Let's Climb Croagh Patrick!

We left Friday morning from the hotel at 8:30am.  This weekend's adventure was to County Mayo.  Mayo is also in the mountainous region of Connemara but has another culture all its own.  Our first stop of the day was at the Ballintubber Abbey.  Another beautiful church!  A few of the guys were teasing that they were going to ask a Galway girl to marry them in the Ballintubber Abbey.  Apparently Pierce Brosnan was married there...  Anyway, the reason this church is so special is because this is where the pilgrimage to Croagh Patrick starts.  Saint Patrick started his journey from this church, walked 22 miles to the mountain, and then climbed it.  Each year when people gather to make this same pilgrimage they start at this church and walk to the mountain.  I got a nice picture of where it starts (will be on facebook).  Most of the church was destroyed by the army of Oliver Cromwell, but even the remains are cool.  The next stop of the day was the Foxford Woolen Mills.  Here we got to actually go through their factory and see blankets being made.  Then we watched a short video about the history of it.  It was actually really cool to see.  The third stop of the day was at the Hennigan's Heritage Center.  Basically it was a museum type thing dedicated to the peasants and rural people of Ireland back in the day.  We started in the house that they guy who runs the Center (Tom) lived during his childhood.  The house was tiny and jam packed with all the necessary items, the family, and the animals.  It was hard to imagine everything and everyone fitting in there.  We were told many stories about what life was like for the poor in Ireland and how they made it day to day.  Tom also gave us his perspective on the great famine.  Basically saying that it really shouldn't be called a "famine" because a famine is a shortage of food.  Apparently there wasn't a shortage of food.  What happened was England took away all of their rights (fishing for example) and food options.  They exported it out of Ireland in order to punish them.  This is why the people of Ireland had to depend on the potato for their bulk of their food, that was all that they had left that they could depend on.  This is also the reason why it was such a disaster when the potatoes were infected with blight.  Anyway, I digress...  We spent that night in the town of Westport at a really nice hostel that we had all to ourselves.  I ended up having a double bed and it was glorious.  That night in Westport they had some kind of culture night where all of the art galleries were open for viewing until like 11pm.  So we decided to culture ourselves and so we went to a gallery where we received a free glass of wine and got to look at and interpret the paintings.  It was a really nice change of pace after being busy all day and just being able to relax.  

We left the hostel this morning (Saturday) at 8:30am.  From here we started our journey to climb Croagh Patrick.  This mountain is the famous one that Saint Patrick himself climbed, fasted for 40 days, and then banished the snakes from Ireland.  Also, on "Reek Sunday" which is the last Sunday in July 15,000 pilgrims climb that mountain every year.  The day before the climb I thought that I would just climb it a little and then head back down, thinking that I would take it easy.  This morning, however, I decided that I would try to scale the whole thing.  When we got off the bus we were told that the average climbs up to the top in 2 hours and climbs back down in an hour and a half.  I took a couple pics of the mountain and then began my journey up.  I made it to the top in an hour and a half!  It was a hard climb but it was totally worth it!  At the top of the mountain it was very misty...everyone looked like they had just stepped out of the shower.  The wind was also incredibly strong.  The group of us met at the top and basked in the fact that we had made it!  It really was a great experience!  At the top we talked to an older couple that had climbed up there.  The man told us that it was his 7th trip up there that year!  Its unbelievable that people hike up there sometimes on a regular basis.  On the way back down I passed by a family that was hiking up and the little girl asked me if it was much farther.  I unfortunately had to tell her that there was still a ways to go.  The scenery coming down was absolutely gorgeous and I paused several times to just enjoy it (and enjoy the fact that I was going down and not up!).  We had other things planned to do that day after the climb but our director saw how tired we were and we pretty much just headed back to our cottages near Spiddal.  Oh!  So the "tradition" is for pilgrims to climb Croagh Patrick barefoot.  I'm amazed to report that 3 of the guys on my trip actually did the entire climb barefoot!!  I think it's just absolutely amazing that they did this.  One of the guys names was even Patrick.  On the way down they did put their shoes back on because it was actually really slippery and quite difficult.  Another thing that we did before we climbed back down the mountain was that we all made a circle and said a prayer.  Again, it was an amazing experience and I'm so glad that I put in the effort and made it to the top!

To Arthur!

Monday and Tuesday I just had classes so there was nothing exciting to blog about.  Wednesday I didn't have any classes so I wrapped up some of my homework for the following week.  We had our "family meeting" for about an hour and then we all took a bus into Galway city.  We received a guided tour of the Galway museum and then we wandered around Galway for about two hours.  When we got back to the cottages we learned that J.P. was going to open the pub again for us.  We spent a little time there just all hanging out and getting to know J.P.  We asked about his wedding coming up in January and he answered all of our stupid questions about Ireland.  I think he got quite a laugh out of it.  

Thursday was a big day.  It was the 250th anniversary of Guinness. We heard that everyone in Ireland was going to raise their glasses up for the founder, Arthur Guinness, at 5:59pm or 17:59 military time which stood for it being founded in 1759.  It was a crazy day.  We all took a bus into Galway around 4 so that we could get a pub and get a pint of Guinness before the big moment.  The pubs were packed and everyone was out celebrating the big day.  Everyone cheers-ed for Arthur about million times before the night was over.  Another added bonus was that Guinness was only 2.50 Euro, which made it easier to actually drink. :P  Our huge group of 28 all split up into groups of about 4 and visited some other pubs around Galway.  Overall it was just a really fun night.  Everyone was out on the streets and meeting new people.  It was a really good opportunity to meet some Irish people and get to know them.  An interesting thing about going to pubs in Ireland is how fast that they will figure out that your American and to what gave it away.  Whenever they figure it out before I've said anything I like to ask how they knew I was American.  And here are some of the answers:  North Face....duh! (although I have none), teeth (yeah, they're actually straight...haha), accent (ya shore you betcha), they way you walk, my hair (apparently I have an 'American' style of brownish gold), and I'm sure that there are others.  Anyway, so it was a really good experience and I'm glad that I got to do this.  I got back to the cottages at midnight and went straight to bed.

Connemara Excursion

We left early Friday morning on our very first overnight excursion.  Our destination was the mountainous Connemara region.  It's only about an hour and a half away from our "home."  Our first stop was a place called Mamead (I believe that I spelled it right.  The bus parked there and we were sent on a hiking journey that overall lasted about 2 hours.  We followed a "path" up into the mountains.  The "path" was really just a bunch of rocks placed into the ground to help you get footing on the way up.  It was nothing like a smooth paved sidewalk.  So we reached the end of the path where a little chapel in the mountain was.  It was only about a third of the way up the mountain I would guess.  It was pretty cool to see, but we didn't really know much about the actual chapel itself.  So being such an adventurous group that we are, we decided to deviate from the path.  We continued to climb the mountain while the other tourists by the chapel decided to head back down.  I got about 3/4 the way up the mountain and decided that was enough.  The view was breath-taking and everyone in the group found their own little rock or sitting area where you could just enjoy the surroundings.  It was definitely the best part of my day.  So then we had try and find a way down the mountain.  We couldn't remember the exact path that we took but we could see the rocky path that would lead us back to our bus.  We ventured on through the mountains on the bus.  We took a short cut which definitely was interesting.  We ran into a herd of sheep, a group of cows, and a very small rickety bridge (but we made it over!).  On the way to our next destination we saw what Alan (our bus driver) called a Leprechaun Hotel.  We stopped in Leenane for lunch and a tour of their sheep and wool museum.  After we refueled we headed on to Clifden where we would stay the night.  After showering and eating we went to a poetry reading by the famous Irish poet Seamus Heaney.  We are actually reading some of his poems here in Ireland for our Seminar class.  It was a really cool experience.  I had never been to a poetry reading before so I wasn't really sure what to expect.  He seemed really down to earth and eager to meet people.  After this we had the evening free and we roamed around the town of Clifden.  The girls that I went with decided on a pub and had tea and hot chocolate.  It was a really relaxed pub with some traditional live music.  There was a guy playing the accordion who apparently was a really famous accordion player (who would have thought).  So that was our very long day.

The next morning we woke up and some of us went to the Connemara National Park about 15 minutes away.  There we climbed Diamond Mountain and took in the breath-taking sights.  Again, pictures will be (or already are) on facebook.  Since we climbed a mountain the previous day, I was content on just going up half way and then chilling on a rock.  It was a really peaceful place.  After we climbed back down the mountain we headed to Aughnanure Castle.  I thought this castle was really interesting.  It wasn't the stereotypical castle that you see in movies or fairy-tales or anything.  But I think this was good because I got to learn about the practical uses that castles had at this time in Ireland.  Apparently they put in a lot of things that were just supposed to scare their enemies and they didn't really work.  For example, one of the windows where they kept their weapons was shaped for a cannon and the enemy would recognize this.  The reality however is that they never did have a cannon and even if they did it was the wrong height for one.  I don't remember how old the castle is by I do remember that it was the home of the O'Flahertys who were chieftains at the time.  After the castle, we made the trek back to the cottages and it felt good to be home.

(Sorry how late this post is...we are kept pretty busy)

Just a normal day in Ireland..

Darn, I got a little behind again on my blogging.  So on Wednesday I didn't have any classes, but I did have a one hour "family meeting" with everyone in my study abroad group.  After this meeting we got on a bus to go into Galway city.  When we got there we first went to the Galway museum and had a look around.  One thing that stuck out for me there was how personal everything was to the people there.  It really gave a good look at who the Gaelic people were in that area and what their culture really is.  At one part of the museum there were a bunch of photographs in a row that was of the front of an apartment or house and in front of that were the people who actually lived there.  It just shows how community-based their culture is.  After the museum we headed over the NUIG which is the National University of Ireland-Galway.  Our program director had set up a panel of professors and graduate students that would talk about the culture of Ireland with us.  It actually turned out to be a really good panel.  They were open and honest about their culture and would answer any of our questions.  It was cool at parts when they would talk about their friendliness and such and that would could compare that to our "Minnesota Nice."  When the panel was over we spent the rest of our evening in Galway.  The group that I split up with went to the King's Head pub.  It turned out to be a lot of fun.  They had live music start around 10pm and we got to meet some locals there and talk with them.  

On Thursday I only had Senior Seminar in the morning and the rest of the day was free.  And how did I spend this time?  By reading on the rocks by the ocean...duh.  It was a gorgeous sunny day (which supposedly is really rare here...but we still have yet to see rain!).  I also got to see a boat coming into the Galway bay when I was out there.  Later that night we talked to J.P. who is one of the owners of the Park Lodge Hotel and he decided that he would open the hotel pub for us so that we could all hang out and also get to know J.P.  It was a blast!  All 28 of us went and just had a great time.  J.P. is a really cool guy and it was so much fun to hang out with him.  (I got a picture with him)  One of the guys in our group brought their laptop and hooked it up to some speakers so that we could have a dance party.  Some of the songs included Shout, Sweet Home Alabama, Lean on Me, and Piano Man.  Overall, it was a great time.  We took so many pictures that night (including a few "roomie" pics).  It was probably the most fun night I've had here thus far.  The next morning we departed on our excursion to Connemara, but I will tell you about that next time.  So stay tuned. :P

First Days of Classes

Yesterday I finally started my classes!  Here is my schedule each week.  We have our study abroad seminar with our program director for an hour and a half at 9 on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  The other three classes meet only once a week and are 3 hour long lectures.  On Mondays I have History of Ireland from 10-1 and Contemporary Irish Catholicism from 2-5.  Then I also have Gaelic Archeology on Tuesdays from 11-2.  The three hour lectures weren't bad this first week.  We get a 10 minutes break in the middle of each class, so that helps to break it up.  Also, when we were told that they did straight lecture it scared me.  But I think they do a good job of interacting with us and talking with us rather than at us.  So hopefully that will continue.  All of the professors are very nice and don't seem to "droll" yet.  Haha.  Another pleasant surprise from them was that I can actually understand them.  I was so worried that they would have thick accents that I wouldn't be able to understand.  I'm not sure if I'm just getting used to hearing the accent, or if theirs really isn't bad.  Also I noticed that they are more inclined to spell out words of places or what have you when they are talking.  It may just be because they know we are Americans and we don't know anything....just kidding...but seriously.  All three of my professors have been teaching this study abroad group for at least 5 years.  So it is nice that they pretty much know what to expect from us and how things are supposed to go.  My catholicism teacher has been doing it for like 12 years, but she still seems eager to change things up and adapted to this year's group.  The first day she asked us if there were any topics that we wanted to make sure to cover.  So it sounds like she will be willing to adapt to our needs.  My archeology professor was giving us advice on traveling and places to go and modes of transportation to use.  So overall, it was a good first week of classes.  (Alright, so I have another hour and a half on Thursday still)  It's going to be really interesting this semester and I think that I'm going to love these classes.  

Anyway, that's about all that has happened in the past few days.  Yes, I finally caught up! :)  Now I'm going to go on facebook and finish uploading some pics for everyone to see.  These will be able to explain what I've seen/experienced much better than I'm able to one here.  In seminar today we found out that we have to do like a documentary project about our travels and experiences here and I will probably use this blog as a tool to help me do that. 

Coole Park

We got to sleep in on Sunday for the first time!  We loaded up in the bus around 2 to head to Coole Park which was at least an hour and 15 minutes away.  Right now there is some construction going on in Galway on a major road, bringing it down to only one side of it, so it gets pretty annoying always getting stuck there for a few minutes before we can pass.  Also, in Ireland you run into really random traffic on small country roads.  For those of you from CG, it would be like having stopped traffic on Keats Rd.  For those of you in St. Joe it would be like having stopped traffic on Minnesota St. I'm not sure that Ireland has any big highways like we do in the U.S.  One of our professors said that they are trying to make one from the north down to Dublin but it would pass right by Tara and ruin some archeological sites that haven't been completely researched yet.  

So, before we went to Coole Park we made a quick stop to see the castle of William B. Yeats.  He was a really famous poet in Ireland.  Here we met up with the professor that would be teaching our Literature class.  He took us around the castle and explaining the historical occurrences here as well as the aesthetics of the building.  After his explanation, he then read a poem written by Yeats himself about his castle home.  It was really cool to connect things together like that and actually see what he is talking about.  Next we went on to Coole Park.  This is where Lady Gregory had lived (she was close friends with William Yeats).  The acreage that is left of the park is only a sliver of what the family had when the land was first bought.  The house of Lady Gregory no longer stands, but the foundation is still there covered with grass. Again, Gerard explained the history and then connected that with a poem that Yeats had written about the house.  The next spot on our walk through the Park was at the Autograph Tree.  We went into the huge walled garden that was still there and if anyone has seen "The Secret Garden" that's kind of what it looked/felt like.  So on the tree are the carved in signatures of famous literary people in Ireland.  Some of the names included Lady Gregory, William Yeats, George Bernard Shaw, a countess, and a guy from NY who had been crucial in getting Yeats's poems popular in America.  

On the way back to the hotel we finally stopped at a grocery place to get food.  This was a little stressful because it was our first trip.  I'm sure that we will get the hang of it soon.  We've been having family dinners most nights, so we have to shop and plan things out together.  I'm happy to say though that I got some peanut butter! :)  I tried the Nutella that they have here, but I will always love actual peanut butter.  If you've never had Nutella, it's more like eating chocolate frosting.  Another thing that I've tried over here is the hard cider.  It's actually pretty good, although I might be one of the few who actually likes it...  

Aran Islands

I'm about two days behind in blogging, but I'm sure that I will catch up soon because I just have classes the next couple of days, so I'll have more time to catch up, and won't be doing anything as exciting.  So on Saturday our group headed out to see the Aran Islands.  It was about a half an hour bus ride followed by about a 45-60 minute ferry ride out to the Islands.  We went to the big island which is called Inishmore.  When we got there our director let us loose and just told us to be back to take the ferry at 4.  So we had about 4ish hours to wander around this island that is supposedly 9 miles wide.  You could either walk, bike, get a buggy with horse, or get in a tour van.  The girls that I went with decided to walk.  I hate biking uphills so that was the main reason for me.  Anyway, so we started out on our journey.  We decided to go to the old lighthouse on the island.  We walked there in about an hour or so and it was a really pretty walk.  The road was right along the coast so we saw a bunch of fields, cliffs, beaches, and houses.  There are actually a lot more people that live on the island than I would have thought.  There were some Bed & Breakfasts there too that were the cutest houses ever.  By the way, like every other house in the Galway house seems like its a B&B.  So we finally made it to the lighthouse and we immediately bust out our cameras to capture it.  You can actually go up in it and get a great view of the entire island and ocean.  After we thoroughly explored the lighthouse and its surroundings we started the walk back to the port.  One thing that I love about Ireland is that when you are going to a certain destination, there are probably several things on the way that are really cool and that you'll want to go explore and take pictures of.  Hence I took like 130 pictures in 4 days.  When we got back to the port we had an hour or so to relax before we had to get on the ferry.  The Aran Islands are famous for their wool sweaters, so we went into the sweater store.  I ended up getting a really cute knit side purse.  So yeah, then we just hung out until the ferry came.  On the way back to the mainland, just about all 28 of us fell asleep on the boat...and there are pictures.

When we got back to the cottages we all showered and got ready because it was one of my cottage-mates birthdays so we needed to celebrate.  We went into Spiddal for a little bit, but the pubs were crowded with a bachelorette party and some live music.  So we hung out on the beach there for a while, just hanging out looking at the stars.  The stars are absolutely gorgeous out here, and I'm going to miss them at home.  So then a couple of us made the walk back to the cottages and made some friends with some kids who were playing "Pokemon" in the parking lot.  (It consisted of them throwing a ball tied to a string and trying to get it stuck in the powerlines...I don't know).  There was a wedding reception going on in the hotel and that's why the boys were out there.  They were really funny to talk to.  We talked about Dunkin Donuts (they were like obsessed with that for some reason), Obama (apparently he's Irish), "the Mexican problem" in the US, and Family Guy.  It was really interesting to hear what they thought about America.  Anyway, then they invited the three of us that were talking to them to go into the wedding reception.  How often do you get invited to do that?  So we went to the hotel and crashed the reception.  It was definitely the most fun wedding reception that I've ever been to!  First of all the music that they played was about half American and half Irish.  Those of us who were in my program pretty much dominated the dance floor.  We danced to songs ranging from Poker Face and Thriller to Galway Girl and other Irish songs.  The wedding party was out on the dance floor with us and we all just intermingled.  A couple of the girls taught some of the older Irish men how to dance to Thriller...haha.  It was just a great time that is hard to explain unless you experienced something like it.  Towards the end, the bride and groom did like a traditional Irish dance in the middle of the dance floor while everyone was around them cheering them on and chanting.  It was just really cool to see them tie in their heritage and culture into this celebration.  This was a great day and night in Ireland.

Side note:  I've noticed for the most part that the people from Northern Ireland have thicker accents than those I've met in the Galway area so far.  The people at the wedding were from Donegal and were severely hard to understand...they were also pretty drunk though so that might have played a factor.

First Days of Ireland

Well, I finally made it into Ireland Thursday with a local time of 10am.  We made it through customs easily, being granted permission to stay for until mid December.  When we got out of customs we found some classmates that had gotten into the Shannon airport a couple hours before us.  Then we waited until 12:30 for another group to arrive.  Our program director and assistant director picked us up in a bus and we started on our adventures.  The drive was about an hour and a half to our hotel, and as tired as I was from traveling, I could not fall asleep with all the sights to be seen.  We made a quick stop in Galway to pick up two other girls on our trip.  

The cottages are even cuter than the pictures that they showed us.  We brought all of our stuff in, picked rooms, and tried to unpack.  The closet that I share is tiny...so good thing I didn't bring a lot of clothes.  I'm about one of the only people who brought only one checked bag, but I'm confident to say that I definitely didn't overpack.  After we put some stuff away we had a group dinner that Geraldine made for us.  Of course it was meat, potatoes, and vegetables...and it was really good!  After dinner we started to explore our surroundings, first by taking the path to the ocean.  It was a rocky coastline and we had a lot of fun walking on the rocks trying to get to the water.  When we got back to the hotel we all quick got onto the internet to let our parents and everyone know that we made it here safe.  Later that night, some of us decided to venture into Spiddal to see what we were getting ourselves into.  The walk one-way is about half and hour...roughly 2 miles.  (oh, btw, I finally saw the mini horse that I heard so much about, it is adorable)  We went into our first pub in Ireland and ordered some Guinness.  The local crowd consisted of some friends talking at the bar and a bigger group of guys playing a round of poker.  The walk back...was a little scary.  Granted it was at like 9 or 9:30 because we were after-all jet-lagged.  We are hoping that it will be better later at night.  The path is pretty narrow and the cars drive insanely fast.  Anyway, we survived.

The next morning we got up and Geraldine had breakfast all ready for us.  (I wish she cooked all of our meals!)  After we ate, we met Jane Marie and she kinda explained how things were going to work.  Then we departed on our journey to Salthill and Galway.  We stopped in Salthill for about an hour and we just walked around the beach, climbed on rocks, the usual.  Then we ventured around the city of Galway for about 3 hours.  We split up into little groups and went our own ways.  My group went and explored two of the churches that we saw.  The second of which was the prettiest church I've ever seen!  Overall, the stain glass that I have seen in Ireland is absolutely amazing.  I have plenty of pictures, and will probably share them.  After the churches we went and saw the Spanish arches, which were on a really fast moving river.  People were just sitting along this river chatting with friend, eating lunch, and taking a nap.  It was really cool to see people just gathering at a public place like this.  Again, I have a lot of pictures and will post them on facebook.  For lunch I really wanted to try Supermac which is pretty much the Irish version of McDonalds...but they also have the real McDonalds there so don't get that confused.  I probably did some other cool things in Galway that have already slipped my mind because these past few days have just been so busy!  

So far the weather has been amazing!  I was ready for and expecting rainy-gloomy days, and it has been sunny our entire stay thus far.  Today we went to the Aran islands, but I will write about that tomorrow.  I hope all is well back at home, and I hope to hear from people.  

The journey begins...

Alright, I figured that I will probably tell my stories several times for people, so I might as well write them all down.  This will also help me remember everything. :)  So, whoever wants to read this, go for it.  

Traveling started on Wednesday the 9th.  I met up with Nicole and Catherine, my traveling buddies, at the Lindbergh terminal around 11am.  We hugged our parents goodbye, some crying more than others (mom...), and started our journey.  So, here's the deal...  We had scheduled a 1pm flight from MSP to Milwaukee, about a two hour layover to leave from there at 4:10pm, and then finally leave for Shannon, Ireland at 10pm from NYC.  The first flight went easy and quick.  Our Milwaukee flight was delayed about a half an hour, and then it took forever to actually park at the gate and get off the plane.  In New York we actually had to change from LaGuardia to the JFK airport...we learned our lesson about that.  When it came down to it, we had an hour and a half to claim our luggage, get in a taxi to JFK, check-in, and make our flight.  Needless to say we were stressing out a little bit...  When we had claimed our bags and actually got loaded into a taxi it was 8:45.  We told the cab driver to get there as fast as he could and he actually made it in 15 minutes...which was awesome!  The first terminal we went to was completely abandoned, so we crossed the street to the next closest terminal.  We run in there with our stuff and ask if we can still check in for our flight at 10.  This was probably at 9:07.  The lady just made a face and said that we were very late and that we wouldn't be able to check our bags for the flight, so she sent us to the ticketing counter to schedule us for the flight the next night...  Our hearts sank and we didn't know what to say.  At the ticketing counter, God blessed us with a miracle.  The lady we got was determined for us to make this flight.  She called a few people and pulled some strings.  She personally escorted our luggage to the right spot, and we hustled through security and right onto our plane. I was still carrying my belt while finding my seat.  As we settled into our seats we couldn't believe that we had actually made this flight and were on our way to Ireland. :)