Blarney Castle, Cork, and Cliffs of Moher Take II

Hello everyone! I apologize for the slight hiatus.  Two weekends ago I was supposed to go on the trip to Cork and Blarney Castle, but due to the storms it was moved to this past weekend.  I also signed up for the trip to the Cliffs of Moher (if you recall, that got rained out and rescheduled as well) so I had a really busy weekend.

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

Cliffs of Moher and my first few days of class

Man, I hope you are ready for some pictures.

Welcome back! It is truly extraordinary how much I've done in the mere week it's been since I last posted.  After all the orientation stuff on Friday when I learned how to sign up for classes, figure out the annoying building/room codes, etc., we took a tour of the city by bus and I began to understand the concepts of roundabouts literally everywhere.  So many roundabouts.  Anyway, once we got back I ended up hanging out with some of my friends that go to UMN with me.  We ended up going to the Stables, because Fridays are International Night and it was essentially a massive party.  Since all of the Irish students were starting to come back to school from their homes, I think this was the first time I'd actually had a full conversation with a native.  The word 'native' sounds so weird and formal there but I have no idea what else to call them.  Are they all Irishmen or are the women Irishwomen?  These are the questions that keep me up at night.  Anyway, it was really great and I didn't get home til about 3 AM (sorry, mom).

Saturday was a really good indicator of how the weekend was going to go.  That morning we went into Limerick to go to the milk market, which is essentially a farmers market full of fresh food and handmade jewelry and such.  It was extremely gloomy and raining nonstop, with this ridiculous wind that made it basically unbearable to be outside, so I found a little booth that was selling wooly hats and gloves for 5 Euro; obviously I bought both and felt instantly warmer.

Since there is only so much to do in a milk market and we were given 3 hours before the buses returned, a group of us wandered around downtown and on our way back to the buses explored St. Mary's Cathedral.  It's basically in the middle of town and has been here since the 1400s.  There is a beautiful (sounds odd here but I promise it is) cemetery there as well, which has all these ornate crypts and tombstones that you never see in America.

Photo time:

We weren't allowed to go inside because there was some kind of service going on, but we did get to peek in and see all the stained glass.

Eerily beautiful, isn't it?

The main door (not in use anymore).  It's hundreds of years old and used to be the gate to somebody's castle. I can't remember who because there are about 5,000,000 castles in Ireland.

Awkward 12-year-old boy selfie I took at the door.  Hi Mom!

New friends from all over the US (:

The Irish have a lot of cute little sayings, as I'm sure you know, but this is probably my favorite thing I've ever read.

After we got back to UL, a few of us hung out for a little while, but ultimately went home because of the trip to the Cliffs of Moher we were all about to go on Saturday morning.

I had to get up at 7:30, which doesn't sound that bad to normal people but, hello, anything before 9 is forbidden in my mind.  The University had three buses completely full so the entire day was crazy.  The first landmark we came across on our journey to Clare county was Lemanagh Castle.  It's essentially in ruins today but was the home of Conor O'Brien and his wife, Maire ni Mahon, who is known as "Red Mary" in Irish folklore because of her hair.

The first real stop we had was at Poulnabrone Dolmen, which means "hole of the sorrows."  It is quite famous anthropologically (yay!) because it is a tomb that many people have been laid to rest from 3000 BC and on into the Celtic period.  The entire area is super rocky (the first indicators of what was to come) because of the glacial activity that took place in Ireland thousands of years ago.  If you don't know anything about glacial sediment, basically stones of all shapes and sizes are picked up in the glacier, moved with the glacier, and deposited wherever the glacier melts.  Thanks, ESCI1001.

Here are some pictures (starting with my new desktop background!)

Literally freaking out over this.  HOW IS EVERYTHING SO PRETTY.

Despite how gorgeous this looks, it was violently storming in between these photos.  I mean, every 90 seconds the weather would change.

I love all these stone walls, which show up almost everywhere.  There isn't any cement or anything to hold the rocks together, and whenever I see one I want to pick a rock out of the middle of the wall and watch the entire thing collapse.  Probably was really annoying when they were being built.

After Poulnabrone Dolmen we stopped at Ballyvaughan, which is a small little town in the middle of all these valleys.  The view is incredible.  Standing at the Atlantic Ocean was so weird, knowing that the same water at my feet had probably been on the shores of Cocoa Beach where my Grammie and Boppa live.  In a way, it was really comforting, but it was also a reminder of how far away from home I truly am.

After Ballyaughan was my favorite part of the trip, besides lunch (but we'll get to that).  Doolin Pier is extremely beautiful because of (in my humble opinion) the white limestone against the dark ocean.  On a normal day, you can see the Aran Islands across the bay but due to all the fog caused by the "winter" weather, it's a little hard to make out in the photos.

  

We spent a really good amount of time here but we weren't allowed to get too close to the water, which brings me to my super depressing news.  We were supposed to go on a sort of walking tour of the Cliffs of Moher, but due to the relentless storms that have been plaguing the coast, we weren't able to leave the bus because of the fear for our safety.
So check out these super high quality photos I took from the bus.

So fog. Very mist.

After enjoying the view and watching other people struggle to walk the 50 meters from the visitor's center to their cars, we set off into Doolin to get lunch. 

At this point it was nearly 2pm and all of us were starving.  Amazingly, all 180 of us crammed into O'Connors pub, which did a fantastic job of serving us and sending us on our way within the hour.  I wanted to try something more interesting than a ham sandwich, so I took the plunge and got the beef and guinness stew.  It was, in all seriousness, probably one of the best things I've ever eaten in my life and as a foodie, that is a really big commitment.  Here is my typical instagram-style photo of my meal:

This wall was filled with police/fire fighter/military badges from all over the world.  If you look closer, you can see an Eau Claire, WI one in the top left hand corner.  I didn't see any from Minneapolis, but there are literally hundreds of them and it's entirely possible I've just missed it.

After we ate, we went outside to enjoy the sunshine....for a mere 5 minutes before it downpoured and the wind nearly knocked us off our feet.

After getting all of us back on the bus, we stopped  at Lahinch Beach, a famous spot for Irish surfing.  I have no idea who would want to be in the freezing cold ocean water even in the middle of summer, but there were pretty spectacular waves.

So peaceful, right?

Nope. Literally moments after taking that photo, the waves crashed and the droplets froze midair, pelting us (HARD) with all these tiny pieces of hail.

We all thought it would stop after a few seconds but I, and all these people, had to take refuge in a nearby coffee shop because of  all the high winds.

After the beach, we took off back to Limerick.  I know the story I'm telling doesn't really sound like we saw/did that much, but by the end of the trip I was so exhausted and cold and wet that I felt like I could barely keep my eyes open, and so I slept the entire journey back.

The only annoying part of the day was that school started the next day (Monday).  I was having so much fun here until I remembered that I actually have to study and do work while I'm visiting.  Alas, gotta work hard to play hard.

My classes so far have been really interesting.  There is a lot less time spent in class than back home in Minnesota, and the lectures are much bigger.  The international students have a two week grace period to essentially sample the classes we're thinking of taking before we need to commit to 5 of them and register.  So weird, but it's been really nice getting to sort of ease into university life again.

Anyways, I've got class tomorrow and it's nearly midnight so I'm going to bed.  My next post will probably be early next week because this weekend is the International Society's trip to Blarney Castle. SO PUMPED.

Slainte!

Caroline

Finally, I'm here.

Hello everyone! As you have noticed from the title I am in Limerick and I know the post is a bit long, but I know many of you would like to hear about my travels and first day here.

I left Minneapolis around 1 pm on Tuesday.  Saying goodbye to my parents and Mark was really hard, but since they are now all coming to visit me at certain points throughout the semester, I feel a ton better. Plus, I know how much fun I'm going to have!  Anyways, I boarded my first flight (to Chicago) not feeling the greatest because of the food poisoning I got last weekend at Red Lobster while Mark and I were supposed to be having a romantic date. *Sigh*  But I got to Chicago and met an extremely nice girl (hey, Leslie!) who ended up chatting with me the entire flight there.  After Chicago, I had a 3 hour layover before I left for London.  The flight was about 7 hours and overnight, so I thought I'd try to get some sleep while I could.  Nope.   Just couldn't fall asleep.  So naturally I watched about 3 movies instead.

The layover in London was really hard.  It was nearly 5 hours and all I wanted to do was sleep, but it was 6 a.m. at that point and I knew it would really mess with my sleep schedule (something I really don't want to deal with).  So I stayed up and chatted with a few girls who go the U that I met at our orientation in Minnesota.  Eventually we were waiting at our gate to leave for Shannon when we realized the girls next to us were also studying abroad in Limerick and we started talking to them too; they were all from Canada and incredibly nice as the stereotype permits.

The flight from London to Shannon was pretty short, only about an hour.  As a tallette having the exit row was the highlight of this trip (so much leg room!) but by the end of the flight I was feeling pretty drowsy.  We had to go through customs afterward and grab all our baggage, but there were a few people I met that had their luggage get lost somewhere in transit.  I honestly think that would be the most horrible aspect of a trip.  I can deal with fat, sweaty, old men in the seat next to me and loud snorers, but deal me the lost luggage card and I'd just about lose it.  Luckily, they are supposed to be getting their luggage returned to them tomorrow. Yay!

So after grabbing all our things, we met up with the University of Limerick staff who were waiting for us at the front door.  We loaded all our things on the bus but I had to just take a minute to stand outside for a little bit, because....

....it was so gorgeous and sunny and 50 degrees.  No snow, no winter jacket, just my bare skin and a few moments of breathing truly fresh air.  It was beautiful.

BUT, it wasn't as beautiful as the drive from Shannon into Limerick.  It was honestly breathtaking.  At first I was talking to the girl in front of me but I let a lull in the conversation just fade into silence so I could stare, literally with my mouth open, out the window.  I knew Ireland was beautiful, but in my one day here I have laid to rest my expectations 10 fold.

My residence hall was first up, so I grabbed my oodles of stuff and was walked through the procedural sign in business and given my key.  My key is really weird and kind of makes me nervous about theft because it's like a computer chip thing (FOB, if you know what that means) that you just wave in front of a sensor on the door and it opens for you.  This is for both the front door and my bedroom.  Which brings me to the "house."  Basically it's about 5 townhouses pushed together to form each building, and there are 8 bedrooms in my house.  You walk in and are in this awkward little waiting room with stairs in front of you.  But before I could do anything I was semi pounced on by three of my new roommates.  Hakura and John are from (I believe) Japan and Amy is from New Jersey.  I found my new room (super small and sad looking but whatever) and shortly afterward met my other roommate, Kristin, also from New Jersey and good friends with Amy.  As of today I know of 3 other people I'll be living with but I haven't met them yet.

I set all my stuff in my room and basically spent the next few hours hanging out with Kristin and Amy, who are really cool and I think we'll be good friends. We all went to the equivalent to downtown Limerick (called the city centre instead) and did some grocery shopping as well as bought some sheets for my bed.  We were planning on going to shop for phones while we were down there but suddenly it was about 6:30 and apparently everything in Limerick closes about then.  So we went exploring for a little bit and managed to find a bus back to the University.

Once we got back, I started to really feel the 40 hours I'd been awake without any sleep and tried to stay up a little longer so I'd be able to get used to the time difference, but I really only made it until about 10, which was a well-welcomed time for sleep.

This morning we woke up bright and early to get to our orientation.  It was in the main students building and I'm guessing there are about 3-400 international students that were there.  Basically the whole day was sitting in an auditorium and having the study abroad team talk and give us information.  Afterwards, we split up into groups and had lunch, then took a tour of campus.  When I was looking at the map of UL back home, it looked so small since there are really only about 20 buildings, but  when I got there I realized that each building is HUGE and contains at least 4 blocs (essentially separate areas that cater to different departments).  Even still, it is way smaller than the U and I'm happy about the shorter walking time.  The only thing I didn't like about campus is that the buildings aren't clearly marked with the names.  In the U.S. there are usually signs outside each building with its name on it or the name of the building is just above the door, but there were a few buildings that I walked around 3/4 of the way and still couldn't find a name for it.  So, that'll be fun finding my classes.

Now, I've got a short break before all of us internationals are meeting at the Stables, the on campus pub, for dinner.  My room is a total mess and I have nothing unpacked so I'm going to sort it all out!

I'll probably post again in a few days when I'm a little more settled!