Friday we went Sea Kayaking to see fungi, but the beautiful day had too high winds and flipped 6 of the 12 people out so we didnt make it to fungi. Look for those pics in a dideo later in the week. Hello from Italy! Traveled from 4am to 11:45 pm to get to to Venice! It was surely a long day, bus totally worth it. I got up this morning around 5:45, and after eating went to the bus stop some 200m from the hotel(near the airport) where I was told a bus would be coming that would go to [View Full Entry]

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Friday: Kayaking in a few hours, and leaving in less than half a day. Time has flown. The memories and experiences I have gained have been incredible. Thursday Summarry: Took my last test for my literature course, and then ferried over to the Blasket Islands! It was a great ride over(most of my friends didnt agree, they didn't have one of their first play pens on a pontoon, so they weren't used to the motion of a boat in waves, ha). The views of the pennisula were magnified on the water. On the Blaskets I got literally 6 feet from a [View Full Entry]

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Saturday: Horse Back Riding We went horse back riding through the Dingle Mountains. Ashley if your reading this, major props to you. My horse was only trotting, and I felt like I was going to fall off. Sunday: Mount Brandon Climb Sunday we trekked up Mount Brandon, second highest peak in Ireland, standing at 952 m. No where near as intense as Half Dome, but still fun and beautiful. I now understand why “hill walking” or in the U.S. Mountain Climbing is so popular. It’s such a rewarding experience, traversing a glorious peak. God certainly is the greatest artist [View Full Entry]

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Blog 3- Friday, Saturday-Overnight to Killarney Summary: We left around 10:00 in the morning on Friday to head over to the Blarney Castle. Our bus driver is an avid golf player. Apparently Tiger Woods goes to a golf course 20 minutes from Dingle fairly often, and one of his friends got to caddy for him! Not a bad gig! Blarney Castle was really pretty(albeit pretty touristy). I kissed the Blarney Stone! On way back from the stone, there was an entire sheep herd crossing the street holding up traffic on the road we were on. It was hysterical! Killarney was fun. [View Full Entry]

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My internet is going to run out here in just a few minutes. So no long update until Mondaywent to most likely. But I finally found an awesome bodhran! As promised pictures are here. Ill be writing all about the trip to Killarney soon(blarney stone, bodhran, nightlife, etc). Stay tuned. [View Full Entry]

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Monday Summary: Class started this morning, I’m taking Contemporary Irish Literature. It was very obvious I was an Aerospace Engineering Major, definately not like my Tech classes! Danny Sheehy came and spoke this morning, he’s a Blasket Island Poet who is full of life, passion, spirituality, and spunk. He said something that really stood out to me: “You can’t fear the bad days, without them you cant fully enjoy the good ones.” Food: Dinner at the Pub we went to the first night. Had some awesome veggie fajitas. Pub Crawl: Nicest Irish B [View Full Entry]

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Saturday, May 16th-Landing in Ireland Flight: For all of the other Aero-Enthusiasts out there, I sat window side on all of the plane rides. I managed to get a few good shots of the wing in the clouds. What can I say, no trip is complete without plane shots. Summary: We landed in Shannon, and then promptly started on our two hour plus adventure to our cottages by bus. We rode on the left side of the rode. The neat thing about western Ireland is that the roads are really narrow, and that they are lined on both sides with pastures [View Full Entry]

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This will be my travel blog for my trip to Europe this Summer. Currently the plan stands as: May 15-May 30 Dingle, Ireland Study Abroad May 31 - Venice, Italy Vogalonga Kayak Race June 01-July 31 Brussels, Belgium for work at VKI Aug. 1-5(or so) Denver, CO for Conference And finally home to good ole Smith Mountain Lake afterward. I invite each of you to please read, comment, and enjoy the pictures. I want to share this trip with each of you. My theme for this trip: “You cannot help but learn more as you take the world into your hands. [View Full Entry]

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