Ceol agus craic i nGaillivh

So after this weekend, I have officially decided that my friends and I have this incredible gift of attracting really odd situations. 

But before I dive into that discussion, I hope you all had a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving!! I had the privilege of spending Thanksgiving with some dear friends in Galway. We figured fish and chips and a pint at the pub would be a good way to spend the holiday while in Ireland :-)

Galway was a wonderful city! It had the bustling feel of Dublin, but with a small-town, relaxed edge. We spent most of our time wandering and shopping, but we also managed to toss in a visit to the craft village in An Spideal, a smaller town in the Gaeltacht. We met a friend of Grainne who owns a T-shirt printing shop and also got to chat with a jeweler- I think we were the only tourists to visit that day :-) We also got to check out the Saturday morning market in town which was a fun experience as well. While the weather may not be ideal, I am loving traveling through Ireland this time of year- since there aren't many tourists, we've had some great opportunities to chat with locals!

So back to my aforementioned decision. I feel like I come back from weekend trips with some of the randomest stories- most of which happen to occur in pubs:

Case #1: On Thursday night we decided to check out a couple of pubs in town, in search of music sessions mostly, and ended up spending most of the evening in a quieter, relaxed place with some good musicians. There was a group of older guys at the table next to us, and one of them kept giving us side-glances. I made the mistake of yawning loudly, which gave him an excuse to start a conversation with us, "Was that a yawn I just heard?" After a bit of chatting, our new friend Oliver handed me a cell  phone and told me to say "hello" to a friend. After a bit of protest I said "hi" and the person on the other end mumbled a bunch of stuff I couldn't understand. I passed the phone back over to Oliver and his son grabbed the phone and ran outside with an annoyed "That was my wife!!" So apparently Oliver used me to teach his son to never lie to his wife about his whereabouts; he had to explain why an American girl was using his phone while he was supposed to be at home watching TV- oh joy. After some stories and Oliver sneaking pictures of me with his phone, we decided it was a good time to take our leave...

Case #2: The next night, we ended up running into our friends from Cork. It was so fun to see them and it made the island of Ireland feel a bit smaller :-) After running in and out of pubs for a bit, we decided to head back to the pub where we met Oliver the night before- we figured he wouldn't be in the same place twice. However, guess who was sitting at the bar when we walked in! I darted past him hoping he wouldn't recognize us- I guess Oliver had had more to drink than I realized the night before since he didn't give us a second glance :-) I had a blast with my friends at the bar that night- the craic and music was great! The band sang a lot of traditional songs and threw in a couple of unaccompanied songs as well as an amazing rendition of "Danny Boy." 

After a few hours another musician came in, armed with an electric guitar and a variety of songs. More and more people streamed into the pub and a pretty drunk guy ended up next to Mary Claire and I. He was really into the music and kept dancing around and asking us to dance with him using the line, "You'll win 'em all!!" Oh dear. He was super nice, but I don't think he realized how awkward it is to turn to a girl and shout, "Abra cadabra, I'm gonna grab ya!" I think that was when we decided to look for another pub :-)

The city was mad busy with people everywhere and after a quick walk-about we decided to head back to the hostel. 

Case #3: That night I had this really weird dream where people were running around and talking super loudly; but then one of the guys in my dream said, "We don't want them all to wake up to two half-naked guys sleeping together!" followed by Mary-Claire's voice explaining that all of the beds in our hostel room were full. What?! I turned over and opened my eyes to two guys talking to Mary-Claire in the top bunk of the bed opposite me and glanced at my watch- 5:30am. I blinked a bit and then one of the guys turned towards me and told his friend, "Another one's awake!" By then, my friends were all sitting up in bed and chatting with these two confused Irish guys named Davey and Trevor. They walked over towards my bed, introduced themselves, and Davey said, "You're small! I'll share with you!" and proceeded to climb into bed with me. Well that definitely woke me up!- I sprawled out and told him, "I'm small but I take up a lot of room!" So instead Davey found my hairbrush and started brushing my hair while Trevor started scratching my head like a dog- like I said, random! It turns out that the hostel had double-bunked our room and there weren't enough beds for the guys. Lucky for us they were super nice guys and not some creepers barging into our room (thank you Lord)! Davey and Trevor decided to hang around and chat for a bit and Trevor ended up climbing into my bed to talk about cars and ask whether I would shoot him since I'm from Montana. So while we were talking, Davey grabbed one of Lacey's books on peace and conflict studies and asked, "Is this your diary?" He opened the book up and "read" "Dear Diary, today I met two hunky, sexy Irish boys named Davey and Trevor..." At around 6 they left to find another room after shaking our hands and saying how nice it was to meet us. After they left, we all kind of looked around at each other and laughed ourselves back to sleep.

Like I said, I feel like these kinds of situations just follow us wherever we go! But I'm loving being able to tell these odd stories and have definitely been using them as shock factors in emails to loved ones: "Hi Mom! Galway was great! I have a story for you that ends with an Irish boy in my bed. Love, Sara." 

Anyways, I just wanted to relay a weekend full of friends, music, and fun and wish you all a wonderful day full of laughter :-)

Slainte/Cheers!!

942.7 Miles.

Question: What do you get when you combine 5 friends, a rental car, and 5 days in Ireland? 

Answer: A freaking amazing time!!!

This past week Lacey, Luisa, Hannah, Mary-Claire, and I rented a car and mapped out a route through the Republic of Ireland. Lacey was our driver since she was the only one with a successful history of stick-shift driving. I went with her and Hannah to pick-up the car and we decided to do a few loops around the airport parking lot before hitting the road- definitely a good choice since we all, back-seat drivers included, had quite a time adjusting to driving on the other side of the road. 

We left Derry after classes on Tuesday evening and stopped at a hostel in Galway for the night. Since we got there so late in the evening we didn't get a chance to experience the city but I am definitely planning on returning before I head back home. The hostel in Galway was great and we met a girl from Washington state who decided to travel through Ireland after spending a few months in Belgium.

Wednesday morning led us to Killarney where we stayed in a thatched cottage (!!!!) for 2 nights. We were definitely excited to find that the cottage had 6 beds, a fireplace, and a bathtub- AND it was nearly the same price as staying in a hostel! It was such a wonderful break from life in the student village and a great time getting to know one another better- I had a few close calls with death by laughter :-)

That evening we made our way to Killarney National Park to visit the Muckross House. It was built in 1843 and our tour of it taught us about living in the 19th century, both as wealthy landowners and as servants. We spent most of our time in the garden which was beautiful- I doubt we even covered half of it during our time there! It was a great time to run around and stretch our legs after being in the car so long. Unfortunately for us, the lush green lawn we decided to run across ended up being a semi-bog :-) 

On Thursday we drove through Kenmare and visited a few of the shops there before embarking on the drive through the Ring of Kerry. Kenmare was a cute town with brightly colored shops and lots of wool sweaters, scarves, and mittens for sale.

The drive through the Ring of Kerry was beautiful and allowed us to experience quite the variety of scenery- open fields, forests, lakes, hills, and even the ocean :-) We stopped every few miles or so to take pictures and pretty soon Luisa had us on timed stops- 2 minutes each :-) One of the stops we made was at a stone fort known as the Staigue fort. The fort itself was built without mortar- the walls are made up of flat rocks piled on top of one another. Temporary housing was constructed within the wall for the chieftain and his family, servants, and guards. There were stairs that crisscrossed the inside of the walls which allowed for easy access to the top of the wall- we definitely took advantage of that and got an amazing view of the hillside.

After climbing around a bit we got back in the car and drove the rest of the Ring. The Ring of Kerry snakes through a few small towns in the Gaeltacht so it was fun to stop and hear people speaking Irish and attempt to pick out the few words and phrases I know from class- and realize how badly I butcher the language with my American accent :-)

The following day, Friday, we drove down towards Cork with a side-trip to the Blarney Castle. I got to kiss the Blarney Stone- it was definitely quite an experience! Basically, you climb to the top of the castle, lay down on the ground, and this older gentleman pushes you off the side as you hang onto a metal bar and bend over backwards to kiss a wall. I'm still waiting for this gift of eloquence to kick in :-)

After the castle we drove down to Cork and stayed in a hostel in town. We shared a room with Emily, a girl from Brighton, England. She ended up showing us around Cork and went out with us for dinner and drinks- it was so fun to hang out with her! I'm definitely realizing how much I am going to miss pub culture when I go home- I love how easy it is to fall into conversation with random people. I met a guy from Mission Viejo, CA (small world!) whose daughter is studying at the University in Cork. We also ended up talking with a group of American guys who are studying in Galway and were staying in Cork for the weekend. It was a time of good craic and it was fun to compare our different experiences in Northern Ireland and in the Republic.

On Saturday we said "goodbye" to Emily and drove to the Waterford Crystal Factory. Unfortunately they don't give any tours of the factory on weekends, but it was still neat to see some of their work on display and in the gift shop. There were instruments, a football helmet, and even a grandfather clock all made of crystal! In one room I found a champagne glass taller than me- which I guess isn't saying too much :-) 

After Waterford we drove towards Wexford and stopped at Hook Lighthouse- the oldest functioning lighthouse in the world! It was built in the 12th century and for a time was kept by monks living in a nearby monastery. Before the lighthouse was constructed there were lots of shipwrecks- our guide told us that the trade route nearby was pretty dangerous- so the monks kept fires going in order to warn sailors of the rocky coastline. The timing of our trip to the lighthouse was perfect (thanks Lord!) since we got to watch the sun set from the top and the lighthouse beacon shine as we drove towards our hostel in Tramore. 

Our final day, Sunday, included a trip to the Rock of Cashel and a beautiful Sunday drive back to Derry. The Rock of Cashel was, from 300-1100 AD, the site of the thrones of the ancient kings of Munster. It is also where St. Patrick baptized King Aengus in 450ish AD. The story goes that St. Patrick accidentally stabbed the King's foot with his crosier staff during his baptism and the King held his tongue thinking it was part of the painful process of becoming a Christian. 

After wandering through the chapel, cathedral, and the graveyard we hopped back in the car and drove to Derry. While it was definitely a good chunk of mileage it was a beautiful day and a great time of conversation, laughter, and singing songs we learned along the way- many of which should probably not be sung in Northern Ireland... 

While this is definitely the Reader's Digest version of our road trip through the Republic of Ireland I hope it gives you a rough idea of what we saw and where we went :-) This was an amazing trip- I got to see so much more of the island of Ireland, meet some fun people, and grow closer to my friends from uni. While I may never be able to eat a peanut-butter and jam sandwich again, I was so blessed by a wonderful time with wonderful friends!

Dublin and Foxes and Wicklow oh my!

Hello there!! I hope all is well with you!

These last two weeks have been a blast and I feel like I have quite a bit to write about. Now that I have a camera (thanks a mill Dad!!) I can include photos in this and future posts :-) Yay!

So back to the first week of November....

That Monday Sue, my study abroad coordinator, came to Derry for a quick visit- it was so great to see her! We went to lunch with 2 other girls from Whitworth who are also here for the semester and talked about our experiences here thus far. I am glad we got to spend an hour or 2 together and it was fun to hear that Graeme is considering studying abroad in Japan next fall. Maybe he'll let me come and visit him? :-)

On Tuesday after class I booked it to the train station to meet up with my Dad. He decided to stop by on his way home from Russia and I am so glad he did, it was so great to see him! That afternoon we walked the city walls and visited the Free Derry Museum. It was cool to show my Dad where I am studying and take him to a few of my favorite places in town; showing him around helped me realize how much more at home I am feeling in the city of Derry.

That night we went to Peadar O'Donnells with some friends from uni which was awesome! There was a great band playing that night and we ended up sticking around until almost 1 AM. I heard the song "The Ballad of Joe McDonnell" for the first time that night which ended up being a really moving experience. It is about the IRA Hunger Strike that took place in 1981 and it was amazing to see how emotional people in the pub were when they started playing it. It got super quiet and so many people started singing along. It's been such a challenging but amazing experience to learn about the Troubles and see how it has impacted the people I am living in community with here- but I definitely have so much more to learn.

After classes we took the bus down to Dublin and stayed in a hotel right on O'Connell street- one of the busiest streets in Dublin which was a wonderful place to stay since it seemed like there was always something going on. Dublin was a great city to hang out in; it's a pretty international city so I heard quite the variety of accents and languages while walking around. We did a lot of wandering up and down the streets and got to see a few of the sights.

While in Dublin we saw the Book of Kells, the Guinness Storehouse, the National College of Art and Design, and a Fleet Foxes concert- we stood right in front of the stage!! I am so glad we got to hang out in Dublin together and it was definitely a trip I'll never forget :-)

Dad left Dublin on Sunday morning so I wandered around the city for a while before meeting up with some friends who came to Dublin from Derry. It was fun to walk around and take pictures- it was so quiet in the morning! Quite different from the hustle and bustle of the city we experienced during the day.

 

After meeting up with Luisa, Lacey, and Hannah we took a tour bus down and around Wicklow National Park which was a blast! It's where they filmed P.S. I Love You, one of my favorite movies, so it was neat to see the scenery in person :-) The park was amazing- we drove through lots of fields of heather and past the Wicklow mountains. It was freezing outside so our guide drove us to different view points so we could stop and take some pictures and jump back on the bus.

While it may have been warmer to travel through the park in the summer, the fall colors of the changing leaves were definitely worth it- it was beautiful! On our tour we also got to see the neighborhood where Bono lives which was pretty cool. Our guide drove us past Guinness lake as well- sand was imported and placed at the top of the lake so that it looks like the head of a beer.

Our bus tour ended at a monastery in Glendalough which was a really cool site to have a walk around. It was built in the 6th century- it still amazes me how old things are here! I'm realizing how much I love visiting sites connected with early Christian history and learning about how early Christians connected with the people in Ireland and how monasteries functioned within their communities.

The monastery was beautiful in spite of the pouring rain and we got to walk along some of the trails behind it which led to some gorgeous views of the surrounding lakes. But by the time we made it back to the bus we were totally soaked! I quickly learned that my North Face coat isn't as waterproof as I was once led to believe :-) Our bus driver offered to drop us off at the bus station on the way back into Dublin which was wonderful! That way we didn't have to walk through the pouring rain to the station and were able to catch an early bus to Derry.

It was such a blessing to have some time out in the park in the fresh air- it was a welcome break from the concrete and cigarette smoke of city life :-)

Sunday in Belfast

Our Sunday in Belfast was really sobering. Luisa and I learned that there was going to be a homecoming parade for the British soldiers in Belfast as well as a protest organized by Sinn Fein against the soldiers. We decided to go and as we were driving into Belfast we wondered whether it was a good idea to go to the march; there were armed police everywhere and they were searching cars before allowing people into the city- something I'd never seen before! We fought our way through the crowds and ended up in the middle of a group of extremely vocal and politically charged young men- they swarmed the sidewalk around us and filled the scaffolding above us, many armed with British flags. The street was full of people and the BBC estimated that 30,000 people were in the city for the parade and protest. It turns out the Sinn Fein protestors gathered right across the street from us and were surrounded by police with bullet-proof shields and helmets with face masks. As soon as the British supporters around us saw the protestors they threw their middle fingers up in the air and swore at them. They kept calling them f%$*ing gypsies, scum, and kept singing the song "Go home scum, the famine's over...". The blatant hatred made my stomach churn. Luisa and I made sure to stay together and at one point we thought we heard a gun shot which, praise the Lord!, ended up being a firework. As soon as it went off a bunch of guys jumped off of the scaffolding and started running, as did a few people in the crowd, so we took off towards the next street over. After discovering it wasn't a gunshot we wandered back and this time hung out a bit farther away from the crowd. I kept looking back at the corner we were previously standing on and it looked like something out of a history book- it all felt so surreal, I guess because I've only read about the Troubles in books and haven't actually experienced much of the aftermath. Luckily the soldiers made it down the street safely and were definitely appreciated by the majority British-supporters there. Afterwards though people started throwing fireworks and bottles at the Sinn Fein protestors so we decided it was fine time to head out.
I read some BBC articles and no one got hurt which I was glad to hear! Reporters were saying that this served as a test to see how the peace process is faring in Belfast and Northern Ireland. While it is definitely a lot better than it was during the Troubles, I think that they still have quite a ways to go. It was amazing though- at one point while the British supporters were yelling at the protestors (sorry if I sound rather one-sided, I didn't hear what was being said on the other side of the street; although I do know that the police kept a more vocal Republican group of protestors away from the march) an older man walked down the middle of the road with a sign that read, "Jesus says to love your neighbor as yourself." It was amazing to be reminded of Jesus during such a time.
I am really glad that I went; it really got the wheels in my head turning and helped me to realize how much in prayer I need to be for the people here; especially with such a hurting past in need of healing. I am so grateful that nothing worse happened beyond angry words.