Doolin and Dublin, Ireland

After completing my first major British Studies exam on September 29th, I ventured to Ireland for a long and adventurous weekend. I left Harlaxton on a coach around 8 p.m. and journeyed about 5 or so hours to Wales. Once in Wales, our coach drove on to a ferry that would take us across the Irish Sea. The ferry was quite nice and was dotted with couches all over that allowed passengers to have a snooze during the trip. Because everyone was so exhausted from the big exam and the fact that it was 2 a.m. when the ferry left, we all crashed shortly after boarding. After about 3 hours we had finally arrived in Dublin shortly before 6 a.m. The group was a bit of a mess from the improper sleeping conditions, but excited to explore Ireland nonetheless. The first stop on our journey was breakfast before making the long trek from the east coast all the way the the beautiful west coast of Ireland. Halfway through the long drive we stopped at the historic monastery site of Clonmacnoise. This is no longer a working monastery, but is adorned with the remains of buildings and countless graves. It was such a clear day and the perfect morning to visit this historic site. We walked around for a while looking at all of the remains and then made our way to visit some very sweet looking cows. I have never seen any other cows that looked the way the Irish cows did. They were so cute and reminded me of dogs. I wanted to pet one of them but was afraid that it may bite me. After this stop halfway through Ireland, we continued on to the tiny west coast town of Doolin. This town is situated right on the Atlantic ocean and in a valley of some very large cliffs. Once we had dropped off our stuff at our very small hostel we headed to the unbelievable Cliffs of Moher. These cliffs are very large and lined up in a row of four. Looking out at the ocean from the cliffs seems as though you can see forever. It wad very windy and cold on top of the cliffs, but the views were definitely worth the weather. Day two in Doolin very adventurous to say the least. We had all planned to take a boat out to the Aran Islands to explore for the day. Unfortunately, this day was very windy and the seas were too rough to visit the islands. We all had to scramble to change our plans and find something else to do. We went to the beach while we decided on a plan. After enjoying the fresh air from the sea we decided that we would all go horseback riding. Once the hostel owner had called and arranged for the horse owner to pick us up, he mentioned to us that this guy was the town matchmaker and quite famous around the area. It was a bit of a journey to the horse farm. Lots of us were stuffed into this little tiny car while the Irish man sang Irish songs to us. We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into or if what we were doing was even safe, but we continued on to see where this journey would lead us. Once we arrived at this man's house and farm we all suited up and picked horses. All of the horses had silly American actor names, mine being George Clooney, or so they said. The horse adventure turned to be a wonderful one and was one of the best parts of the trip. The rest of my time in Doolin was spent by the ocean exploring the Burren, a large rock formation left by the glacier. The large cliffs and ocean in Doolin were so much fun and the perfect way to relax after such a big exam. It really felt like I was standing on the edge of the world sometimes because the giant rock cliffs would end and all you could see beyond that was water. I hope to be able to go back to Doolin one day because it was so awesome. My third day in Ireland was spent in the capital city of Dublin. I spend the entire day in Dublin at the Guinness Storehouse taking a tour of the brewery. There was so much to see and explore that it took about four hours for the tour. At the end of my Guinness trip I learned how to "pull the perfect pint". I had no idea that there was a special technique for the perfect pint of Guinness, but it really is a very particular method. I was so proud of my accomplishment and realized that Guinness isn't all that bad. The next morning I got back on the ferry and journeyed back across the sea to Wales, where I began the long trip back to Harlaxton. I really enjoyed Ireland and wish that I had more time to spend there.
More to come!
AM