So the best thing that I know to do is to fill in the missing weeks that I have forgotten to keep updated. Here it goes...
I got back to the manor after Scotland and left again 3 days later on Wednesday night. Jenny, Olivia (two of my KD sisters) and Haley started our adventures to Ireland with trying to figure out our train tickets to London Stansted Airport. After 4 trains and some complete confusion we made it to the airport at 11ish and scouted a place out to sleep that night. Our flight left at 6:50 the next morning so we settled into an area of benches in the open. At 3 a.m. we were awoken by the voices of about 30 Spanish speaking teenagers. I am not sure why they felt the need to have full blown conversations at that time but it was rather annoying. We woke (well I had fallen asleep and the others did not seem to get as much as I did) and boarded our plane to Dublin. We arrived in Dublin to a dreary, dreary day. Some exploration occurred, by ourselves because we missed the New Europe Tour (very bummed about that). Dublin was not what I imagined it to be. The phrase concrete jungle could be used to describe it and I was eager to see the green grass that I imagined for Ireland. That night though was a lot of fun. We ended up going to a pub called O'Shea's and we danced to traditional Irish music with the group of the cutest older people!
Everything I took fit in that bad boy! Irish Dancing with this man!
On Friday morning we, along with a lot of other Harlaxton students, boarded the Paddy Wagon bus and headed west across the country. It is kind of weird to think, driving four hours from Dublin can get you across the ENTIRE country. Four hours from home is Gatlinburg, not another coast. This day was my favorite of the trip. The green grass was definitely in Ireland. From the very back of the bus I was able to look out the absolute beauty of the country. We traveled on the highway for a while but then took a turn and ended up going on little two lane roads for the rest of the day.
Our first stop was in a town called Cong. It is going to be very hard to capture the beauty of this town in words. Think of the smallest town you can think of. Comparable to where my Momma works, Adairville, and then divide that in half. There was a river that cut through Cong and the ruins of an Abbey from so long ago. Us girls took this opportunity to have a photo shoot in the ruins and along the river. We were only there for an hour but it was magnificent.
Words really do not do justice to this BEAUTIFUL day.
We traveled to Galway that night and were surprised with a stay in Aaron's Bed and Breakfast instead of a hostel. You should have seen me and Haley's faces when we entered our room. A full and twin bed, our own bathroom with hot water AND towels provided. You would have thought we were in heaven. Sleep that night was wonderful and I was even able to go back early and have nice conversation with Jenny.
The next day was a bit dreary but not rainy like I thought it would eventually get. As we were driving to see the Cliffs of Moher (along the coast line) we had to stop a few times for the sheep and cows that roamed freely to get out of the road so we could pass. I loved seeing the farm life, that's for sure. As we were closing in on the Mini Cliffs, a rainbow came out of no where out in the ocean. You could imagine my excitement: I was able to see a REAL rainbow IN Ireland! I'm surprised the bus didn't flip with everyone moving to one side to catch a glimpse.
The Mini Cliffs were another favorite of this trip. We all got off the bus and ran straight for them. Unlike the Cliffs of Moher with railings everywhere, these cliffs literally ended with a drop off to the ocean. We climbed, explored and beat near death experiences trying to capture the most perfect shots. It was so much fun and of course we were the last ones to board the bus.
We finally made it to the Cliffs of Moher about mid afternoon. I was in awe of the grandness of these cliffs. They seemed to go on forever and were an amazing sight to see. We hiked to the left (see Scotland post...when it doubt GO LEFT) and took so many pictures. However, pictures really do not capture the feelings that I had there!
We stayed in Killarney that night..in a hostel but after the stay in Galway I was pretty happy. Our bus driver on Saturday got sick so we had our bus driver from Friday, Barry, again on Sunday and he reused the history lecture as he drove. I thoroughly enjoyed the mini lectures throughout the day. The snippet of information that I learned in those three days will forever be in my mind. We made our way towards Blarney and the Blarney Castle. Legend says that if you kiss the Blarney Stone (blue stone set in the castle walls, very high up) that you will be given eloquence. I of course kissed the Blarney Stone, so we shall see.
Kissing the stone!
Poison Garden...what what!
Traveling that night was definitely one of the worst experiences I have ever had, however it was something that I am glad happened. We left Dublin and arrived in London before midnight. However, Grantham train station closes at some point in the night so we were supposed to take a night train to London's King Cross...well apparently the underground closes too. We were hurried out of one train station into the street of London, while it was snowing. I had never felt so helpless. I was freezing cold in such a strange place. Luckily a taxi was there and we took it to King's Cross Station. We ended up staying in a glass sided Starbucks for 3 hours...completely frozen until the station opened up at 5 a.m. We finally made it back to the manor at 7:30 and class was at 8:30. I'm not one to function on no sleep so I used one of my skip days that morning.
Sorry to throw so much at my readers. It has just been so hard to find time to blog between the adventures and school work. Hopefully I will get better at this going into the second part of this semester. That's right, the SECOND PART OF THIS SEMESTER!! It's already half way over with :(
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