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For this week’s blog, Crystal and I are both to tell you about our weekends, as I went to Kilkenny with some friends and she went to Dublin with the ISA group.

My friend, Aoibheann (pronounced Aveen), whom I met through hockey, invited myself and our hockey playing New Zealand friend, Ashleigh, home to Kilkenny with her this past weekend. Ashleigh and I took the bus, after our afternoon classes on Friday, to Kilkenny, about a 2-hour bus ride. Aoibheann came and picked us up from the bus stop and we headed to her house to watch the Ireland/New Zealand rugby match. For all who are curious, Ireland won in a big upset. After that, we had a lovely dinner together with her parents, younger brother and their Spanish exchange boy, Danny. We introduced Ashleigh to ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’ after that and then hit the hay. We got up at half 9  on Saturday morning to head into town. We had a quick breakfast, grabbed some hurleys and headed into town. We went up the Kilkenny tower, which gave us an awesome view of the whole town. After that, we went to a little dessert shop called ‘CakeFace’ and split some desserts. Hyped up on sugar, we walked a little further to Kilkenny castle, which also has a huge park next to it. We pucked around in the park for a little bit – which mainly consisted of us chasing the ball since we couldn’t actually hit it properly. Aoibheann tried to teach Ashleigh and I how to play hurling, but it’s harder than it looks. If you’re interested, here is a short 2min video giving you a brief intro to the sport. ‘Pucking around’ would just be passing/hitting the ball around – it’s good craic. After that, we walked through the park a bit and then went to watch Aoibheann’s younger brother, Aod, (pronounced Aid) play a rugby match. We stayed til halftime then went back into town for lunch. After lunch at an ‘American diner’- Johnny Rockets, we walked home and just chilled. Ashleigh and I attempted to do some homework while Aoibheann got ready for a charity dance she was attending that night. Aoibheann left for the dance, Ashleigh and I had another wonderful meal with the O’Connors and then we procrastinated homework and watched movies til we fell asleep. The next morning, I went to mass with Aoibheann and her family; it was a small church on the outskirts of town (right next to the rugby pitch we were at the day before for Aod’s match). The service was very different than my usual Lutheran service, but I enjoyed sitting, listening and learning from their service. After mass, we napped and then had a big brunch before taking their 6mo old golden cocker spaniel puppy for a walk in the park. Cú (the puppy) is an energetic little guy who loves to run around. After taking him for a walk, we came back to the house, packed up our stuff, had another meal and then caught the bus back to reality, I mean campus. Overall, it was a wonderful weekend and I loved learning more about Irish culture, food and sport and hanging out with my two amazing friends. It was just the relaxing weekend I needed before the hectic next couple of weeks filled with final projects and prepping for final exams.

Here’s a selfie from the top of Kilkenny tower:

As Erin ventured off to Kilkenny, me and some of the ISA kids journeyed on over to Dublin, the capital city. We got there around 11, checked into our hostel, dropped off our luggage, and walked over to Trinity College. Trinity College has beautiful, historic buildings, including a library that has a copy of every book printed in the U.K.! We explored the Book of Kells and the Old Library on campus. The Book of Kells is a manuscript of the four Gospels of the New Testament, written in Latin, and drawn/scripted with beautiful texts and tables. The Old Library is the oldest library in Ireland (ya don’t say?) and I couldn’t get enough of its authentic beauty. Once you walked into the library, it smelt heavenly (like books). I felt like Belle from Beauty and the Beast when the Beast shows her his library (sidenote: excited about the new movie coming out). After that, we got some lunch and then walked around Dublin, exploring a little bit of City Hall and taking in the big city feel. Next on the list was my personal favorite, the Guinness Storehouse. If you ever have the chance to go to the storehouse, do it, even if you don’t like beer. The storehouse is huge, covering seven floors, with the top being a panoramic view of the city. Plus, you get a free pint of Guinness on the top floor, so that’s a bonus. Definitely a highlight of the trip. After the tour, we got some supper at the Hard Rock Cafe; this was my first time eating at a Hard Rock, so that was pretty cool! Following a late supper, the group of us strolled back to the hostel and enjoyed a good night’s sleep!

Sunday was another adventurous day, as we took a bus to Malahide Castle and Gardens outside of Dublin. The oldest parts of the castle date back to the 12th century and has been owned by the family until recently. The castle had furniture and decor that made it feel like people were just living there; the tour guide did a wonderful job at giving the history of the castle, adding in the family stories, and making the castle come to life. The gardens were also a lovely addition to the castle, covering acres and acres of the area. From the castle, we continued on the bus to Howth, exploring the lovely coastal area around Dublin. Dublin has some enchanting mountains outside the city and nice beaches too, which I would have loved to climb, explore, and just simply soak up more Ireland in. We ate some fish and chips along the Howth pier, with seagulls and birds surrounding us (getting inches away from our food!). They had a nice little flea market set up, which was fun to walk around and look at all the homemade and hand-crafted things. I ended up buying a ring there, which I was pretty excited about since I had been looking around at other places in Ireland for a while, but not a lot of people have rings big enough for my fat fingers! From Howth, we took the bus back to Dublin and then hopped on another bus back to Limerick!

Dublin has so much to offer; numerous things to see and do! Good get-away weekend from all the projects, essays, and presentations that pile up and can get stressful!

That’s it for this week, lads. We’ve got lots of projects and presentations, as we mentioned, coming up, so if you’ve any ideas on what our next blog should be, please tell us! Have a great week everybody, and thank you for your continuous support, encouragement, and prayers while Crystal and I have been over here!

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!