A week ago I officially hit the one-month mark here in Ireland. The time is flying by unbelievably fast, and I’m dreading for it to be over. I’ve been trying to explore as much of Ireland as I can on the weekends, but I’m looking forward to taking some international trips too. About a week and a half ago, one of my roommates and I decided to take a day trip to Cork, the Rock of Cashel, and the Blarney Stone. As some of you may or may not know, the Blarney Stone is said to bestow the “gift of the gab” on all those who kiss it. However, since the stone is set into one of the tower walls more than 100 feet off the ground, you have to bend over backwards to kiss it. As someone who is really scared of heights, it was absolutely terrifying. Despite this, Blarney Castle was well worth the trip, as its grounds were absolutely beautiful. This past weekend, a group of us took a trip up to Northern Ireland to Belfast, the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge, and Giant’s Causeway. Unfortunately, it rained most of the day, but we didn’t let that stop us. The rope bridge is a tiny wooden bridge high above the ocean, so you can imagine how I felt about crossing it. However, I managed to do it and not die, so it was definitely a success. Giant’s Causeway was my favorite part of that trip. I almost majored in geology, so my inner geologist was freaking out about the stone formations. Besides the weekend trips, most of my classes take day trips to important heritage sites all over Ireland. So far, we’ve gone to Newgrange, Knowth, and Dowth (important Neolithic passage tombs, and my personal favorites), and Clonmacnoise and Corlea, an early medieval monastic site and Iron Age bog road, respectively. We have a few more trips planned, so with those combined with my weekend trips, I should be able to hit most of the important places in Ireland. And next week I leave for Italy for 12 days, so you can imagine how excited I am for that!
