Luck of the Irish

Hello again! As promised, I'm catching up from our busy second break, and I'm here to share with you all the exciting travels of my weeklong trip to Ireland, the land of my people (or at least, 1/16 of my bloodline).

Four of us began our second break by traveling to Dublin together. We spent our first day seeing Dublin Castle, Trinity College, Christ Church Cathedral and St. Patrick's Cathedral. It was especially nice to have a tour of Dublin Castle because a) the Chapel Royale was gorgeous, and b) I didn't really have a sense of any Irish history, and this tour gave me a better outline of what kinds of things went down that led to Irish independence from England.

Dublin Castle

Trinity College

St. Patrick's Cathedral

We broke off into pairs in the afternoon, and Brendan and I went to the Guinness factory, where we became certified to pour the perfect pint of Guinness. The end of the night was spent at the Temple Bar and Oliver St. John Gogarty's listening to traditional Irish music. I just have to share a video I've got of the guys we heard at the Temple Bar, because they were just that good.

On our second day, the other three went to the Cliffs of Moher on a tour, but since I had one planned for Monday, I went up north to Northern Ireland to see Giant's Causeway. We stopped to see Duluce Castle, the Dark Hedges, and Belfast along the way, but by far the most amazing thing was Giant's Causeway itself. The origins of the causeway are surrounded by legends involving a Scottish giant and an Irish giant, but it is actually a volcanic rock formation that comes up out of the ocean in perfect hexagon shapes, some only a few inches tall, some several feet tall.

Giant's Causeway

Looking back, this was definitely my favorite part of the trip. I could have spent more than the two hours we had there climbing around and taking pictures. It was a windy day, and the waves crashed up on the causeway, and it was beautiful. The feeling of invincibility is something everyone should feel some time in their life. I can't begin to tell you how on top of the world I felt when I was standing down, looking at it all.

The next day, we all split ways, and I began my solo traveling in Ireland. I took a train from Dublin all the way to the west coast of Ireland, to Galway. Galway is famous for the Claddagh ring and traditional Irish song, "Galway Girl" (and for those who know the song and are curious, yes, I did talk a stroll down the Salthill Prom like a Galway girl :) ). I stayed at a very nice hostel right on the main square, and made a friend that I travelled with for the next two days.

Galway Bay

I booked a tour out of Galway for the Cliffs of Moher and the Burren, with stops at the High Crosses and Dunguaire Castle. Unfortunately, the weather was really windy, foggy, and rainy, so when we got to the Cliffs, I couldn't even see them. So that's one thing I'll be going back to Ireland to see. However, the Burren was pretty cool. Our guide told us that the rocky terrain is similar to what we would see on the moon, and it was fun to climb over rocks for awhile on our stops (when it wasn't raining).

The Burren

Dunguaire Castle

When I got to Galway, I was planning on spending my last full day there just walking around the city and sightseeing. I didn't realize just how small the city actually is, so when I got there in the afternoon on Sunday and walked around for awhile, I had already seen what I wanted to see. So I decided to book another tour in Ireland, this time north of Galway in the Connemara region. Parts of this region are still owned by the Joyce family (appropriately named Joyce Country), and is the family of writer James Joyce. Luckily, except for the cold and the wind, we had sunny weather, and the country was absolutely beautiful, so after Giant's Causeway, this was probably my next favorite tour.

Our first stop was at Kylemore Abbey. This was originally a castle built in the early 1800s by an English doctor who loved the land so much that he decided to move there with his family. He built the castle right up against the lake and, when his wife died, also built an accompanying miniature chapel and mausoleum in her honor. It was a beautiful location and I was very happy I got to see it.

Kylemore Abbey

The majority of the tour was spent in the bus, driving through the mountains and lakes of Ireland. We passed by Killary Fjord, which is sixteen miles long, Lough Nafooey and Lough Mask. We also made a stop in the town of Cong, where the film "The Quiet Man," starring John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara, was filmed. We also stopped at an old Franciscan friary on the way back. Both the Abbey in Cong and the friary were very interesting to explore, because they were both in ruins, but well-kept ruins.

Lough Mask

On my last day in Ireland, I trained back to Dublin, and then had four hours to kill before having to be at the airport. I had wanted to see Kilmainham Gaol (pronounced "jail") earlier on in the trip, but it was too far away from our hostels, so we had skipped out on it. Because it was close to the train station, I decided to give it a go. It was pure luck that I walked there with six euros left (all of which I needed to pay for my bus ticket back to the airport) and found out that the day I visited the jail was a one-day free-entry event!

The jail was very cool to see, especially because they showed us some of the cells of the leaders of the 1916 Easter uprisings. They also showed us where these men were executed, and their museum had lots of great exhibits about what this jail has meant to Ireland all throughout its history. Again, I got a very good lesson in Irish history just from visiting the jail. I was relieved, however, when at the end of our tour, our tour guide informed us that we were free to go.

There were a few people I talked to that were concerned that I was traveling by myself, but I have to say that it was a great experience and I was not afraid at all. I know how to plan all my travel, and I get the chance to do what I want when I want. But that kind of thing never scares me. Being on my own and being independent like that doesn't scare me. Because when you've been to the most beautiful places in the world, and felt like you can conquer them, then what is there to be afraid of?

In four days, it will be one month until I arrive back in Denver, ending my Study Abroad experience. I try not to think about it too much, and try to forbid everyone else in the house from talking about it, because it's hard to think about. At some point, I'll need to start preparing myself for the reality that is leaving the place I love the most in the world, but for now, I'm trying to enjoy what time I have left with my friends, who are like my family. Because when I say goodbye to England, I'm saying goodbye to the way things are with them. I know we can be friends back at Valpo, but we have our own friends and activities, and it will never be the same as it was when we were traveling in Norway, singing Carly Rae Jepson at the top of our lungs, or pulling pranks, or singing to the guitar, or the millions of other things we do. So I am trying to make the most of the time I have left with these crazy people, because I love them all too much to let it go just yet.

And now that I have succeeded in being overly sentimental, I'll be signing off for tonight. As always, comments, questions, and donations are always welcome!

Until next time,

Stephanie

Fish and Fjords

Hello again! It's been a very busy month and a half since I've last written, so right now I'm playing a little catch-up. So bear with me as I hop back about a month in time, and then go from there!

Scandinavia was at the top of my list for places to visit when I came over here, and for awhile, it looked like I wasn't going to be able to come. But then the new group came in January, and as I was talking about trips with everyone, Sarah and I discovered that we both really wanted to go to Norway.  After further discussion with others in the group, we found that there were other people that were interested in seeing fjords, so I was absolutely overjoyed that we got to plan a trip to Norway.

We went for a weekend in early March. Most people we talked to said we were crazy, because it was going to be super cold and we wouldn't get to see any fjords. But after that weekend, I think we all agreed that it was amazing, and we wouldn't have changed anything about it for going when we did. We had perfect weather, and all of our travel plans and hostels all fell into place perfectly.

On Thursday after classes, we went to the train station and caught a flight to Oslo, the capital of Norway. We got in pretty late, and by the time we got to our hostel for the night, it was already one in the morning, and we had to leave the hostel at 7:30 in order to catch our train. Luckily, the hostel was very nice and had a better shower than we have at the Center.

We all wanted to see the fjords, and the best place to see them is across the country in Bergen, so we took an early morning train across the country to Bergen. It was a six and a half hour train ride, which most people would find tiring, but I have the best train buddy on the planet in my lovely friend Jessica, so it was all fine.

The landscape on the first part of the train ride reminded me a lot of driving through the mountains in Colorado. There were little town tucked away into these great big hills covered in dark green pine trees and I couldn't help but think, "Okay, this is great, but it's like I've seen it before. I want something new!" And as we kept moving, I got my wish. We travelled up in elevation in the mountains to the point where everything was covered in snow and people were traveling between houses on skis and snowmobiles. We rode over glaciers and feet of white sparkling snow, and it was absolutely beautiful.

Bergen, I am convinced, is one of the most beautiful places on the planet. I can only imagine what it looks like in late spring, when all of the trees and flowers are blooming, and you can take river cruises out to the other fjords. We all took a tram to the top of a mountain that overlooks the city, and we stayed up there until the sun set over the Bergen fjord. It gave us a great view of the city, of little islands out on the water, and over the whole Norwegian landscape. I took about a hundred pictures just of the sun setting over the city, and I could have stayed up there for hours. I know I speak for everyone in our group when I say that it was one of the prettiest places we've ever seen.

We spent the most of the next day in Bergen, walking around the city. We got pancakes at a stand by the pier, and walked around an old Norwegian fortress. At the top of what I assume was the old castle keep, we took pictures for over an hour and looked out over the city and the fjord again. I had the best salmon sandwich for lunch, and we spent the rest of the day shopping and walking around the city.

That night we trained back to Oslo, and spent most of Sunday in Oslo. We walked over to the castle in Oslo, which strangely enough, had a statue of FDR standing in front of it. I don't know the whole story, but I believe Norway had some significance during World War II, and Hitler wanted to house German ships in their ports? I don't know. That's the only reason I could think of for that statue being there. Anyway, we walked around the castle walls for awhile, and then spent the rest of the day trying to figure out where we wanted to get food before we had to go to the airport.

It was a wonderful trip, and I am very glad that I had the opportunity to go and see at least a little piece of Scandinavia. I am also very glad that there were people who wanted to go with me and were excited to see what I wanted to see. I love that I got to spend this weekend with these people, and I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Coming up next is my trip to Ireland, but we'll end this one here for now, since it's so long. As always, questions, comments, and donations, are always welcome!

Until next time,

Stephanie