It's Raining Guinness?

It is absolutely impossible to believe but 1/3 of our study abroad experience is already gone, and I'm in the middle of what feels like the first legitimate amount of down time I've had in the last month. Basically every weekend we've had since being here has had some sort of amazing excursion or activity planned, but this is the first 4 day stretch where we had no planned excursions for the weekend. The large majority of our group has taken this weekend as an opportunity to do some traveling, mostly to London, with a couple going to Italy. While those plans sounded amazing and I'm extremely jealous, I decided it would probably be a good time to let my bank account settle for a little while, as I'm just getting the hang of having some sort of "budget."

For the rest of us that stayed behind, it is actually kind of a weird feeling to be at the Park Lodge with so many people missing. For as confined and huddled together as we usually are, which is often a source of complaint especially when the internet is slow, it is a weird feeling to not have the livelihood of all of the Bennies and Johnnies around the cottages. I actually think this is the first time that I've been able to sit in the lodge, which is where we get our wifi, in the middle of the day by myself. But at the end of the day the rest of the group will be back before we know it, and we will soon be looking forward to next week's big excursion to Dublin. Plus, I probably needed this weekend to catch up on some much needed rest. I shamelessly went to bed last night at 9 pm, slept for 12 hours, woke up and ate breakfast, and then took another hour long nap. Until last night I can't remember the last time I had a full night's sleep, as we've been truly taking advantage of every night we have here in Ireland.

This brings me to my latest Irish adventure that was a huge contributor to my lack of sleep: Arthurs Day. Arthurs Day, or Arthur Guinness Day,  is "celebrated" on the 26th of September, and is kind of the Irish equivalent of Valentine's Day in America, if you replace the candy and flowers with alcohol.... I say this because, as we were told by so many of the older locals, it is not exactly a holiday as much as it is a day that Guinness created to encourage the younger generation to drink more Guinness. Similar to the way that many people say Valentine's Day was just created by card and candy companies in the US. But whether or not it is an official holiday, it sure gets its fair share of hype. Sarah and I were the brave souls who ventured into Galway for the experience that was anything but what we expected.

We started off our day by killing time at the Kings Head Pub, which is a very famous and sort of touristy pub in Galway that we had been advised would be a good place to be for the 17:59 festivities. The "organized" moment of the day happens at 17:59, or 5:59 pm, because Arthur Guinness founded the Dublin brewery in 1759. So at around 5:30 we bought our pints of Guinness, which were served in plastic cups because of the masses of people that were buying them and taking them out of the pubs, and headed into the street. We had heard that at 5:59 everyone wanders into the street, raises their glasses, sings a little song, and then drinks their pint. Sounds pretty adorable right? Well what we find outside the door was nothing we expected.

When we arrived at the door of the Kings Head, we discovered a mob so large that we literally could barely make it out the door. College students had literally taken over the streets as far as the eye could see, and it is a miracle that we were able to push ourselves into the crowd at all. The crowd was full of people all yelling and cheering and climbing up onto street posts and garbage cans, and it was truly one of the most hilarious and craziest things I've ever seen. Finally 17:59 rolled around, and for a brief second we had a nice moment of raising our glasses, cheering, and listening to the song everyone was singing. That was when some lovely person in the crowd, who I would like to thank, threw their glass of Guinness in the air and 90% of the crowd followed.

Most of the people reading this have not tried a real Irish Guinness, so let me paint a picture. It is incredibly dark and thick, and the consistency reminds me more of a latte than a beer. It was enough for me to try to choke down my first full pint in honor of the "holiday," and it was entirely another for me to literally be showered in it. By the time Sarah and I were able to force ourselves out of the riot that had ensued, I was drenched and sticky from all of the Guinness that had been thrown from every direction. Once we had a chance to breath and take in what had happened, there was nothing we could do but laugh. We were so unprepared for the whole thing that it was actually funny, and it was definitely an Irish experience we would never forget. The rest of Arthurs Day was just spent wandering around Galway, hanging out in the pubs, and mingling with the always friendly and as drunk as ever locals :)

For me, experiences like Arthurs Day are the things I live for on this trip. And Mom if you're reading this, no its not because of the Guinness :) It's because during experiences like that, I feel like I'm getting such a full experience of the Irish culture, not to say that they just form mobs and get crazy drunk alllll the time. :) I know that being in Galway for Arthurs Day is a once in a lifetime experience for me, and while it was crazy and at times overwhelming, it is going to be such a good memory for Sarah and I of this trip. I just love going out and getting involved in things that are going on in this country that a normal tourist, who is only here for a week, wouldn't necessarily know about or get the chance to experience. Meeting and hanging out with the local people has been my favorite part about this trip, and I am seriously so thankful for everything I've gotten to do thus far! With how friendly and welcoming the majority of the Irish people are, I think you open yourself up to endless opportunities if you just put yourself out there and risk showering in a little Guinness :)

We're In Ireland

It's been awhile since Ive had a blog post, which is partly because we're always so busy and mainly because I couldn't really think of anything interesting to say. But we are currently in the middle of an excursion on the Dingle peninsula and we have a little down time in our hostile, so I thought it would be a good time to get something down. 

If there is one thing that Ive learned on this trip, besides never to grab a Guinness before it settles, it's that life is very unpredictable and things never really go according to plan. I definitely think there is a "go with the flow" attitude in Ireland that I really appreciate and have started to adapt to since being here, but our group in particular has a hard time sticking to our plans. This weekend has been a perfect example of that. 

To start off, we began our weekend g the beautiful Glenstal Abbey where our theology professor is a brother. He showed us around the gorgeous castle and grounds and it was a great experience, and it also happened to be the place where our plans went out the window. While at the abbey, our director unfortunately got sick and had to go to a hospital in a nearby town. Luckily she is ok, but it turned out she would need to stay there for the weekend to do some tests. This left our group on our own, with just our trusty bus driver Gerard to try to get us to our planned places for the rest of the weekend. 

Without too much trouble we all loaded on the bus and headed to Dingle on our own. Once here last night we had a pretty smooth evening, except for the little bit that all 27 of us were wondering around looking for our hostile. But after that things went pretty smoothly and we were able to find the restaurant we were scheduled to eat at, and we had a relaxing evening wandering around the beautiful harbor city. 

This brings me to today..... When our plan would have been to spend the day touring the Dingle Peninsula. But of course as we woke up we noticed that it was incredibly foggy, misty morning and you could barely see the boats in the harbor let alone the ocean or sites beyond that. After about 15 minutes of driving, Gerard stopped the bus and literally told us that going around the peninsula would be a complete waste of time because all we can see is fog, and that the weather had completely ruined what would have otherwise been an amazing drive. He's quite the positive man. With that, we all agreed that it was best not to waste our time and to just turn around and head back to Dingle. 

Clearly things have not gone as planned this weekend, and while I will admit it gets frustrating at times, Im actually really ok with it. I think such an important part of coming on this trip is being open an ready for anything. While we didn't get to drive around the peninsula today, we instead got to spend all day wandering around this gorgeous harbor city. We had lunch, went to the shops, went to an amazing aquarium, and we'll get to go to the local pubs tonight that all feature great, live Irish music. We were also able to push our tour of the peninsula to tomorrow instead so we can only hope for better weather. I think plans are meant to be broken and sometimes you have the greatest experiences from the chaotic moments of your life. I think being in Ireland has made me much more easy going, and I'm always just ready for new experiences without always needing a plan. 

I guess only time will tell what the rest of the weekend has in store for us, but I know whatever it is will be great. Because after all, as so many of us on this trip like to say, "we're in Ireland!" and that's really enough of a plan for me. 

A Little Bit of Everything

As of today it's been two weeks since my arrival in Ireland, and even as I type that right now it doesn't seem possible. We're always going somewhere, doing something new, or meeting new people, and all of the excitement makes the days a complete blur. But don't get me wrong, I wouldn't have it any other way and I've loved every minute of it.
I meant to write this blog to catch everyone up on the places we've been going lately, but as I sit here right now I'm having trouble remembering all the things we've done in the past week. A couple days ago we went to an Irish Heritage Center, which was definitely quite the experience. We started out with some archery lessons, which was actually really fun and I wasn't completely terrible at it. Although I did realize that if I was ever in the Hunger Games, I probably shouldn't pick archery as my method for survival unless I was hunting balloons. After the archery our group got the surprise of being dressed up in medieval clothing and acting out our Irish history lesson. It was quite the experience and something I'm sure only tourists would do, but it definitely gave us some good memories and was an entertaining way to learn about medieval history. Later that day we visited the home of one of the poets we are studying in our Irish Lit class with our professor, where he was able to show us around and read some of the poetry that was written about the area. It was actually a really nice learning experience, especially with our "mystical" lit prof who we all love. After that we were able to go the old estate of Lady Gregory, which is now more of a park, where we walked around and saw some amazing woods and gardens.
Yesterday we spent our day in the Burren, which was an amazing and interesting area of Ireland. The landscape is very unique with a very wide variety of plants and wildlife growing in what mostly looks like very rocky terrain. While there we took about a 3 mile hike up what we called a "mini mountain," which was exhausting but gave us the most amazing views and I loved spending time up there. The only bad thing was that the trails on the hill were very rocky and unstable, so we had a lot of close calls with people falling and stumbling, especially as we were trying to climb down. But thankfully we all made it down safely, and then we headed to the Cliffs of Moher for a quick visit. It is an absolutely beautiful place with an amazing view of the water and the cliffs, and it also had a small castle on site. We only spent an hour here to admire the view, because we had already been to Dun Aengus on the Aran Islands which is a similar setting that is less adapted for tourists, so we were able to get much closer to the edge. On our way back to our home in Spiddal, we made a stop at the pub for dinner and to get to watch the National Hurling game that was on TV. Everywhere we went in the Burren there were flags, signs, and decorations for the local team that was playing in the championship. I'm not going to lie, I really don't understand the hurling thing yet, but it clearly is a really big deal and they're celebrations and support definitely rivaled the American Superbowl. The game ended up in a tie, so it will be played again in two weeks, and I definitely want to try to understand the whole phenomenon better before then.
Overall I have had such an amazing experience in Ireland so far, and time really does feel like it's flying by. One of the things that I love the most that I have experienced everywhere we go, but especially when we go out and meet and interact with the locals at night, is the way that the Irish people truly enjoy life. Everywhere we go there are people singing, dancing, laughing and having such a good time, and I definitely hope that I leave this country with some of that spirit in me. The majority of the Irish people we have met have been so kind and welcoming to us, and they are always ready to show us a good time. They always tell us like it is and say what they're thinking, which at first was a little shocking, but I find it so refreshing now as it makes it so much easier to get to know people and just enjoy whatever we are doing. I think all of us Americans on this trip are starting to loosen up a bit, and I for sure know that I am trying to take advantage of every opportunity that I get while I'm here.
So right now I'm looking forward to this weekend when we will be going on a fun Saturday night excursion to Westport, which we were told is a must by the people who are hosting us at the hotel. I'm sure it will be a great experience like everything else here has been so far, and I'll try to update my blog afterwards with some stories from the weekend :)

We're Not in Kansas Anymore

It’s been a little over a week since we arrived in Ireland, so I thought it would be the perfect time to reflect on some of the changes or differences that I’ve experienced since I’ve been here so far...

1)      I haven’t taken a hot shower in over a week. We’ve been told it’s possible in our cottages, but so far we haven’t been able to make it happen.

2)      It is windy, rainy, and cloudy every single day, so we should just get used to the idea that we won’t see the sun until December. We are all currently fighting colds and coughs while we try to adjust to the always windy and damp environment we now live in.

3)      Everything is expensive. Things are also especially expensive because the euro is worth more than the dollar, so we lose money just by being here.

4)      When asked where we’re from, always say the state, never the country. Apparently it’s already painfully obvious that we’re from the US by the way we talk, so if they’re asking where we’re from, they are curious which state.

5)      The Irish people, guys in particular, are very forward and will tell you exactly what they think about you within the first couple minutes of meeting.

6)      The fact that the steering wheels are on the right side of the car and cars drive on the left is not the hardest thing about the driving here to get used to. It’s the fact that the roads are extremely narrow and speed limits seem not to be noticed by anyone except for tourists. (I’m just glad I’m alive after my taxi ride home last night)

7)      The people with the thickest Irish accents, especially middle-aged to older people, say “tings” instead of “things.” This is just something we noticed and found funny, and it applies to most words with any “th” sound in them. We also noticed that many of the people who speak Irish repeat words an excessive amount of times while speaking English. We've heard a lot of "yeah yeah yeah's" and "okay okay okay okay" while talking with the locals.

8)      If you order a Guinness, you can’t grab it right after it’s poured. The bartender will pour the glass and set it down, which is the point where you do not pick it up unless you’re a tourist. You need to let whatever it is in it that needs to settle, settle, and then the bartender will top it off and hand it to you.

9)      Tea is gross. Despite how popular it is here, how hard I’ve tried to like it, or how much milk and sugar I put in it, I just think it’s terrible.

10)   The fact that we talk about the weather in Fahrenheit or distance in miles, makes for a lot of awkward situations. It’s probably about time I learn to convert these things so I can save a lot of Irish locals the trouble of trying to look up conversions online while we talk, which kills a lot of good conversations.

Well these are the first 10 things that jump to the front of my mind when I think about the different things that have challenged us and made some funny and amazing memories since we’ve been here so far. I’m sure I will have more installments in the future, because if the rest of the trip is anything like the first week, we have lots to learn and lots of good times ahead of us J

Aran Island Excursion

It's Sunday morning here in Ireland, and to say I'm exhausted from the weekend would be an understatement! I apologize for how poorly this post will probably be written, because my brain is scattered and I'm too tired to be to clever or witty :)
This weekend we went on our first excursion to the Aran Islands, and I am absolutely in love with them! Friday morning we all piled on the bus and took about a 30 minute bus ride to port where we got on our ferry.....
As we all got on the ferry I was extremely excited, as I love boats and beaches and anything of the sort, so I thought it was going to be an amazing time. We quickly found out, though, that the waters were quite rough that day and it was going to be a long 45 minute ride to the islands. We also chose to sit in the front of the ferry, so we felt the full impact of every wave and rocking of the ship. Eventually the ride ended, and while most of us didn't feel the greatest, no one got seriously sick before we got to the islands. When we got off the ferry we were given some time to just walk around the city for awhile and relax before we had to meet up and go on our tour buses. The city on the island is gorgeous and full of character and history, and I loved walking around and seeing all of the little shops and restaurants. We eventually decided on a restaurant/pub call Ti Joe Watty's for lunch, which was an amazing place to eat with a great atmosphere. We noticed on the menu that they advertised their fish and chips, which many of us hadn't tried yet since we've been here, so I decided to try that for the first time! It was amazing and you could tell the fish was extremely fresh, so it was definitely the perfect place to try it for the first time! After that we walked around the island for a little longer, making sure to stop at the Aran sweater shop where they make amazing wool sweaters, socks, and scarves that are a staple of the island. I ended up just getting an adorable little sweater for my god-daughter and a scarf for myself, because the adult sweaters could run you anywhere from 85 to 180 euros which is not exactly in my budget.......
Then it was time to meet up with our group and go sight seeing around the island. We stopped at several amazing historic landmarks, like the Seven Churches, and some other amazing forts and monuments. It was definitely a lot of walking, which made me extremely grateful that I invested in some really nice hiking boots before coming on this trip. The highlight of the day for me was when we visited Dun Aengus. It was quite a hike to get up to the top of this massive hill, but when we did it was well worth the work. The sight puts you at the edge of a 300 foot cliff over looking the ocean, and it is one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. But at the same time it was also one of the scariest things I have ever seen..... The cliffs are so tall and are not roped off at all along the edge, so if you want to get close and look over, they had us lay down on our stomachs and look over the edge. Even laying down I felt uneasy, so I looked for as long as I could and took some pictures and then quickly moved a safe distance back. The fort itself on the cliff was also amazing and full of culture and history, and the sight was one of the most amazing things I've seen on the trip. We kept saying that it felt like we were on the edge of the world, and that's definitely something I will never forget.
That night we had our first hostile stay in an adorable little place with an amazing view of the island! By the time we got there we were exhausted and hungry, so we just laid in our beds and snacked and relaxed for well over an hour. Later that evening, the hostile made an amazing dinner for us that was more than we could have asked for. I think that dinner gave everyone a second wind, because even though we were all exhausted, we all decided to head out and check out the pub scene since it would be our only night on the island! We went back to the same place where we had lunch earlier in the day, and I am so very glad we did! The pub was packed, especially after 25 of us piled in, and there was amazing live music and lots of people our age. We got to meet lots of friendly locals from the island, listen to music, dance, and really soak up the Irish culture. It was an amazing night out, and I'm very glad we took that opportunity while we were there!
The next day we got up and did lots of hiking to see the other forts and ruins around the island. It was a lot of hiking, which I am definitely feeling today, but we got to see some amazing things and gorgeous views, and I think it was a perfect way to get a sense of the island. After having a picnic lunch and hiking around for most of the afternoon, we went back down into the city to shop a little bit more and wait for our 5 o'clock ferry. While waiting, the group I was with went to the beach for awhile and I'm so glad we got to spend some time there. The sand was white and incredibly soft, and the water was clear and blue, so it was amazing place to relax and take it all in for awhile. Then we went and got on our ferry which, luckily for us, wasn't quite as rough as the last one so it was a much more enjoyable ride back to the mainland.
Overall it was an amazing first excursion, and I couldn't have asked for a better weekend! The islands are gorgeous and definitely such an amazing part of the Irish culture. Sorry for the kind of dry account of this weekend, but hopefully my next one will be written with a little more wit when I'm a little less tired :)