Well this week was a sad one because we are being sent home early. We all know that CVOID-19 has been causing harm wherever it goes and now it ended our trip. We all saw it coming being sent home but none of us thought that it was going to be this early. For our last week of classes we only had two which was our literature class and our tin whistle class which was a lot of fun. She taught us two more songs to learn and they are kind of difficult.

When we found out on Thursday that we were going home, the attitudes of everyone went down. A lot of us were sad because our experience was being taken away. We wouldn’t be able to go on our last two group trips to the southern part of the country. I got together and Dan and Marta played some music for us while we all sat there in our thoughts.

The next day I walked to Spiddal for the last time. Here I went for the first and last time into the craft village to shop. I found some souvenirs to bring home. I also went to the beach there in Spiddal for the first time and walked right along the sand brushing against the cool Atlantic Ocean. There was no rain but gray clouds held the sky hostage as the tears escaped from my eyes. That night I went with the group and we watched our last sun set together. The only issue was that the clouds held that hostage too.

We spent the weekend packing and sharing our time with one another. John Paul opened the bar Saturday night after our potluck and we had a farewell party with some of the locals. I had a really good time and everyone had some pretty good laughs. Sunday we gathered all of our belongings and loaded up on the bus at 2:45 in the morning and headed to the Dublin airport. The plane rides were okay, I started to feel sick on the descent of our first one. Our plane was delayed three and half hours because they were waiting for as many people as they could to get out of customs to make sure that families were able to be together. Due to our first delay we missed our connecting flight and had to wait until about 9:30 pm in Newark for a flight to Omaha. It was a long day but I did get to see my parents because they picked me up at the airport.

It was about one in the morning when we got there and I was so tired. Looking at this picture I look a little worn out. I was so tired and was feeling a little sad because I knew that it was really over and that I really am no longer in Ireland. This is an experience that I will never forget! I loved every minute that I was there and I could have stayed forever. I also loved the people that I was with and I hope that we all keep in touch throughout our lives.

Now that we are back we are in quarantine for 14 days. It is an interesting time that we are living in but I know that it will also be a new chapter in my life.

I hope one day I can return to Ireland and maybe do things that I missed out on and see more of the country. #Ireland2020.

This week was definitely different then the last few weeks. Starting off on Monday we had class in a different location then normal. We met our history professor at the King’s Head Pub. We did a tour of the pub and learned that some of the walls are in fact the original walls since the house was first built. There are two fireplaces in the building as well that both have a marriage seal above them. While I have visited the pub before it was cool to see first hand the rich history that is just sitting in the middle of Galway. The debate was fun to it made class a really fun time. My side won and we got Orange, Green, and White socks!

This week was also our trip to Northern Ireland which was so fun. There was a ton of history and we did a full day of nature sight seeing which was so cool. This trip is also our longest one so far it was five days and we packed a lot into those five days. Our trip started Thursday and we got back to our temporary home the following Monday.

Our first stop was at the Lissadell House. This house was impressive but I found it to be a little unorganized. The family that owns in fact live there and the bottom part of the house you are able to walk through and see the original rooms. What was disappointing is that a lot of the rooms were closed off and things were kind of crowded around the first entry way. The tour guide did a great job of talking about the family that built the house and who originally lived there but in all honesty this wasn’t one of my favorite stops in the trip.

The house was very neat to see and we did get to see quite a bit of it. The servants quarters here I thought was interesting because there was so many rooms. When we were all done with that tour we got back in the bus and we were suppose to go see the gallery which was a self guided tour of the stable area but we didn’t have enough time so we moved on to our next stop.

Our next stop was really cool. We stopped at the Ulster Folk Museum. This was different then really anything we have done this whole trip because it was a reenactment of what life was like for the farming families in Ireland around the potato famine and the journey they had to go on.

You start off walking through the exhibit in the visitor center and when you reach the end you are transported into the older world of Ireland. The first spot is a small one room cottage. Inside was a woman who was sitting in a chair in the corner and she started talking about what kind of living conditions the people living there would have dealt with. There were more stops along the journey and inside some of them there were people and they would talk about what kind of occupation the people who lived in these places would have. In the farm house the woman in there was talking about the farm and as we were leaving she gave a piece of bread that she had made that day. It was really good. Eventually the pathway takes you to a city center that looks like the picture above. Through out this area was different little shops and they were really cool to see. For the rest of the stop you go through the ship where the “captain” was there to talk about what life was like on the boat. At the end you make it to America and get to see how it was for those who landed.

That night we made it to Belfast and stayed there that night. We ate at a restaurant called Brooklyn Square. The food here was so good. I had the beef lasagne and it was amazing. Chips (Fries) also came with it that were garlic and sweet chili. I would definitely eat here again if I ever get the opportunity.

The next morning was an early rising and we headed for the Crumlin Road Gaol. This tour was also different then other ones that we have been on. We started at the Gaol before walking around Belfast and met our tour guide who was once a prisoner there during the time of The Troubles. He was on the loyalist side, British loyalist, and talked about the terrible violence in Belfast where his father was killed by the IRA.

On our walk around Belfast with the guide we went by the Peace Wall that separates the two communities, loyalist and republic. We didn’t get a chance to sign the wall which was sad but it was really cool to walk and see the massive separation. When we reached the gates of the peace wall our guide handed us over to another guide who was a member of the republic side.

While on the second part of the tour we were told about the lives of the people on the republic side and how they suffered as well during this time. We walked past this church that was in fact the big target but the people in the community were able to defend it. Our guide talked about how during this time he also lost his brother and his best friend. He was also in the Goal for being a member of the IRA and participating in the hunger and dirty strikes within the jail.

When we were done with that guide we walked back to the Gaol were we had a tour of the inside of the jail. The first room was reception where the prisoners were stripped and checked into the prison. We then went to the tunnel which a tunnel that goes to the courthouse across the street. This was used to keep the prisoners from being seen by the public. We then went to the Governor’s office (warden’s office). This was connected to the entry way to get to the four wings of cell blocks. When we went into this section there were several cells that had a scene set up in them to see what it was like when the prison was running. There was one cell called the condemned man’s cell because if the prisoner was going to be executed this is where he would go. It was a big cell that had two rooms. The place where the prisoner would sleep and a bathroom next door. The prisoner would have two guards watching making sure that the prisoner wouldn’t cheat the executioner’s noose. The prisoner on their last day would have the chance for their final breakfast and then a priest would come in. Five minutes before eight in the morning the priest would leave and the prisoner knew that their time was up. The prisoner would be turned towards the cell door standing in the doorway of the bathroom. The prisoner would know exactly how many steps it was to cell block D where their life would end. Some thought they could buy themselves time if they made a scene on the way there but none ever got the chance because behind them the bookcase in the bathroom would be moved and there was another room where the execution took place.

I think everyone was shocked when the guide opened this room. There were only seventeen people executed here. While this whole tour was a sad it one it was also packed with information and it really tugged at your heart strings. Our day didn’t really lighten any because our next stop was the Titanic Museum where the Titanic was built.

This museum was also packed with so much information and it was very cool to see where the ship was built. Towards the end of the tour of the museum they had a film of finding the shipwreck at the bottom of the ocean. They looked at a couple of items and talked about them. After the film you walked down some stairs and you could the map of where all the debris is on the ocean floor. Outside of the museum you could go behind and see where the ship would have been docked before it sailed away. An interesting thing about going outback was that you could see where Game of Thrones was filmed. The set from the last scene was still there so you could see the burned Red Keep and they also had a glass stained window with the iron throne on it.

That night we stayed in Belfast again and in the morning we rose early again to go on the Gobbin’s Walk. This was a walk along a cliff side that was originally built in the early 1900s. It was in need of repair and in 2015 they reopened with the re imagined version of the walk. This was probably my favorite thing from the trip because it was just so beautiful. Usually doing something like this isn’t really my thing but I loved it so much.

At one point in the walk we went inside a cave which was in fact below sea level. We walked through a section that our guide called the bathtub because there was water on both sides of you. I had so much fun on this walk.

After the three hour walk we stopped at another Game of Thrones filming location, the Dark Hedges. This was really cool to see. We walked along the long path of the Dark Hedges. It was really pretty to see.

After that we went to Carrick-a-Rede Bridge. This bridge is a rope bridge that lets you walk to a small island. There wasn’t a whole lot to see here but the bridge was fun to go across. It was a little intimidating but a lot of fun.

Our last stop on Saturday was at Gaint’s Causeway. This was another cool outdoor place that we got to visit. I took a lot of pictures and it was cool how the rock were in a hexagon shape.

That night we went stayed at the Sheep Island hostel and the lady who runs the hostel made us dinner. She also made us breakfast in the morning which was so nice. We paid 11 euros each. It was really good. The next morning we were up early again and made our way to Londonderry.

When we got to Derry we went on a walking tour around the wall that was there in the city. Derry was a little like Belfast with having the separation between Protestant and Catholics. The biggest difference however, was the fact that Derry was more peaceful than Belfast was.

After that we went to the Museum of Free Derry. This was all about the troubles and it was filled with personal stories from people in the community. The lady who was showing us around was very invested and shared her personal story about the events that took place on Bloody Sunday. It was a very intense place to be but it was also really interesting at the same time. On the back of the building were two bullet holes where people were killed that day.

After this we got a little free time to wander around and a small group of us walked across the Peace Bridge that was a sign of peace between the communities. The bridge is to look like a hand shake that is making a peace deal.

Our last part of our really long adventure was in Strokestown where we learned about the potato famine. We got a tour of the landlord’s house that was built from the time of the 18th Century. The family lived there until 1981 when the last owner passed away. The man who bought the property restored it and turned it into a museum. This tour was cool, a lot of the rooms were opened and there was so much to see. The tour guide also pointed out a lot of details about the house its self.

After our tour we had class upstairs in the gym going over more details about the famine.

Overall, I had a really great time on the Northern Ireland trip. We did a lot in the five days that we were gone, but it was so cool to see everything and learn more about the troubles that Ireland has had to go through.

This week in Ireland was an okay week. We got back from our trip to Dublin and had plenty of work to do for class. While the homework wasn’t really intense, I did catch the cold that has been circling the group like a hungry vulture. Classes this week were interesting and we assigned a debate for our history class. The debate is going to be over Oliver Cromwell and whether or not he deserves the bad press associated with him. I think it will be an interesting experience since it will be done in a pub in Galway. This week we also learned how to play the tin whistle which was kind of fun. I sound terrible but it was really fun. We have a couple of tunes that we are suppose to practice before our next class with her.

This week we also went to Croagh Patrick. On our way there we made a stop at Pearse Cottage. Patrick Pearse was a Irish rebel leader during the Easter Week rising in 1916. He had built this cottage on the other side of the country from Dublin and was there to teach the people in this area in the people’s own tongue of Irish. He feared that the English teaching was drowning out the Irish way of learning so he started his own school to help keep the culture.

This isn’t the original cottage though because the British had burned it down during the rebellion and was restored in the 1920’s by some of the local villagers. Others have lived in the cottage but now it is empty and operated by the OPW. The inside was fairly small and was a two room building. One room was where Pearse had slept and the other room across the way was his children’s room containing two beds.

We didn’t spend a lot of time at the cottage because we were in a hurry to get to Croagh Patrick before a storm blew in. We were racing time to climb the mountain. We had been watching the news all week to see how bad the storm was going to be and decided that Friday was our only chance to climb. The rush of getting there was well wroth it. We got to our hostel a little after twelve. We dropped our stuff off and got ready to climb Croagh Patrick. Everyone had been telling us that the climb was a difficult one. The hostel had some sticks that we could use for the climb, and I was so thankful for that because it really helped with coming down. The start of the climb was a little misleading to me because it started with a thing of stairs and I thought, okay so this won’t be as bad as everyone says because there are stairs. Well the stairs were in fact just a few to get you closer to the “trail”. The stairs ended near a statue of Saint Patrick.

After this the climb was no longer going to be easy. There really wasn’t a trail to follow. The path that was there has had so many people walk over it that the dirt has all been stomped away. It was very rocky and you had to pick which side you were going to go up. The first part I found was the most difficult for me because of how the water was rushing down and the rock formations were a little interesting to climb. I really enjoyed climbing though. There were some sections were you had to physically climb a rock to get to the makeshift path to go future up.

Our group really didn’t stick together because everyone was climbing at their own pace. For a while there was a small section of us together but eventually it was just Marta and I climbing together. I had a pretty good time climbing and talking with Marta and it was nice because we went about the same pace. There higher we got, the more beautiful the view got. The really sad thing though was that the clouds were coming in fast and it was making it hard to see anything below you.

Marta and I climbed to the shoulder which was about half way and the view from there was really hard to see where we had climbed from. It was also really wet and I couldn’t see out of my glasses so we decided that it was time to climb back down. The climb down was really hard on our knees and was a little scary. At some spots I slid down and in my head thought, this is it, this is how I go. But as started to come down the view was clearing up. We stopped a couple of times to rest a little then the last little bit I just kept going until I was at the bottom.

That night everyone was a little sore and really tired. On top of that we all were starving. We walked five minutes to a nearby restaurant to have dinner. The meals were a little pricey but it tasted so good. I got a hamburger with fries and a small salad. I paid about 16 euros but it was well wroth it.

The next morning we got up and went down to have breakfast. The hostel had packed lunches for us that we ordered. We grabbed those then our things from our room and walked out to the bus to go home. We didn’t really stop anywhere on the way back to Spiddal because of the huge storm that was blowing in. We did go look at the John Wayne statue in Kong and look at the river near by there. We stopped for groceries and returned back to Park Lodge around four o’clock or so. That night John Paul opened the hotel bar at 8:30. We went for a few hours and had really good time. There was a live band there and everyone was kind of sitting around talking.

While we didn’t really do a whole lot this weekend, I had a lot of fun. I am excited for the next couple of weeks and can’t wait to see what we do next.

So I have gone through my first week of being in Ireland. During this first week there wasn’t a whole lot that I really did, for the most part I stayed at the cottage because the weather has been kind of crappy. The weather has brought rain, hail, wind, and even snow making it really cold and kind of miserable to go outside. The weather has also made it kind of cold inside of the cottage as well. At first we couldn’t get our heaters to really work and no matter how long you stood in front of the gas fire place you couldn’t get warm.

The rain started Saturday while I was on a walked with a group coming back from Spiddal. Marta had taken us to see what Spiddal is like. It is a very cute little village. The walk itself is not bad at all either.

The walk is kind of long to Spiddal but the path is very beautiful. So I enjoy the walk because of that. The cottages where we are staying also have a really pretty view of the ocean. It’s about a five minute walk from there. There is this road that you follow across from the hotel that leads down into a path like driveway. It becomes a grass path that leads down to the rocks by the shore.

When I reached the part of the path I was just amazed. The view was so gorgeous. I think that if you would come here early in the morning that it would be even better. There are rocks that block the way to the water. When I reached that part of the path there was a “trail” off to the right side. I put trail in quotations because there really wasn’t a trail. The rocks were a little more flatter but it was still a struggle to walk on.

The girls from my cottage went with me to the ocean so we decided to follow this “trail”. As we walked we came across this little tower of rocks that someone had put there. It was very cute. One of the girls suggested that we build our own. We wanted to make it bigger than the other one. I think we did pretty good.

The next couple days after going to the ocean I really didn’t do anything. The weather was really cold so I stayed inside the cottage and worked on my spring break plans. I also worked on homework a little. Classes have been really interesting. I have enjoyed each one so far. The culture class has been cool. I did learn a few words and I feel like I might have the hang of them. We will see in the next couple of weeks how it goes.

This week we also went to Galway for a walking tour. This tour was really cool. It was about Galway during the medieval period. The tour guide had this map from the 16th century and we followed it all the way around town. My favorite stop was the St. Nicholas Cathedral.

This place was so cool. To enter the church you had to walk through these bright red doors. When we first walked in the tour guide stopped us by this big round stone. It was a baptismal craved from one piece of rock. It was huge and it was very old. We walked around the church and he took us to the other side where there were some graves. If you had enough money you could in fact be buried in the cathedral. Then your stone slab would be craved with either their name or a picture of what they did for work. On the Lynch side of the cathedral was three tombs. One was in the window and it was decorated all up. Here the tour guide pointed out the what would have been beautiful statues that would have held candles. These statues had been vandalized by Puritans when they fled through the country. There was one however that didn’t get destroyed.

The rest of the tour was good, but this was my favorite stop. So far this first week has been really good. The only thing that I would change about this first week is the weather. We have a total of two big storms in this first week, so it would be nice to have different weather. Overall, I am super pumped about the rest of this trip! 🙂