Kylemore Abbey

Another cool trip with the international students! The Student Union at GMIT is really good at these, special thanks to them!




The Kylemore Abbey

Connemara

The Chapel on the property

 Even just walking around the area is beautiful. I really, really enjoyed the sights here.

 

Walking to the gardens



Hannah and Nerea



Cool wooden thing in the gardens of the abbey



We traveled to Connemara to visit the Kylemore Abbey. Holy cannoli is this area beautiful. I am not sure if I can call them mountains in Ireland, but they really are. There are farms every now and then, really secluded, with sheep that just walk all around. Imagine a giant mountain with rocks and all (but possibly technically a hill?) with little white blobs just walking around the steep slope. They are hilarious. They walk around the street, the hills, the waterfront... there aren't many people around so they just do what they want. It's actually awesome.



My group taking photos in Connemara!

Fairy Tree overlooking Connemara

The Abbey was beautiful inside and out. Everything was so well presented and special to walk around.

 

The abbey itself is right in the heart of Connemara. It is crazy awesome. The entire property is so serene and well-maintained.


The view from outside the Abbey



There are walled gardens on one end of the property, it looked like they had just planted new plants so it wasn't in bloom, but it was still just amazing to walk around.



Coole Park

My Heritage Studies course went to Coole Park today, which is a Nature Reserve that was the property of Lady Augusta Gregory, a playwright, writer, and co-founder of the Abbey Theatre in Dublin.

She would have sat there writing!

 

The visitor center was presented in a way to explain the life of Lady Gregory and her family, super rich in Heritage. It was really well taken care of and was extraordinarily interesting to look around.

The outdoor portion of the park was stunning. It was over 6 kilometers of native trees and plants, mixed with bits and pieces of the original structures.

There was one portion that was pretty barren, but it was politely explained that the trees in that location were never supposed to be permanent, and they had been a temporary solution to a problem. Those trees were not native and were taken out in order to let biodiversity take effect and allow natural, native species to grow back.

The Autograph Tree was one that Lady Gregory would have people carve their initials into. Famous poets and friends to Lady Gregory are still found written on the tree, such as Jack. B Yeats. It was pretty COOLE ;D

My Classmate, Gnoll, for size!

Local Market

On Saturday, my American friends and I went to the open market that happens in town on the weekends. Here, locals sell their food, jewelry, and assorted cool things.

It all felt very fun and authentic, there was dirt on the carrots and potatoes and we bought a whole bunch for less than 6 euro.

There were really interesting stands for bread, meat, and fish, including one where you can buy fresh oysters and eat them right then and there.

I gave it a whirl. Cassandra and Hannah were pretty much experts, but I struggled a little bit. Don't get me wrong, it was great. But also took me two tries to get it down.

After the market I went over to Cassandra and Zach's house, where we used all our new veggies to make super delicious potato soup, an altogether great experience.

What a day!

Check out this post, Mom!

I'm fairly certain that my mom will be the first to see this, she tells me that she checks the blog nearly every day. I'm hoping she will have a glance at it at work or something and it will brighten the day for her. And perhaps Dad will have a second, as well?

Basically, this post is just sending a quick bit of love to my parents, because I miss them and I know they miss me to.

You are both amazing. The best parents I could ask for.

And I just wanted to tell you that.

Have a wonderful day (:

 

Sorry, some sly little guy seems to have hacked into my blog! I guess I'll let his message to you stay as well.

How my night got weird and awesome (Part 2)

Wow, that was pretty rad seeing Tyler. What an evening!
Now, it's really time for bed. I have a 10 AM class tomorrow!
I take the bus home, and notice I have a message saying that it is time to celebrate Michael's birthday, one of my closest Irish friends, who happens to live in my apartment complex. I can't miss that! I have a gift ready and everything!
So, I head to his house, where there is cake, balloons, popcorn, and Doritos all waiting, along with the Birthday Boy himself.

Michael is in the center, not the balloon face, the guy. On his left is Niall and in the lovely striped shirt is Michelle.

 

Yes. I did have a kazoo with me. Why? Because sometimes it is relevant. It actually has come out now 3 times in Ireland. (Shout out to Jasen for getting them for the Glee Club at North Central!)

What an eventful day! Volleyball, pub, meet with friend from home, birthday celebration, bed. If you are wondering, I did make it to class in the morning. No problem.

 

How my night got weird and awesome (Part 1)

So, the volleyball game ends yesterday, I'm wiped out and ready for bed, and the person that drove us to the pub had a few drinks and could not drive home. Fine for her and my other teammate, who live nearby, and fine for me too. But, it does mean I have to walk to the City Centre and take the bus. No problem, it's a beautiful night, there's no rain, we won the match, why not take a random stroll through town?

As I walk down Shop Street I suddenly hear a voice that seems vaguely familiar. You know who that sounds like...?
Could it be...?
I turn around and lock eyes with none other than Tyler, Keian's older brother (and brother to the other siblings. I have no idea if they read this. Shout out to Luke, Ana, Kal and Sari if they do stumble upon this post) It really is a small world after all!
We had a (not so brief for me) moment of shock and agreed to chat over a pint and some music.
It was a really and awesome and crazy coincidence, he was leaving town the next morning.
Pretty darn cool.

NUIG Volleyball Alliance

I joined a volleyball team. There is one at GMIT, but they invited me to the alliance at NUIG, the nearby university, which is a bit more advanced. The Alliance is for people who have been playing for a while instead of just learning. It was very exciting to be back on a real court with real players! We have uniforms and everything.

Yesterday was our first match. Here's the team, there are girls from everywhere! Poland, England, America... ;)

The game went really well, it was 3 out of 5 and we won, lost, won again, and then won more time. In short, we totally rocked it and were victorious.

I played right side, and for those who did not know me when I played volleyball this is not my regular position. I was always an outside hitter. This was totally fine by me, but there was a little confusion now and then because it's not only a position I never practiced, but also a different rotation than the one I did in America. After this match I think I have it down though!

After the match some of the girls and I went to Monroe's, a local pub, to watch the rugby match. Ireland won that, too! I would be lying if I said I fully understood what was going on, but it was fun anyway.