Claddaghs and Sea Captains

Our first stop out in the streets of Galway was to a Claddagh shop considering Galway is a stone's throw away from the village of Claddagh itself. Claddagh rings are a classic Irish symbol representing love, loyalty, and friendship through the ring's design of a heart wearing a crown whilst being held by a pair of hands. I had already bought my Claddagh ring in Ennis simply because I figured it would cost way less there than in the heart of where the ring was originated, and I only wanted a simple sterling silver design. Therefore, as my friends searched away for their personal Claddaghs, my attention was caught by another ring entirely: a sterling silver ring with a Connemara marble stone and sided by trinity markings. I went to bed with the thoughts of that ring in my mind, so the following day I knew I had to buy it!

By lunchtime, we were starving and since the food at our hotel ABSOLUTELY SUCKS, we found a Papa John's and feasted like kings. For 5 euros apiece, we were rewarded with: 1 sausage and pepperoni pizza, a box of garlic bread, 4 pieces of chicken, a handful of fries, and a 1.5 liter of Coca-Cola. 'Merica.

Anywho's...we couldn't stay out long because the following day was a biology test :( We can't complain too much, however, because we got to take our test in the hotel's bar since there was no other room to do it. I sat myself at the counter right in front of the Guinness tap to solidify the awesomeness of it all. The test went well, and we remained in the bar for our classes.

On Thursday we had a dolphin-watching session planned for our bio class, and with our professor's record of that previous boat tour (see "Christ on a Bike" blog), our apprehension was at an all-time high. Fortunately, it turned out to be the BEST experience of the trip so far! Our boat, the "Draiocht" (meaning magic in Gaelic), took off from the Shannon River early in the morning and took about an hour to reach the heart of the estuary, but the patience was well rewarded. Bottlenose dolphins began popping out of the water like daisies! We all tried clicking away with our cameras, but we were pretty sure that these dolphin were druids because within a second they were back underwater. Yet it taught us to take in the experience instead of wait for the perfect photo. It was more incredible to see these genetically discrete dolphins of the Shanon Estuary than it ever was at the Brookfield Zoo dolphin shows. Our lit teacher was especially ecstatic and yelled/pointed every time a dolphin surfaced.  Once the dolphins made their way out to sea, the boat took another course near a cliffside where Ireland ends and the ocean begins. We came up close and personal to the cliffs, though luckily far enough from these gorgeous waves that crashed majestically against the cliff. We loitered there for a bit, and made our way back with the wind blowing the salty sea air through our hair. Well, at least for most of us. A good handful of people stuck towards the back of the boat and puked their guts out. Glad I wasn't one of them. Instead, my lit teacher and I decided we should have a fishing business just so we could live on the waves!

Galway itself is the perfect combination of Dublin's city with Killarney's intimacy: people are rushing about the town, but they weren't totally driven by that sense of purpose. It's literally a breath of fresh air to walk along the River Corrib and then run into town to check out clothing boutiques, bookstores, and jewelry shops. I love it here so much. Ireland has utterly stolen my heart.

Galway Girl

We’ve reached the halfway point, folks! Is there really only 5 more weeks left in Ireland?! My parents might have to start worrying for real this time because owning a home over here is looking like a pretty dang good idea. Don’t worry mom and dad, you’ll always be welcome to visit! :D

Four lovely days in Ennis came to a pleasing end as we turned our attention toward our next destination: Galway. However, on the way to this very much talked about city, we were going to make a few stops along the way. The first was to catch a glimpse of another ring fort that our literature class has been discussing. What’s super interesting about them is that they were constructed by dry masonry, meaning that the builders did not use any kind of adhesive to ensure that the rocks stayed together. Instead, they simply placed rock upon rock in a “corbelling” fashion: layering the rocks so that as they rose higher, they slightly bent so that they came together with a keystone, similar to an arch construction. This method kept the rocks together and water would slide off the sides instead off in. The not super-interesting part: it was the third one we’ve seen in a week. I had my sights set on another attraction at the ring fort establishment: sheepdog demonstrations!!!! Unfortunately, it was not part of our tour, and I became extremely sad to the point that a 

 friend made sure to photograph my reaction.

I couldn’t be upset for long, though, because our next stop was the most famous tourist attraction in all of Ireland: the Cliffs of Moher. Our professors made sure to give us an extra long lecture on proper safety measures to consider on the drive over there as well as informing us of a very scary incident: earlier in the week, one of our professors took a trip to the Cliffs, and apparently a woman who was coming to the Cliffs from Cork on the same bus had committed suicide the very same day by jumping off. When our entire group arrived that day on the way to Galway, the search team was still looking for her body. The Cliffs are a terrifyingly wondrous thing to see, and I admit that at some points where the fence ended, I was shaking and not from the wind. Being on the Cliffs was like the sensation of looking at the stars in the sky and acknowledging your insignificance in the world. All in all, though, it was breathtaking to realize where I was, a little geek came out as we fangirled over the site of Princess Bride’s cliffs of insanity.

We all made it back to the bus (thankfully), and continued on to our final stop before Galway: a portal tomb. This particular tomb is well-known for its durability throughout the years, and its placement within the Burren. The landscape is covered in karst limestone, and it looks like puzzle pieces of rock sticking out of the ground. We had a fun game of “the grass is lava” as we hopped over on each stones.

*Quick note: we were pretty sure our bus driver was a hitman.

Finally, finally, finally Galway came into view. In the late afternoon, we drove with the River Corrib flowing by us and the hubbub of the town coursing through the streets. We arrived at Jury’s Inn and settled down long enough to throw our suitcases to the ground and run out. Galway awaits!

A Good Place To Be

Though it hurt us to leave the beauty of Killarney, we had to say goodbye as we continue our journey. On Friday morning, we passed through the countryside with the Kerry Mountains in the rearview, and made our way to Ennis in Co. Clare. Our lit teacher, Dr. McDowell, isn't particularly fond of the area (calling it "a nice place...to drive through"), but our anthropology teacher emphasized the relevance of the stop as a music wonderland. He had set up a rendezvous with the well-known traditional Irish group the Ceili Bandits, but we weren't going to see them until Monday. Instead, we were given a longer leash to explore the cozy town of Ennis!

We found a coffee shop on practically every corner as well as pet shops and neat little boutiques. The intimacy of the town really reinforces that strong bond and sense of community with the Irish. Also, though, we realized that there is an incredible amount of European immigrants to Ennis especially, for we passed many Polish bakeries and grocery stores and our favorite lunch spot, "Souper", was run by several Hungarians! Immigration became huge after the Celtic Tiger era, and where better for decent work than an agriculturally-driven Ireland? I even met a Polish man taking his grandsons to the park, and demonstrated my ancestry when one of the boys, probably around 2 years old, picked a daisy and gave it to me. I replied with "dziękuję", or thank you, and the man was pleased to hear it. 

On our second day in Ennis, we realized that we needed to play catch up with our homework, and found a quiet field to read in, except that we weren't alone. A man approached us, but his appearance and speech clearly noted that he was socially challenged, and he kept asking us what we were doing. We replied that we were reading our anthropology books for our class, and he sat on the ground and stared up at the sky and eating a bag of chips as we read. Eventually he staggered off, allowing us to discuss what had happened, but he returned carrying a 2-liter bottle of "traditional cider" (aka alcohol), and repeated his questions from before. We answered similarly, and he staggered off again in a drunken stupor. He returned a third time with a bag of M&M's, offering them to us, but we refused, using our eyes to communicate to each other that it was time to get the hell out of there. He suddenly tossed a piece of candy at a friend, and we gathered our stuff and politely bid him adieu as we left the field. We eventually found an actual park to sit and read in which proved to be much better. Later that night, we went to a pub called Brogan's where two men were playing music, though nothing too entertaining, so we finished our pints and headed out to wander some more. We stumbled across a place called Enzo's that offers burgers for 2.40 euro! We were so excited for such a cheap price (even the McDonald's here is at least 3 euro for stuff on the dollar menu), that we grabbed some bacon burgers and happily ate back to the hotel.

On Sunday, we prepared a Bio study session since we have a test this upcoming Wednesday, and that took about 3 hours to go through. Can't escape reality even when you are in Ireland, unfortunately. But the session was good for us all to feel comfortable with the approaching exam, and we spent the remainder of the day doing homework and watching Sherlock after dinner.

*A quick note: our hotel, The Temple Gate, has the best food that I've ever had in my life. Professionally made potato skins, salmon, cod, chicken, soups, and especially the desserts! Hot chocolate brownies, toffee ice cream with meringue, orange & chocolate chip cheesecake...ahhh too bad it's only 4 days here...

I'm writing now on our last day, where I went out and bought a Sterling Silver Claddagh ring for only 25 euros. I was thinking of waiting until Galway to get one, but even there cheaper ones cost 40-45 euros simply because Galway is where the claddagh ring originated. I was also glad to purchase the ring from a lovely woman with her own jewelry shop, so it felt good to give back to the small community. At 2pm, we returned to Brogan's where we just finished our session with the Ceili Bandits, and incredibly fun and gifted group of musicians who introduced us to the differences in Irish music (jigs, reels, etc). After dinner, we will be going to watch their session in the popular pub and see them perform in a traditional setting. The violin player, Yvonne, told us about how she gets lost in the music when she plays both alone and with a group, and how it is a good place to be. Her words reflected upon this stop in Ennis as a whole, for though there may not be dozens of monuments and attractions to see as tourists, that doesn't make it any less beautiful.