Bon Voyage: Ireland Part 1- 50 Shades of Green

Hey everyone,

Sorry for the long delay between posts. I just went on the best trip/adventure of my life, by far the best part of my study abroad experience yet.

I went to IRELAND for 10 days!

The last week of February was my winter break (don't ask me why they have a winter break during February) but it worked out to my advantage. My closest friend here, Meagan has long lost family living all over Ireland so we thought this would be a good opportunity to travel all of Ireland, meet them and save money by staying with them instead of hostels. We started out in Dublin then went onto Galway, then Sligo and finally back to Dublin again.

Dublin: We arrived in Dublin thursday evening where we were met by Emer (the mother of the O'Connor family). She met us with a warm smile and embracing hug. I instantly felt like I had known her for years, she is so warm and chipper, definitely one of the nicest people I've met. She drove us back to her home where there was spaghetti waiting for us. As the family slowly started coming home after a long day of work and school we met John (the father), Eoin (pronounced Owen who is the youngest son) and Aisling (pronounced Ashling the second youngest child). We spent hours around the table chatting, laughing and getting to know each other. Eoin told us that night that tomorrow he would take us on the Cliff hike around Howth island. We woke up bright and early the next day and hiked for 3.5 hours around an entire island. It was absolutely beautiful. Everything that I had pictured Ireland to look like. We came across a cave on the beach and even a secret passageway where I swear Leprechauns live :P After that, Eoin took us to downtown Dublin where he showed us the main shopping area, the huge "central park" in the middle of the city and Trinity College where they used the dining hall and the library in parts of the Harry Potter movies. As we were heading home, we stopped by a mall and Eoin took us to this place where we could pay 10 euros to dip our feet into waters tanks where tiny little fish come and nibble on your feet and eat all the dried skin off. We decided to accept the challenge but as soon as you lower your feet into the tank the fish swarm (which really freaked me out). As soon as they were in they literally attacked your feet with little nibbles. The nibbles didn't hurt at all but it was more like a tickle session. I couldn't stop squirming. We were laughing so hard and making such a scene that half the mall came over to watch the show.

That night Eoin, Aisling and their friends took us out on the town to check out the night life. We went to one of the most popular clubs in Dublin and they happened to be playing oldies songs from Grease, Aretha Franklin, Backstreet boys etc. We were all just doing our own thing, being goofy and fun and it was at this point that I lifted my hands up, closed my eyes and was just living in the moment, having the absolute best time of my life. I felt so lucky to be in this moment, in Europe, in Ireland one of the top 3 places I've wanted to visit in my life.

The next day John and Eoin drove us up to Glendalough, which is one of the most important sites of monastic ruins in Ireland. For 500 years it was one of Ireland's great

ecclesiastical foundations and schools of learning and prospered until the 13th century.

We walked around the old churches and what is now a graveyard and then we hiked

around the forests and rivers nearby. It was so surreal to be standing in place that was

1100+ years old and to see ruins of houses and churches still standing there. Some of the

tomb stones were even in Gaelic (the Irish language that is still very much used today).

As were were driving back down to Dublin it started to snow very heavily

and John had the brilliant idea of stopping at this teeny tiny little village in

the mountains and get a "99" from the only convenience store in that town. A 99 is a

double scoop of vanilla ice cream with chocolate or strawberry swirled around it and a

chocolate bar stuck in the side of it. (I just want to mention that Irish chocolate is THE

BEST chocolate I have ever tasted in my life).

As we headed back to the car Eoin and John started throwing snowballs at us, one nailed me right on the back...and from then on it was war! We played out in the snow simultaneously trying to eat the ice-cream for a good 20 minutes. We then decided we better hit the road before it becomes too unbearable to drive. That night we met Neille (pronounced Neal, the oldest son) and John's dad. Neille was an absolute hoot, he is so carefree and so full of laughs. He was so much fun to be around. That night Eoin and Neille decided that I am the spitting image of Carrie Fisher, Princess Leia from Star Wars and from that night on I was no longer Leah, but Princess Leia or just Princess. It became a running joke throughout my whole trip and whenever they introduced me to someone that's what they called me.

The following day, Sunday, the whole family got up early and attended Eoin's Gaelic football match. It was so fun to watch, we weren't allowed to cheer for Eoin though (it's not of Irish tradition to scream and holler at a match like this and apparently he would have been teased). Emer was explaining the rules to us as we watched. From what I understood, it was a combination between soccer and rugby except there was no tackling.

We (Neille, his gf, Eoin, Meagan and I) hurried over to a nearby pub to watch the Irish vs. Scottish rugby match. Never have I ever been so perplexed about the rules of a sports game. Rugby rules are ridiculous. HOWEVER... high of the day (for those of you who know me, know that I despise beer, yet have been trying to find one that I can tolerate for a social drink here and there) AND... I was able to finish my very first Guiness!! It was a very proud moment for me :D

Once the match was over Meagan and I had to hurry over to the bus station to catch our coach bus to Galway, Ireland's cultural heart and most picturesque city....

<<<<To be continued in Part 2>>>>>