Ireland!

My time in Ireland went way way too fast, and I had way way too much fun. It was absolutely amazing. Exhausting, but amazing. I got to see and do a lot more than I had anticipated.

I spent the first day in Galway with some of my closest friends… Ashley, Haley, Sarah, and Paige. We wandered around the small town, found our hostel, and the signed up for a tour to see the Cliffs of Moher. THEY WERE BEAUTIFUL. (Also apparently a pretty popular suicide spot) On a happier note, the tour also included great views of the countryside and numerous castles.  Ireland is just beautiful.

That night we got fish & chips for dinner and perused the pubs and bars. Since it was such a small town, we saw too many fellow Semester at Sea-ers. It was still a great time. I heard way more American music than Irish. Bulmers Irish cider was my drink of choice. Guinness, not so much.

The next day Haley, Ashley, and myself headed to Cork. After the long bus ride, we met up with other friends and settled into a bed and breakfast. We explored and relaxed and people-watched for the day to get acquainted with the new city. The next morning we took the bus to Blarney for the ever-popular Blarney Castle and Stone. I had never heard about the kissing the stone deal but was definitely up for it. It’s rather strange and kind of scary, but now I should have persuasive and eloquent speech as well as good luck.

Later that afternoon we traveled to Cobh (pronounced ‘Cove’), the last port of call for the Titantic. SO COOL. We went to this sweet interactive museum where we got the names of who we were and stuff like that. We were all third class passengers, lame. We got to see what our rooms looked like as well as first class rooms.  The Titantic was almost as long as the Eiffel tower is tall. Fortunately, we all survived the catastrophe.

Next stop, Dublin. I did a Semester at Sea hike in the morning in Howth Head. We had beautiful views of lighthouses, islands, and the city and port of Dublin. We had some of the best weather (no rain!) in Ireland, and this was the perfect way to go out.  After the hike, I joined some friends for lunch in a pub. Cottage (shepherd’s) pie in Ireland is to die for.

It was extremely sad leaving the first port. I had waited what seemed like forever to get there, and poof, it’s over. I’m definitely super excited for the rest of the ports, but it was bittersweet waving goodbye.