If You Have the Words, There’s Always a Chance That You’ll Find the Way
- Seamus Heaney
2/26/2016 - Day 1 - Nerves, Airports, & a 6-Hour Flight
Spring Break had finally arrived, and the nerves and anxiety of not being fully packed started to kick in the night before. I had been to Ireland a few months prior, July to be exact with Dean Kaiser for a Servant Leadership Program, so I was excited to travel back to Ireland and see the other side of the Island that I was unable to see the previous time. We were lucky enough to get a non-stop overnight flight to Dublin and decided to meet at the airport by 4pm to make sure we were on time for our 7pm flight. After checking-in our bags, passing through security, and finding our gate, we anxiously waited to board our plane. Since there was a good hour to spare, we spent that time roaming the airport, purchasing snacks, and exchanging dollars into euros. Finally it was time to board, and we all found our seats, which were in close enough proximity to one another. The plane thankfully was equipped with personal TV’s with endless selections of movies, television shows, games, and music, and we were also given, blankets, pillows, and several meals throughout the flight to help pass the time. I tried to sleep most of the flight, due to the fact that when we would land in Ireland it would be 7am and a day filled with activities, but that didn’t happen. Sleeping on planes is not one of my fortes, but I was still able to get several 45-minute naps in. A few hours later, and we were slowly descending into Dublin Airport.
2/27/2016 - Day 2 - Guinness & Jet Lag
When we finally arrived in Dublin, we all groggily dragged ourselves off the plane and headed towards customs. After getting in a line as a group and decorating our passports with an Irish stamp we each grabbed our luggage from the baggage claim and headed off to meet Joe, our EF tour guide for the week. After being warmly greeted and introducing ourselves, he lead us over to a little café in the airport where we could grab an Irish breakfast or coffee, and informed us that the other group that would be joining us during our stay, St. Vincent’s College, would be landing soon. After waiting for what seemed like forever, we finally meet the other group and made a group decision to scratch the plans originally planned for the day, and just head on over to the Guinness Factory instead. Nothing’s more Irish then having a beer in the morning. We all grabbed our luggage; headed to our bus, that was also ours for the week, meet our bus driver, packed up the bus with our luggage, and headed over to the Guinness Factory. At the Guinness Factory, which was a couple of floors, we were able to see the process of beer making. We also got to sample several beers, pour a perfect pint of Guinness, and also see a marvelous view of Dublin from the top floor. After venturing all of the building, we decided to grab a bite to eat, and decided on having a homemade beef burger for only 5 Euros. At this point, jet lag was setting in pretty hard, and as we enjoyed some live music to pass the time, I started to dose off. Thankfully we had a time limit, our bus was actually outside waiting for us, so we headed to the bus and finally were carried to our hotel, the Belvedere Hotel. That night the hotel was providing dinner for us, so after settling in we headed downstairs and had a full-course meal. Prior to this though, my roommates and I, decided to grab some brochures from the lobby and see what was available to do at night, and also locate some fun pubs and restaurants to try at for the remainder of our stay in Dublin. Anyway, for dinner that night we were served tons of bread and butter, spring rolls for appetizers, a traditional Irish beef stew for the main course, and for desert cheesecake. My roommates and I also ordered a Bulmer’s and Black, which is a cider with cherry flavoring, which instantly became our drink of choice for the remainder of the trip. After dinner we decided to beat jet lag, and instead of going back to our rooms to sleep, we decided to explore the city. After walking down O’Connell Street for a couple of minutes, we reached the River Liffey and decided to go into a pub for a quick drink. We chose one at whim, and went into a sports bar called The River Bar, which if you ever consider going turns into a Latin Fever Club on Friday nights. Sadly we arrived a day too late to experience a Latin Fever night but we spent a good hour at the sports bar and eventually left to go and explore some more. We walked alongside the river, taking in the sites while also taking pictures and having some good laughs. Finally we caved into our exhaustion and decided to head back to the hotel. On our way back we pin pointed some cafes and pubs we wanted to hopefully come back to, and also saw this really cool cake shop, Decocake, that was sadly closed. Everything is in close proximity in the center of town so after walking for about 15-20 minutes, we arrived back at our hotel, settled in for the night, and set our alarms for 7:30am, ready to explore some more the next day.
2/28/2016 - Day 3 - The Dublin Experience
After waking up a bit late, since we all automatically turned off our alarms and opted on pressing snooze, we quickly got dressed for the day and headed down for breakfast provided by the hotel. Breakfast was the same every morning; you had the option of eggs, bacon, sausage, beans, and hash browns. There was also a section of bread/toast, croissants, other pastries, cereal, porridge, and granola and also an array of fruits and cheeses. It was basically a continental breakfast, with a splash of Irish flare. I got myself a delicious plate of food and chose to have coffee instead of tea, juice, or water. After enjoying our breakfast, we headed to our bus for a bus-tour of Dublin. On the tour we passed Dublin’s Ryder’s Museum, The Garden of Remembrance, and got some more information on O’Connell Street and it’s involvement in the Eastern Rising of 1916, as well as information on the gorgeous post office placed on that street. After riding around for a bit, we stopped at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral. Our tour guide, James, gave us information on Jonathon Swift, the Cathedral’s history, and the Romeo and Juliet type of dispute between the Fitzgerald’s and the Butlers (The Butler’s apparently won). After enjoying the atmosphere of the cathedral, we all boarded the bus again and headed to Phoenix Park. Here we saw the U.S. Ambassador’s house as well as Pope’s Cross. We were given a quick 10 minutes to walk up to the ginormous gross and take pictures, and then were ushered back on to the bus and driven to Trinity College. Trinity College had such a beautiful campus, and when we arrived there was already a line formed to enter to see it’s famous library. The line moved quickly, and soon we were inside Trinity College walking through a room dedicated to the beautiful Book of Kells. At the end of the room we were then guided to it’s extremely old library, where a scene from Star Wars was apparently filmed, and I couldn’t help but gazed at my surroundings with awe. The library, which was more of a long hall of a room, was packed with people, so we scuttled downstairs to the gift shop and looked around a bit. When our whole group finally got back together, we decided to do a bit more shopping and grab a bite before we had to head over to the James Joyce Center to meet Anne Fogarty. Dr. Carpentier recommended we purchase some wool products, so we went to the Sweater Shop and Trinity Woolen Mills where I bought my mother a nice warm woolen sweater and also some other cute trinkets and gifts for myself and my family. After shopping for a bit, we headed over to K.C. Peaches, a café next door. For lunch I had traditional Irish foods, such as Shepard’s pie and beef stew. For desert, we couldn’t hesitate, and bought some amazing pastries. I bought a cheesecake brownie, which I saved for later and ate that night in the hotel; it was totally worth the wait. We quickly went back to the hotel, which was basically on the same block as the James Joyce center, dropped our stuff off and headed on over. At the Joyce Center, we met up with Anne Fogarty, and had an intellectual conversation on different scenes from “A Portrait of the Artist a Young Man”. For dinner that night, we deiced to walk around town and chose a random pub to eat at. We first stopped into a Carroll’s Gift Shop, and then headed into J.S. Sweetman, a pub next to the River Bar. After failing to get service, we decided to head somewhere else and ended up at O’Connell’s, a cute little pub with many floors. We chose our seats, and sat downstairs in the basement, which had cozy seating and atmosphere. I ordered the fish and chips, which were pretty good and also did the 2 cocktails for 7 Euros special. Dr. Carpentier left the group a bit early that night, and the rest of us stayed behind and had a couple of drinks and chatted a bit. After spending a good hour or two there, we decided to find temple bar. We walked alongside the Liffey for a bit and then stumbled upon a really lively area, which ended up being Temple Bar. After taking a couple of photos, we decided not to stay but come back another night, and took “the long way” home, walking around the side streets of Dublin and watching the locals.
2/29/2016 - Day 4 - A Cold & Rainy Day at the Causey Farm
After waking up on time for once and having another filling breakfast, we all hoped on the bus and headed on over to Causey Farm. It was freezing that day, and also very rainy and windy. As we entered the building alongside the farm, we were instructed to partner up, wash our hands, and throw on some aprons. Dr. Carpentier was my partner, and the task today was to create brown soda bread. I can’t clearly remember the steps, but it was a pretty simple recipe that required eggs, flour, baking soda, and a thick butter. As we finished mixing the mixture and placing it into its pan, we designed the top of our bread with lines, placed our names on top, and then were guided to the farm. At the farm we saw tons of sheep and reindeer. What was the most marvelous part of this experience was being able to witness and hold the baby lambs. I personally did not get to hold one, but everyone who did said they were adorable and that you could feel their heart beating. We only spent a couple minutes with the sheep, and soon were brought to this little house where we learned an Irish Dance. We were put in lines and partnered up and danced to warm ourselves up, even though I was still freezing. We ended the dance section off by learning how to play a traditional Irish drum in unison and then finally headed back to the kitchen to have lunch and taste our baked bread. For lunch we had a delicious carrot soup partnered with our bread, and were given scones and jams for desert. After filling our stomachs and warming ourselves up a bit, we decided to go on a hayride to the bog. It was pouring rain, freezing, and the ride was extremely bumpy but the view at the bog was worth it. We did not spend long at the bog because of the weather, we headed back to the farm, some milked a cow, and we also saw this adorable dog heard the sheep on the farm. Time quickly flew, and by the time we knew it, it was time to head back to the hotel. On the bus I sat next to Dr. Carpentier, and she kindly lent me her gloves to warm my freezing hands. That night we decided to go to Murray’s Bar for dinner, which kind of reminded me of TGIF. For dinner I had an Orchard Thieves, a delicious cider, and I ordered the Beef & Guinness Pie, which also came with a shot of Guinness. After dinner, we headed to our favorite store, Carroll’s, and did a bit more souvenir shopping. The store was closing soon, so we decided to head over to J.S Sweetman’s and give them another try. We went to the top floor, had some drinks, laughed a lot, and sang along to the live music downstairs. Finally after singling along to about 5 songs in a row, we decided to go downstairs and see the live music in person. The guy was great and charismatic, he was also taking requests and we jokingly asked for Taylor Swift. 30 minutes later we deiced to head back to the hotel and end the night since we had an early day the next day.
3/1/2016 - Day 5 - Northern Ireland: Belfast & a Freezing Experience
On Day 5 we headed out early for a four-hour bus ride to Northern Ireland. Our first destination was Belfast, where we would have another bus tour and learn about the history of city. What I found most interesting about Northern Ireland is that it is apart of the U.K, which means we went over an invisible boarder, (passports not needed) and also that the currency changed (they used Pounds not Euros). As soon as we arrived in Belfast I fell in love with the Victorian architecture and the more industrial like atmosphere compared to the atmosphere in Dublin. We stopped for a bit at Queen’s College, where we got to take pictures and roam the gift store. Shortly after we were brought to the center of town, by City Hall, where our tour guide hopped on, introduced herself, and immediately the tour began. On the tour she spoke about the divide between the British Protestants and the Irish Catholics, which can be seen throughout the city and its history. She pointed out the BBC headquarters building and also a memorial for the Titanic next to City Hall. As we rode along she pointed out different churches and murals that painted the walls and again also showcased the dived within the city. The tour was short and quaint, and ended with the location of where the Titanic was built, and also the Titanic Attraction Museum that we did not get the chance to go inside. On our way back to City Hall, where we started the tour, she pointed out more murals and statues /sculptures that had funny nicknames. When the tour ended, we weren’t given anytime to explore Belfast, but were given a measly hour to grab some lunch. We decided to have lunch in the City Hall, since it was close to the bus and quickly walked over. For lunch I had a toasted sandwich with some chips, while others had scones and soups. After lunch we headed back on the bus and headed on over to the Giants Causeway. I was not sure of what the Giants Causeway was, but I was excited to see the geographical phenomenon. Sadly though, this did not happen, as we walked to the Giants Causeway a massive amount of wind, rain, and hail attacked us. It was hard to walk, it was hard to see, and at that point I couldn’t feel my face or my fingers. Dystina, Courtney, and I decided to head back after a couple of pictures of the scenery, and just opted for the gift store. There, I was able to see the Giants Causeway’s hexagonal rock like forms on post cards, and I regretted not continuing, even though the weather was brutal. After the Giants Causeway we were suppose to go to the Carrick Bridge, which looked absolutely breathtaking in pictures, but due to the weather, it was not possible and were only allowed to take pictures. This inconvenience ended out day early, and we decided to head back to the hotel, grab some dinner there, and then have an early night.
3/2/2016 - Day 6 - Walking Tour, Brazen Head, & Juno and the Paycock
Our last day in Dublin was jam-packed. We started the morning off with breakfast, like we always did, but this morning only our group went to National Library and Museum in the morning. At the library we got to explore the Yeats exhibit, where they had some of his poetry playing with some visuals and his work plastered around the walls. The atmosphere really suited his work, and as I walked around I even saw some of his poems that we read in class. After the exhibit we walked over to the museum to pass the time and shortly after went to meet up with Lorcan Collins, a 1916 Eastern Rising Expert and our walking tour guide for the day. It was around 11am at the time and we met at a bar, with other tour goers. Lorcan quickly gave us a history of the rebellion as well as promoted his books a bit. When he was done we started the tour where he brought us to Trinity College, the O’ Connell Monument, the Post Office, and then on some side streets that had significance during the up rising. I found the tour very informative and enjoyable, especially since Lorcan was so immersed and enthused by the history. After the tour, we said our goodbyes, headed back to the hotel to freshen up, and then went out and did more shopping. Before we shopped though, we stopped at the Candy Café for a quick snack, which is located at the corner of the street the Belvedere is on. The guys on the trip did not want to come shopping with us, so Dystina, Courtney, Dr. Carpentier, and I parted ways with them and went to Grafton Street. After walking around and shopping for a bit, we decided to head on over to the Brazen Head for our farewell to Dublin Dinner. On our way there though we stumbled upon a mall, and had to go inside. The mall was so elegant and looked more like kid’s amusement park than a mall. Also we found it interesting that to use the bathroom you had to pay 20 cents. After window shopping for a bit, and stopping in to Carroll’s again for the hundredth time, we finally left for the Brazen Head. Thanks to Courtney’s handy dandy navigation on her phone, we were able to find the Brazen Head easily, and also found a beautiful cathedral as well. When we arrived at the Brazen Head, we realized our reservations were messed up, but they were quickly resolved and we were lead to our room with the other group that was with us. We were given a menu with several options to choose from, we ordered some more Orchard Thieves, and we giggled the dinner away. Before we knew it, it was time for just our group to head out to the theater. That night we went to see “Juno and the Paycock”. We hoped on the bus, made it just on time, grabbed our seats, and the show began. It was a beautiful performance and watching it live versus just reading it from a book gave the story line a different feel. The actors as well gave the story a different feel, and I left the theater loving the characters of Joxer and being slightly annoyed with Mary’s character. By the time the play ended it was a little after 10pm and even though we wanted to go out for our last night in Dublin, exhaustion had won yet again and we decided to head back to the hotel and pack up our stuff to head off to Galway the next day.
3/3/2016 - Day 7 - Galway Girl
On Day 7, we packed up our stuff, spot-checked our room to make sure we weren’t forgetting anything, grabbed breakfast, loaded up the bus, and headed off on our 3-hour bus ride to Galway. Although I was sleeping on and off during the ride, mostly because I get a bit of motion sickness, when I was awake I marveled at the beautiful scenery that makes up Ireland. Along the ride we stopped at the Clonmacnois Monastery, which was located along the River Shannon. It was beautiful and serene and across the street was a school filled with young students playing outside. Inside the information building we watched a video expressing how the location is remnants of Christian civilization. After watching the video and taking a couple of pictures, we continued on our journey to Galway. When we finally arrived we parked next to a gorgeous cathedral and walked towards the shopping center. Joe informed us of Galway’s Spanish influence and also pointed out the Salmon River. When we reached the town center we were given a few hours to get some lunch and shop a bit, but were directed to meet back in a specific spot so we could go on a walking tour of Galway, guided by Joe himself. Our group split up again and some of us went to a little café, where I had a Cajun chicken sandwich and some chips. After we were done re-energizing we decided to finish up our souvenir shopping. The whole trip I craved to go to the store called Penny’s, which has amazing prices. Thankfully my prayers were answered and a storeowner directed us to a discreet mall, which had a Penny’s, and I was able to buy a 24 Euro suite case for my carry on (I think I bought too many souvenirs). As our time dwindled we ended our free time with some crepes and then met back up with Joe. The walking tour was pretty short, and Joe just pointed out Lynch’s Castle and we stopped inside a church. On our way back to the bus we spotted a bright blue door, which was Nora Barnacle’s House, took some photos, and headed to our hotel which was a good 30minute drive to the outskirts of Galway. Our hotel was fairly new and was across the street from some sort of amusement center, which had bowling and a movie theater. We did not get to go, but our hotel also provided massages, which I decided to pass on, but at the end of the night I did utilize their fitness center. Since we had another early day the next day we decided to go out to bed early, well at least my roommates did. Dystina and Courtney seemed to get sick the previous day, and so to minimize my possibility of getting sick I would leave the room in the nights while they went to bed early. Thankfully our floor had a nice lobby area, with couches and vending machines, where I would go and sit and talk to the hotel residents that passed by.
3/4/2016 - Day 8 - Cliff of Moher & Fun Cab Ride Home
On our last day in Ireland it was a pretty relaxing but yet still filled with adventures. We started our morning off with breakfast, and then hopped on the bus to go to a tour of the Burren. Since I slept most of the ride I was not sure of what the Burren actually was, but to my understanding it’s a formation of rocks and limestone that is another geographical phenomenon. We stopped at the Burren for a bit, got to walk alongside the rocks, take some pictures, and then hopped back on the bus to head off to the Cliffs of Moher. I was excited to see the Cliffs of Moher again, and was surprised to see how scarce it was of people when we arrived. The previous time I went in July, it was crowded, filled with people of all ages and ethnicities. It was very enjoyable this time, since we came not during the peak of tourist season. The weather was decent for the day, so we weren’t scared of getting soaked. We went inside the Interpretive Center for a bit, ate a quick lunch, and then went outside to take in the views from the Cliffs. After spending an hour or so walking alongside the cliffs, taking pictures, and climbing the castle, we headed into the gift store, looked around, and then headed to the bus. After waiting for an hour for the other group to return, we finally left and drove alongside the coast for a bit. We were initially intended to go on a ferry ride to the Aran Islands, but due to time constraints, it wasn’t possible. We would have to choose between the Cliffs of Moher or the Aran Islands, and the cliffs just seemed more practical, especially with the wind that day. Our last stop was just on the side of the road to get in some scenic pictures of Irelands beautiful landscape and then we quickly scurried back on to the bus due to a random rainstorm. We decided that since it was our last night in Galway/Ireland we should have dinner in town, so our bus driver dropped us off and we ate dinner at a random pub. The atmosphere was nice, and so was food. I ordered my last Orchard Thieves of the trip, a mushroom and bruschetta appetizer, a chicken curry entre, and treated myself to a slice of tiramisu with Bailey’s cream for desert, it was heavenly. We ended the night getting our last final souvenirs and then searched for a cab home. Since there was 7 of us we needed a van taxi, which was looking scarce, but thankfully we found one with an incredibly nice driver name Colin. I sat in the front seat and made conversation, where he told me about his life, his kids, and his aspirations. For some reason Courtney and Dystina found this conversation hilarious, but it just made for an enjoyable ending to the night. As we got out the cab, my newfound friend invited me back to Galway some time; we paid him kindly, and parted ways. Once we got back to our hotel rooms, we packed all our stuff for the final time, checked to make sure we had out passports, and went to sleep early since we had to leave for the airport by 4:30am.
3/5/2016 - Day 9 - Goodbye’s from Shannon
Dystina, Courtney, and I did not press snooze that morning, and were awake at exactly 4am. We got dressed, did a final check of our luggage and room, and hulled our bags through the maze like hallways to the elevator. As we got off the elevator we realized that we were not only the first ones down to the lobby, but also that we had gotten downstairs even before our wake up call. I sat tiredly, as Courtney and Dystina sat sickly, and we waited for the rest of both groups to arrive. The hotel was kind enough to provide us with breakfast bags, which included water, a croissant, a muffin, and an apple. The ride to Shannon airport was quick and silent, due to the fact that everyone was basically a zombie. We checked in our bags easily, after being asked a couple of questions, somewhat like customs and headed up to security, which was also a breeze. We shopped again at the duty free store, and luckily Shannon Airport provided U.S customs so we wouldn’t have to venture through it in the States. After we all regrouped from the duty free store, we headed through U.S customs and waited at our gate. Shannon airport is so small that there were literally only 2 gates after passing through customs. Our flight was at 9am and we boarded the plane just like we did when we were getting ready to come to Ireland. Our flight was 7 hours this time, but with all the amenities provided time flew by. It was bittersweet to land back at Newark Airport at 11am EST time, but the excitement and memories of Ireland still lingered on, as we said our goodbyes and headed home.
Self- Assessment
Anytime I travel somewhere new, especially a new country with a completely different culture from my own, I try to stay open-minded and try as many new things as possible. I never hesitate to try the traditional foods, listen to the traditional music, and live not like a tourist, but as a genuinely curious visitor. Instead of being in Rome and living as the Romans do, I went Ireland, and did as the Irish do.
Tips
Check the weather and pack accordingly! I was freezing throughout the entire trip, given I only had a thin raincoat to cover my usual hoddie/sweater and yoga pants. Of course you can buy warm wool sweaters and scarfs or a thicker jacket while you're there, but it becomes a hassle when you're out looking for something, versus just shopping for pleasure.
Rain Boots! I packed mostly sneakers and one pair of boots, which weren’t really practical for the amount of walking we do. It’s bound to rain at least once during your stay; so don’t hesitate to pack water resistant shoes and clothes.
Umbrella? Definitely useful at times, but the rain is so bipolar and comes in short spurts that having a raincoat is more sufficient. Plus, it can get extremely windy, and most umbrellas can’t with stand such force. Bring at your own discretion.
Exchange money while you're still in the states. I made sure to exchange a couple hundred dollars at my bank (Chase; if you’re curious) a few weeks before we left for our trip. I found this most beneficial because I always had cash at hand and did not have to hassle with any ATM’s or fees. With that being said, lots of people relied solely on the ATM’s so it’s always an option.
Blow dryer? Hair Straightener? Honestly pointless items to bring and take up valuable souvenir space in your suite case. The outlet might not even be able to withstand the voltage difference between your machine and the converter. Besides, the hotel room, most times, comes equipped with a built in blow dryer, and the rain and wind have no mercy for maintaining beautiful hair.
No need to fear the ill wind when your haystacks are tied down
Irish Proverb Meaning: Once you've prepared properly then there's no need to worry the outcome.
