Glendalough, Co. Wicklow: the most peaceful place on earth.

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There is internet service in the middle of nowhere!!!

I'm in Glendalough right now (named for Glenn Da Loch), in County Wicklow, surrounded by the Wicklow mountains. We arrived by bus last night around 8 so we couldn't see how beautiful this place is. At 9:30 this morning I went on a walk with Laura G., Krista, and Andrea and we discovered both of the lakes this valley is known for. They're called Upper Lake and Lower Lake (...neither of them has to do with Glendalough...), and we're about half a block off of Lower Lake. Our hostel is bright yellow and doesn't quite fit with the greens and browns of this time of year, but it sure makes it easy to find!

We walked along the footbridges by Lower Lake and eventually found a path that leads to Upper Lake. We took a detour first and climbed several hundred km following a waterfall. Hiking at the very top, once we veered away from the water, reminded me of hiking up the mountain in Tahoe...lots of grass and trees and not much else. 😊 Then we practically fell back down the stairs/hill to the lake and I almost died. It's the most beautiful scene ever. (Sorry for not keeping my past and present tenses straight - it would bug me if I were reading this.) The lake is really long and it's surrounded by HUGE mountains on either side, and waaaaay at the end is a gigantic waterfall. I walked with Laura G., Laurel and Max to the big waterfall this afternoon after a mandatory tour of the ruins (which are all starting to look the same). I have a million pictures of the lake and the trees and the cliffs and the waterfall...AND the old miners town at the foot of the falls. We're not sure what they were mining for, since there are great black slabs of rock as well as little quartz pebbles all over the place.

If any of you visit Ireland, GO TO GLENDALOUGH!!!!! It's the most beautiful and relaxing place in the world, since the town is made up of a museum, some ruins, a hostel, and a house or two. There's nobody here! And all of the kids in my class are saying that this is such a relief after touring city after city after city. Cities blend together, but the countryside certainly doesn't!

The drama on this trip has started to make me ready to go home, although now I can just laugh it off and roll my eyes. A few of us (the most dramatic bunch, of course) have developed 24-hour flu symptoms. There were a few tears yesterday when the not-sick kids (about 10 of us) didn't move off of the couches to let the sick kids wallow in their misery. So once the sickies were upstairs in bed, one representative mentioned that we need to take care of each other and give up the couches. I almost laughed/screamed - there were twice as many couches about 5 feet behind us. The drama is great. 😊 Everyone is miraculously healthy enough to laugh hysterically when alcohol comes up, though! Needless to say, I'm sticking with the group of girls (and Max, who's awesome) that draws energy from inside and from nature...not from giggling over drunken nights.

Tonight we have dinner at 6:30, a meeting at 7:30 (hopefully not a quiz on the reading that none of us have had time to do), and then tomorrow morning we leave for Clonmacnoise and Galway. Hooray! More countryside! There are no phones in Glendalough (internet, yes...phones, no) so I haven't been able to chat out loud recently. Better luck in Galway?

I hope everyone at home is happy and healthy! I hear there are record-breaking freezing temperatures, but I'm sure you're all just making great use of your down/wool coats and boots!

I miss you all! And I can't wait to be home in a week sharing some of the stories and pictures! (I know stories and pictures can get redundant, so I'll try to have the best ones ready for you!) Love!

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