Connemara and my Titanic moment

Waking up in the morning to nothing being stolen, and somewhat refreshed I would call our first night in a hostel a success. After changing and getting ready, we skipped down the stairs for some breakfast. Lining the bright orange counters was a selection of freshly baked breads and scones, tea and coffee and cereals, all perfectly filling for our tour filled day. Eating the variety of breakfast foods with our roommates until our hearts’ content, Kathleen and I then made our way downstairs and out towards the bus station to catch our bus to Connemara. No sooner had we boarded the bus did we realize we had the funniest, plump Irishman as our tour guide for the day. He consistently cracked jokes and told memorable stories about the places we drove by and stopped at; he even warned the rest of the passengers against messing with me and my red hair. We drove through the western area of Ireland known as Connemara, which is absolutely beautiful, even on an overcast day like ours. The land is dotted with mountains and pop-up lakes and plagued with wild sheep that cross the road as they please. The barren, rugged terrain was a sight like I had never seen before. After driving through the breathtaking landscape and stopping intermediately for a photo op, we finally arrived at our first point of interest, the Kylemore Abbey.

Photo-op spot

Told ya it was beautiful

Literally appears out of nowhere

Turning the corner of a mountain, this massive white stone abbey appears around the bend. Kylemore Abbey is an abbey run by nuns after the original owner, Michael Henry and his wife died. Michael Henry built this beautiful mansion for his wife, and once she died he erected a memorial miniature cathedral, complete with the four different types of marble found in Ireland. Kathleen and I strolled through the grounds, first going into the mansion and touring the few rooms that were open to the public. The few rooms we were allowed to observe were ornate in decorations and furniture; however our experience was interrupted by multiple babies and toddlers crying throughout the mansion, so we decided to find the memorial church. Ambling besides the lake, while the rain held off, we made our way to the church. As we hiked up the hill that the church was seated upon, the wind picked up and we rushed inside. The inside was magnificent, designed to look just like a cathedral but at a fraction of the size. After taking in the splendor of the church, our stomachs decided it was time for lunch, so we marched back towards the café on the grounds for a bite to eat. We slurped our warm French onion soup and sipped our tea before we had to get back on the bus.

Going into my mansion!

Dinner's ready

Beautiful walk even in the overcast

Posin'

The marble inside the church, I'm obsessed with Ireland's marble!

Best smallest cathedral ever

Once on the bus, we took the scenic route through Connemara until we stopped in the village of Cong. Even though the cloud cover had increased and the rain drizzled on the windows of the bus off and on, we still could see the beauty of the landscape, and appreciate the history the tour guide spoke of about these places. We were dropped off in Cong, a small town with a rushing river running around it, and famous for its abbey and as the set for The Quiet Man. Kathleen and I walked in the general direction that the bus driver said the bathrooms were in, and after locating them we ended up in the abbey. With the place seemingly deserted, we climbed around the abbey and then followed the river to an old monk fishing hut situated in the middle of the river. Exploring the hut, we nearly lost track of time and quickly traced our steps back through town and onto the bus.

Can't take a good picture when she's around...

No chance of sun today.

Cutest colored neighborhood? Yes.

Make a wish, Kathleen!

Oh hey, fancy seeing you here.

Deserted abbey

Don't slip Jocelyn!

Just in a fishing hut on the river

After driving for some time, we ended at our final stop, the ruins of a Franciscan friary. We pulled into a large sheep inhabited field, and then we were allowed to play in the remaining stone structures for a while. Exhausted from the day’s touring, I was content that we were heading home after that. Happy to see that our roommates were back from their adventures and as equally hungry as we were, we all set off to find some meatless dinner (it’s a Lenten Friday). We found a restaurant overlooking the bay to dine at, and I yet again had soup, this time tomato. We enjoyed each other’s company, recounting stories from the day and from our various study abroad journeys and life back home; however, no proper night out in Ireland would be complete without a pint in a pub, so off we went for a drink. I was not in the mood to drink in the cramped pub that was filled with middle aged Irishmen, but I tried to enjoy myself. We started conversing with a group of Irishmen, some of whom had studied at Maynooth. They were incredibly nice, even though I could barely make out their words amongst the live traditional music playing on stage. One of the bouncers told us that dancing was banned in the pub, and in true Irish rebellion fashion, one of the Irishmen took my hand and soon enough we were dancing an Irish jig in the middle of the pub. Laughing and trying to follow his drunken lead, I managed to keep up, as an audience sprung up around us, clapping their hands and whistling. Even though it was an older Irish man, I definitely felt like Rose from the Titanic when she danced with Jack in the lower class dance hall. So thank you, Irishman for my Titanic moment, “I’ll never let go Jack!” After our dance and a few more songs, we decided to head back to the hostel for some much needed sleep. 

Arriving at the friary

Pretty impressive

Low archways because friars had to do bow their heads and pray. I fit though!

Kath, not so much she had to find a bigger archway

Bye Connemara!

Take me away, Galway!

With no school panned trips or major assignments due for the rest of the week, Kathleen and I decided to take our own trip somewhere in Ireland. Since I wanted to go somewhere on the coast and Kathleen kept playing the song “Galway Girl”, Galway became the lucky city for our next adventure. After a late night of browsing through various hostels and things to do in the city, we finally booked a nice-looking hostel and an express bus ticket and had a list of things to do. By Thursday morning we were packed and ready to begin our trip. The two of us caught an early bus to Dublin, and once in the city we managed to find where the express bus to Galway would pick us up. Situated on the bus, we were on our way to Galway.

Galway bound!

When we arrived in Galway a few hours later, we were starving so we found in the main square, Eyre Square, a Supermac’s to eat at. Supermac’s is the main fast food eatery in Ireland, like a McDonald’s. We both opted for the chicken strips, the seemingly least greasy item on the menu, but were disgustingly let down. The chicken strips and fries were dripping in grease, but we kept eating because we were hungry and we paid for it. After letting our greasy food settle in our stomach, we left Supermac’s and  then searched for our hostel. The hostel was centrally located and bright orange, and once we checked in we locked our backpacks away in our room and made our way back to the streets of Galway. A pedestrian path lined with shops branches off of Eyre Square, so we made our way down this street, popping in and out of shops along the way, until we hit a bridge. Across the bridge we could see the bay so; naturally we gravitated towards the water. After taking in the sights alongside the water, we decided to head towards Salthill.

Taking over the streets of Galway

Overlooking the bay

However, Salthill was not as close or as easy to get to as we had hoped. After veering away from the water and onto the road we somehow ended up in a neighborhood and nowhere near Salthill. With the weather still somewhat sunny we decided to walk further along the coast. Little did we expect the wind to pick up as we skirted the edge of the water, instantly turning the air colder. Soon after the wind, rain then hail and sleet pounded our faces as we continued to walk.  No sooner than when it began, it stopped and we looked up to see a full rainbow, so it made up for the 15 minutes of dreadful weather. Wanting to get inside, we decided to visit the Galway Cathedral.

She's glowing!

The Galway Cathedral is massive and exquisite in its grand design. Whilst walking around inside I found the Lady Chapel and spent some much needed time to pray.  Prayers said and solace reclaimed we made our way towards the city center and popped into a mall. We looked around the Penney’s there, and then hungry once again we set off to find a particular famous pizza joint. Although the selection of pizza was small and the wait was long, it was well worth it. The pizza was fulfilling and delicious. Bellies full, we made our way back to our hostel and met our roommates. They were super nice and were also American students studying abroad in Paris and the Netherlands. We ended up conversing for over an hour and then decided to go to a pub with one of their Irish friends one of them had met earlier. We found a bar that was giving out two types of free drinks, so of course we went there. A band was setting up to perform so we sat with our drinks and listened to their rock music. I ended up not liking my lager, but instead was entertained by the band’s one biggest fan, who knew all the words to their songs and danced. He was hilarious! After the band concluded, we called it a night and went back to our hostel to get some much needed rest. 

Casual swan

The outside of the Cathedral. I think the dome needs to be a bit more golden.

Inside the Cathedral

Dinner under the Dome

While generally my weekends are more exciting than the weekday drudgery of classes, Tuesday, provided some out of the ordinary events. The Saint Mary’s girls had been invited for the first time in the history of the program to a dinner with the Notre Dame Ireland program in Dublin. After most of my classes on Tuesday, I threw on a dress and splashed some makeup on my face and I was ready to take the train into Dublin. We arrived in the heart of the city and walked to O’Connell House, where the Notre Dame program is headquartered. Stepping through the big blue door and then up some stairs I could immediately sense the aura of Notre Dame, and pretty sure I felt the ‘dome sickness’ coming on. We were served a dinner of shepherd’s pie in a cup along with pringles and some fruit. It was a joy to not have to cook my own dinner or have friends cook dinner.

Once dinner had concluded, and we had mingled with the other students, the guest speaker, Johnny Walker, took the stage and talked on how he was successful in his career and how we can apply that to our time studying abroad. He was a small Australian with a big heart and a fast mouth, but he was entertaining to watch! Afterwards, we paused for a tea and dessert break before having to sit through another lecture on the effects of the potato famine. Although, what the lecturer was saying was interesting I had already heard two lectures on the famine this week alone and was not enthused about another one. After having to sit through an hour of the Irish misery of the past, it was time for mass. Mass was held in a dorm style, and it was nice to be able to hold hands for the “Our Father” and to sing throughout the mass. Once the mass concluded, we were off and on our way back home. The journey home was long, and I was ready to get home, because I had early class in the morning. However, Kathleen wouldn’t let me go to bed without eating some ice cream first, such a good friend!

The ice cream was so hard she accidentally bent the spoon!

The Museums of Dublin

Walking through the streets of Maynooth in the early morning air with Kathleen, Lauren, Hannah and Jackie to the bus stop required effort from my tired body, since it was still recovering from yesterday’s walking tour. We were on our way to Trim Castle, where they filmed parts of Braveheart, little did we know that the bus would never come. After waiting by the cold bus stop for the bus, some of the girls lost hope and decided to head back through town. With no shops open yet for tea or coffee, we chose to go to Dublin instead of wasting the day or waiting for breakfast. Hopping on the Dublin bus, we made our way into the city with no real plan, so when we arrived we walked into the first free museum we stumbled upon. It happened to be the National Gallery, which was in the midst of being remodeled. Since nearly every gallery was closed to the public, we only got to walk through two exhibits. However, those two exhibits were beautiful, one was dedicated to Irish writers who selected art pieces to go with their works and the other was filled with Renaissance paintings. I quickly developed a new favorite artist, Jack B. Yeats; his art is so powerful and moving, one piece even made me cry.

Outside of the library

After our stroll through the National Gallery, we stopped to eat our packed lunches, before heading to another museum. Fortunately, the library intercepted our walk towards the National Museum of Archeology. The National Library was holding an exhibit on the other Yeats, W.B. Yeats, and Lauren wanted to visit, so we made our way inside. The exhibit captured his life very majestically, but I preferred sitting where I could hear audio recordings of his poems being spoken. Once finished, we walked next door to the museum, which held artifacts from Ireland’s vast archeological history. There was precious metals, stones, Viking swords, chalices, and of course preserved bog bodies. Bog bodies are  people from hundreds of years ago whose bodies were thrown into a bog, which because of the bog’s lack of oxygen allowed for the skin, hair, and organs to be well preserved. It was definitely a spectacular scientific discovery, but looking at the bodies was eerie, and I think I have enough nightmare material for a while.

They had a place where you could leave a note of your favorite book and why. So of course I had to write my favorite book!

Having fun isn't hard when you got a library card!

Post bog bodies rest

Finding ourselves museum-ed out for the day, we wandered the streets of Dublin for a while, and since we made such an early start to the day, we concluded our spontaneous trip to Dublin by getting back on the bus and going home. 

Yet another tour of Dublin

Another weekend was upon me, and without having any big trips planned yet, where else was there to go, but to Dublin of course! Kathleen had found a free walking tour of Dublin on the internet, so we decided to give it a whirl. Our tour guide was a tiny, young Argentinian woman named Alita, who had married an Irish man and was now residing in Dublin. She was full of energy and ready to get the tour underway. We began our tour by walking towards Dublin Castle and then to a garden behind it with stone paths that symbolized the geography of Dublin. I wouldn’t have known about this small green space in the heart of the city without going on this tour. As we passed the Christ Church Cathedral and made our way into the Temple Bar area, the narrow, cobblestone alleyways harvested the cold harsh wind, and as it continually slapped my face I could not wait for our tea break. We stopped in one of Dublin’s first tea shops across from where U2 used to play on the street corner and hid from the cold winter air.

Garden behind Dublin Castle

Christ Church Cathedral (not Catholic by the way)

After our quick break, we continued through the bitterly cold, and now wet streets of Temple Bar area, and then hurriedly made it into the grounds of Trinity College. Although I had already been to Trinity College to see the Long Room and the Book of Kells, I learned that George Lucas wanted to use the Long Room library as a set in Star Wars, but was not given permission by the college so he built a replica set. Our final stop on the tour was the National Library, where Alita told us the story of the 1916 Easter Rising and its importance to the city. With chilling bones after three plus hours of walking, I was glad to be finished with tour, and ready to find some dinner.

Found my Whiskey!

And Kath found a cheeseburger hat!

As it was a Friday during Lent, we had to find a seafood place, and since Kath and I had not tried fish and chips yet we set off to find a fish and chips joint. Little did we know that the fast food fish place we chose would not be the most pleasant experience. There were three young guys working the restaurant (if you can call it working, it was more like goofing off) and one of them seemed to have just fired another employee on the phone, so they asked us if we wanted to work there for free. Shaking our heads, and trying to order, we got harassed yet again by the staff as they brought our food and I asked for ketchup. Their behavior was simply odd and inappropriate for the workplace if you ask me. Anyway we ate as quickly as possible and then left. With the night still young, Kathleen and I strolled up and down Grafton Street, popping in and out of shops, while listening to the various street performers that serenaded the crowds, until our feet grew tired and we decided to catch the bus home.