May 6 - Rocky Road to Dublin

Started off the day waking up 20 minutes late and realizing I forgot to set out BOTH pairs of sneakers to dry. Oh joy... We packed up our things and walked to Trinity College to see the Book of Kells. If only I had been allowed to take pictures...it was absolutely beautiful. I did, however, write down a 10th century riddle about the process by which vellum is created:

One of my enemies ended my life,
Sapped my world strength.
Afterward soaked me wetted in water,
Set me in the sun where soon
I lost the hairs which I had.
And then the hard knife edge
Cut me, fingers folded me
And feather of bird traced all over
My tawny surface with drops of delight,
Then for trappings, a man
Bound me with boards, bent hide over me,
Glossed me with gold so I glistened
Wondrous in smith work, wire encircled.
Say what I am called
Useful to man,
Mighty my name is
A help to heroes and holy am I.

After Trinity College, Caroline, Lindsay and I went to the Leprechaun Museum. It was a lot of fun, and we got in super cheap because this lady randomly gave us a voucher worth two adult tickets. I really enjoyed the experience, because first off, it was a lot of fun, as I said, and secondly, I got to learn about more about Irish lore.

The three of us met up later with Kaitlin, Taunalee and Brooke, and we ate dinner at Fitzgerald's Pub. Brooke and I shared Potato Cakes, and the House Platter, which consisted of sausages, chicken strips, and onion rings. It was pretty good.

Then we went to St. Patrick's cathedral to hear a session of Evensong. I'd never been to a Catholic service of any kind before, and I thought it was pretty cool.

We returned to Barnacles after the service had concluded, grabbed our bags, and lugged them over to where a bus would take us to our ferry to Wales. The boat was huge! It looked like a cruise ship on the outside, and later, we found out, on the inside as well.

We dragged our things up several flights of stairs, passing by an arcade I wanted to investigate, and settled into a cluster of tables and chairs near a food counter. Many of our group got progressively more seasick as the voyage continued, and I was staggering about like a drunken sailor because the boat rocking was messing with my equilibrium.

At one point I went to the bathroom, and when I came out of my stall, I saw a man go into the stall next to mine and begin urinating in the toilet without closing the door. I know what you're thinking, but HE was in the wrong bathroom, not me.


Caroline and I decided not to bother with sleep, and we became the tired kind of giggly before deciding to waste some time in the arcade. After trying a few times to put coins in the machines, we realized that these games only took Pound coins, and we only had Euros on us.

The ferry finally docked around 1 am, and we got off and dragged our things to the hotel we were meant to crash at for the night. It was wicked hot in our room all night long.

May 5 - Cycling in Inishmore

Woke up at 2 am and had to force myself back into sleep. 7 hr. time difference is really rough... Then I got up at 6:30...and decided I might as well start getting ready for the day. The hostel room was narrow and somehow they fit 4 sets of bunkbeds in here. The bathroom was tiny too, and the shower took a bit to figure out how to operate.

Groggily, we all trouped downstairs for breakfast and to pack our lunch and dinner for the day. That being done, we walked a ways to the stop for the double decker bus that would take us to the ferry we would ride to the island of Inishmore, where we would spend the majority of our day.

On "hired" bikes, we cycled our way to the other side of the island and hiked up to a 4000 year old fort up on a cliff. Many of us enjoyed lying on the ground, scooting on our bellies to the edge, and looking down over the cliffs to the ocean crashing on the rocks below.

It began to rain shortly after we had all finished eating our lunches. Then a select few of us performed a reader's theater, in Irish accents, of a play called "Riders to the Sea." I was the old woman, Maurya, in the story.

After hiking back down to where our bikes were parked, we rode back to the other side of the island so we could get back on the ferry. I think the sky broke on our way back, because we were all soaked to the bone. Even with ponchos on. And mine split completely up one side, so half of my stuff got wet too.

So even though I brought two pairs of sneakers, due to the rain at the Cliffs of Moher and now this, I had two very very wet pairs of shoes. I almost bought a cute hat before we left, but I figured 25 Euros just wasn't worth it, even if it was handmade.

We all piled onto the ferry sore, wet, and some of us quite sick for one reason or another. I blame the mayo myself. And I'm pretty sure there's a bruise on my bum in the shape of that horrid little bike seat.

When we got back to the hostel, we got our things and headed in the coach towards Dublin. We waited outside for a while before we could check in. Some random guy dumped trash on the opposite sidewalk from us, and approached us saying "Want some weed? Want some weed?" before disappearing around the corner. We got into our rooms around 11pm, and I was so tired and sick that I went to bed immediately. Others went to pubs or milled about before turning in.

May 4 - Bart, the coach driver of champions

Arrived in Dublin! The guy at security was amused that I was wearing my "Lucky Shirt." He felt it was appropriate for Ireland. The airport was a neat surprise. All of the signs in Ireland, turns out, are in Irish AND English.

I don't know if it just hasn't sunk in yet or what, but just looking at the greenery and the cows...it just feels like home. Everything feels so familiar even though I've never been here. It's been a long time since somewhere has given me such an overwhelming feeling of "home."

Ok, so we have a great coach driver. His name is Bart and he is delightfully chatty. In the few hours we spent riding around with him today, we have learned all sorts of interesting things and he has this endearing wheezy awkward laugh, and tends to end his long tangents with "Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah." It's only been a day and I like him already. The other girls all concur.

We stopped by Corcomroe Abbey for lunch. It randomly began to rain, so we ate our sandwiches and fruit huddled under what was left of the roof. It was such a cool ruin to wander around. Sister Blackburn said that the effigy we found in the Abbey indicated the way the person died by the placement of it's feet. The statue's feet were straight and propped up on a pillow, indicating death during sleep.

Next, we went to the CLIFFS OF INSANITY! Aka the Cliffs of Moher, also where they shot scenes from Leap Year. Anyway, it was raining when we got there. The rain was salty, and it stung my eyes a bit, but we all had a blast anyway. There was a fortress tower there too. It was 2 Euros to go up, but the view was great.

After we all piled on the bus, Brother Waddell told us the people there were impressed with our behaviour, and they gave us all free postcards. :) Next, we were off to the Burren (also called a Portal Tomb).

While I was there, I talked to Sister Blackburn, who was our conscience on the trip. We had a project we had to work on during the trip which involved using the time we were abroad to work on a character trait we wanted to develop and I discussed mine with her. The project was called ALYCBYG, or Always Let Your Conscience Be Your Guide. Hence the reason why we had a "conscience" we had to talk to about it. Only she knew what trait each of us was working on.

After we were done there, we went to Barnacles, the hostel we were staying at in Galway. Dinner there was delicious. It was some kind of vegetable soup, soda bread with Irish cream butter and blackcurrant jam. Yum! <3 After dinner, we wandered about the town.

Wandering in Galway was interesting. Most of the girls in the group were still scared of the unfamiliar, so they all walked around in large groups. A lot of people wanted to listen to live music in the pubs but they were pretty full and there wasn't enough room to accommodate 6-10 American girls in any of them.

We were all grateful later for the earplugs we were given before the trip. The pubs were loud and rowdy into the wee hours of the morning and it would have made sleep almost impossible without them.

May 3 - Begin Adventure, Round 2

There was some trouble with communication this morning. Most of us had to scarf down something and hop in the van before we thought we had to. Made it through security without any real mishaps though. American Airlines tried to make good by giving us a special shout-out on our plane to Chicago. They called us the "British Literacy Tour." Uhm...yeah...

After arriving in Chicago, we tried to figure out what to do with our 7 hour layover. Most of the group either read or slept, and then there were people like me who felt the need to meander. While wandering, I found a store that sells BACON chocolate bars! After a while, I came back bored, and decided to take some...pictures...

After about 4, I finally caved and took a cat nap. My foot is still kind of swollen from yesterday, and this doesn't bode well for the rest of my trip. We will spend most of the rest of our day asleep on the plane on the way to Dublin. Finally... Hopefully we will all get enough sleep. I certainly knew I wouldn't once I found out that they were playing "The Tourist" on the plane... The Thai Curry they fed me for dinner was pretty good too.


Oh, and this is what I woke up to after that cat nap in Chicago. XD

May 2 - Airport FAIL!

Ok, so we got to the airport at 6:30 am. The Dallas flight was canceled due to inclement weather and they were only able to re-route half of the group to Chicago for the Dublin flight. The rest of us got split up. A portion went to New York and the rest of us were stranded in Salt Lake until tomorrow. Darn the Dallas weather!

We stayed at the Comfort Inn and got vouchers for a "free meal." The guy who drove us to the hotel told us happy hours was at 5 and there were complimentary appetizers and drinks. I asked if that included virgin drinks, and he responded, "No, like Sprite." We rode the shuttle to Temple Square and ate lunch at Olive Garden. Then we toured about. It felt good to be out in the sunshine and PERFECT WEATHER after sitting in that airport for almost 7 hours this morning.

We came back exhausted from Temple Square and chilled out for a bit before dinner. We used the vouchers for our food and I got a delicious burger and a canoli that was...decent. The hotel charged us 18% gratuity! And STILL expected a tip. No way. My and Jessica's meal ended up costing $8 dollars over and above the voucher amount. I totally regretted getting that mediocre canoli. We all look forward to FINALLY getting past security tomorrow and getting on our way. It can't come soon enough. :/