The Beginning of the End

As I write this final post from Ireland, I am watching my final sunrise over Galway Bay from Cottage 6. (No, I'm not up at the crack of dawn, it just doesn't get light here until almost 9am!) Today is actually my last day at the Park Lodge and in Ireland.  I don't know how that happened! These three months absolutely flew by, but they have been some of the best of my life. Even though it is so sad to leave, the experiences I have had and the friends I have made will forever be part of me. Here is a re-cap of my last week in Ireland:

Monday: I literally worked on my final paper for theology ALL day long. For our classes, we had final papers in three of them and a final essay test for history. Theo was my last one to do, and it was a longer, more research-based paper than the others.  I took breaks only for meals and tea time (surprise, surprise!). We had the girls of Cottage 4 over for brunch and made a delicious carmel French toast bake, scrambled eggs and of course breakfast potatoes. We have been eating pretty well in Cottage 6 lately trying to get rid of all our food! It ended up being a pretty late night, but I kept thinking of how sad I was about leaving so I had trouble concentrating! (This was not helped by the fact that my lovely roommates kept playing every sad goodbye-themed song just to see if I would cry!!)

Tuesday: Today was my last literature class, and I sent in my theology paper, so I only had one more to go! It was sunny for about half an hour, so my cottage decided to take advantage of some of the last Irish sun we would see. We walked across the street to the beach to take some pictures. After spending about 12 hours writing papers yesterday, we needed a little activity! We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening studying for our history final.  It is kind of a bummer that we have to do so much school work on our last few days here, but compared to a normal finals week at St. Ben's, I really can't complain!

Wednesday: I think this is the first and last time I will ever be done with classes before December! After our history final, we went into Spiddal with Cottage 2 for a celebratory lunch at a cafe that (actually was named the best cafe in Ireland last year!) and some last bits of shopping. We have finally been experiencing really November weather in Ireland this past week, but I guess that is to be expected and we got really lucky with it being so nice until now! It was great to have the afternoon to just relax by the fireplace and have absolutely no obligations.

Thursday: Today was our last full day all together at the Park Lodge. It was also the first day of December, but it definitely didn't feel like it because it was sunny and warm.  I can't believe how lucky we have gotten with the weather here...it does rain a lot, but it's always nice when we most want it to be! A bunch of us helped bring the books, desks and chairs back up to the storage loft for the winter. It honestly seems like last week that we brought them down! Afterward, we walked into the beach in Spiddal and did a polar bear plunge into Galway Bay!! People were pretty hesitant at first, but we ended up getting a pretty big group of us to go swimming and even more came to document the event. It actually wasn't as bad as we thought it was going to be. The sun definitely helped! That night we had a pizza party and awards night before our last night at JP's pub.  I won the "Bro Co Near Death Award", which you might need a little back story to understand...our theology professor was Brother Colman (nicknamed Bro Co) from the Glenstal Abbey and he missed several classes and excursions from being in the hospital, which Joe, who was in charge of awards, equated to my hives incident! Our cottage award was Most Likely to be on Martha Stewart because of our reputation of planning events and making treats. When presenting this award, Joe said we were the "cohesive glue that held our group together." It was such a nice compliment! After awards, we all celebrated our last night as a group with JP, who ended up getting a little annoyed because we didn't want to leave at the end of the night!

Cottage 6 with John Paul

Friday: We got up pretty early today to start cleaning the cottage and getting all of our things organized. Kelly, Michelle and I took the bus into Galway for the morning for one last round of shopping and exploring the city.  When we got back, the first group to leave was getting packed up.  We all gathered outside their cottage in the pouring rain to say goodbye.  Even with just four people gone, our group feels so incomplete. We spent the afternoon packing, cleaning and organizing before dinner.  One of my favorite parts of this trip has been the dinners we share together as a cottage.  Last night we sat for a long time taking about our "pits and peaks" of the trip overall, and it's not surprising our peaks greatly outnumbered our pits!  I shed my first goodbye tears when dinner ended because Kelly said, "Can we just sit here for a while, I don't our last dinner to be over!" Many people left at 5 and 6am this morning, so we had a low-key last night at the Park Lodge. We watched Elf and had hot chocolate in the lounge.  It didn't really hit me until we got back for the night that it was our last one in Cottage 6. This place has truly begun to feel like home, and I know it will be so hard to leave.

Today, Kelly and I start our next leg of the adventure. We are leaving Spiddal at 2pm and heading to Dublin to start our 12 day travels around Europe. We are going to London, Venice, Rome, Barcelona and Madrid. It just so happens that there will be other people from our trip traveling to these places as well so we will be able to meet up with them! That definitely makes saying goodbye a little easier. I don't know how it got to be December 3rd already.  We woke up early today to say goodbyes to the groups leaving at 5 and 6, and now our group is definitely dwindling.  The places we saw and experiences we had were absolutely unforgettable, but I really think it was my 28 new friends that made this semester what it was.  Ireland will always have a piece of my heart, and even though it's hard to leave I know I will be back sometime soon. We are already planning to attend the 30th anniversary of the program in three years :)

Thank you all for reading my updates, and I will try to post a few things about our next adventures! I can't wait to see you all soon!

Ellen

An Irish Thanksgiving

 The Irish may not celebrate Thanksgiving with much regularity, but the Foyles at the Park Lodge threw us an amazing celebration yesterday!

We woke up to rain, but that did not stop the festivities. Our program directors Jane and Mike delivered fresh and warm scones to each cottage made by Geraldine.  Cottage 6 headed up to the lodge to help out a bit with setting up for the dinner and finish up the place cards and other decorations (including red, white and blue napkins and American flags). It was fun to be involved with getting everything ready for the big night! In the afternoon, most of our group walked to the hurling field in Spiddal for a game of football- American style.  It's a tradition for the Galway program to always play a game of football on Thanksgiving. As it was still pouring, windy and freezing, not many girls ended up going, but Cottage 6 was all in. What made it even more of an exciting day was that I was not picked last!! I was actually one of the first girls selected for a team, however, I think my team members may have second-guessed their choice when I asked what a first down is. Anyway, we had a lot of fun despite the weather, which actually just added another element of challenge to the game- none of us came away without mud all over! We all felt a little bad about making the field a complete mud puddle, but it was definitely worth it!

The aftermath of the Thanksgiving football game

The girls of Table 4: Kelly, me, Bethany and Aoife

After having hot chocolate and showers back at the cottage, we all got ready for dinner.  My friend Aoife joined us for the night, and it was so fun to have someone from home to celebrate with! There were 60 guests at the dinner this year, the biggest one ever at the Park Lodge!  We started the evening with some appetizers and a slide show of pictures from throughout the semester. After seeing all the pictures from all of our amazing adventures in Ireland, I got a little teary thinking about leaving. Thankfully, we still have a week left! Now I am going to tell you about the incredible feast we had, so if you are not particularly interested in talking about food (...Dad...) feel free to skip down a few lines. The meal started with a plate of salad, smoked salmon, brown bread and shrimp. At first we all thought it was an interesting choice for a Thanksgiving dinner, until we realized it was only the appetizer! I think it was my favorite part of the whole meal.  Next we had carrot soup, followed by the main event. Our plates were filled with turkey, ham, boiled potatoes, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, veggies and stuffing. Just when we thought we couldn't eat anything else, dessert was served. We had baked Alaska and pumpkin pie. Our cottage actually had a special contribution to the pies: Geraldine called us earlier in the week and asked if we would donate our Halloween pumpkin from outside our cottage for the pies, so we dropped it off on our way to class. When we got back, there was a warm, mini pumpkin pie on our counter! After dinner, the archeology class showed off their Irish dancing skills that they have learned over the semester. After the first dance, each person picked someone who wasn't in that class to dance with, so we all got to participate. Unfortunately, most of the dancing involved quite a bit of spinning, which didn't feel so great after our huge dinner. It was still fun though and a great way to end the evening. I felt so thankful to have such wonderful people to celebrate with, and even though we were so far away from home, it made me realize how much of a family we are. I don't think I could be away for Thanksgiving every year, but it is definitely an experience I will never forget!

Me with John Paul and baby Oisin! 

After-dinner dancing!

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday! 

Ellen

Rory and his Coral

Hi everyone!

One of my favorite parts of my time here in Ireland has been getting to know the locals of Spiddal and the Park Lodge. It is so fun finally meeting them and spending time with them over the course of the semester, especially because my brother Will has told me so many stories from last year! This week, our good friend and cab driver Rory brought a group of eight of us to the only coral beach in Europe. It's in a small village in Connemara, about half an hour outside of Spiddal. The drive along the coast was beautiful, and it made me realize again how much I am going to miss living by the ocean! It was a really nice, sunny day and the tide was perfect for our visit to the beach. We all had a great time picking up coral to bring home and taking pictures of the gorgeous surroundings. It is experiences like this that make me so happy I was able to have my study abroad here in Galway. I think our program is really unique in that we are not just enrolled at a large university, but instead get the opportunity to really be part of the community.

Rory :)

The Days are Winding Down...

...but the cottage life is still in full swing in Spiddal! It is pretty unbelievable that I will be home in exactly one month and that we will be leaving Ireland in exactly two weeks.  We have been trying to pack our days full with Irish fun in order to get everything done before we leave.  In some ways, it seems like we just arrived at the Park Lodge last week, but in others it seems like I have been away from Minnesota forever! We have had two great weeks in Spiddal since we got back from our fall breaks. I think the break came at exactly the right time, because after a few days away from each other, we so excited to see everyone again! After missing everyone so much after only a week and a half, I'm not sure what we are going to do on December 3rd. Anyway, here are a few of my favorite things from the past few weeks! (Sorry it's kind of long, but we have been pretty busy lately so I have a lot to talk about...feel free to skim :)

Sunny Days: Our first day back in Galway after our fall break adventures was one of my favorite so far. It felt like we had been gone for so long, so it nice to spend some time there on Sunday. The weather over break was so perfect, and we were all a little worried about going back to rainy Ireland. Thankfully, our first day back was sunny! On most Sundays that we are here, we take a bus into Galway for church and shopping. This week, a group of us had traditional Irish breakfasts: bacon, sausage, baked beans, toast, brown bread, friend eggs, "pudding" (blood sausage!), and of course potatoes. It definitely wasn't my favorite thing I've eaten on the trip, but I figured I had to give it a try! When we got back to Siddal that afternoon, I decided to take advantage of the nice day and go for a run. Yep, you read that correctly. After eating so much chocolate and waffles on our travels, I thought I needed a little activity. I took a break at the beach as the sun was just beginning to go down. I think living by the ocean is one of the things I will miss most about Ireland! That night, we all got together on the beach across the road from the Park Lodge for a bonfire. It was a blast to catch up with everyone on their breaks and it really made me realize how much I missed the group!

With friends at the bonfire!

Adventures in the Spiddal Medical Center: Ok, so this was maybe not one of my favorite things that happened since we've been back. But on Monday morning I woke up with a bad case of hives. At first, I chalked it up to stress and my overly-sensitive skin, took a Benedryl and forgot about it. The next morning however, my hands and feet were swollen as well. I called the doctor's office in Spiddal and set up an appointment. The rest of my roommates were in class, so my friend Abbie was super nice and volunteered to come with me. In hindsight, I would have been totally fine by myself, but I was having flashes of the clinic in Northern Exposure and wasn't sure what to expect in the middle-of-nowhere Ireland.  The medical center turned out to be really nice and the doctors were as well. They decided it was some kind of allergic reaction (after thankfully ruling out bed bugs!!) and prescribed me some medicine. I went back to the cottage, but after a few hours the swelling got worse and worse. As Rory told me a few days later, he was afraid I was turning into a Chinese lantern and would float away! We made a speedy trip back to the clinic where they gave me some injections which finally helped. I was still out of commission on Wednesday and Thursday because it took a while for the medicine to kick in and the hives were quite resilient! I missed three days of classes and started going a little stir-crazy in the cottage by myself for so long! I was also disappointed to miss out on a whole week of fun things since our time here is going so quickly! One good thing was that Cottage 6 had a record number of visitors :)

Kilkenny and Cork: Last weekend was our final overnight excursion to Kilkenny and Cork.  It was up in the air whether I would be able to go or not right up until we left on Friday morning. In the end, I decided to go along and I'm glad I did, although because of the medications I was taking, I ended up sleeping through most of the excursion! Because of that, I don't really have much to say about the weekend, but on the way back we stopped at Blarney Castle, the home of the Blarney Stone. Legend has it that kissing the stone will give you the gift of gab, so we all gave it a try:

A Night to Remember: Prom 2011: On Thursday, we finally had the night we had all been waiting for: Potin Prom. Several weeks ago, the boys all picked a name of a girl to be their date and had to come up with a creative way to ask us. When I arrived home from fall break, I was surprised to see a sign on my bedroom door from my date, Spencer, asking me to prom! The girls were all very impressed with how the boys took the initiate and planned everything for the big day. Our dates all invited us over for dinner before the prom, but because of a little scheduling conflict with a program tour, we ended up having the dinner on Wednesday instead. It was probably a good thing because we were all so full afterward, I don't think much dancing could have happened! I went to Cottage 3, along with two of my cottagemates and two other girls, and they made us a delicious dinner of stead, baked potatoes, salad and garlic bread. The girls brought dessert, and Sarah made her famous dirt dessert :). Finally, the night arrived and we had fun getting ready together before our dates picked us up. John Paul opened the bigger pub and banquet hall for us, so it really felt like a special event. Tommy, who is an amazing photographer, set up a very professional-looking photo booth and took some really great pictures, too. The night was definitely a success!

My prom date and I!

Cottage 6 on Prom night!

Fall Break Travels to BelgYum and Switzerland

Hello everyone!
I can't believe I have been back in Galway for a week already since our big adventures over our fall break.  We arrived home to the cottages late last Saturday night and have had a great week catching up with everyone and sharing stories from our travels. Kelly, Meghan, Bethany, Katy and I had a blast in Belgium and Switzerland...here are the highlights!


Belgium: October 28-31

Belgian Waffles!

We actually started our travels in Dublin on Thursday the 27th because our flight to Brussels, Belgium left at 8am the next morning. We took the bus from Galway to Dublin and arrived in the early afternoon. We had been to Dublin for our group excurison just two weeks ago, so it was nice having a feel for the place already. We went out for a late lunch and then toured the Guinness storehouse and factory. It was more like a museum than a tour of the actual factory, and even though I can't really call myself a fan of Guinness, I really enjoyed it and learned a lot about how important Guinness is to Irish history and culture.

Outside one of the many chocolate shops we visited

We left Dublin early on Friday morning, bound for Brussels.  It was just an hour and a half long plane ride, which went very quickly because we were all so tired! From the airport we took a bus and then the metro to our hostel.  The stop we were closest to was at the botanical gardens which we explored this afternoon.  We were located a little outside of the city center, but we made our way there for our first real Belgian waffles in the afternoon! I got one with sticks of Belgian chocolate stuffed inside so it was freshly melted. Delish! We were all still pretty tired from our early morning, so we had a low-key night to get ready for the rest of the trip! I was surprised at the lack of English in Belgium, but I definitely got the opportunity to practice my French!! Thankfully, unlike in France, the people in Belgium were very nice and patient with a non-native speaker!

Inside the Atomin!

We slept in pretty late on Saturday, which was fine because we had a few days to explore Brussels.  We headed toward the Grand Place, a square surrounded by buildings with amazing architecture, and found some waffles for breakfast.  There was a street market going on so we spent some time browsing.  As we continued along, we stopped in several chocolate shops along the way. We were pleasantly surprised when many gave free samples! That afternoon, we tried another traditional Belgian treat: Frites, aka French fries, although they tasted just like fries in the US to me.  We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around looking at monuments, gardens and other interesting buildings that we just happened upon.

There was a time change on Saturday night, but somehow we still made it to church at the right time! We decided we needed a little better of a breakfast than a super-sweet waffle, and we ended up getting a little more than we bargained for.  We found a nice French restaurant and ordered the breakfast special, which was (for each person) a chocolate croissant, a regular croissant, ham, cheese, toast and jam, orange juice and coffee or hot chocolate. Needless to say, our table was a bit crowded! We did more of the same this afternoon, browsing in chocolate shops and seeing the sites. We found a chocolate museum, but it was quite small and the chocolate making demonstration was in French, so all I caught was what temperature to heat each type of chocolate to. In the afternoon, we went to one of the biggest tourist spots in Brussels: the Atomin. It is a replica of an atom magnified 65 billion times it's original size. We took escalators up to the different levels and saw the view from (almost) the top. When we were leaving, the atom lit up just like the Eiffel Tower!

The beautiful town of Brugges!

On Monday, we decided to take a day trip to Brugges, a city about an hour away by train.  The city was beautiful and so were the fall leaves. That is definitely something I miss about fall in Minnesota! It was kind of a strange feeling arriving in a city where we had absolutely no idea what to see or where to go. It was a very toursity town though, so it was easy to navigate.  We walked along the canal, stopped at some churches and monuments and did some more shopping.  We had some delicious ice cream for a treat after lunch and continued our wandering. We stopped for lots of photo-ops along the way with the gorgeous leaves, canals and architecture in the background.  Before we headed back to Brussels, we had to stop for one last good-bye waffle!

Switzerland: November 1-5

Our first sunset in Interlaken!

We had another early morning as our flight to Geneva left at 8:30 am.  After a metro and train ride that took a little longer than expected, we finally made it to the airport and to our gate right in time for boarding.  After our short flight, we were excited to finally be in Switzerland! We took the train to Interlaken, a small town in the Alps about 3 hours outside of Geneva.  The train ride was unbelievable...definitely worth the expensive train ticket!! As we made our way outside of the city, we rode along side the breathtaking mountains and lakes. The first thought that popped into my head when we arrived in Interlaken was that it's the dictionary definition of picturesque. It was just a short walk through town to our hostel, which was a really cute chalet-style place. We were all very hungry and were happy to see an Irish pub just down the street! It's amazing how much we all missed Ireland after less than a week of being away.  We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the town, taking in the amazing surroundings, and of course sampling some Swiss chocolate!

Wednesday was our only full day in Interlaken, but we definitely packed a lot in! We got up early(ish) and went for a hike on some trails right from town.  The fall tree lined trails reminded me a lot of Minnesota at this time of year, except for the mountains! The view from the top of the mountain (well, more like a hill...) that we climbed was incredible and we could see little villages nestled right in the mountains. Then we headed toward the train station to meet up with three other friends, Billy, Brady and Joe, from our program who were staying in Leysin, Switzerland and planned to meet up with us for the day.  It's had to  make plans and connect with each other without cell phones, but we finally made contact and were so excited to see each other again.  On our way back to our hostel to make a plan for the afternoon, the boys saw a moped rental place right next door and we decided to rent four mopeds for the eight of us to take a tour into the mountains.  I was with Katy, who was the only girl brave enough to step up and drive, and after only one accidental swerve into the wrong lane, she did an amazing job!! We all had a blast spending the afternoon driving along the windy mountain roads with the sound of cow bells ringing in the distance and stopping in a few little towns for pictures and to explore the area.  After sending the boys back on their way, we got ready for another activity that was recommended to us...a chocolate show! It was at Schuh's, a fancy chocolate shop, and we were given a tutorial and demonstration of Swiss chocolate by Chef Stefan, along with lots of free samples! What a sweet way to end our stay in Interlaken!

Mopeding through the Alps!!

Bethany and me in Grindlewald!

On Thursday morning, we had some time before taking the train back to Geneva, so we decided to have one more small adventure in Interlaken. We took a mountain train up to another small town, Grindlewald. The train followed the same road we took the day before on mopeds, so it was fun to see the same scenery, but from new heights this time! One of my favorite parts were the streams running along next to the train. They were a beautiful shade of icy blue (Crayola really did get that color name right!). When we arrived at the top, we hiked along a path leading through the small village up to the mountains.  It felt like we were in the Sound of Music...but after they arrive safely in Switzerland :).  We took our time taking in the last few moments in the beautiful surroundings before heading back down the mountain and to the train station.  After another enjoyable train back back to Geneva, we were ready for the final leg of our trip! My cousin Adam, who is working in Geneva until December, generously invited my friends and I to stay with him and his roommate, Sylvia, while we were in Geneva! It was so fun to see a familiar face after so much time away from home and family! We met up with him at the United Nations bus stop and then took the bus over the boarder into Ferney-Voltaire, France where his apartment is. It is not uncommon for people who work in Geneva to live in France because it is unbelievably cheaper! As soon as we got to Adam's, our bags exploded in our bedroom. We had fun chatting and snacking before going out to a delicious Indian restaurant with the whole group.

The next morning, we slept in and had a leisurely morning around Ferney because Kelly and I had to register for classes and needed to be by a computer.  Friday was quite drizzly, but since it was the only rainy day of our trip we couldn't complain too much! Adam's parents, John and Donna, arrived that afternoon for a week-long visit, and I still can't believe how well the timing of everything worked out so we could all meet up! That afternoon my friends and I headed into Geneva and walked around by the lake for a while, but since the weather was still not so nice, we decided to do what we do best and order desserts at a little cafe. We took the bus back to Ferney that evening and had a wonderful home-cooked meal, along with some French cheeses and homemade apple crisp! We all agreed that this was the perfect way to end a great trip and are so thankful to Adam and Sylvia for all their hospitality!!

On Saturday, we had a few hours before catching our plane out of Geneva so we checked out the huge farmer's market along the main streets of Ferney.  They had everything from fresh pasta, breads, seafood, veggies and fruits to scarves and hair extensions!  Around 11am, we said our good-byes and headed to the airport.  Our first flight was to London, and after a four-hour layover, we finally made it back to Dublin.  Just as we were disembarking our plane, our other roommates Sarah and Michelle, as well as the rest of their traveling group came walking down the terminal! It was such a fun reunion, and we couldn't wait to share stories as we went through customs and boarded the bus back to Galway. Rory met us at the bus station and we finally arrived at Cottage 6 around midnight. After four countries in one day, we were pretty exhausted, but so happy to be back!

Let the Games Begin: Cottage Olympics 2011

In a little over an hour, Rory is coming to pick us up for our fall break travels! My friends Kelly, Meghan, Katy and Bethany and I will be traveling through Belgium and Switzerland for 10 days.  We are calling it "The Chocolate Tour of Europe" and are all very excited for lots of sweets and treats (and waffles!!).  Before I leave, though, I thought I would give a quick update about last weekend!

Cottage 6, dressed to impress

On Saturday, the first ever Cottage Olympics were held! Cottage 6 had had the idea for a long time, and we finally got around to putting our plans into action.  It was, of course, rainy when we woke up that morning, and we were almost about to postpone the Games when the sun came out about an hour before the opening ceremonies! Each cottage competed against each other in several events including How Well Do you Know your Cottagemate?, Potato Pillow Pitch, Pass the Potato, Please!, and a relay.  We had a few injuries from the potato peeling portion of the relay, but nothing too bad.  Without even trying to, Cottage 6 prevailed and took home the trophy. We felt a little funny about winning the olympics that we had planned, but everyone thought it was pretty funny.  For our closing ceremony, we decided to do as the Greeks do and wore togas!

At the closing ceremony with our trophy!

That is all I really have time for right now, but I will update you all on my travels as soon as I return!
Bon Voyage!
Ellen

Bogland and Beyond

Last monday marked the half-way point in my study abroad experience. In some ways, it feels like I have been here forever, and in others I feel like I just arrived last week.  Yesterday, Kelly and I made the bold decision to disable our Facebook accounts until we are home in December. We both felt that we spend way too much time not really doing anything online, and now that we are half-way through, I would rather spend as much time as I can doing things I won't be able to do at home.  Last weekend we went on a four-day long weekend excursion to Dublin.  Back in August, I flew into Dublin when I first arrived in Ireland, but we didn't see much of the city at all, so it was nice to have a few days there.

Kilmainham Jail: Another depressing stop on our tour through Irish history

We left pretty early Thursday morning for our first stop at Kilmainham Gaol jail. The three-hour bus ride seemed to fly by compared to the five (or more) hour ones to and from our last excursion in Northern Ireland.  We arrived in Dublin in the early afternoon for our tour of the jail.  Kilmainham, which is now a museum, was a notorious prison during the late 1800s and early 1900s.  It is especially well-known for being the site of several executions of Irish rebels who were arrested in the revolutionary movement of the 1916 Easter Rising.  It was pretty unbelievable to see the exact jail cell of some of the people we are learning about in our classes. We got to our hostel later in the afternoon, and because the weather was so beautiful for a change, I took a walk around the area with two of my cottagemates Kelly and Sarah. It was nice to get the lay of the land, and we were staying very close to the Temple Bar area, one of the most popular areas of Dublin.  That night, the program paid for us all to have dinner at the Brazen Head Pub, a famous pub just a few blocks from where we were staying.  Being in Dublin, of course I had to get the Guinness stew!

Hill of Tara

We left the city of Dublin for the day on Friday to tour some sites just outside of the city.  We started at the Hill of Tara, which looks like just an ordinary grassy field, but actually contains dozens of ancient monuments and passage tombs underground.  We stopped in a little town to have some lunch, and I had a panini with turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce. It made me so excited for our Thanksgiving dinner at the Park Lodge :)  Next we went to Newgrange which was one of my favorite things we have seen so far. We started at the visitor's center and saw some exhibits about the ancient passage tomb and then took a bus to the actual site, which is about 5,000 years old but was partly restored in the 1960s.  The opening of the passage was created so precisely, that when the winter solstice occurs, the light shines right through the opening into the passage.

Newgrange

At a pub in Dublin where a scene from P.S. I Love You was filmed!

On Saturday, we had a city tour of Dublin.  We drove around for the first hour and a half, and the tour guide mostly talked about the things we passed by.  Finally, we were able to get out and visit Trinity College. We saw the Book of Kells, which is an ancient, illuminated manuscript of the four gospels.  My favorite part of Trinity was the famous library...it felt like I was in Beauty and the Beast :) The walls were covered with books from floor to ceiling.  We had some free time to walk around the area around Trinity for lunch, and we also walked along Graffton Street, the most famous shopping street in Dublin. While we were waiting for the rest of the group, my roommate Meghan and I got some coffee and were waiting outside of Trinity, when some people came up and asked if we were students! It always feels good to know people think you are a local...even if you are wearing tennis shoes! In the afternoon, we met up with our Theology professor Brother Colman (or Bro Co, as he is known to us) and toured the National Museum.  They had an exhibit of "bog bodies," bodies that fell into a bog hundreds of years ago and are well preserved! On the way back, a small group of us stopped to see the post office on O'Connell street that was the site of the Easter Rising in 1916.  It is just an everyday post office now, but the pillars in front are dotted with bullet holes from the uprising.  That night, most of the girls from our group went to the Arlington Hotel in Temple Bar for a traditional music and dance show.  The hotel has the show every night of the week, and it is quite well known, so I was glad we got to experience it.  It was a great way to end a busy weekend.

We left Dublin Sunday morning and stopped at the ruins of two ancient monasteries (Cloinmacnoise and Kilconnell) on our way back to Galway.  I think after this trip, it will be strange for us to see churches with roofs since we have toured pretty much every roofless church in Ireland! When we arrived back at the Park Lodge, we were all happy to get the leftover lasagna from Geraldine from our cooking class last week, so we all had a delicious dinner minus all the dishes!

Kelly showing her excitement at another roofless church.

A perfect fit! Others in the group aren't so lucky...

For the most part, this week was pretty uneventful, but on Thursday we didn't have our seminar class and instead took a day trip through Connemara to Kylemore Abbey, an abbey of Benedictine sisters.  The scenery along the way was beautiful...our bus driver said we were lucky that it wasn't foggy and rainy so we could see the mountains and lakes.  The road cut straight through the bogland of Connemara, making it a pretty bumpy ride.  At Kylemore, we had a tour of the castle, some free time to walk around the walled gardens, lunch, and a Q and A session with one of the nuns.  On the way back, we got to get off the bus and walk across the bog field! It felt like walking on a cross between a water bed and a trampoline with some        mud mixed in.

Bonus Picture:

It's fate :)

An Spideal: Daily life in the "roaring metropolis" of Spiddal

Since most of my posts so far have been about my travels around Ireland, I decided I should tell you all a little about daily life here at the Park Lodge. It has been pretty dreary here for the past five days, but today we actually saw a little sunshine! Here are some highlights from the past two weeks about what's been going on at the Park Lodge:

A few days after returning from Northern Ireland, our whole group went to a performance of Trad on the Prom at a snazzy hotel in Salthill, Galway.  It is a show of a mix of contemporary and traditional Irish music and dance that is performed from May to September every year. We were lucky to catch the last weekend! Some members of the cast are from other touring shows such as Riverdance and Lord of the Dance and many were national champion dancers.  The talent was pretty amazing! It was really dressed up and going to a new destination in Galway!

That weekend, my cottagemates and I took our local cab, driven by Rory, to Galway for the weekend market.  It's located right by St. Nicholas Cathedral, a famous church near the center of town, so it was easy to find.  There were lots of booths set up selling everything from gourmet olives to oysters and fresh veggies to local art.  It was pretty busy, but we took our time looking around, and I got a delicious falafel for lunch.  Because we have been gone on so many excursions lately, I feel like I haven't really had the time to just explore Galway very much, so I was glad to have the opportunity during our free weekend.  After the market, I met up with Aoife, a friend from Rochester who happens to be in her second year of medical school at NUIG.  We went to her house and had tea with brown bread and just chatted for hours (how Irish of us!). I spent the night at Nile Lodge (her house) and it was a nice get-away for the weekend.  It was so nice to see a familiar face, and we had a great time just catching up on everything! In the morning, we watched the Irish rugby team play Italy in the rugby world cup. It was a pretty exciting match, and Ireland won 36-6! Then it was time to head back and meet up with my group in Galway for mass and shopping before another week.

On Wednesday of last week, Kelly and Meghan (two of my cottagemates) and I took a walk up to Rory's (our friendly cab driver) house for tea. We weren't exactly sure where we were going (the directions we got from our other friends were a little vague!) but eventually we made it! When we arrived, we commented on the horse that was in his yard (not his horse, it just uses his field, apparently) so Rory cut up some apples and we got to feed it.  Then I was happy to get my dog fix and take Rory's dog Cain on a walk around the little loop near his house.  It had been a little rainy and cloudy, but it cleared up enough for us to have a nice walk.  When we got back, Rory had plates set out with more cookies and cake than I want to admit to eating and a delicious cup of tea for each of us.  My brother Will and Rory were good friends last year during his time here, so it is really fun for me to get to know him and see all the things I have heard so much about.

We had another totally free weekend this week, and it was a nice surprise to wake up to a beautiful sunny day on Friday! I actually wore shorts and a t-shirt for most of it! Our friendly bartender John Paul opened the bar at the Park Lodge for us that night, and it is alway fun when the group gets together. I feel so lucky with how well everyone gets along, and everyone definitely brings something fun to the group.  Being in Ireland, we knew the wonderful weather would not last, and it rained all day long on Saturday. It didn't dampen our spirits, though, and a group of us went into Galway to watch a Galway United soccer game.  Galway is in last place in the league, but we played the second to last place team, so it ended up being a pretty good match-up, although we did lose 1-2 in the end.  One bright side was that Kelly and I were lucky enough to score the last two Galway United t-shirts at the merchandise stand!

Sunday morning was another typical trip to Galway for mass and grocery shopping. It is nice that there is a bus provided for our whole group on those days so we don't have to figure out transportation ourselves.  We came back an hour earlier than usual this week, however, because we had our first in a series of cooking classes with Geraldine, John Paul's sister who is the cook for the Park Lodge.  There will be four classes total and two representatives from each cottage attend the class, learn how to make the meal and bring it back for the cottage to share! Sarah and I went this week, and we made traditional Irish brown bread, lasagna, roasted veggies and, of course, potatoes.  The class ended up being four hours long, so Kelly, Meghan and Michelle were all very excited when we arrived back to Cottage 6 with our homemade feast. Sharing the delicious meal with great friends was a perfect end to the rainy weekend!

A LegenDerry Weekend in Northern Ireland

Today was a perfect fall day in Spiddal! After a three-hour history class, we are done with classes until Monday afternoon. I am already not sure how it is going to go next spring when I will actually have five days of classes a week. I walked to Spiddal with some friends to pick up a few groceries, and because it was such a nice day, we decided to buy ice cream bars and sit by the ocean soaking up the sun while we have the chance! Last week we had a five day trip to Northern Ireland...here's how it went!

After only two days back in Spiddal, we were on the road again! We left for Northern Ireland on Wednesday afternoon after two three-hour classes, and after a four-hour bus ride, I was more than happy to arrive in Derry (or Londonderry, or according to our tour guide Martin, LegenDerry).  We stayed in a hostel that reminded me a lot of Our House in Iceland! A small group of us actually stayed in a different house around the corner from the rest, but it was really nice to just share a room with two other people.  As a group, we got our first glimpse of Derry when we walked to Badger’s pub for dinner.  The dinner was budgeted in to our excursion, so I decided to go all out and get the Guinness and beef stew and the Baihley’s cheesecake. On the way back, we stopped to withdraw some pounds because Northern Ireland is technically a different country and part of the United Kingdom.  It was hard to remember we were actually in a different country.  On Thursday, we went to the Tower Museum about the entire history of Derry. Our tour guide was Jerry from Derry, and he did a great job of explaining each portion of Derry’s history.  The most interesting section for me was the more recent history and the Troubles, the conflicts between Catholics and Protestants.  Jackie (one of our professors who joined us)  had some unbelievable stories about what it was like to live there during that time.  After lunch, we went to another museum, the Free Derry Museum, specifically about Bloody Sunday.  I was shocked to learn that some people were killed on the sidewalk literally right outside the building.  The museum followed the events in the years leading up to Bloody Sunday, so we had great context information because I didn’t really know much about the history of it before.  There were also a lot of artifacts from the actual day, including clothes with bullet holes worn by the people who were killed.  We learned that just last summer the British government admitted that the people who were killed were innocent victims and not gunmen, as they had been called in the past.   After the museum, we met Martin, our tour guide for a walking tour of Derry.  We walked all around the area around the museum and the walled area, looking at the many murals painted on buildings.  They all had to do with the Troubles and what was even more interesting was that most of them were painted on or near the spot that they depicted.  On our way back to the hostel, Jackie brought us all to a pub to celebrate Arthur Guinness’s birthday! 

We found some delicious desserts at a cute little cafe. Of course, I had to get the cupcake!

The Free Derry Museum about the Bloody Sunday massacre

The beginning of our walking tour of the city

Our tour guide Martin explaining the murals

The victims of Bloody Sunday

A mural dedicated to a 14-year-old girl who was shot and killed on her way to school during the Troubles

After leaving Derry, we made two stops on the way to Belfast.  First, we had a tour and lunch at the Bushmill’s Distillery.  My favorite part was watching the bottling of the whiskey, and it was pretty amazing to me that the whiskey being produced when we were watching won’t be sold for at least three years, but probably even more! We had lunch and a free drink in the café, and I tried a hot toddy, but I don’t think I am much of a whiskey drinker.  Next, we drove just a few miles to the Giant’s Causeway, a naturally occurring rock formation that was formed 60 million years ago. We had an hour to get out and explore.  It was a really nice day, so it was great to be able to be outside in beautiful surroundings.  We made our last leg of the trip to Belfast and arrived later in the afternoon.  After dinner, a group of us went out to explore a Culture Night festival that we had heard about.  It turned out to be a big celebration for the city and there were many people and families all over the cathedral quarter.  We got there just at the end of a parade featuring drumming pirates, a human hamster wheel and flag twirlers.  There were also puppet shows, live music and art displays all around the streets.  The next day our tour guide Colin joined us for a “hop on-hop off” tour of Belfast.  First, we drove along the more affluent part of Belfast and Queens University before going to the still-divided areas.  In the Catholic area of West Belfast, we saw a wall painted with murals depicting protests during the Troubles but also showing other social issues from the past, showing that the people from that area stood in solidarity with others from around the world being unfairly oppressed.  Driving along the “peace wall” separating the Catholic and Protestant neighborhoods was very moving. It is hard to imagine living your whole life on one side and not even knowing anyone in the next neighborhood, separated by just a few feet.  The next stop was the Northern Ireland parliament building.  It was still hard to fathom that we were technically in another country than the Republic.  Our last stop on the tour was at Belfast castle with its gorgeous gardens and view of the city.  Legend has it that if you find all nine cat statues hidden around the garden, you will have good luck.  Not being much of a cat person, however, I decided to risk it and just enjoy the sunshine! We were all happy to notice that it rains significantly less in the North than in Galway!  We got dropped off near the city center for the free afternoon.  A group of us found a Chipotle-like burrito restaurant for lunch that had been highly recommended.  Eating a carnitas fajita burrito was a taste of home that I definitely needed! After church that night, a few friends and I went to Jaipur Kebabs, right across the street from our hostel, that  my brother had told me was a must-do in Belfast.  His word was good and we all devoured our kebabs in record time. What a great end to the weekend :)