Éire and back to Eng!

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Hello everyone!
I know I promised I would be better about this, and well I’m sorry I am obviously not all that great still. ! I won’t promise to be better this time, because that doesn’t work out well, so maybe if I don’t promise then I will get better. We’ll see!

So I left you last in Ireland, hanging out eating chips and meeting water polo Irish boys. The next day, the Dublin girls and I woke up so we could get food before breakfast was over at 9:30. It was great!! Emilie woke up too and we got our stuff packed together (Emilie was changing hostels so she was checking out and I need to stow my luggage). The walking tour of the Burren and the Cliffs of Moher (South of Galway) was early that morning and I was running late so I had to say goodbye to Emilie quickly and make a run for it! I am very glad I did, because it was one of the best things ever! Would have been a little better I think if I had a friend with me because everyone else was grouped or paired up. It was cool though, because I met some nice people on the tour. A lot of American study abroad students from different areas and some people from Brazil and France. The walking tour of the Burren was of some property owned by our walking guide’s family for 200 years. Our guide, John, knew so much history which would make sense as he had a degree in it, but also another in Earth Science or Geology. Something along those lines…he was very informative!

The Burren is a really hilly rocky area of Ireland, which makes you think is very hard for the agricultural lifestyle to succeed, but it’s surprisingly fertile and the limestone rocks keeps the ground aerated, warm, and moist enough to be able to put the livestock up in the hills throughout the year which is unique. Interesting eh?? It was really pretty too, with a castle, watch tower, and churches to look at too. I learned that cows smell differently there than the ones I know at home, and I can’t really describe it. I’ll think about it and try later!

After we hiked up a Burren mountain, we headed inside the house where John sold us Grandmothers’ homemade pie with cream made by his neighbor and Irish coffee. It was delicious!! Soon after we got back on the bus where our bus guide continued talking about the history of the area, pointing out interesting sights and stopping for picture opportunities. As knowledgeable as he was as well, there is only so much information one’s mind can take in one day. By the end of it, mine was full!

We went to the Cliffs of Moher…and the common theme of the day was reiterated…pictures don’t do it justice!! The view was absolutely amazing and it helped that it was a pretty sunny day! I learned something that makes complete sense looking back, but I only really knew the famous view that I’ve put a picture up of, not that there were more cliffs around the side. You could walk all along the way, around part of it they have walls and signs that keep most sign-conscious people from climbing over the edge. There was a tower to see too, which was neat. Around the left hand side though, the walls stopped…very scary! Where the wall stopped, there was also a line stopping the walking path that said ‘Private Property keep out’ but of course most tourists hopped over that to keep walking along the cliffs. That was the dangerous part where people have unfortunately gotten to close to aaaaand well you know. Being a silly tourist I hopped the wall….and have a bruise to prove it! I am alive to tell the tale though, I was careful and got to see some pretty cool views. It was raining just off the coast and it was so neat looking, reminded me of watching thunderstorms from the balcony in Myrtle Beach! : )

I had to run to catch the bus, I was running a few minutes late but all was well. We continued on our journey driving through the farms and countryside of Ireland and stopped at some more cliffs along the coast which were really neat as well. We stopped in a small town for lunch, and two girls I had met, sisters from France shared their lunch with me (it was expensive!) Most of the afternoon it seemed we were playing tag with the rain, we would stop and get rained on then drive on ahead of it or get caught by another rain cloud and run from that. Got some awesome pictures of the whole day, don’t worry! All in all, it was a really really good day and we were all tired afterwards and we got back around 5 pm or so to the hostel. It was nice that the tours all left from directly outside of the hostel I stayed in.
I didn’t know what to do that afternoon/evening, I got some offers from some of the different groups of girls I met to hang out, but I figured I would just get settled into my room, check in my guidebook and see what to do. One of my new roommates walked in, and I was nervous because it could go one of two ways: we could be friendly and get along well or it could be awkward and quiet. It was amazing though, it took us maybe 2 seconds for us to click and start chatting, getting to know each other. Her name is Barbara and she is from South Africa. She had been working on a farm in the south of Ireland in Cork but had quit and went to Galway to find another job. Then even more amazing, a knock at the door was Emilie stopping in to see if I was there! I had been wondering how to meet up with her again because we didn’t exchange numbers, but how awesome was it that she stopped by and caught me! We all started chatting and we got along great! Barbara and I were hungry but Emilie had eaten and needed to go to her hostel so we made plans to meet up at a pub later for some drinks and music. Barbara and I ate at the famous fish and chips shop that Emilie had taken me too and the guidebook raved about, then went to the meeting point…but no Emilie! Sadly we weren’t able to meet up, we went looking at all the pubs her and I had explored the night before and even to her hostel and stopped by but no luck, we missed her. We did meet up with a guy, Juan, from our hostel we met earlier in the night and got to know him better so that was fun. (I also ran into a girl from the International Posse who was visiting her friend in Galway…had no idea each other were there! Such a small world!) While we were disappointed about not seeing Emilie, it was late so we called it a night with plans to go on another tour the next day.

We had to get up early again on Monday for the tour and for breakfast, and Barbara, Juan, and I were eating when guess who shows up but Emilie!! It was so exciting to see her, we were almost late for the tour…again in my case! We made plans again to meet her in our hostel around 5 after the tour and got a move on.

The three of us ended up deciding to go on the Connemara tour and not the island tour because the weather was gray and rainy and the island tour was a little more expensive. It ended up being a gorgeous day though, and a beautiful tour! And it was really nice having friends to talk with the whole day long. : ) Connemara is north of Galway, mostly wide open country side but tough living for the farmers because it’s also very rocky and very hard work. The tour guide grew up there and was fluent in Irish, or Gaelic. He was funny and entertaining, until he started repeating himself 2….3….4….5 times. A lot to take from 10 to 630 because the tour ran late. Poor Emilie. But I’ll get to that later…

Connemara was more mountainous than the Burren area was, but didn’t have any cliffs but had lakes and rivers instead. It was absolutely gorgeous, and it was winter! I can’t imagine how pretty it is when everything is green and alive. I can tell you right now I want to go back!
Our first stop was actually just in the next town, we stopped at a ‘very reasonably priced shop’ which wasn’t particularly true, but Barbara, Juan and I went wandering around the neighborhood close by and got to play a little with an Irish dog! Too cute. We hopped back on the van (the guide changed from a bus to a van because there was only 10 of us tourists) and got on our way. It stopped raining and eventually the sun came out and made the day so much better. We saw some Connemara ponies and sheep! Lots and lots of sheep! We stopped by a creek with some falls and saw marshlands and farms. It was really pretty, though a bit barren and desolate. Just so empty, if it weren’t for the power lines across the country there was very little evidence of human existence in the area.

We stopped here and there for pictures and walked a bit as well, which was nice. One of the stops was the Kylemore Abbey which was originally a castle built by an Englishman and his wife and family. It created lots of jobs in the area and stimulated the economy which was beneficial back in the 1860s. It was built for an obscene amount of money at the base of the mountain by a lake, and sold for not even half of that later to the nuns of Kylemore who still reside there. It was really neat, not too big to be overwhelming and not too small to be boring but we could tour most of the first and 2nd floors that were set up like the library and dining room used to be. It had lots of history to it, and there was also a Gothic church on the grounds that we could go and see. Sadly, the Victorian garden was closed, but we got to see everything else and were on time to the bus! (Where the tour guide asked me to marry him…wrong kind of Irish guy I was looking for, let me tell ya!)

So we continued our journey and saw some amazing countryside…story of Ireland I think. : ) We were getting pretty tired by the end of the day, walkin around seeing new things does that to you! And we felt so badly, we were over an hour late getting back from the tour and Emilie was waiting for us! Of course, she wasn’t there when we got back so we went to our room to settle in a bit and figure out what to do that evening ( we woke up one of our new roommates, oops). We found a note from Emilie giving us her number!!! Barbara, Juan and I were able to get a hold of her and meet up for an amazing night of Irish music—we finally found some!!—and Guinness. Which tastes 100 times better in Ireland than anywhere else in the world. Wonder why? ; ) We met a guy from the Netherlands who was studying in Dublin, he was on vacation and staying in our hostel and I talked to the bar tender a little bit who was from Ireland of course. We had a good time chatting and listening to the big group of musicians playing, it was a pub known for its music called The Crane Bar. A very very good night!

The next day was my last day in Éire, and Emilie and just wandered the city hanging out for a little bit while I shopped for souvenirs and Barbara started her job search. It was cold and rainy, so we weren’t out and about for too long but I got some pictures of the town that I had neglected to take beforehand. We met up with Barbara and Juan for lunch then picked up Emilie’s bags from her hostel, grabbed my things and headed to the bus station. Emilie had decided to fly back home because the Galway had changed so much for her, and finding jobs is really tough so while she had a good time with us, Galway just wasn’t the right fit for her at the time. We were travel buddies back to the airport, and that was good. Barbara walked us to the bus station, and we said our sad goodbyes. It’s so much fun meeting new people and seeing new things, but bittersweet because you have to leave those people and places.

The ride back to the airport was pretty again as once more the sun showed Ireland’s pretty colors. We slept a bit actually, but chatted a good while (we were really early for our flights…but because we were chatting I was almost late…yikes!) I made the journey back to Liverpool, bussed it to the train station and had to wait around a while for my train to Preston. It was a chilly walk home, I made it back safe and sound! Hung out with Aubrey when I got home telling of my adventures and catching up. I love friends!!! : )
So, I know that I still have the Lake District in England as well as Denmark! To write about, but this is a pretty long entry, so I’m going to let it soak in and leave you wantin more!! Have a good daaaaaay all!

I miss you, and love you much much more!!!!

Love,
Cassie Jane!

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Photos

Dublin girls!
Happy Birthday Laura!