God's gift in the unexpected

I was unnaturally happy to wake up at 7:00am, but there was a very good reason. That reason is IRELAND! It still blows my mind that I am actually here in this beautiful country.
So we took a 3 hour bus ride through Conamera national park and the mountains were breathtaking. We finally arrived, most of us a little sick from the incessant twisting and turning of the huge buss through the tiny streets, and spent the day exploring Klymore Abbey.
The huge castle was built by a man who built it for his wife. They had 9 children together and she died wen she was only 45. In her honor he had a mini cathedral built.
Those two spectacular building in addition to the huge Victorian garden were all nested into the huge mountains and sprawled out along a lake. It could not have been more picturesque.
Now the area is inhabited by Dominican nuns who happen to make some of the most delicious fudge.
We explored the castle, climbed trees by the lake, wandered through the garden, and listened to live traditional Irish music in the old gothic style cathedral.
The real story of the day, however, was not the magnificent sights but God's gift to us on the way back.
So in the morning our driver said he would be back at the top of the park at 4:00. So the 7 of us, being top notch travelers, got to the spot 10 minutes early. Well it's raining and all of a sudden we see our bus drive right by us... full speed.
I laughed, some of us panicked, there was talk of sleeping in the woods that night... But we asked a tour bus driver what we should do and he said he would be willing to help us out if he had room. There were exactly 7 seats left on his tour bus!!
Not only did we get a ride for free, but we got a history of the area on the ride back!
After the not as long and more fun journey back we went out to Kings Head again where we met up with so many other Franciscan Students! We were everywhere.
All in all, it was another perfect day in Ireland.

Late start, but late night

It wasn't until 2pm that we finally got out of our house and on our way to our second day in Ireland. We took a long walk, and by long I do mean looongg walk, to Salthil to walk on the shore.
There was some talk of jumping into the water, however after feeling the nice warm northern ocean water, it was quickly decided we would stay dry and walk down a pier to a lighthouse. After a 15 minute walk down the pier we were sorely disappointed. No entrance allowed. Ah well, at least it was a beautiful walk with no rain.
We walked across a ton of what we thought were soccer fields right up along the ocean. We soon were told by the instructor that the fields were used for the national sport of Hurling. Which is an absolutely horrifying combination of lacrose and field hockey. Looked dangerous but fun!
We walked through the streets lined with pubs, shops, pubs and more pubs.
The most beautiful part of our day was by far seeing the St. Nicholas Cathedral. It took my breath away. All stone and sitting right on a river it is full of the Holy Spirit.
We ate dinner at a nice place called the Cellar and they were on top of gluten free which they call 'modified celiac'. Also something we learned is that a toasted bap is the same thing as a hamburger bun.
We headed back to the house and to welcome us home was a huge rainbow over our house.
Then it was out for the night! We went to a couple great pubs and the most surprising thing was how Americanized they were. A lot of them were plying only American 70's music. We did did a great pub called the Spanish Arch which had live traditional Irish music. Kings head was our favorite an we made a note of it for a second stop.
I got to talk to a great Irish couple who knew more politics and u.s. history than me.
Walked a very very far way there and a shorter but what felt like a longer way back, but it was definitely worth it

Welcome to Ireland

What a very very long day. I said goodbye to my boyfriend and my parents and flew to Chicago, a great lil taste of the long flight ahead. I found my friends in the airport and we got seats together right at the front of the HUGE plane with adorable flight attendants (I actually enjoyed listening to the safety talk!!) the food was gluten free and excellent they even included a cookie! They also made sure we has tea after supper.

After 6 hours of attempting to sleep and watching the hunger games we finally arrived in Dublin! So our little group grew to 7 And we grabbed taxis to the place we were keeping our luggage. Our taxi driver was our first real taste of and true Irish man and he was a perfect mix of swear words a thick accent and a wonderful source of Irish history and culture.

Once in the city we got on a free tram (well we thought it was... Oops) to the Guinness Factory. It wast a tour of the actual brewery but we did get to go to the gravity bar at the very top and it had the most amazing view! The whole museum was shaped like a beer glass. Although I did not get to partake in a lovely pint of beer, I did get a free fanta.

We grabbed a quick bite to eat at a gas station (oh the life of a traveling college student) and headed to Trinity College. It was absolutely beautiful, a little gem of green grass and fantastic architecture in the midst of a busy dirty city. We got to see the Book Of Kells and the old library. It was the best thing i saw all day.

We then ran full speed through Dublin to catch the bus to Galway, as if running wasn't enough, keep in mind we still has our 30lb backpacks on. The long bus ride was a very welcome rest and for 3 hours we rolled trough the beautiful green county side of Galway.

After asking a lot of questions we finally got to our house in Galway and found three of the girls staying with us preparing dinner for us. We stayed up for a few hours and fell into a deep much needed sleep.

It was a beautiful first day in Ireland. Our house doesn't have wireless which is a big bummer, but so many places offer free Internet. I absolutely love the people here. They are all so nice and helpful. Everyone is generous with there knowledge and If we are lost we aren't surprised if a person takes us by the hand and walks us there themselves.

Oh, and dogs are not on leashes.