28th August 2011

If you are lucky enough to be Irish, you’re lucky enough

Things I learned in Ireland: Part the Last (for now)

- I am much more my own person that I thought I was. I can make my own decisions, make my own dinner, and do things I never thought I could. I can open myself up and find home.

- Tea is a miraculous thing; a cup of tea is so much more than just a bag of Barry’s, hot water, milk, and sugar. It is friendship, laughter, comfort, and the quiet sense of peace that Americans seem to never find.

- Days off are necessary

- It really will be grand. So don’t worry.

- Time isn’t money. It’s life. So slow down, have a pint and a laugh.

- Ireland is so much more than any postcard or blog post can tell you. It’s the things I cannot accurately convey: why I will always laugh at certain things, why others will make me cry. Please don’t ask me to explain. Words can’t do it justice, and the chance that you’ll understand is slim.

- I finally figured out what I want from life. Ireland changed me so much in so many unalterable ways, but one of the biggest things it did for me was show me what I want. And while I love many things about the US, there seem to be more things that I love about Ireland.

- I will be going back. Sooner than you realise. And for good this time.

 Éireann go bragh.

28th August 2011

Deutschland, Österreich, und Bier ist am bestem!

One last continental excursion with the usual mad yokes.

Sheep Nut, Specs, Dizzy, Princess Kate, Schmatie and I took our first proper plane ride in Europe (a whole 2 hours!) to Munich at the beginning of May. Upon our arrival in Memmingen, we saw a supermarket likely owned by a very distant relative of Schmatie’s and then drove down the Autobahn in a bus (which made Sheep Nut and I rather nauseous: the cars were on the wrong side of the road, duh). When we finally got to the Hopfbahnhof in Munich, we were astounded to see what appeared to be corporate America - Burger King, Starbucks, McDonalds, among others - before we worried about finding our hostel. The hostel quickly won us over by giving us free ‘bier’ upon arrival.

I was stunned by the size and general sensory overload in Munich. I nearly died 3490234 times because I can no longer cross non-Irish/British streets properly. I was overwhelmed by the hustle and bustle of Munich. Basically, while I had a great time, I was too ‘Ireland-ified’ (as our friends back home in Maynooth said) to be completely at ease in Germany.

Among our adventures in Germany were: taking the Deutschbahn to Dachau to see the concentration camp (something Sheep Nut has wanted to do for a while), taking an excellently priced tour to Neuschwanstien in Schwangau (which made Schmatie deliriously happy), taking yet another train over to Austria to see Salzburg, and walking around Munich eating bier, bretzels, und wienerschnitzel. I left a day earlier than the rest of the gang: lucky me, I had an exam for my Modern Irish Society module. But it was a trip worth remembering.

28th August 2011

Aran Islands: Getting lost with Queen Maeve

So, I am terribly sorry that this has taken so very long (I did get the pictures up right away though!), it’s just that…well, the nub and gist is that I wasn’t in the mood. I’ll explain why in a later post.

A few months ago (*sob*), we went on our last Roberta excursion in Ireland. After driving across the entire width of the island (Kildare to Clare) with only a brief stop for dinner in Ballinasloe, Co. Galway, we wound up in Doolin. Doolin is a teeny tiny town on the coast of Co. Clare, famous for it’s very traditional Irish music and ferries to the Aran Islands. The Aran Islands are in turn, famous for their sweaters.(Which, by the way, is the EXTREME mark of either a very old native Aran Islander or - more likely - a tourist)

We spent the night in Doolin at a charming hostel before setting out at what felt like the bum crack of dawn for the Aran Islands. Now, in order to get to the Aran Islands, one must take a ferry. Do not confuse the Happy Hooker (the name of the ferry to the Islands) with one of those nice ferries that take people from Dublin to Holyhead, Wales. Oh no. The Happy Hooker is a glorified tugboat. And the distance we had to travel (over quite rough seas that day) to Inís Mór (the largest island where we were to be staying)? Yeah, 2 hours. On a tugboat. As someone who gets seasick, I can tell you that this was easily the worst part of the trip.

Once on Inís Mór, we walked, bags and all, to our hostel outside Kilronan (the only city on the island). We quickly discovered that although there may be a Supermacs and a SuperValu in Kilronan, there is not much else on Inís Mór. At all. One of our days there was spent trying to find the cliffs where the final scene of Leap Year was shot (don’t even get me started on the cultural inaccuracies of that film) in order to give a sea burial to a particularly rancid-smelling pair of Sheep Nut’s shoes. However, this little adventure became much more adventurous that intended. We quickly learned that if you place Specs in charge of navigating, you end up wandering through stone-walled fields where there is NO SIGN of a clear cut path. Then, because there is no feasible way out of said fields, you watch Sheep Nut disassemble said stone walls. All the while, you think ‘Where in the name of heaven am I?’ or ‘NO ONE, absolutely NO ONE has been here since the times of Queen Maeve and Brian Ború.’ And when you really, really need to use the toilet, these things can be rather frustrating.

However, not to worry. We all made it back to our hostel largely unscathed. Then it was back on the Happy Hooker and back home. And trust me, I had never been happier to see Maynooth.