In Ireland! It's very green and beautiful.
My last couple of days at home were so wonderful, full of tons of laundry and phone calls and last-minute shopping, but also completely relaxing. On Wednesday Julia, Lisa, Nathaniel and I went for an early swim across Walden Pond--a fantastic final morning. Next, I met Emilie at the train and we headed back to my house--after months of planning my big semester abroad, I still hadn't finished packing.
The night before, as I was cramming sunscreen and malaria pills into ziploc bags and rolling my four t-shirts into the corners of my backpack, Liana and Phoebe created this blog for me. So now I have to write in it, and I don't know where to begin--a ton has happened since Em and I landed in Shannon Airport at 5:30 yesterday morning. Still, I've written a rough summary of our adventures so far:
We took a bus into Galway, and explored until we caught our bus to Kinvara (a small town in County Galway). We roamed around with all of our stuff--I am in a ridiculous backpack sandwich, with my framepack, sleeping bag, and sleeping pad strapped to my back and my smaller pack and massive camera case resting on my belly. After wandering through a public garden and down the main shopping street, we ended up walking along a small bridge over the Friar's River to the Galway Cathedral. So, we had seen everything in Galway City and we hopped on the bus to Kinvara, a small town right outside the city. Race week just began in Galway, which is an enormous horse-racing festival--people come from all over Ireland, so it was tough finding places to stay in the city. However, Kinvara was much closer to Galway City then we thought--we missed the stop and had to trudge back along the road to our wonderful hotel. After checking in and dumping our bags, we walked down to the harbor at the end of the main road and then walked along the coast to Dunguaire Castle, which was built in about 1520. It's beautiful, very well preserved, and had a thin balcony that wrapped around the turret.
Our night in Kinvara was spent eating the cheapest meal available and chatting with an Irish couple for hours in the hotel bar--Helen and Aiden had asked us for directions to the hotel earlier that day, and recognized us when we walked back in after dinner. They are in their sixties and are so interesting and friendly--Helen is a preschool teacher in their hometown near Dublin and Aiden just got back from building houses in South Africa. When our glasses were empty and we were completely worn out, Em and I said goodnight and fell asleep about twenty seconds later.
Today was so great! We had a full Irish breakfast (for free!)--I've attached a picture of a sample Irish breakfast, which is similar but includes an extra of the sausage, egg, and puddings. I mostly ate cereal. We stopped by the weekly farmer's market, which sold the usual produce, meats, and cheeses, as well as a ton of traditional cakes and sweaters, before catching a bus to Doolin. While we were waiting at the stop, a man we had met in the hotel lobby the day before pulled up in his Jaguar and offered us a ride. Turns out, his name is Simon and he was planning on driving along the coast, through Doolin to the Cliffs of Moher, and back to Galway for the races at 6. So, we all drove down the coast and saw the most amazing rocky beaches and enormous waves, green pastures, and small stone cottages. There are also cows and sheep everywhere. We would stop and look at views of the Burren and of some pretty exceptional beaches, and as we drove Simon told us a bit about Irish history and his life as a professional gambler (only horse races, not casinos).
After a scenic (and free!) ride to Doolin, we found Paddy's Hostel, checked in, and went exploring around the town. Em and I found a hole-in-the-wall CD/coffee shop, several pubs, and a fudge shop with samples (free!). We were making our way down to Fisherman's Wharf, which is where ferries typically leave from on trips to the Aran Islands. We were planning on going to the Islands tomorrow, but the weather is not so good...it's extremely windy and stormy, and trips for tomorrow have been canceled. At this point, we had been walking for a while and were soaked, so the woman working at the ferry counter offered us a ride back to the hostel. Clearly, the Irish are incredibly kind and welcoming. Our trip has already been so full, and we have more big things planned--tomorrow, we're going to see a stalactite in the Caves of Doolin and hike the Cliffs of Moher (a typical E&ES field trip).
I am so looking forward to the next month in Ireland and the following months in Tanzania, but miss you all, of course. I will add photos soon, and I hope this incredibly long post won't scare you away (it probably won't happen often). Send tons of emails!
Love,
Becca
