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 :)
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