Cliffs of Moher, The Burren. Aran Islands. Galway. Cottages/Wine/JungleJuice/InternationalHomies.

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Weekend to Galway with the International Student Society:

30 January 2009- 1 February 2009

We left our flat at 7:30 a.m. in order to make it to the 8:00 departure of the bus which was parked in front of a nearby pub/club called the Mardyke. Due to a traffic accident on the expressway (i.e. highway), however, we weren’t able to depart until almost 9. We (Kaela, Rachel, Rebecca, and myself) sat in the rain all the while and played word games. Yes, we were tired. Yes, we’d still probably do that if we weren’t tired. Once we got on the bus, Vimal and Paud (the International Student Society leaders) introduced themselves and we set off for our first stop, Bunratty Castle in Co. Limerick. Well actually, our stop was at the “rest station” across the street from the castle, but we were compelled to explore the former. Therefore, we hustled over and walked into the grand entryway that was the “back door.” We took pictures in a dungeon-looking staircase and ascended up another set of stairs to some unknown location. There, we met the cutest little Irish man (he was literally little…estimation= 4’ 9 or 10”). He asked us where our map of the castle is, and lo and behold we didn’t have one (and thus, didn’t pay for entrance into the tourist castle…oh shite). He was very excited to see us nonetheless, and despite our imbecility he ventured to tell us about the history of the castle and the details of the furniture, décor, etc. inside a few rooms. We had to cut our “tour” short unfortunately though because the bus was going to depart in a matter of seconds. We ran to the bus (we were ON TIME) and found that nobody was on it yet. Irish time means about 15-30 minutes later than what one says or intends to meet at. I still can’t quite catch on to this concept, or rather, jump on the bandwagon and go with it to the degree that the true Irish can.

Our first official site seeing stop was at the Cliffs of Moher. The weather was quite harsh, as it was drizzling/raining (as usual) and windy (especially at the top of the cliffs). It was well worth the ascension to the top though! The view was spectacular and the smell of the ocean is always refreshing. We stayed at the cliffs for about 30 minutes, and in addition to that, we had a look at the gift store inside. Thereafter, we boarded the bus again (I forgot to mention—there are approximately 50 people total on this trip with us…from all over the world!), and drove to our next destination, The Burren! The Burren is a natural cave, for the most part, that is now used as a grand tourist site. The tour of the cave lasted for about 45 minutes, and we learned about the various minerals and chemicals that make up the cave and what their functions are. I must admit when we got down deep, the claustrophobia set in and I was ready to head back to fresh air and sunlight. Maybe it was that, or maybe it was the group of French people- parents and their daughter with her boyfriend- who were groping each other and squeezing parts that shouldn’t be squeezed in public. Ew. I think they do it just to make us Americans uncomfortable (and it works!). After our tour we had lunch at the Burren restaurant at the site—nuggets and chips (i.e. chicken nuggets and French fries). After hours on the bus and walking for quite a long distance, it was like Ghirardelli chocolate gracing my palate.

By about 6 p.m. we reached Galway, and we stopped at an Aldi/Londis food store in order to pick up whatever food/alcoholic beverages we wanted for the entire weekend, since the cottages we were to stay at were about a 45 minute drive from Galway proper. The fee that we paid for the entire weekend’s stay included 3 loafs of bread, nutella, sugar, olive oil, milk, tea, coffee, and butter. Therefore, I just bought myself a jar of peanut butter, a bundle of bananas, and two bottles of the cheapest wine they had (yay for 5 euro wine!). Peanut butter sandwiches with nutella and/or banana on top were my staple food for the weekend. No complaints here! After a very long day of traveling and site seeing, we arrived at the cottages around 8 p.m. Dinner was calling our names, so we headed straight to cottage number 8 where Rachel, Kaela, Rebecca, myself, and two girls whom we met on the bus, Katie Reidy and Kari Hinds. After dinner, we set on playing some card games and cracking the wine before we headed to cottage number 1 (where Vimal and Paud were staying= the party cottage) for the international student party party loaded with jungle juice and games galore! Thanks to the wine and I suppose my charming ways, I mingled with our travel mates and met quite a few of the group that evening. I met Iris and Sonja, from Germany, two girls that happened to be in a few of my English classes. Nic and _____, from France (again in 1 of my English courses). Vimal from India (getting his phD in computer science at UCC—he liked the fact that we were fellow geeks), Paud from Ireland (also getting his masters in engineering), and loads of other people from Italy, Finland, Spain (we spoke Espanol together..woot woot!),Austria, the U.S., Germany, France whose names I can’t recall right now . We were quite tired, so we played a few games of flip cup, and then Rachel and I went back to the cottage (the other girls went back about an hour before us) around 12:30. She wanted peanut butter toast with nutella and was adamant about getting it pronto. Haha.

The next morning the bus left at 9 or so to go to the port where we took a ferry from Galway to the Aran Islands. The ride was not as smooth as I thought it’d be, but with my ipod plugged in for a distraction it wasn’t so bad. An hour went by and we arrived at the Aran Islands. The sun was shining and there was very little breeze- an absolutely beautiful Irish day which is so rare that we savored every second of it. We were immediately met by 3 large vans which were to escort us around the island, stopping at various sites along the way for a given period of time, until 4:30 p.m. that day. The tour was absolutely stunning! First we saw a family of seals along the coastline and observed the landscape which was filled with stone-walled fences. The island used to be completely covered with rocks, so the Aran people took the stones and made fences out of it—even if the fences didn’t actually serve a function (like to keep livestock in, for example). They used seaweed from the ocean and the little soil they could find on the island to create farms, and the Arans also hunted great sharks in order to get oil from their livers for candlelight. We also stopped at the most amazing site I’ve ever seen. They were natural cliffs that we had to pay a euro to check out. We climbed up what seemed like over a thousand “stairs” or rocks to the very top, and at the top there was no fencing to keep you from falling off the cliffs. Needless to say it was literally breathtaking for some of us (me…ha), but absolutely stunning stunning stunning. We later had a quick bite at the small restaurant where our vans parked, and looked around the various shops that sold Aran sweaters, hats, scarves, mittens, etc. It was all sooo beautifully done! The owner of one of the shops, Sarah Flaherty, was amazed at how Irish I looked. She couldn’t stop commenting on it, and saying that anything (anything being what I was holding in my hands? Ha) would look good on a face like mine….and oh that hair! I apparently was the mirror image of her husband’s cousin’s niece…or something like that. She supposedly has a website, but I haven’t checked it out yet (or tried to)—the store I believe is called: Dun Aengusa Knitwear in Bungowla, Kilronan (Aran Islands, Co. Galway). She makes gorgeous pieces if anyone is interested in checking ‘em out!

We continued our tour to another shoreline, where Kaela and I decided to have a seaweed wacking contest—aka we hit each other with rods of seaweed as if we were in Gladiator. Mature? Yes. We drove further along and learned about various churches, homes, schools, etc. on the island from our driver, and we were dropped off where we began (by the port) in order to walk around on our own and/or go to the Aran Sweater Shop nearby to make some hefty purchases. By 5 p.m. we “set sail” without a sail to Galway, and we were at our cottage making dinner at 6:30 p.m. This is what ensued: Dinner. Wine bottle opening. Showers. Lots of F*** the dealer and Presidents n Assholes with wine. The International Student Society take two. Or rather, it was just I who ventured over to the International Student Society party, because the other lame-os where too tired for another night of craziness! I pretty much rocked the flippy cup and had an absolutely AMAZING time on Saturday…so amazing in fact that we all stayed up until the wee hours of the morning (I will not disclose the exact time for fear of being reprimanded by my maja and faja…). All in all it was a grand, lovely, brilliant time!

The next morning was a bit rough. We left for Galway proper at 10 a.m. after having cleaned our cottages and packed up our belongings. Galway itself was soooo beautiful, but we only got about 2 hours to walk around and enjoy it. It was also Sunday, so many of the shops were closed while we were there. I guess that just means I’ll have to visit there at least 1 more time during my stay here! I want oh so badly to be a Galway Girl*.

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