After finally adjusting to the new time change, I had to make my way back to the states for my brother's wedding. When I was in Toronto, the guard at Customs told me I was a great sibling for flying home and back to Europe in one weekend (you're welcome, Alex). Even though I harassed him, I wouldn't have wanted it any other way. This was going to be the last time in a long time before I could see either of my brothers again. Both of my brothers are pilots in the Air Force so it is always a rare occasion when my whole family is able to be together all at once but it was really special this time because Alex was deploying soon after the wedding. I flew into CVG (my home airport) so I was able to see my doggies!!!! But the next morning we departed to St. Louis where the wedding was going to take place. The rehearsal went by very quickly and then it was off to the dinner portion; the dinner was held at a BBQ joint and it was SO good. Naturally, jet lag had me up at 6 am the next day but it didn't matter because soon my sister and I had to get ready! It was great fun watching my soon to be new sister get ready for her big day and I had a blast being able to spend time with my sister again. The ceremony was over in 20 minutes... One thing about that brother in particular is he does not waste time doing anything so naturally his ceremony would be the shortest ceremony in the history of wedding ceremonies. Photos followed and instead of going on the bus with the rest of the bridal party my sister and I went back to the hotel with our parents since we couldn't really participate in the fun of the party bus (quite odd going from being legal to not being legal to drink). The reception was a blast and filled with so many friends and memories. Sadly after breakfast the next day I had to catch my flights back to Ireland. I was exhausted by the time I got back to Cork but I wouldn't have had it any other way.
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The Ring of Kerry is one of the most well-known tourist routes in Ireland and included in my USAC experience was a weekend tour of the Kerry countryside. I was so excited for this trip because the views were supposedly gorgeous and EVERYTHING was already paid for - including food which if anyone knows me they know how much I love to eat!!! The tour left on Friday morning and we wouldn't return to Cork until Sunday night. Our first stop on the tour was Crag Cave located in County Kerry. The cave is made entirely out of limestone and was first explored in 1981 by a diver who dove through a sump and discovered the large caverns underneath. For some reason this discovery fascinated me because I couldn't imagine diving blindly into dark waters with no notion of what was on the other side (if anything was) but he resurfaced meters away in a pool which is shown below inside the giant cavern. Luckily for us they built an entrance so we didn't have to dive underwater to enter the cave; the tour was very informational and we learned a great deal about limestone and many of the caverns are named after characters from J.R.R Tolkien's book "The Middle Earth"!!! The pool the diver surfaced in! We then left the cave and continued onto the hotel we would be staying at for the rest of the weekend. The hotel was amazing and it was centrally located in the middle of the Ring of Kerry so we wouldn't have another long bus ride until we left to go back to UCC. Dinner at the hotel was incredible; I had the most amazing fish and cheesecake. Since the trip I was on was a heritage student trip our entertainment for the first night was to have a local singer come to the hotel so we could learn traditional Irish songs and learn the history behind them. Our next day was jam packed with places to visit! The morning started off with the Skellig Ring tour which included stops at Valentia Island, Geoghan Mount & Fogher Cliffs, Skellig experience center, and the Valentia lifeboat. Along the way we learned about each place we were visiting and when we stopped at the Skellig experience center we had a fantastic view of Skellig Michel (incredible historic monastery and place where most recent Star Wars was filmed!). In the background of the photo below, the pointed, larger island is Skellig Michel. Sadly because we weren't there during the summer we couldn't take a boat out to the island but one day I hope to return and visit the island since I have heard amazing things about it. Even during the summer its really hard to reach the island because it requires perfect conditions in order to land a boat along the jagged coastline of the island so that visitors can walk up to the monastery. After all of our morning adventures, we headed back to the town where our hotel was to visit O'Connell Memorial Church, Cahergal Stone Fort, and Ballycarberry Castle. The fort was awesome because we could climb to the top and walk around the walls but then I went with my group and held a little baby lamb named Joe (highlight of my weekend). Since this weekend was a heritage weekend trip geared for students, the organizers planned heritage events for us like learning traditional Irish songs. Tonight's events included learning how to Irish dance and play Gaelic football. Irish dancing is way more tiring than I thought but my friend, Hunter, made it a little easier on me since she was my partner and she has Irish danced competitively since she was a little girl. Gaelic football was very interesting and I still have no idea how to play it because the rules are so different. But, it is still a very fascinating sport to watch and so unique in its history and heritage. For the last event of the night before bedtime, we had a trivia night and my group WON!!! We won coasters made from Valencia Stone which are beautifully made from the stone that used to be mined at the Valencia mine nearby Cahersiveen. At this point I would like to acknowledge that I know I am an adult when winning coasters is the prize for trivia lol. On our last day before heading back to Cork we drove the rest of the Ring of Kerry! Needless to say the views were beautiful and every place we stopped was filled with history and beauty (as much of Ireland is). The slideshow below shows some of the places we stopped along the way. Even in the cold and damp, this weekend was fabulous and I can't wait for more of my upcoming adventures! Dingle.. Yes, Dingle. My entire family gave me a funny look on FaceTime when I told them where I was going (my family is clearly very mature) but that look soon changed after I showed them photos of this incredibly colorful harbor town and the beautiful drive that awaited once we arrived. Due to the great weather in Ireland (shocking, I know) there was a discounted trip to Dingle run through Irish Experience Tours who cater tours to college students. Me, two of my roommates, and the girls we went to Blarney with all ventured to the Atlantic Coast for a day. Our first stop was at Ross Castle in Killarney where we looked out onto a lake and could climb around the castle. The next stop was at Inch Beach! I loved stopping at this beach even though it was a tad chilly hearing the waves crash and being able to touch the ocean made it memorable. Next Stop = Dingle!! Dingle was absolutely incredible; sadly, many of the places around town were shut down since we were traveling during off season but having the places to just our tour definitely made up for that. We stopped in town to get some snacks for the drive to the Wild Atlantic Way but on our way home we would stop back in town to explore more. We could not have asked for better weather. After stopping in the town we continued on our way until me made it to the Sleigh Head stop where we hiked a cliff to get to the view seen in the picture above and at the bottom of the cliff was the beach pictured in the first image. I could not get enough of the view. Honestly, I probably took close to 200 photos on my camera and almost as many on my phone. At this point, I was starting to think people just made up that Ireland is always dreary and rainy because I had really yet to experience any of that at all. Albeit, the weather was a bit windy but other than that it was a perfect day trip. We made a few more stops along the way; one was at a place where we could see Clachan ("beehive") huts that have been around since before the 8th century. Finally, we made it back to Dingle and while my friends explored the shops or ate I wandered around and took photos of the town. I absolutely love taking photos of architecture and the colorful buildings in Ireland are one of my favorites. They are just such a juxtaposition with the old European architecture of the churches and other buildings in the same town; I truly love it. There is also a dolphin who lives in the harbor of Dingle and so we learned a little about him and saw his statue but sadly never got to see him :/ Seeing the sunset on the harbor was a perfect ending to another perfect day in Ireland! |
AuthorThe rambling thoughts of a millennial's adventures abroad Archives
May 2017
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