Lexi's Study Abroad Spectacular

'Twas the night before Paris, and everything was falling apart. We got back from the West, and everything was a whirlwind. I had to pack, check into our flight, and get everything ready to go to Paris the next day. My big plans for the night came crashing down very quickly when one of my travel buddies could not find their passport. This made it impossible to complete the verification steps for the airline, meaning that we could not get our boarding passes. We eventually found the passport, only it was in Dublin, not in Dungarvan. I checked us all into the flight, went to bed, and hoped for the best.  It is a solid 12 hours later at this point, and we are getting on the bus. Everything is going according to plan, the bus was on time to pick us up and left promptly. We were going to take the bus to Dublin City Center, get the passport, then take a taxi to the airport, and finally be on our way to the airport. Only that plan was derailed the second we got stuck in traffic in Kilkenny...

 Today I explored the Ring of Kerry. While on the bus, we stopped at a number of locations, many of which felt the same. I felt that I was looking at the same thing from different angles, which for part of it was true. We saw a very similar view of water, grass, rocks, and trees a few times. When we finally entered the National Park, I was overcome by how pretty it was and how everything was covered in moss. As we were driving our bus driver told us how busses cannot go out the way that we were coming in because of how narrow the roads are, which I can understand, especially given that the other side of the road had a wall of rock pressed against it. I liked how magical it felt along that road, everything felt peaceful and reminded me of scenes from the movie Twilight which was set in Washington state.  We arrived at another destination and parked in what seemed to be a random parking lot, and were told to walk down that path, and you'll see a waterfall. I never expected the w...

I was visiting the Dingle Peninsula and Dingle Town recently, two places I had heard about from my Irish Literature professor, because of his love for the town and everything it offers. While visiting the town I saw many things, we started with lambs. As you can see from the picture above I held the baby lamb. It was a life-changing experience. I have always thought that lambs were cute, because well they just are, but holding it and hearing it bleet was a whole different experience. He was scared when I first picked him up, but after a second, he calmed down. It was incredible to see him go from scared to comfortable in my arms. Now I had no idea how I was going to walk away from this lamb, but I managed. I was considering taking him and bringing him back to Dungarvan and the States with me.  When researching more about lambs in Ireland, I found a poem written by W.B. Yeats, one of the authors we are talking about in my Irish literature class.  Shepherd and Goatherd  Thi...

  The three pictures above are images that I took while visiting the Cliffs of Moher yesterday. I found the cliffs to be an absolutely beautiful experience. It was unlike anything I had ever seen before, well in real life, because as you may already know, the Princess Bride was filmed on these cliffs. As we started climbing the stairs and going further and further onto the cliffs I was more and more astonished with the view. I have many fond memories from my time at the Cliffs of Moher. It started with witnessing what I thought to be an engagement, but it was actually someone trying to tie their shoes and ended with an underwhelming 4D experience.  “It is like looking down from the cliffs of Moher into the depths. Many go down into the depths and never come up. Only the trained diver can go down into those depths and explore them and come to the surface again.” This quote from James Joyce about the Cliffs of Moher resonated with me because it made me think about how to truly a...

We departed early in the morning. We were headed to Galway, with a few stops along the way. These stops consisted of a very big rock, with a castle built atop, and Yeats' Tower. When we began our journey to the tower, I had no idea what to expect. I had seen a photo of the tower itself but knew nothing of the surrounding area, and let me just say, the surrounding area was anxiety-inducing. The tower is down a road in the middle of a bunch of trees. It felt like I was completely cut off from civilization, which perhaps, was exactly what Yeats wanted.  The roads into the area where Yeats' Tower is located are windy and very narrow, so much so that I was convinced we were on a one-way road until another vehicle came from the other direction and we had to take turns passing each other. I cannot image how stressful that would have been for a car passing us, as we were on a bus, and in a collision the bus would have won.  The image above is Yeats' Tower, something we have been ta...

  On Wednesday, I took a walk around Dungarvan. I was searching for the post office to send my postcards. I spent some time in Dublin searching for the perfect postcard for everyone I wanted to send them to back home. I collect postcards, so it was very important to me that everyone got a good postcard. When I got back to Dungarvan I wrote out messages for everyone I was sending a card to and prepared myself to mail out my postcards.  I left the townhouse and set off to the post office, and when I got there I found out that my postcards were going to cost over $17 to mail to the United States. At that point, I was way too deep and committed to sending these postcards, so I tapped my card and paid the ridiculous price to send them out. I did the math and each postcard cost almost $3 to mail. As I walked back to the Park, I called my mom and told her how much work I put into picking out the perfect postcard for each person and writing the perfect message. I took the above i...

As we walked around the streets of Dublin, looking for something to eat, we stumbled upon a magical place. A place called "The Rolling Donut" smelled so heavenly that we just had to walk in. Inside we found a wide selection of fresh sourdough donuts. The most delicious things I have ever tasted. The donuts were all unique flavors that offered those going to the restaurant a new experience.  At this donut shop, I ordered a Smores donut. Now I like to think that I am a smores dessert expert, as it is my go-to order at most places, but this donut was life-changing. It was the most smores-tasting smores dessert I ever had.  Now I know what you are thinking, how does this relate at all to your Irish Literature class? The donut has no relation, but the walk we took in Dublin that night while searching for food took us past many historical monuments and statues. A statue, particularly of James Joyce, one of the literary icons we will discuss in my Irish Literature class. Now I do no...

  26 miles on a bike? Oh, that's no big deal. Well let me just start off by saying that 13 miles each way makes it much less daunting, but when the 13 miles there are at an incline it is much more difficult. This bike ride was beautiful. The photo above is from the coast as we were biking. We went out 13 miles to the town of Kilmacthomas. It was a small town that reminded me of Kilkenny, which I visited on the way down to Dungarvan. We hung out in the town for a couple of hours and then decided that we were going to brave the ride back to Dungarvan. Overall, the bike ride was one of the best decisions I have made. I am so grateful to have been allowed to go on that ride and to see parts of the country that I would not have otherwise seen.  On the path, we entered an area that was much more enclosed than the rest of the trail. Attached to the left is an image of that part of the trail. This enclosed area led to a tunnel, where were were underground because of the surrounding te...

This past weekend I spent some time in Dublin. The capitol city of the country I am staying in. We went on a self-guided walking tour, and let me tell you there was a lot  of walking. I had 20,000 steps from that day in Dublin, which equates to about 9.5 miles. It sure was a lot of walking, but the city was so beautiful. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to see everything that I did.  My favorite part of exploring a new city is exploring its churches. Above I have attached an image of the Christ Church Cathedral, which was the first Cathedral I saw while in Dublin. I love to look at the architecture and see how something so beautiful can stand the test of time. I found Christ Church Cathedral and Saint Patrick's Cathedral to be amazing, with both their history and architecture. As I walked around such an old but holy place I felt myself connecting with the past, and wondering about what was going to come in the future.  After visiting the Saint Patrick's Cathedral I continued ...