Friends we haven’t met yet… Posted on January 8th, 2014 by

Dia dhaoibh friends and family!

Yesterday was our first day waking up here in Ireland and I think I can speak for everyone when I say that we are already really enjoying ourselves! It took no time at all to realize that the cottages we are staying in are terribly drafty but they sure are charming with the thatch roofs and the colorful doors and windows.  I guess it all adds to the experience.

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After we all woke up in our cottages we took the van to the college and met with the College President Mary Hawkes-Greene.  She welcomed us to the school and even showed us a little video about The Burren.  Did you know that there is up to 50 different types of vegetation in one square meter here?? I guess they don’t call it the fertile rock for nothing!

After our introduction with Mary we were given a tour of the school and even got to climb up to the top of the completely restored castle on campus.  To say it was amazing was an understatement.

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By the time our tour was done we went inside and had homemade lamb stew at the cafeteria here on campus.  I was hesitant at first because I had personally never eaten lamb before but it was so delicious and the perfect Irish meal to have on our first day. After lunch we had the remainder of the day off and could do whatever we wanted.  There were a few different groups who decided to walk home and everyone had their different share of adventures.

I personally walked home with Sarah Larson, Elizabeth Johnson, and Jessica Martin.  We didn’t know where we were headed but we knew we were going in the right direction and that was all that mattered.  On the way home we saw amazing scenery, lots of cows and even two donkeys.  An hour and a half later we discovered that we had taken the long way back to the cabins and not the direct route but we sure had a blast.  It worked out well for us anyways because one of the groups who walked home and took the most convenient way soon discovered that the trail was flooded and there was no way around it! Steven Bormann even fell into a hole on the way home but that is a story you will have to ask him personally! (However, Baker wants me to put in a side note saying that everyone is safe and completely unharmed!)

I know in the beginning of my entry I talked about how cold the cottages are but I really cannot complain because it has given many of us on the trip an excuse to get out, meet each other and even some locals at the pubs right up the road.  Now before any parents get nervous about their son or daughter at the pubs, they really are more of coffee shops here.  I personally spent around four hours there yesterday with some new friends from class drinking coffee and discussing the poetry of W. B. Yeats.

When I asked a few of my classmates their favorite part of the trip so far here are how a few of them answered:

“The scenery.” – Alli Conrad

“Being in a whole new atmosphere and learning about the culture through the people here.” – Sarah Larson

“I really enjoy all of the cows.” – Jessica Martin

“The coziness.” – Elizabeth Johnson

 

Finally I want to leave you all with some words of wisdom written by Yeats that a local woman named Margret shared with me last night, “There are no strangers here; only friends you haven’t yet met.” 

 

 

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