Twenty-Second, Twenty-Third, Twenty-Fourth, Twenty-Fifth, Twenty-Sixth Day

St. Declan's well

The view from the bridge leading up to Lismore Castle

Lismore Castle

View of the ocean...it was a rough day!

 

 

 

I apologize for falling so far behind on my posts! Here's some pictures to make up for it. It's midterm/final week here in Dungarvan and the professors are really piling on the work for us. On Saturday, a sizable group of us got on a bus to travel around West Waterford. We went to Lismore, Ardmore, all kinds of cathedrals and St. Declan's Walk. Let me tell you, it was a COLD COLD COLD day, though when I skyped my family later they said it was still colder back home. The only difference is that I didn't pack clothing here that is good for cold weather. I was walking around in 40 degree weather with a pair of jeans, thin boots, and a sweatshirt on. It is safe to say that although I saw these really amazing sights, I was too miserable to fully enjoy it (not to sound like too much of a brat!) Even when TK was explaining the history of all these sights my mind just kept shouting: MUST get warm, MUST get warm. My mind was just not in the right state to be traveling all over the country, even though at the most we were about a half hour away.

The area I'm currently residing in is also known as the Deise which I may have already mentioned. The Deise people were a Gaelic tribe settled in Ireland, which is why the region is known as such. It includes all of County Waterford and some of Tipperary. We learned a lot about their history in Lismore and Ardmore, and the history of Lismore Castle which saw a lot of invasions from the Vikings to the Normans. That area was also home to a group of monks who provided an education to boys who would travel from other countries to Lismore.

 Unfortunately I'm blanking right now on what else happened. We saw more churches than I could count, probably more than I've ever been in in my life. We saw another round tower similar to one we saw on the first day in Ireland which was used as a bell tower and as a means of defense and this one in particular was used to keep an eye on the coast for invaders. Also, our bus driver was amazing. More than once we went up some scary hills that were right on the edge of these pretty huge cliffs and we almost got stuck and went off. Luckily, I'm still alive, but on the way to St. Declan's well, I did not enjoy looking out my window into the ocean far below with nothing in between.

On Sunday, some of the group went to a hurling match, but I didn't sign up for it because I was smart and I knew that I wouldn't have my ethics paper done ahead of time. As it turns out, neither did anyone else really, which is why a lot of people skipped out. That is basically my Sunday in its entirety: work, work, and more work. And let's be honest, that was my Monday, too.

Today (Tuesday), I stayed home from Gaelic because he kept the class from 9:30 until 4:30 and I'm auditing, and I have plenty of other work to do. I decided to get up and go for a run to the beach...it's a long way and it was snowing, barely, but still. I'm glad Sarah and I found that nice walking path it leads straight from Dungarvan through Abbeyside and out. Before I got out, TK stopped me in his little purple van to ask me if I knew where Lauren's family was staying, for how long, etc. I couldn't answer most of his questions, so he asked me if I was a part of the mafia because it's so difficult to extract information from me. I replied, "No, I'm just clueless, mainly." That made him laugh! I told him (again) that my parents were coming just after we got back from Berlin, and he's happy to have them come along to the Waterford Crystal factory and the JFK homestead.

After my run, Lindsey and I worked all day on our comparative government study guide. We were actually really productive for a change! I don't regret not going to Gaelic that day. At 6:30, the Literature class went to Dr. Reed's townhouse for a pot luck/poetry session/review night. He made bubble and squeak- it has cabbage, potatoes, and pork. Someone made grilled cheese, pizza dip, a nice salad, pizza, mushy peas, garlic bread, chicken nuggets, carrot cake, chocolate cake, I brought a cheapo package of cupcakes and then hid them in the corner and took them home since no one ate them.....all in all it was a fun night. I had already recited my poem so all I had to do was sit back, relax, and listen. Oh, and eat, of course.

Wednesday! Class, Dr. Reed's crazy challenging and long final, and study sessions ALL night for my two exams tomorrow.

So, as you can see, I've really been living it up here. At least from now on I will have one less class to worry about, and next week we're in Berlin, so cheers to that!