Week Two and Three

The rest of last week was pretty relaxed, involving mostly class, a trip to Galway and homework.


Thursday we had our first night in the pub at the hotel as a group! Which was really fun because it gave us a chance to hang out as group and not have 28 of us walk into a pub and be looked at like the Americans.


Friday morning we left for our first excursion to Clifden. On our way we stopped at a few places, first we stopped at a Mamaen, which was a smaller mountain with a chapel on it. We hiked around there for awhile and headed back on the bus for a few other stops and ended in Clifden, where we spent the night. There we went to a poetry reading by Seamus Heaney, which was a once in a lifetime experience to see such a well-known poet first hand. The rest of the night we went to a few pubs that had live music. The next morning some of us went to the Connemara National Park, which was gorgeous and a beautiful way to start the day. On our way home, stopped at our first castle. Aughnanure Castle was not what I was expecting because it was mostly detoyed and rather small.It was still interesting to learn who lived in these places and also how they functioned and were built.

Sunday morning most of our group went to Galway for mass and shopping. After mass at the cathedral, I ran a few errands and got some groceries.



Monday September 21-Saturday September 26



The beginning of the week was as usually with class for 6 hours on Monday. On Tuesday, a small group of us had heard of this amazing house that was in Spiddal and went to check it out. We had to jump the fence in order to see the property but it was definitely worth it. Inside was what seemed like a magical forest and path leading up to the house.

Wednesday, we went into Galway for a few hours after class and spent the night in the pub at the Hotel again!



Thursday was the 250th year celebration of Arthur Guinness! So class was cancelled for the day! We headed in to Galway in the afternoon to begin our celebration at 5:30 there was a giant toast to Arthur and it felt almost like new years here! Galway was a lot of fun that night as we ventured to a variety of pubs and a club!



Friday morning we left for the weekend in Co. Mayo. Our first stop was at the Ballintubber Abbey, this abbey is the only church in Ireland that was founded by a king that is still in use. We heard a variety of stories and this is also where the pilgrimage for Croagh Patrick started. Pierce Brosnan was also married here. That day we also went to Foxford Wollen Mills where we saw the production of scarves, blankets, etc....after that we made one last stop at the Hennigan's Heritage Center where we saw how life was like living in Ireland during the time of the famine and living a small cottage. We also had some wonderful tea and scones here! After that we went our hostel, which was super nice. It was a house that we had all to ourselves. It was a beautiful old house with stained glass windows! That night it was culture night in Westport, so we went to an art gallery that was having a workshop. Here we looked at art, and got to make our own, all while enjoying a nice glass of red wine. We checked out a pub next door for a little while and listened to live music but called it an early night to prepare ourselves for the climb the next morning.

Saturday September 26
We woke up early this morning and enjoyed a lovely breakfast of homemade brown bread and coffee, provided to us by our hostel and headed for Croagh Patrick! It was supposed to take a few hours to get up the mountain and most of us were up for the challenge. A few of the guys climbed it barefoot, because of the spiritual tradition. I kept my shoes on stayed with my friend Sam. We took our time up the mountain and took many pictures. It was beautiful and seemed surreal at times. It was really cool to think about the fact that I was climbing the same mountain that St. Patrick did so many years ago. As we got higher the fog got much thicker and it became much much colder. The last half hour of the hike, was extremely steep, wet and cold. We reached the top in about an hour and twenty minutes and sadly couldn't see much and it felt like we were on another planet. Looking over the side you would see rocks and then it would disappear into a grey fog after about one hundred yards. On the top there was a white chapel that you could not get into and a marked off place for St. Patrick's bed. On top we waited for the rest of the group to finish and said a prayer. Since we couldn't see a whole lot and it was freezing we headed back down. The way down was very slippery and difficult because it had gotten damper and made the rocks slippery and difficult to climb down. When we reached the point where the sun was shining again, I took my time on the rest of the mountain and enjoying the peace and beauty that it held. There was also a stream that rushed down the mountain, which a few of us drank out of. Once we reached the bottom, we went back to Westport for a few hours and headed back to the Lodge. Saturday night we took it easy, and were very tired from the hike. We did figure out what we are doing for our ten day break in October. A group of 8 of us are going on a cruise to Barcelona, the south of France and Italy! So we booked that, and I am super excited!

Sunday was the Gaelic Football Nationals and Spiddal was in it, I know I've mentioned it before but this is town that we live in. It was an interesting experiencing and fun to see a new game, it is a combination of soccer, rugby, and basketball. It was also a good filler for Johnnie Football! It was close game near the end, but Spiddal ended up winning! After that we went to Galway for groceries and on our way home there were fires and people cheering on the side of the road in celebration to the win! We decided that it would be a fun night to go into Spiddal and catch some of the excitement. About 7 of us went in and hung out with a few of the players from the winning team.

This week has been pretty usual so far just having class and hanging out, but we leave for Co. Kerry tomorrow until Sunday where we are doing a Photography workshop which I am really excited about!