Week 8: Loving London
Here is the link to our latest adventure to London! Thanks for watching and hope you enjoy!
Link: HERE
Week 7: Blarney Castle and Galway
Hello, faithful friends and family! As you can see, Crystal and I have decided to write an actual blog for this week as we prepare for a big vlog of LONDON next week.
A couple weeks ago (on October 1, to be exact), Crystal, our friend Marlie, and I decided to take a trip to Blarney Castle. Of course, we all climbed the castle and kissed the infamous Blarney Stone.
For those who don’t know, the Blarney stone is said to grant eloquent speech to all who kiss it. Thankfully, the safety features have been upgraded throughout the years – tour guides (way back in the day) were said to have held those who wanted to kiss the stone by the ankles in order for them to kiss the stone. Now, as Crystal demonstrates in the picture above, you lay on your back, hold onto the bars for support and bend backward and down to kiss the stone – they even put safety bars in, which didn’t exist a couple years ago. After kissing the stone, we headed into the gardens and got to walk around and sightsee. I’ve put a couple photos below to show you around the gardens 🙂
As you can see, the gardens were absolutely gorgeous and it was relaxing to just get to wander around and take it all in. After we finished at the castle and gardens, we headed into Cork city for a couple hours. We went to a restaurant called “Scoozi!” where we devoured the best pizza ever. We plan on taking another trip to Cork so we can spend more time exploring the city.
Last Sunday (October 16), we took a trip with our ISA group to Galway. It was an adorable little town that didn’t let a cold, rainy, and windy day ruin its good vibes. We saw the Spanish Arch, which was built back in 1584, went to the biggest aquarium in Ireland, saw an amazing cathedral, walked along the beach, and stopped to chill at the COOLEST cafe ever – the Jungle Cafe. Again, since my writing can’t even begin to so the trip justice, I’ve put some pictures below to help you get a feel for the city and what we did.
With this week past, we’re now, officially, half way through our time here. Yikes! Time flies when you’re having fun. As you would’ve guessed, we’re having the time of our lives and almost dread coming back to the States. But I guess that’s the reason the Irish government requires you to buy a round-trip plane ticket – we’d never leave!
I hope you guys enjoyed our last couple vlogs, be on the lookout for more! Also, a quick reminder to all our MLC friends out there – we will be skyping during International Week – Nov. 7-11 – so be sure to stop by and say hi!
God’s blessings on your week!
Weeks 5 & 6: Kilmurry Village
Greetings!
Below is a link to our latest vlog; please enjoy as we take you around Kilmurry Village, where we live, so you can get a better feel of the place we’ve called “home” for a few weeks now!
Link: HERE
Week 4: One Short Day in the Limerick City
Hello!
Erin and I have been in Ireland for almost a month now (crazy!!) and so we decided to switch up the blog. Instead of writing to you all about our Ireland lives and adventures, we will be vlogging our experiences and lives, showing you what our lives are like (well, kind of…). If you click on the link below (labeled “Click Here”), you will be able to watch our first video. This week’s theme: One Short Day in the Limerick City. Erin and I will be taking you around Limerick, showing you some of our favorite places. So please, sit back, relax, watch and enjoy the video!
Link: Click Here
Week 3: The Aran Islands
This week was full of classes and scheduling, so Crystal and I decided to treat ourselves this weekend and go to the Aran Islands. Well, technically, we only went to one of the islands – Inis Oirr – but that’s beside the point. The Student Union on campus organizes trips and sells discounted tickets for places all over Ireland. So, we took advantage of that, finally left Limerick and headed out for a long day on the island with some friends.
After about an hour long bus ride, we arrived in Doolin and got on a ferry. The ferry ride to the island was cold and a little wet as there were some rough waters, but it was only a short 30 minutes before we got our land legs back and hit the road. Our tour guides pointed us in the right direction, then they went off and did their own thing (swimming in the ocean and sleeping on the beach).
The “tour” was self-guided, based on a map and information sheet our guides gave us. It was absolutely beautiful. Essentially, we walked from each historical relic to another and almost covered the entire island. Since words can’t do this trip justice, I’ve decided to attach a couple pictures to show you what we were up to today. (Disclaimer: even these pictures don’t do it justice – you should just come see it for yourself).
Here’s a map of Ireland to give you an idea of where we went:
The first stop on our self-guided walking tour was the ruins of a church and cemetery dating back to the 10-14th century:
Next, we went to the Plassy Shipwreck (1960):
During low tide, there are lots of rocks, jellyfish, anemones, and muscles to investigate:
Then, we made our way to the O’Brien Castle (1804):
(In the background is the signal tower and old national school)
View from the hill the castle sits on:
All across the island are these rock walls that separate the different plots of land. Stories say that the natives didn’t know what to do with all the rocks they came across when trying to clear their fields, so they piled them up, and eventually that turned into the maze that exists now:
Attempting to read the map:
Eventually, we gave up on finding the Well of St. Enda and explored the cute little town:
Famished from our 8 mile walk, we needed a *healthy* snack:
Fudge in hand, we set off to relax on the beach:
And, of course, we had to put our feet into the ocean, just to say we did:
Well, that’s the gist of it, folks. I hope this gives you another taste of Ireland and what we’ve been up to. Feel free to check out our Facebook pages for more pictures, if you’re interested. Tune in next week for an even deeper look into our lives here. We’re cooking up a something special for you guys!