Ireland: A Proper Update

Hello Again. Now that I have settled back in and have a bit more time, I thought I would give you a more typical and proper update on my Ireland trip and hopefully also some other goings on. I had a hard time narrowing down pictures for this post, so you may be slightly bombarded by Ireland images, but hopefully you enjoy them. 

In the first picture: Look at how lovely and warm it was in Ireland. Actually we did have lovely weather in Ireland, but this first picture is in Malaga. Our flight left from the Malaga airport and we decided to catch an earlier train to Malaga so that we could explore the city a bit. It was a great decision. We walked around quite a bit through lovely streets, went to Picasso's childhood home, and hiked up through a park in the middle of the city which is really a mountain in the middle of the city. What a beautiful view of the Sea and city. And I think we might have seen Africa from up there, but that could be wishful thinking. 

After exploring it was back to the train station and off to the airport. Side-note: European cities are way ahead of US cities when it comes to transportation to airports. They make it so easy. In Malaga we had two options. One a bus that was taking forever to arrive, or a train which was actually less expensive than the bus and shuttled straight to the airport. When we were leaving Dublin we were able to take a shuttle bus from inside the city straight out to the airport. So easy! Way better than taking three different subways from JFK to Grand Central. Thumbs up to Europe on this one. Also, in most of the cities I have been to the train station and bus station are super close to each-other if not side by side. Once again, just logical and easier. 

So since our transportation was so easy, we got to the airport excessively early and had quite a bit of time to kill before our incredibly easy check in and security check and then another spell of time before the flight actually boarded. In the terminal we met a guy from Cadiz who was also on our flight and so we were able to spend that time practicing our spanish some more before embarking on an english filled weekend. 

The flight was on time and easy, though I must say Ryan air makes it quite difficult for you to sleep on their flights because they are always trying to sell you something. Rather annoying, but it was all okay because then we landed and were in Ireland! We flew into Shannon airport and then after bidding our new Spanish friend goodbye found and taxi to take us out to our Bed and Breakfast for the night. We were spending the night at Tara Green B&B. It was a bit of a splurge for the cheap college traveler, but completely worth it. I slept so well that night in an incredibly comfortable bed and awoke bright and early the next morning to a traditional Irish breakfast complete with delicious homemade bread and eggs that came from the chickens they had in the backyard. To all your Trinity folks out there, this chicken coup did not only have chickens, but had a rooster, and two bantams. That is right, my first real bantam siting. I had such Trinity pride to see our silly little mascot strutting its stuff.  

During breakfast we met an American couple visiting Ireland for the weekend. They lived in Germany. The boyfriend/husband(?) was stationed there with the army. We also met two men from Spain who we once again could practice our Spanish with. They were in Ireland for some sort of Karate class. I don't know, I wasn't entirely clear on the plans of their trip. But I do know that one of them was an anthropology professor which was very exciting for my friend Tara who is an Anthropology major. 

After breakfast we thought we had to head off straight to Limerick to catch our train to Cork, but the woman who ran the B&B was rather insistent that we not rush out and spend time stopping at Bunratty Castle nearby. She even called the train company to see if we could change our reservations. So after paying and receiving a complementary Irish Whiskey shot glass (haha what?), we were off to explore the castle. 

View from a Castle Tower

Coming out of the dungeon

Rayna and Viola atop another tower

The castle was fun to tour and we had a hilarious guide. He was a little Irish man who acted out everything he was describing. Quite entertaining. After a brief tour, we could explore the castle ourselves and headed through some rooms, up to the towers, and down into the dungeon. Our tour guide had explained to us that people would be lead down the narrow stairs to the dungeon and then pushed down the last "stair" which was around and sudden corner and was a five meter drop. ouch. What an unfortunate fate. 

After spending some time in cute shops across the street from the castle we got on a bus to Limerick. We ate lunch quickly in Limerick and then it was off on the train to Cork. 

Tara admiring the beautiful Irish Countryside from the train

Tara and Rayna both have friends studying in Cork and quite the stroke of luck, these friends lived super close to each-other so it was very easy to spend the evening together and then split up for separate sleeping arrangements. We cooked dinner that night in Rayna's friend Rachel's apartment to save on spending and then headed out to a couple of Pubs. I really enjoyed the Pub scene. It was very relaxed and a nice relief to have nightlife without cigarette smoke (which is currently not permitted inside public places in Cork). Tara and I turned in a bit earlier then the others and left with her friend Tess to her apartment. 

The next morning we awoke to see sunshine! We got so lucky with our weather while in Ireland. The first day had been gray and a bit misty, but after that we saw quite a bit of the sun. Tara and I met up with Rayna and Viola, got some breakfast at a nearby grocery store (I had a bagel for the first time since January and it was delicious. I was also quite pleased with the amount of tea I was able to have this weekend). Then we walked around Cork a bit on our way back to the train station. Cork is a small city and was very enjoyable to explore, especially in the lovely sunshine. 

After Cork, it was time to head up to Dublin. The day in Shannon and Cork had been Tara's birthday. Now, Day 2 was dubbed Goat Day. Tara has a friend who lives on a goat farm about an hour outside of Dublin and that was our destination for the evening. It was amazing to go there. In Dublin, after quite a bit of confusion and frustration (we were having cell phone and communication troubles) we met up with Tara's friend Soren and I was able to meet up with Claire! Soren had been in Dublin for a hockey match (men's field hockey that is) and was able to drive us out to the farm. I actually went in the car with two of his hockey friends, Ashley and Chris, who were nice enough to also drive to pick up Claire. It was a huge help and really nice of them. They were great guys and invited us to a Pub to watch the Rugby match, but after being there briefly we had to get to the farm and be able to look around a bit before the sun went down. 

The house was absolutely amazing. They live in the most gorgeous countryside on 500 acres of land. And the house itself is an 18th century farm house. It was huge and easily accommodated all of us. When we got there, Soren's mother offered us tea and apricot cake (which was great) and then we got a bit of a tour of the house. And then it was goat time!

There were so many of them. I won't elaborate on this too much, since there is quite a bit of goat time featured in the film in the previous post, but I will say that I loved seeing the goats and Soren and his mom were very nice to show us around and be such great hosts. After seeing the goats we went with Soren, his brother, and their friend to the Greyhound track to see the greyhound races. Now, I have heard before that greyhounds who race a very mistreated animals, but apparently that is not the case in Ireland. They assured me that all the dogs were treated well. Seeing the races and the families that turned out for this as their Saturday night activity was quite the cultural experience. Tons of people were there. Children got dressed up and girls around my age came dressed as if they were going clubbing: skimpy shiny outfits, tons of makeup, super straightened hair, and incredibly high heels. It seemed a strange place to be dressed like this, especially since a few of us equated the family aspect of it to a night of bowling with your family in the US.  We stayed through I think about 7 of the 11 races and then headed back to the farm where we spent the rest of the evening hanging out around the fire and talking. It was great company and great fun. It was great to be in a place that was not a tourist destination. I really feel we saw some of the real Irish life. And we also learned some Irish lingo such as "That's so savage" to mean "that is so cool." 

The next morning we had planned to get up to see the sunrise over the fields, but unfortunately we misjudged the time and when our alarm went up the sun was already shining. But that was okay, because we were met by a most beautiful morning anyway. We got dressed and headed out to the fields. It was serene. So peaceful and wonderful. Claire described that she was experiencing a weekend she knew she would not forget. I agree completely. It was a dream. 

A view of the house from the field

Claire and I 

After breakfast with the family it was time to leave. I had been such a comfortable stay and they had all been so welcoming. Soren's dad took us to the train station and then we were off back into Dublin. We only had about two hours, but luckily we had Claire with us to show us some sites! She took us to lunch at her favorite destination, Lemon crepe and coffee. It was delicious! After lunch we walked around a bit. The streets were full of people as it was the weekend before St. Patty's day. It was fun to see the crowds, but it did prevent us from getting around quickly and seeing more. Then Claire brought us to our bus stop and bid us farewell. It was wonderful to see her and sad to leave her. 

The airport was pretty easy once again, but we did end up running to our gate since it was really far away from the security check. Turns out we were in no danger of missing our flight, but it certainly didn't hurt to get there as quickly as possible. For Ryan air flights there are no seat assignments so you want to get in line to board as soon as possible if you wants seats together with your fellow travelers. We succeeded on both flights. 

And then we were back in Spain. Our flight got into Malaga to late to make the last train back to Cordoba, so we stayed in a hostel that night (my first hostel experience) and the headed back to the train station bright and early for a 6:45 train back to Cordoba to make my first morningclass at 10am. Needless to say I was quite tired that first day back.  What a wonderful weekend it had been. I must say, it was also quite lovely to arrive in the very familiar Cordoba train station and feel right at home. 

I could take more time right now to update you on Cordoba life, but I feel this had been long enough for one post. Check back in the coming days for more updates. Hope all is well with everyone!

Adios