South Trip

April 8 - 10, 2011 

This weekend, the entire group went on a trip to Southern Ireland. We left Friday at 7am and took the bus for 5 hours until we arrived at the Rock of Cashel. The Rock of Cahsel used to be the seat for the kings of Munster, but then was given to the church. It now lies in ruins but was still very cool to see. There are many different elements to the Rock of Cashel, the most interesting being the frescos that they have been able to uncover in two different places. After the Rock of Cashel, we took the bus to Cahir Castle where we had a guided tour and time to walk around the castle grounds. We went up into the tower where they kept prisoners and also into the rooms where people would have lived. Cahir Castle is also where the filmed most of the movie Excalibur. We had a lot of fun walking around the castle walls, so much fun that I ended up having a fake sword fight on the castle walls with one of the girls in my cottage. After Cahir Castle, we walked along the grounds to the Swiss Cottage. The Swiss Cottage was built in 1810 and was a place where the owners of the estate would host parties.

Saturday we woke up and after breakfast loaded the bus and then went on a tour of the Dingle peninsula. We stopped periodically to get out of the bus and look at the amazing coast line. One of the stops we got out at was also along the coast, but there was a path to walk down to a small beach, so we all walked down to the beach and we surrounded by beautiful cliffs. We also stopped at the Gallarus Oratory, an early Christian church. The church looks like an upside down boat and only has one door and one window. We also saw old bee-hive huts and ruins of  churches throughout the peninsula. After our tour of the Dingle peninsula, we went and had a tour of Muckross House. This used to be a private home and is where Queen Victoria stayed for three nights when she came and visited Ireland. The house was magnificent and beautiful, but my favorite part was walking around the grounds. There was a beautiful lake we walked down to and various gardens along the way. After our tour of Muckross house, we made a surprise stop at a waterfall. It was absolutely gorgeous and I climbed up the path to the top of the waterfall! After our stop at the waterfall, we went back to our B&B and went out to dinner with one of my cottagemates parents and then I went back and watched the masters.

Sunday we drove to the Burren is a region in Ireland that is mostly covered in rock. We stopped and saw a portal tomb which is on the Burren and also stopped in a city and saw an audio-visual about the Burren and the wild life and plants which can be found there. The Burren is possibly where they filmed a small part of the most recent Harry Potter movie.  After the Burren, we went to the Cliffs of Moher. The cliffs are absolutely gorgeous and I was in awe the entire time. I was disappointed that you cannot go very far out onto the cliffs themselves. It had been cloudy all day but the last few minutes we where there, the sun came out! After visiting the Cliffs of Moher we drove back to Tully Cross, stopping a few times to take photos along the way.

Overall, the south trip was amazing and I had a lot of fun and learned a lot about Southern Ireland.  

Cahir Castle

 

Cahir Castle 

The Swiss Cottage

Dingle Peninsula

Swiss Cottage

Dingle Peninsula

Beehive Hut

Dingle Peninsual- My Cottage with our wonderful bus driver, Owen

Dingle Peninsula

Dingle Peninsula

Dingle Peninsula

Beach at the Dingle Peninsula 

Gallarus Oratory

Door at Gallarus Oratory 

Muckross - Lake 

Muckross House

Waterfall 

The Burren- Portal Tomb

Walk to Kylemore Abbey

Thursday April 2


Last thursday, the entire Aquinas group walked down to Kylemore Abbey. It could not have been a more perfect day for the group to walk. It was sunny and very warm, so warm that about 20 minutes into the walk I was walking in a t-shirt and jeans and was sill warm. At one point while we were on our walk, three cows came out from the field on the side of the road and crossed the street in front of us! When we arrived at Kylemore, we walked down to the beautiful chapel on the property and had time to look around and take pictures. The lake and the mountains were so beautiful on the walk down, it could not have been more perfect! After the chapel, we went to the abbey and had a chance to walk around before heading down to the walled gardens. After spending some time walking around the gardens, I walked back home with one of my cottagemates. 


When she and I arrived back home, we made dinner and not wanting to waste such a beautiful day, we took our dinner outside and ate it on the parking lot in front of our cottage. It was a great way to spend the afternoon/evening.  

Extended Weekend 2011- Scotland

March 25- March 28

For the extended weekend this semester, I went to Edinburgh, Scotland with two other girls on the trip with me. On Friday we took the bus to Dublin and hung out in St. Stevens Green and read for the afternoon, shopped at Pennys and went out to dinner with a few of the guys on the trip who were staying in Dublin for the break. Our flight left at 6:00am which meant we had to be at the airport at 4:00am but we decided to save money and not get a hostel, so at 2:30 we took a cab to the airport and spent the night there. When we arrived in Scotland we checked into our hostel and took a nap until 1:30. When we woke up, we walked down Princes Street and went to Arthurs Seat, a dormant volcano located in Edinburgh. We hiked on the hills around Arthurs Seat and eventually made it to the top, where once again we had a fabulous view of the city. On our way back home, we passed by Holyroodhouse, the official residence of the queen in Scotland. We all were so tired from our lack of sleep the night before that we called it a night pretty early and got some sleep.

On Sunday we took the bus to St. Andrews to see the Old Course. Since it was Sunday, the Old Course was closed, but the reason it is closed is so that the public can walk around the course, unrestricted! When I found that out I almost had a heart attack. Going to St. Andrews is something that I have always wanted to do ever since I watched a British Open there and to not only get to see it but to walk the course was an amazing experience. I went with two girls who are not that into golf, but were so awesome to come along with me and walk the course. We took our sweet time walking around, soaking up every last moment on the course. Even though Hell Bunker on #14 was filled with water, I took off my shoes and climbed in, I was not going to have any regrets on the trip. Then the day culminated as I walked across the bridge on #18. I then went to the Old Course Golf Shop where I dropped pounds of pounds on souvenirs. After that, we walked to St. Andrews University and walked around the town for a bit before heading back to Edinburgh.

When we arrived at our hostel, we had seen an advertisement for a  free walking tour of Edinburgh so on Monday, we went on the tour at 11 and spent three hours walking around the historic part of Edinburgh with a tour guide who has lived in Edinburgh his entire life and knew so much about the city! On the tour we walked by the castle, old churches, we went to a graveyard where JK Rowling would walk around looking for names to use in Harry Potter and saw the tombstone of a man named Tom Riddle! We also saw St. Giles Cathedral, Mercat Cross, Greyfriars Bobby, Princes Street Gardens and the witch burning sites, to name a few! The tour was great and helped us learn a lot about Edinburgh. After the tour, we went to the cafe where JK Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter books and had hot chocolate and wrote on our own napkins! We then went to Princes Street Gardens where we had a picnic dinner and then played on the playground. After dinner we went home and packed to head back to Tully Cross. I had such a wonderful time in Scotland and it is a place I definitely want to go back to someday!