suite, 6-person room (score!). Being that this was my first stay in a hostel I was a little nervous, but I was very pleasantly surprised! We basically had the place to ourselves for two days and breakfast was even included.

We woke up to the sun shining on Saturday morning. Brian drove us into Dingle, and along the way we saw a rainbow-a sure sign that it was going to be a wonderful day! Amanda and I were the only ones doing the hike, so we went off to register at Danno’s (Hawaii Five-0 shout-out!) while the other girls began to venture around the town. We decided to do the easy hike and it was just that-a leisurely stroll up a hill through a charming neighborhood before eventually going off into the wilderness. Aside from the very muddy path and some of the most intense winds I’ve ever experienced, it was absolutely beautiful! Luckily the weather cooperated with us and the sun stayed out for the vast majority of the day (first time that’s happened since I’ve been in Ireland I think!). When we made it to the highest point we were going to be climbing to that day we were able to see to both ends of the peninsula (north and south)! The landscape changed slightly depending on which way you were facing, snd it was all absolutely incredible. I think I said “this is so pretty!” roughly eighty times during the hike, and I meant it every time J

After our hike (about 3 hours total) we got some ice cream (cinnamon and dark chocolate-delicious!) and decided to explore the town. We followed a self-guided historical walking tour in Rick Steves’ book from the harbor and all around Dingle. It was really interesting because we were able to see some off-the-beaten-path things that normally wouldn’t catch a tourists’ eye. Thanks Rick! It didn’t take too long to cover the entire town as it’s probably closer to a village in size. Our three other group members, Anna, Kate, and Brianna, had finished their boat tour to see Fungie, the Dingle dolphin, by then so we met back up with them for some food. After dinner we did a mini pub-crawl (only two places) and got to see some great traditional music. While there I ordered my first Hot Toddy in Ireland! It was pretty good but could have used more cinnamon. After we’d had our share of fun and drinks we caught a cab back to the hostel. When we were dropped off we noticed how incredibly starry the sky was. It’s been so long since I’ve spent the night in a place so remote that it was quite the sight to behold! After looking up for only a few seconds I even saw a shooting star! So corny I know, but cool nonetheless J

On Sunday morning we had some time to spare before the bus was scheduled to pick us up. I really wanted to wander into the countryside surrounding the hostel because it was so beautiful. Brian instructed us to take a country road that would lead us to up a hill overlooking the bay. Sounded perfect! We set out in the direction I thought he had described…wrong! Pretty soon we were wandering through some farmer’s property and waiting for a crazed Irishman to coming chasing after us with a shotgun. So I didn’t get to do the countryside exploring I had wanted, but I did get to see (and smell) about 20 cows really close up!

We successfully flagged down the bus back to Tralee, I’m sure looking like a bunch of awful hitchhikers in the process. The ride from the hostel to Tralee was probably the most gorgeous bus ride I’ve been on in my life! It had been pitch black out when we were travelling through the same areas on Friday, so we had missed the amazing scenery. On one side were mountains, while the other side was the coast line. Again, it definitely helped that the sun was shining! Since we had a long connection time in Tralee we were able to grab lunch at a pub and walk over to the city park before having to head back to Limerick. That ride was almost as pretty as its predecessor! Overall, the travelling on Sunday was much less stressful than Friday, and we made it home safe and sound in time for dinner.

Thanks to the amazing weather and great group of friends the trip to Dingle was quite the success! I had a wonderful time and can’t wait to explore more areas of the Emerald Isle! Thanks for reading!

Click here for pictures from my trip to Dingle!

“How long must we sing this song?”

Happy Valentine’s Day! Also, happy Centennial to my home state of Arizona! J

On Thursday morning we set out for Belfast, Northern Ireland. It was the first of two trips organized by IFSA-Butler for the semester. Not only did the Galway students get to participate, but all of the Irish schools with Butler students were brought along. Thursday consisted of driving to Belfast via Dublin. We stayed at the Jury’s Inn, a nice hotel that was located in the heart of the city and thus great for exploring. We were given dinner at the hotel that night and then were free to do whatever we wanted. A group of us walked over to City Hall in the hopes that it might still be open. It wasn’t, but we got some great pictures of it all lit up anyway. We then walked to the Crown Liquor Saloon, one of the oldest pubs in Belfast. The saloon was gorgeous, with amazing detail everywhere from the bar to the ceiling. It also had private booths with little doors on them! Not great for meeting people, but interesting nonetheless. I ordered a Magners, which is Northern Ireland’s version of Bulmers cider. When we returned to the hotel my roommate (Tiffany) and I decided that it would be a great idea to stand in the window sill and try to get the attention of our friends across the way (the hotel was in a U shape, so they were about 100 feet away from us). Even though one of our friends (Kate) was sitting on the bed with the window open, it took her twenty minutes to finally notice us! All the while we were dancing around (at least as much as you can dance around on a 6-inch wide window sill) acting like complete dorks. Good times J

Friday morning we began heading north along the Antrim Coast Road. We were accompanied by a member of the Northern Ireland Tour Guide Association, who told us little factoids and stories about the areas we were travelling through. For instance, the Antrim Coast Road was originally constructed by the British Army. To build it they needed to blast parts of the mountains out, which explains why the beaches below the road contain black rocks (from the cliffs) and lighter rocks. There had been a rock slide just a few days prior, so we needed to take a little detour. The weather was pretty foggy around Belfast, but it cleared up a little bit as we got further north. We still weren’t able to see Scotland like we could have if it was clear, but it was very scenic regardless!

Our first stop of the day was the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge. The bridge is located at the end of a beautiful coastal trail and takes you out to a small island. Even though it’s only about 20 feet long, it’s pretty high over the water and thus can be quite scary for those of us who are afraid of heights. Not to worry though, I crossed it just fine and was rewarded with getting a glimpse of a seal who was hanging out down off the island’s shores. Our next stop was Dunluce Castle, an impressive sight since some of it has fallen from the cliffs into the sea. After lunch in Portrush, we concluded our North Coast trip at the Giant’s Causeway. There are very few places in the world (Scotland, Japan) that have this type of odd rock formation, and it was named Ireland’s only World Heritage Site in 1986. Millions of years ago, rapidly-cooling lava created thousands of hexagon-shaped columns, thereby creating the Giant’s Causeway. The area got its name from a legend in which the giant Finn McCool (what an awesome name!) built the causeway to fight his Scottish counterpart, Benandonner. I think the latter is a much more interesting story than boring geology! Although I had been to all three sites over the summer, it was still a lot of fun to visit them again with a great group of friends!

Saturday was the day I was looking forward to most on our trip. We began by taking a Black Taxi Tour around west Belfast, which showcased the Catholic and Protestant neighborhoods most-affected during the Troubles. The main feature of the tour is getting to see many of the murals around both neighborhoods (the tour guide called them one of the largest open-air museums in the world). In addition, we got to sign our names on the Peace Wall, an extremely high barrier that will only come down when both sides want it to come down. The guide also showed us where Rihanna had signed the wall (“We found love in a hopeless place”) when she had been there a few months ago to shoot the music video for that song! We learned that there are 59 streets going between the Catholic and Protestant neighborhoods, and that the gates put up on each end of the streets by the British are still closed every night by 10pm. It’s extremely hard for an outsider to fathom how both groups wish to remain so segregated. Finally, our guide told us that the crime rate in the Protestant neighborhood (it might have been the same with the Catholic, too) was 0.0%. How is that the case? Well, it turns out that people like to deal with issues themselves and only very rarely get the police involved. Such a different world! The tour lasted just over an hour but it seemed to go by so fast! I easily could have spent all day driving around the area and listening to the history of it. One of my favorite classes this semester is Northern Ireland: The Politics of a Divided Society, so it makes sense that I find this issue so fascinating!

For lunch we headed over to Victoria’s Square Mall, since Butler had given us 10 Pound vouchers. I managed to use 9.55 of mine, score! After some delicious mint Aero pie and a trip up to the observation deck, we jumped in a taxi and went to the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum. The main draw here was the Titanic exhibit in the Transport Museum. I spent about an hour looking at old papers and relics from the Titanic and her sister ships. The Transport Museum also housed many old streetcars, trains, and cars from over the past hundred years. We climbed around on everything for about two hours taking pictures (sometimes in places we shouldn’t have been-I’m looking at you, Tiffany!). Since the museums closed at 4pm we only got about an hour at the Folk portion of it. I wish we had more time to spend there because it was so adorable! It was a very historically-accurate representation of a traditional Irish village from about a century ago. There were cobblestone streets, a church, houses, stores, and sheep in the “rural area.” We even saw a couple who had just gotten married, hope we didn’t end up in the background of any of their pictures! The museum workers were all dressed up in period costumes and told us information about the characters they were playing (riveter, homemaker, etc). My favorite part of the little town was finding a police museum in the constabulary! I’m so glad I wandered into that random building because it really brought out the criminal justice nerd in me! ;)

Instead of taking a taxi back into town we decided to catch the train. Since this was my first time travelling on a commuter train (the Phoenix light rail doesn’t count) I was really excited, especially since we had just spent the past hour looking at old trains. It was a fun ride, and very pretty too since we travelled next to the water for a portion of it.

That concludes our Northern Ireland trip! I would love to get back up to Belfast before I return home. It is such a nice city and even though I’m lucky enough to have already been there twice there is still plenty of things I haven’t visited (Stormont Castle, the new Titanic museum etc.). We had a wonderful time and got to experience so much in such a short span of time. Thanks for reading!

Click here for pictures from the weekend! Sorry if they're out of order, Facebook was being goofy.

Click here for more pictures of Desmond's travels!

“I’m at a place called vertigo”

Sunday was my first adventure with the NUIG Mountaineering Club. We hiked the South Bens, a pretty impressive ridge of mountains in Connemara. Now when I say hike, most of you probably imagine a nice trail up the steep mountains. This could not be further from the truth. After a glorious ten minutes walking on a road, we turned into a field and proceeded to head right on up the mountain! We were actually following the sheep through the boglands! Since it was raining (as it did for the entire duration of the six hour trip), I felt like a little kid tramping through the puddles and mud. Along with the rain, it was also pretty cloudy. On the one hand, this meant that most of my pictures didn’t turn out very well, but on the other hand, my height-fearing self wasn’t able to fully grasp how high we were! To give you an idea, we ate lunch on the summit of the first peak (520 meters) and were literally inside a cloud! I’m sure the views from atop the mountains would have been incredible, had we been able to see anything beyond the grey mist. Because we forged our own trail, it was fairly demanding physically at times. On a few occasions we needed to navigate straight0vertical ascents or declines, which, again for my height-fearing self, was pretty scary! Even though my legs are still recovering from that day, I can’t wait to go back. We met so many interesting people from all over the world and even got to end our evening at a pub (we are in Ireland after all), where Tiffany and I chatted with some adorable older Irish ladies. J

Sunday night was of course the Superbowl. As I’m sure most of you know, I am a huge football fan. Therefore, it pains me to say that I could not have cared less about this particular game. Not only do I despise both teams (the Giants found their way onto the naughty list after knocking out my beloved Packers), but I knew we wouldn’t get to see the infamous commercials here either. And Madonna for the halftime show? No thanks. The game also didn’t begin here until almost midnight. Being that I had a morning class (11am, but that’s still morning in my book!), I was not about to stay up late watching that nonsense. Turns out that was a wonderful decision, as I read the next morning that the game and commercials were both pretty lame. What a great Superbowl to miss!

Being that this is my sixth blog entry, I figured that most of you would have noticed a theme to each posts’ titles. I’ve also enjoyed the Facebook competitions to guess their origins (Ashley’s in the lead, Nicole needs to stop cheating). Since the majority have been about the weather, I didn’t think they really required explanations. I’ve clearly broken the trend with this one though! Last Tuesday I began experiencing some odd dizziness. Not too intense, but it lasted all day. It was sort of like being drunk, minus the drinking! After no improvements, I finally went to the Student Health Center (never thought I’d be visiting there!) and was diagnosed with labyrinthitis. Basically, it’s an inner-ear disorder that affects your equilibrium and probably stemmed from a cold I’d had a few weeks prior. Since I honestly can’t recall the last time I was sick, this has been quite a weird experience! The doctor prescribed me some pills that hopefully will help clear it up, but it could be a few weeks before it’s completely gone. Luckily Sunday was a good day, and thus I was able to go on the hike. Monday, though, was by far the worst I had done some reading for school on Sunday night (see kids, never do your homework, it literally makes you ill!), so I’m pretty confident that that is what caused Monday to be so bad. It’s been more of an annoyance than anything, so I just hope that it goes away permanently soon!

Tomorrow IFSA-Butler is bringing us on a trip to Northern Ireland! We’re all really excited to be getting away from school for a few days and enjoying the wonderful scenery of the north coast. Since I’ve already been to most of the sights they were taking us to, I’m most looking forward to the Black Taxi Tour in Belfast, which takes tourists around the parts of the city most affected during the Troubles. One of my favorite classes this semester has been Northern Ireland: The Politics of a Divided Society, so it will be really interesting to witness first-hand some of the issues that we have been learning about in class.

Speaking of politics, I forgot to mention that a few weeks ago I had to register with the Garda. The Garda are the police force in Ireland, but they also deal with Immigration issues. Since I will be in the country for longer than three months, I was required to register and pay a fee. The process went very smoothly (he told me I was by far the most organized student to come through there, thanks Dad!) and they were all very nice. The officer I was with even called me a Cheesehead when he saw my passport! Not only did he say he follows American football, but the Packers are his favorite team. What are the odds?! I love this country J

The Gaelic Girls posted their second video from their time in Galway, so I will attach that below. Thanks for reading!

Click here for Part 2 of the Gaelic Girls video from Galway!

Click here for pictures of my first Mountaineering Club hike!