DISCLAIMER: Photos will be up soon...and this is the longest post yet, so grab some coffee...
I just got back from IRELAND! Now I can cross it off my bucket list. I traveled with my friend Monica who is also studying with me in Granada.
We first flew into Dublin. There, we visiting the Book of Kells in Trinity College (incredibly old manuscript containing the four gospels). We arrived just at closing time, but the man at the entrance let us in for free. After that, we were feeling pretty good because our pockets hadn't lost any weight, yet. That night we signed up for a pub crawl (my first as a 21 year old). For all those academics that who doubt that drinking and education can be mixed, let me just tell you to never question the Irish. Monica and I joined a literary pub crawl. It took us to four famous bars in Dublin and on the way the two men leading the crawl performed monologues and skits from books by famous Irish authors. Many of these authors studied in Trinity. you may recognize James Joyce (he wrote
Ulysses) or Oscar Wilde (who interestingly enough has visited Leadville, Colorado) and even Bram Stoker (Dracula, which comes from the Irish Gaelic words "Droch Ula" which means "bad blood"). That night we and a German girl we met on the crawl went to a famous area called Temple Bar. We, then, ran into an American girl and an Australian girl staying in our hostel and all hung out. The next day we visited the Guinness Brewery. It was a great experience but I have to say (I have waited until I was out of the Ireland) that I don't really like Guinness beer. I was too afraid of offending the Irish. We then walked around for a bit before taking a bus to Galway.
At first in Galway, I was a little skeptical. We were tired from traveling and we still didn't feel fulling immersed into Irish culture. So after we freshened up at our hostel, we did a bit of self-guided walking tour. The wind nearly froze me (like my father, I hate cold wind) but the tour was a fun way to get our bearings in Galway. We then ate burgers (the first in months) at a restaurant and proceeded to look for authentic Irish music. That night however we only found bands that did contemporary covers...so we went to bed. The next morning we got up early and took a ferry to Aran Islands. Wow, so beautiful. Originally the islands were just large pieces of limestone but farmers mixed sand and seaweed and placed in on top of the rocks and GRASS GREW. Now it a lovely tourist destination. ALSO, the movie with Amy Adams and Matthew Goode, Leap Year, was shot there. On the return ferry we met an American girl who has a really interesting travel history that includes the Netherlands, South Africa and Ireland. She has lived in Ireland for the last four years. She gave us suggestions for food and fun. That night we ate delicious fish and chips. We also met new friends: Quin from Canada, Phil from Colorado (represent!) and his friend Rachel. Phil and Rebecca both go to Colombia University and Rachel knows the Pensack's (from home in CO). Small world. All together we went to what is called a "silent disco." This entails that everyone wears headphones. There are two DJ's and two stations on the headphones. You can switch between the two music stations depending upon music preference. THEN if you want to have a normal conversation with someone, instead of losing vocal chords while yelling, you just take off the headphones and talk. IT WAS GREAT. I just laughed about the concept the whole time but also enjoyed it a lot. I am so going to try to bring in to UP's campus next year!
So the next morning we caught a bus to Cork (in the south). We arrived in Cork rather tired, so we rested for a bit. Two other people were already taking naps in our hostel room. We all coincidentally woke up at the same time. Turns out these two people became our closest friends during our Irish adventures. One is named Nils and he is from Germany, the other is named Amanda, she is originally from France. Both speak great English (among other languages). We decided to do a self-guided walking tour with them. On the way, we met another American exchange student named Ren. We later ran into her when we were sitting down for some drinks, for which she joined us. We cooked pizzas and eggs in the hostel kitchen. Then we went to a bar in which we had been told that a famous Irish band was playing. This band, the Kilkennys, only plays a couple of free shows a year and we were fortunate enough to see them! Ren, the student, met us there and we all enjoyed good ol' Irish tunes.
The next morning Monica and I headed to Blarney Castle to kiss the Blarney stone. Who knew that it was such a task to do so? You have to lay on your back and lean really far to kiss it, upside down. All of this happens at the top off the castle, hundreds of feet above ground with only steel bars and a handy, dandy Irish man holding you preventing you from falling. Good thing they placed steel bars below it, or else there would be many casualties. All this for a rock...it is supposed to give the kisser eloquence while speaking. I will let you know if it works. :) We then walked around the gardens, one of which was a poison garden. In this garden grew many poisonous plants--like Foxgloves, Hellebore, Common Box, Wormwood, Hemlock--all indicated by a sign with crossbones and an explanation underneath. Harry Potter was mentioned many times in the signs (think of Mandrakes). After the castle we returned to get some food at the English Market with our friends Nils and Amanda. The fresh baked bread, hummus and sun-dried tomatoes readied us for a long journey home. After a flight, a taxi and a run to the bus, we made it back to Granada safely.
Overall, it was a fabulously successful and wonderful trip.
