To be boring for a paragraph, a lot of people have been asking me about school. I'm taking 5 classes, which I'm used to since last year I took 5, but normally at the University of Minnesota everyone takes 4. I'm taking Irish Folklore and European Cinema for my last two liberal education requirements (generals), Sociology of Media Audiences and Sociology of the Body for my major electives and an Irish History class since I am completely useless and some general knowledge would be A+. Everything here class-wise is so relaxed compared to the States. Last week, our professor was telling us about our midterm that is a paper due in a few weeks. Someone raised their hand and asked (in a 200 person lecture) if the midterm could be moved back a week. Without even batting an eye our professor asked the class if it would be better for everyone to move the midterm, and after a majority of us said yes, he said that was totally fine and continued teaching like this was casual.....what. If that happened at the U the student would be given a blank stare and a blatant "no."
Anyways, onto my travels! Saturday was the trip to Blarney Castle and Cork. About 200 of us got all packed into the buses at 8:30 am (ugh, kill me) and essentially all of us slept on the drive over. Blarney Castle was built in 1446 and, similar to the cutesy rhyme we have in the States (Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492) the Irish's saying is "Cormac McCarthy, bold as bricks, made me in 1446." So adorable. The claim to fame is the Blarney Stone, which is half of the Stone of Scone given to McCarthy by Robert the Bruce as a thank you gift for supplying soldiers. The legend is that the Stone, if kissed, will allow the kisser to gave the gift of eloquence and general luck. Because everything here is lucky.
The castle itself is in pretty shabby condition as there isn't a roof anymore and thus, is quite cold and damp from all the rain. We were really lucky on Saturday and had fabulous weather; it was nice and sunny and wasn't too chilly either. Since we knew there would be a line to kiss the stone (which is on the roof), Amy, Sarah, and I decided to go there first as opposed to exploring the park.
HOW.
In order to get to the top of the castle, one must climb very small, cramped, narrow, spiral stairs that has only a rope in the middle of the staircase. Grammie would have had a panic attack, because I almost did. It reminded me a lot of Notre Dame because there are just stairs without any railings, but Notre Dame was worse than this because you could lean over and see the bottom from any point in the stairs. However, there weren't 200 students all crammed into this staircase trying to get to the top in Paris. C'est la vie.
Amy is terrified of heights, so as a result Sarah and I had to sandwich her and somewhat bully her into getting to the top because we knew she would be really disappointed if she never got to kiss the stone. This is the kind of thing you tell your grandchildren to impress them when you're 95. So we gradually got to the top. Along the way there are a lot of little rooms which was nice because then we could take a break and regain our wits.
I fit! #tallgirlproblems
All the windows in the castle are these smallish rectangles, enough to bring in some daylight without getting too much rain in, I suppose.
Finally at the top, in line for the stone. Getting nervous since you have to literally bend over backwards and look down at the ground without plummeting to your death (but it's really fine because there are bars so you won't fall).
Achievement unlocked: gift of eloquence!
I'll never get over the view. Like, oh. Casual Saturday in Ireland. You went to a movie? Yeah, I was at Blarney Castle, no big deal.
More selfies to bring home to mom!
Roomies <3
Favorite photo I took while here.
After we got back down (the down staircase had a railing. YES!) we decided to explore the grounds. I had seen a sign for the caves earlier in the day and thought we'd explore them. They weren't very big, but it was still really cool to go inside. There's something about being in a place like that that makes you think the world has gone quiet and you are completely isolated. I guess some people really hate that but for me it was really nice for a little while.
At the gates to the poison garden
The poison gardens contain only poisonous plants and because of this I had a kind of get in get out mentality, but when I saw the mandrakes I had to just stop for a minute because,
"Mandrake or mandagora is a plant that returns people that have been petrified back to their original state. They're also quite dangerous; their cries are fatal to anyone who hears them."
-Hermione Granger
This thing was too creepy not to take pictures of.
After exploring a bit further and just enjoying the day, Sarah, Amy, and I decided to get lunch. On our way back over to the village, we found a little gift shop where I picked up some souvenirs for my friends. They're pretty great so don't even worry guys.
After eating what felt like the most amazing sandwich of my life, we gathered back into the bus and took the short drive to Cork, where we had the rest of the afternoon to explore. So far, Cork is my favorite city I've seen in Ireland.
Found this sign and was pretty enthused. It's not often the name Caroline pops up anywhere. Also on this street were two candy shops and a bunch more other cool stuff, so this is definitely not a coincidence.
After shopping and generally goofing off for a few hours, the girls and I got back on the bus to make the trek back to Limerick. Of course, it was a really busy day and everyone was exhausted, but I was convinced it was the best day I'd had while I've been here. I was so wrong, as I found out the next day, Sunday.
Sunday was the repeat trip to Cliffs of Moher. If you read my last blog post, we were unable to get to the cliffs because of all the crazy weather, but I knew I had to see them. It was a fairly small group of us; we ended taking the equivalent of a short bus in the States. Our first stop was the cliffs, so that they couldn't decide to close on us right away. Going into it, I was pretty nonchalant about the whole thing. Like, oh, there are some cliffs and I'm going to stand on them and take some photos. Basically the opposite of what happened.
Being there was 100,000,000,000 times better than I had ever imagined. I know a lot of my photos look beautiful, but they don't do the cliffs 1% of the justice they truly deserve.
Oh, just the ocean. Typical lazy Sunday in Ireland.
SO BLUE.
Fun fact: I have friends here. They like me. And they are really, really cool. I didn't expect to find so many good friends to hang out with while I'm here. It's been less than a month and I know for sure that we're going to stay in touch. From left: Jess, Kelsey, moi, Megan, and Rachel.
Look mom, I climbed over the wall illegally but I'm in Ireland and took this picture just for you!
Being at the cliffs was so unreal. I'm so glad we didn't go the other weekend because we had such a great view and all the fog and mist would have ruined the trip. It was pretty nice most of the time but it was extremely windy and therefore a little cold. But honestly who cares we're in Ireland.
So after spending a few hours enjoying the view and bonding with each other, we got back on the bus to go to Bunratty Castle and park. By this point, we were starving so we stopped at Durty Nelly's to eat lunch. Turns out it's hundreds of years old. I keep forgetting how young the U.S. is. Anyway, I had the most amazing soup and after we were all finished we went on a little tour of the castle.
These dapper gentlemen owned the castle.
It's old and stuff.
If the Starks (from Game of Thrones) had lived in one of these castles in Ireland, it would be this one.
Gryffindor pride.
This is part of the little village surrounding the castle. Kelsey is cheesin' and adorable.
Holy wells everywhere.
Also some cute animals running around. There were dogs, but they were in their houses and didn't really want to play with us. ):
St. Brigit's cross! Just made one like it in my folklore class.
Hot chocolate and scones are becoming a staple in my diet. Best when enjoyed with Kelsey, the only person who understands undying love for dessert.
It's suddenly 1998 and I'm walking on the walls on Linwood again!
After exploring the castle and grounds, it was time to go back to UL. I know all of this seems like we were here for 5 minutes but by the time we left Bunratty it was almost 6 and we had been busy doing things since 8:30 that morning. Despite exhaustion, the trip back was still enjoyable and everything was unreal. I still can't believe I'm here. It's still not reality. At any moment I feel like I'm going to wake up in my bed on Rollins in Minneapolis, get up, and walk to class at UMN. BUT, I am still enjoying every second I am here and cannot wait for the rest of the semester. BRING IT ON.
Slainte,
Caroline
No comments:
Post a Comment