“The sun is shinin’ and the road keeps windin’”

Over the weekend our program brought us to the Killary Adventure Centre in Connemara. Connemara is my absolute favorite part of Ireland, so the prospect of getting to do crazy activities in such a gorgeous area was an opportunity not to be missed! When we arrived on Friday we were able to sign up for a session (consisting of two activities) of our choice, so I picked clay pigeon shooting and archery. It was the first time I’d ever used a shotgun, so I didn’t have that great of expectations. By either blind luck or skill (I’d like to think skill J) I managed to shoot 5 of the 15 clay pigeons! Not too bad for a first-timer! Archery was fun too, since I’ve been practicing pretty often with the NUIG archery club. That evening we had a trivia contest, where twelve teams competed against each other for iTunes gift cards. Some of the trivia rounds were broken up by funny challenges, with my personal favorite being the male (dressed in girl’s clothing) fashion show. So hilarious! While we didn’t win, I think our team name (the Craic Fiendz) was pretty great.

On Saturday morning I signed up for the archery and laser combat course. Excited to put my Call of Duty skills to the test, I had high hopes for how I would fare during the challenge. Sure enough, out of the five girls and five guys participating, yours truly was the last one standing! J We played a few more games at the laser course (dressed in camo of course) then headed back to the centre for lunch. Afterwards, I set out to some gorge walking for the first time in my life! What is gorge walking, you ask? Well, it’s basically walking up a waterfall (assisted part of the way with ropes) through freeze water (in a wet suit, though) and a few small ponds. It was seriously one of the coolest things I have ever done! The pictures will do it far greater justice than any words of mine could, and I recommend that if you ever have the opportunity to gorge walk that you take it! The activity combined with the gorge walking was kayaking. After having to switch kayaks out on the water (we were told by our guide that the original ones we had chosen were not right for us based on the states we were from haha), some people chose to dive off of a platform. Being quite a wuss when it comes to heights, I decided to take pictures from my kayak instead. While we didn’t get to go too far out with the kayaks, it was still beautiful and a lot of fun! That night a disco was organized for us at the centre. Although I hate to dance, I decided it would be a great chance to teach my friends the “cat daddy” dance (just for you, football gang! J). I was even sober! Ha

Sunday morning we had time for one more session before returning to Galway. I picked zip lining, which at first I believed may have been a mistake. In order to get up to the platform that you start from, you had to climb a ladder, followed by something resembling a telephone pole with large staples sticking out of it. After about five steps I seriously contemplated chickening out, but realizing it may be awhile before I had the chance to zip line again (and probably never hearing the end of it from my friends), I decided to keep going. Definitely felt accomplished after that! I’m really glad I continued climbing, because zip lining was so much fun! I would do it again in a heartbeat. Afterwards, we headed over to the high ropes course, which was similar to a rock wall but just a bit crazier. Brianna and Kate gave it their best attempts, but unfortunately couldn’t make it to the top. I was way too scared to even try, so props to them! Following lunch and a group picture (all of Butler’s Ireland schools were there), we departed from the centre.

All in all, I don’t think I’ve had a weekend packed full of so many fun things in quite a while! The weather was incredible, the scenery spectacular, and too many great memories to count. This week is our final week of regular classes at NUIG. Where has the time gone?! This Friday I will be headed off on quite an epic adventure: 10 days through France and the UK with Amanda and Brianna! To say I’m getting excited would be quite the understatement! You can expect quite the novel when I return form that trip J Until then, thanks for reading!

Click here for pictures from our Killary Adventure Weekend!

“It’s a wonderful night, everybody can see”

St. Patrick’s Day in Ireland: an epic event included in just about everyone’s bucket list that I was luckily able to check off this year! While festivities across the country (and back home for that matter) were great in their own right, I’m glad I decided to spend the day in Galway. The parade in the morning was pretty standard as far as parades go, with the highlights for me being the large trucks with musicians playing trad music on them (accompanied by dancers), the circus animals (horses, a zebra, llamas), the various ethnic societies in traditional outfits, and the Massachusetts State Police (so badass!). There were also many school groups/marching bands that were quite entertaining! We stood at the high end of Shop Street and had a fairly good view most of the time.

After the parade we went out to eat at Couch Potata, where strangely enough I was the only one to order a potato dish! Following lunch I met up with some other friends who were at the Townhouse Bar listening to some live music. The band performing, The Rye, were absolutely brilliant! Coincidentally, we had heard them the previous night at The Crane and had a wonderful time then as well. We hung around at the Townhouse until they were done playing, and then found a place playing the Ireland-England rugby match. I was really hoping for an Ireland win to see if that would kick the St. Patrick’s Day party up another few notches (if that was even possible), but alas, we lost 30-9.

After a brief regrouping session back home, we headed back out to the pubs. It’s all kind of a blur, but I’m sure it was a grand time! Club Supermacs was the conclusion of our pub-crawl that evening, and boy was it club-like indeed! I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many drunk people in one place at any given time! All in all, the holiday definitely lived up to my expectations! Everyone should try their best to experience St. Patrick’s Day in Ireland at least once in their lifetime.

On Sunday my lone visitor from the States arrived in Galway! Brooke, who had studied in Maynooth (outside of Dublin) last fall, has been on spring break in Ireland for the past week or so. Some of her roommates and her travelled to Galway for a day, and luckily it was one of the most spectacular days weather-wise we’ve had this semester! We decided to travel to the Cliffs of Moher to take advantage of the sun, and we were not let down. This was my third trip to the Cliffs, and it was by far the best conditions. Just like in Dingle, I believe I said “this is so beautiful” roughly eighty-six times. Afterwards, we headed back to Galway where we did a mini pub-crawl. Like me at the Cliffs, we kept a running tally of how many times Brooke said “I love Galway” and got to about ninety-two J

Monday morning I headed into town to meet up with Brooke again before they headed back to Maynooth. I was so sad to see them go, but really happy that we had finally met! Long story short, our parents work together but we had never actually met in person before. Skype and Facebook are great, but it’s not the real deal! It’s always wonderful to know someone who shares the same love/obsession of Ireland as you do!

This weekend has been crazy (even by Irish standards), so I’m really glad we got Monday off from school to recuperate! This coming weekend Butler is taking us to the Killary Adventure Centre, so until then I need to buckle down and get some actual school work done (what is this school I speak of?!), which should be an interesting change of pace! Until then, thanks for reading!

Click here for pictures from St. Patrick’s Day!

Click here for pictures of the Cliffs of Moher/Galway!

“On the rocky road to Dublin”

Last Wednesday night a group of us travelled to Dublin in order to see some of the more touristy sites that we were unable to during Orientation. We were incredibly fortunate to be able to spend the night at the Four Seasons hotel, thanks to Brianna’s uncle who was in town on business. It was definitely the nicest hotel I’ve ever stayed in! Thanks to the amazing room, delicious breakfast, and relaxing spa, we all had a wonderful time and hated to leave in the morning. We went out to dinner in the Temple Bar district, where I experimented with a goat cheese soufflé (aren’t you proud, family?!) that was very tasty. Afterwards we found ourselves in the Temple Bar, where we enjoyed the best traditional music I’ve heard since arriving in Ireland. After a pint of Guinness I returned to the hotel, where to my amazement, the Penguins were on tv! We won, capping off a wonderful day J

On Thursday we checked out of the hotel and made our way to our hostel for the next two nights. Considering our accommodation for the previous night, we were just a little bit depressed ha. After dropping off our bags, we walked down the infamous O’Connell Street and into the southern part of the city (which is split in two by the River Liffey). The only thing on the agenda for the day was a ghost tour on the Gravedigger bus! The guides were great, portraying different characters from Dublin’s history (plague victim, grave robber etc.). We were definitely entertained (and maybe a little scared) and had an all-around great time! After the ghost bus, we ventured back to Temple Bar, where once again we heard some fantastic trad music.

On Friday morning our group added another, when Brianna’s boyfriend, Sean, arrived from the US. The four of them began their day touring Trinity College and looking at the Book of Kells. Meanwhile, since I had already done both of those activities, I went over to the nearby Museum of Natural History and Archaeology. I was being a typical tourist, snapping away with my camera, until I noticed just before leaving that cameras weren't allowed. Oops! One of the main attractions of the museum are bog bodies, which were kept intact in Ireland’s numerous bog lands and preserved incredibly well for hundreds of years. After meeting back up with the group at Trinity, we all hopped on one of the red double-decker sightseeing buses. Just like the bus I had taken my first day in Dublin way back in January, this bus lets you hop on and off wherever you want in the city. We took the bus to Kilmainham Gaol (jail), which had been at the top of my must-see list for some time. Erected in 1787, the jail has played an integral part in Ireland’s history, especially during its civil war. The tour was incredibly interesting, and it was hard to try to picture people living in the conditions described by our guide. The museum inside the jail was also very enlightening, and my criminal justice nerdiness took over a bit at this point. Unfortunately since we were on the last tour of the day museum was closed when we finished and I was only able to see half of it. I think I will be returning in the very near future! Once again we concluded our day in the pubs, first at The Brazen Head (Dublin’s oldest pub) and then back to Temple Bar.

We began Saturday by hopping back on the tour bus and taking it to Christchurch Cathedral. The history and design of the building is amazing! Relics lined the walls (just like at St. Patrick;s down the road) as well as the crypt (basement). Included in the gallery are costumes from the show The Tudors, which used the cathedral for numerous scenes. I want to watch that show even more now! Next, Ashlee and I went to St. Michan’s, which is the oldest parish church in Dublin. Aside from being ridiculously old, it is home to some mummies! Our small tour group (last one of the day, so lucky!) ventured into the super creepy crypt, where we were given a history of some of the families who are interred there. At the conclusion we were allowed to touch a finger on each hand of an 800 year-old Crusader mummy! Supposedly, doing so brings luck, so we shall see J

Following St. Michan’s we toured the Jameson whiskey distillery. I thought it was a really cool tour (not as much info shoved down your throat, like at Guinness), although I wish I had volunteered to be a tester (I failed you, Rick Steves!). After Jameson’s, we walked back across the river and over to Dublin Castle. We didn’t take the official tour (it was too late by this point), but just walked around enjoying the architecture and An Garda Síochána memorial garden. Our last stop of the day brought us to City Hall, another beautifully-designed building.

Our trip to Dublin was packed with great sites and good craic! I hope to find myself in the charming city once more before I leave to visit some of the places I haven’t yet (and the jail again). Thanks for reading!

Click here for pictures from our Dublin weekend!