Weekend Trip 1:
Gaeltachts are sections of the country, mostly in the West of Ireland, where the population speaks entirely in Irish. The schools are in Irish, the shops, and in everyday conversation the people speak Irish. My into to Irish course arranged a visit (for only 30 euro!) for the weekend. In typical Irish fashion though, I had no idea when I got on the bus where the heck we were going, other than to a Gaeltacht. It turned out to be in the Kerry area, in a place called Dingle which I've heard a lot of natives say is one of the top places to visit. So I killed two birds with one stone, yay!
I have to say, the bus ride was like one of the worst experiences ever. Road-creating skills are like from the 6th century, and I swear that bus had no shock absorbers whatsoever. Eventually, we got there all in one piece tho. UCC has a house/hotel type style accommodation though, so it was like living in a very nice commune. We all had to pitch in and help cook and clean, so I even extended my limited culinary skillz! And I am now an expert at peeling apples and potatoes, after having to do enough for 16 people.
Some of the weekend highlights included: listening to a local newscaster who came to talk to us about various places around the area and the legends behind their names and about his work for the Irish station TG4, the music festival going on which meant live music like 24/7, trying "whiskey marmalade" on toast, learning to add milk to tea, going to a Catholic service at the local church (entirely in Irish), walking along the beach, hiking, and my first Guinness! A very old Irish man bought my friend Johanna and I each Guinness's and told us about our Irish names! All in all, it was very fun!
SHEEP! All the sheep babies were so cute!
Amie, Blake, Johanna (GA) and I on the coast!
Action shot of an adorable Irish girl running on the beach.
Amie, Blake, Johanna (GA) and I on the coast!
Action shot of an adorable Irish girl running on the beach.
GA, Amie, and I at the pub.Weekend Trip 2:
This past weekend, I went on the "Heritage Festival" Ring of Kerry trip. We stayed in Cahersiveen, whith is very close to the Dingle peninsula also, so I felt all cool and familiar with the area. There was delicious, gourmet food and a LOT of exercise walking and hiking and dancing and whatnot. Our guide, one of the directors of the Irish department, lived in the area so we got special treatment and went to a lot of places that tourists wouldn't normally go to, like sacred wells and ruined castles! The owner of the hotel was the brother of Margaret's, and when we were driving through these rural areas she pointed out her house and her parent's and aunts and generally knew who everyone in the area was. We also visited the Skellig museum, which is this really remote islands (which aren't open until May) where reclusive monks decided to build remote monasteries at the edge of the world on top of the mountains. Very cool.
Probably my favorite parts were the Ceili dancing, which is like Irish line dancing that I absolutely HAVE to do again b/c it was so fun!! hiking up to ancient circular stone forts in the middle of the countryside, and stopping to visit this ruined abbey which you can only get to at low tide- it just exuded this aura of mystery and peace all at once. My camera battery had run out by that point, so I'm relying on other people to steal pictures...
At the ocean.
A sacred well where people come on certain days to say prayers and do "rounds" hoping for cures for backaches or blindness or other problems
Standing on the edge of a stone fort- this one was built by a rich farmer. The castle in the distance was sacked by Cornwall.
A beautiful view!
Four of us girls sitting on a stone fort. The steps were all but invisible!
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