Taming the Atlantic Ocean

I have now gone surfing twice with our group in the Atlantic Ocean with the company Surf Mayo.  They set us up with wet suits, shoes, and surf boards.  They gave a crash course on how to surf too.

They first told us to go out and just lay on the board and try to catch a wave and lean back once you had caught the wave.  The speed of the waves was very deceiving, they are a lot faster than you expect.  After we did that for a while they called us back into shore and gave us instructions on how to stand up.  They basically told us once we caught the wave to jump up into the middle of the board.  It sounded a lot easier than it was.

After about an hour of trying to stand up and being unsuccessful, I made a personal goal to just stand up and ride just one wave.  The next wave that I attempted to stand up on, I rode until the wave had passed.  I was the first to stand up out of the group.

Then others started to get a hang of it, and we started to ride the same waves in a line.  Sure we only riding in a straight line on somewhat small waves but it was a lot of fun.

It was also extremely hard work.  We never went in deep enough to where couldn't touch the bottom of the ocean, but the waves were big and would knock you back quite a ways.  It felt like you would walk five feet and then get pushed back 10 feet.  It was exhausting but well worth it.

After our time was up we all shared stories of waves kicking our butts and how much salt water we had swallowed.  Getting the wet suit off was a lot harder to get off than to get on, which is saying quite a lot.  We then jumped into our taxi and made our way home.  We all showered and we are all in bed by about 8 PM. The next day we all woke up battered and bruised but we all wanted to do it again.

Trip to the North

Last Saturday me and my group went up to Northern Ireland to a town named Derry or LondonDerry.  It was really cool to learn about all the history that has gone on in this town.  Many years didn't get the chance to visit Derry because of all of the riots and fighting that was going on there during The Troubles.  Today Derry is peaceful and is working towards on being less segregated.  Also many countries are coming to them on advice on peace and how to achieve it.

This is part of Derry that is still very protestant and mostly English.

You can still see some evidence of the IRA in parts of the city.

In the center of the city called the bog site, there are 12 murals that represent peace.  The bog site is where the worst of the violence occurred during the Troubles.  Our tour guide told us that the bus that we were on would have been flipped over and burned only 30 years ago if we were driving through the bog site.  Each mural shows a different image but all have the same message, peace.  It was really moving to see all these murals and hear of all the terrible things that went on in the bog site, but it was also great to see all the progress that Northern Ireland has made.

Our tour guide told us that they having tourists visit, and that it was our job to spread the word, that Northern Ireland is peaceful and safe now.  By spreading this word he said that it will give people in places like Ukraine and Venezuela hope of achieving peace.

Illness

It wouldn't be a trip if I didn't get sick or have something happen to me.  When I visited Mexico I got pretty bad food poisoning and when I was in England a couple years ago I got an infection.  So last Monday I had a sandwich for lunch and some frozen Salmon for dinner.  I woke up Tuesday not feeling great but I went to class.  Then after class took a long nap.  When I woke up that is when the fun started, I won't go into detail because it wouldn't be pleasant for you.  Lets just say it was nasty.

I skipped class Wednesday to try and recover and get ready for our trip up north on Thursday.  Wednesday was still pretty miserable and I just wanted to be home in my own bed and not do anything. 

Woke up Thursday still not feeling great and not looking forward to a lot time on a bus and sight seeing.  I held it together though and didn't lose my stomach or anything.

Friday, was a little better and I could feel myself getting better and was more ready to enjoy our trip to Northern Ireland.

Saturday, was a great day, woke up feeling great and ready to take on the day.  It was a perfect day and was a very interesting day.  We went to a town named Derry, which is where Bloody Sunday occurred.  Our tour guide said we wouldn't have been able to be there 30 years ago during The Troubles in Ireland.  Derry, is still very much divided between Catholics and Protestants but the fighting has stopped and are peaceful these days. 

Overall I survived and learned many things about being sick by myself over in a foreign country about 3,000 miles away from home.

Bingo

Last Sunday our Professor offered to buy us all Bingo boards at the city hall and participate in weekly bingo.  We got there and the room was packed with locals and we got our bingo board, it looked nothing like our Bingo boards in the states.  Bingo is not spelt on the top of board instead there are nine columns and three rows with numbers in some of the spaces.  We were lost on the rules of the game for a while until some of our group went and sat next to some older women who looked like they were Bingo veterans.  They gave us the low down. 

The game itself is pretty much the same as back in the states, first one to get a row, four corners, and a blackout.  In the regular games the row and four corners are worth 10 Euro and the blackout is worth 30 Euro.  However there was a jackpot game board and the jackpot was worth 460 Euro.  That is a life changing amount of money for us students studying abroad over here.  None of us won the jackpot which was probably a good thing, so the locals wouldn't think that we were stealing there money.  None of us won the jackpot but a couple of us won other games.

The packet of game boards that we got held about 8 games worth of Bingo in it.   Out of the 15 of us playing for the first time 2 of us won a game.  One girl won a row and had to split the winnings between another person.  We all got close to winning some of the games, and we never realized how fun Bingo was.  You could tell who was close to Bingo because they would become really tense. 

I was actually the other person to win Bingo.  I won the last game of four corners that was played.  I really hadn't come close to winning at all, but when 3 of the first 4 numbers called were in my corners I started to think I had a chance to win.  By some miracle the next number was in my last corner so I called out "check" (they don't say Bingo when they get a bingo).  When she was checking the numbers I hoped that I didn't screw up one of the numbers but I didn't.  I won 10 Euro!!  Me and friend then went to the pub and celebrated a little with the winnings.  Safe to say the winnings didn't last long.

Climbing Craugh Patrick

After school on Tuesday, my parents and my friend’s parents who were, by chance staying at the same B&B, and planning on climbing a mountain.  Then after class, the plans came through, it was a beautiful day, it was 60 degrees Fahrenheit.  It was clear with a couple big puffy white clouds in the sky giving the some shade from the sunlight.

So class finished on Tuesday and we went back to our cottages and ate a quick, filling lunch.  Then both of our parents came to pick us up and I offered the idea of climbing a mountain to each of my roommates, but one only took up the offer.  So we all piled into the car and drove the 10 miles to the base of mountain.

There was a little shop that I had heard of at the base of the mountain that offered walking sticks out for rental for only a 1.50 Euro so we each got a walking stick.

We had also heard that the story of Croagh Patrick was to find a rough stone at the bottom of the mountain and carry it up the mountain, and once you got to the top you replaced it with a smooth stone.  You did this because the rough stone that you carried up was something that you wanted to change about yourself, and the smooth stone represented the thing about yourself that you were going to change.  So we all did this and we all shared what we going to change about ourselves.

We started the climb to the top of the mountain, the tour book that my parents had bought told us that it was going to take a total of 5 hours to climb up the mountain and climb down the mountain. 

We all started to climb the mountain at our own pace.  The first third of the mountain was the toughest on the lungs even though it wasn’t the steepest.  Once we got past the first third of the mountain, the second third was pretty flat but the whole time you were staring at the steepest and most difficult part of the climb.  The last third was very steep and was covered in loose rock.

Once we got to the top it was incredibly windy and there was a little sanctuary built at the summit of the mountain.  So we walked over to side of the sanctuary that was the least windy and took a little break and waited for the others to arrive at the summit.  After a while we noticed that a sheep made it to the top of the mountain and was begging for food from everyone that was at the top.  It was quite funny to watch the sheep go from person to person looking for food. 

The view from the top was truly breathtaking; you could see everything for about 20 miles.  We could see our local town of Louisburgh and the local beach.  You could also see Westport which is about a 20 minute drive from Louisburgh.  We could also see some forests that we never knew existed next to some lakes that we had never seen before.  On our way up the mountain Clew bay was at low tide (which we were used to seeing) but on our way down we saw it at high tide which we had never seen before.  

The rest of group made it to the top after about 20 minutes of waiting and we then commenced to take numerous pictures of the sanctuary and the group.  With the wind blowing so hard the summit was actually quite cold so this was short lived and we all then decided to start the descent down the mountain.

Like the climb up, the first part of descent was the hardest part because it was so steep and the rock was all really loose.  The walking sticks were really helpful during this part.  Nobody fell, but my mom who slipped and rolled twice.  She hit her head and it started to bleed.  Which was really too bad, but it didn’t damper her spirits.  Like the journey up, we all went down the mountain at our own pace.

The first part going down was the scariest, it felt as if you were to fall you were going to fall off a cliff.  After you made it down the steep part of the mountain it was pretty much smooth sailing.  It was very relaxed but it was exhausting mentally and physically.  As soon as you made it down all you wanted to do was get off your feet and eat a big dinner and possibly have drink.  It was a very well deserved drink.

Finally we all made it back to the base of Craugh Patrick and we all celebrated.  My family and my roommate went out to eat at a local pub.  We had a very well deserved meal and pint.  The climb was exhausting but well worth the effort, it was a view that I will never forget and if I do I have pictures that will remind me of its magnificent’s.

The Grimm's Take on Ireland

It was my spring break after the Dublin trip and I was back in Louisburgh for Monday and Tuesday and was supposed to meet my parents and sister back up in Dublin on Wednesday.

I had to take the train back up to Dublin.  I boarded the train at 7:15.  It was a pretty new and modern train.  I bought my ticket online and when I boarded the train it had my name above the seat I was assigned so I felt pretty fancy.  The biggest struggle of the train ride was where the bathroom was.  I didn't have to use the bathroom for the first 2 hours when the train was pretty empty but with about an hour left I really had to use it but I was boxed in and the lady sitting next to me looked like she was sleeping.  So I was stuck holding it.

When the train arrived in Hueston station in Dublin I had planned out where I had to walk.  The first goal was to find a bathroom and either I was blind or Hueston station didn't have any bathrooms.  And my walk to meet my parents would take about an hour and I was about to burst.  So I started to walk and couldn't find the street I was looking for so I jumped into a cab.  I told him to get Waterloo road as fast as possible.  Waterloo road was where I was supposed to meet my parents.  Then I was making small talk with the cab driver and he actually knew the owners of the market in Louisburgh and told me tell them "Hi" from Denise from Dublin.  I guess everyone in Ireland knows everybody, its a small world.

So I finally made it Waterloo road and started to walk towards the B&B that we were staying at when my mom spotted me from with in a Starbucks and stopped me.  I didn't even give her a hug, I ran inside, dropped my bag off and sprinted into the bathroom.  I walked out and then hugged my family.  My mom said it look like I was in pain when she ran out to stop me.

They were all really jet lagged and I tried my best to find things in Dublin to do, to try and keep them awake.  We went to a museum for awhile and after about an hour, they said they couldn't even read the little descriptions below the objects.  We then stopped for some more coffee and decided to just walk around Dublin.  They finally said they were really tired at about 4:30 and we headed back to the B&B and they were all asleep by about 6 PM.

The next day we did a lot, we went to a church, the book of Kells, and got a great dinner in Temple Bar.  It was great to see my family and they will be here till Wednesday, I'm really excited.

Big Day in Dublin

I am going to try and describe this day with as much detail that I can without it being 5 pages long...

Saturday, March 22, 2014

Started out with a very rude smacking of the alarm clock at 7:30 and waking up the rest of the roommates to go down for breakfast in the hostel we were staying at.  We had to wait in line for our beautifully delicious full Irish breakfast.  We ate that quickly and then went back up to shower and change.  After we met our group out in front of the hostel, we made our way to Trinity College to see the book of Kells and the Long Room.  The long room is a big library that feels like the library from Harry Potter and is filled with first edition books.  For example they have the first edition of Gulliver's Travels by Johnathan Swift and have many first editions of Atlases that somewhat have the correct shape of countries and continents.  We then left the College at about 11:00 AM.

Then I had a choice to either go to the Guinness factory or go to the National Museum of Architecture.  I actually chose to go National Museum of Architecture, not because I don't like Guinness (I love it!) but because the National Museum was free.  I am very glad I chose the museum because they had an exhibit about the Bog bodies that were found in Ireland.  These bodies were preserved unbelievably well in the bogs.  It has something to do with the acidity of the bogs that keeps the bodies so well preserved.  There were four bodies on display and each had a little description on how they died and how and where they were found.  Some of the bodies still had facial hair, finger nails, and almost full heads of hair.  These people were sacrificed in around 2000-1000 B.C and still weren't bald.  Our group of about 8 students left the Museum at about 12:45 to get some lunch. 

We stopped and had a quick bite to eat at "Mama's Revenge" which was actually a burrito place.  I ate a really spicy quesadilla.  We then walked a couple blocks and got on the bus, full of the rest of the drunk students that decided to go to the Guinness factory at about 1:30 PM.  It was a very entertaining and fun bus ride.

Then half of our group got dropped off at Kilmainham jail, and the rest of the group and I got dropped off at the National Museum- Collins Barracks.  There we saw many exhibits about the Easter Rising in Ireland.  Also many other exhibits about other battles that Ireland fought in dating way back, to before 1850.  They had many uniforms and the weapons that were used in the many battles including the battle of the Boyne and WWII.  From the outside it looked like a small museum but once we got in we realized that it was huge and had to try and soak as much information in as possible, in the hour that we had there.  We then left the museum and swapped places with other group at about 3:30.

We got to Kilmainham jail and had to wait in line for a tour, we got super lucky and we were in the second to last tour of the day.  The jail was really old and somewhat creepy like many old jails.  We learned a lot from our tour guide; for example the jail held women, children and men in it at one time.  Also that the youngest person in the prison was of the age of 5 and was put in there for 2 months when he was caught trying to steal a bronze ring during the great potato famine.  Also the main corridor or holding area has been used in many movies and music videos.  It has been used in the Italian Job, the Shawshank Redemption , and many other movies.  The main corridor has been used in many music videos and for concerts because the acoustics in it are unbelievably good.  The acoustics were made to be so great so that guards could even hear the prisoners whisper from across the giant room.  Our tour finished at about half 5.  That's the Irish way of saying 5:30.

The rest of the group got back on the bus and drove off to pick up the people back at the museum.  Three others and I decided it would be a fun idea to go bouldering.  We were going to go bouldering at a place named Gravity.  We finally made Gravity at about 6:30.  We filled out paperwork and got our climbing shoes and were free to climb the wall.  The walls were no bigger than 25 ft and you didn't have a rope tied to you so you had to climb up and then climb back down.  There were different color routes that you could choose from and each color had a different difficulty.  It was a blast.  All four of us could feel our arm muscles tighten up and our hands get ripped apart from climbing the wall.  We were all exhausted and starving by the time 7:45 rolled around.

We left Gravity and our first goal was to find food as quick as possible on our journey home.  I call it a journey because Google maps told us that we were 5.4 km away and it would take us an hour and 6 minutes to walk back to our hostel.  We quickly found a fast food place that I do not recall the name of, all we cared about was that it had food.  We all ordered our food and waited about 5 minutes for it.  Once we received our food we walked out the door and started to devour the food.  I don't think the food made it any farther than 4 blocks.  We were all satisfied but all we wanted to do was relax and put our feet up, which was a problem because we still had a long way back to the hostel.  We started to speed walk and I think we would have given the Olympic Speed walking team a run for their money.  We saw a lot of Dublin that we wouldn't have seen.  We made it back to our hostel in one hour exactly.  We were all proud that we were 6 minutes faster than the Google maps time and it took each of us about 6 minutes to fall asleep after we made it up to our beds.

It was quite the day jam packed full of fun and interesting experiences and I can honestly say I would do them all again!