Week 12: Fools Rushin' Into Ireland

The first week of April definitely had its mixture of everything! Our April Fools’ Day (4/1) was a continuation of the night before. We all made it back to Cloud and Becca’s room for some fun and games. Then it was back to business with preparing for my longest day of the week: Monday. I did however get to ‘refresh’ my hair compliments of Rasa on Monday (4/2) night. Then, summer business was sooner than I thought because on Tuesday (4/3) I rushed to call people from a prospective interview site. I was even able to send a cover letter and resume thanks to London being 8 hours ahead of Los Angeles. Cross your fingers for me; I hope I have an internship waiting for me when I get back home.

Wednesday (4/4) was back to being about being in London. I met up with my MIS group members and you have heard (read is more like it) ramble on about how these group projects are a requirement for all my classes. Each group I have been a part of abroad definitely has its own personality. My marketing group, as I have mentioned before, is composed of 2 degree students and 1 other study abroad student. We have been meeting practically every week sometimes twice a week since the very beginning of the semester. I met lovely ladies in my psychology group who are from other U.S states (Arkansas, Texas) and even another girl from Bulgaria! My organizational behavior group was made up of all study abroad students all over the U.S. ranging from California to Rhode Island.

In these three groups, one has remained constant: I had at least another American student in my group. For MIS, not only was I the ONLY study abroad student in the entire class, but I was also the only American in my group. My other group members were from Azerbaijan and Bulgaria. Our group project was not assigned until less than 3 weeks from the due date of the project, so we had very limited time together. In that time however, the communication was also limited. Not because they did not speak English—they spoke it very well—but because I did not speak their languages. Our first meeting was Wednesday (4/4) and I guess I got a taste of how it is to be left out as my group members first discussed their opinions before answering a question I had asked them. I will not lie and say it was not uncomfortable, but it was a short meeting because I had to head off to Freud’s former home in London for my psychology class.

Sigmund Freud fled to London in 1938 and died a year later in the house now turned museum we went to visit. After perusing the two-story house with the infamous couch and Freud’s collection of items from all over the world, the entire class strolled down the street to a coffee house to chat. Yes, you read right—coffee with the professor. My classmates and I had always been in awe of his wealth of knowledge. We could never discuss this in class because we were always too busy trying to write down everything he said during lecture, so my classmate (with whom I also have for Marketing) would share that exhausted look as we walked back to Atlantic House together.

Thursday (4/5) was Day 1 of my Ireland adventure! Wait. Pause. Let me not get too far ahead of myself. I did indeed have class that morning, as did my fellow Ireland ladies—Rasa, Becca, and Julie. In fact, this little rush I did might have been helpful BEFORE we missed our flight! Yes, of course there were so many factors involved that made us miss our check-in time by TWENTY minutes (like the frustrated girlfriend who yelled at her boyfriend sitting in the front row of the bus already as she hailed a cab or the sheer confusion at the Victoria bus station in general…but don’t let me get into it).

So there we were in Stanstead airport at 3:45 PM as our airplane was barely lifting off. All hope seemed lost, despite our purchase of ₤50 (each) Standby tickets. Then, shortly after 4:30 PM, Julie nearly knocked over an airline employee as she announced that seats were available to the next flight out to Dublin. Lucky that Julie did get us first in line because we were not the only people vying for spots (and it IS quite a challenge to get 4 spots all on the next flight). We were in the clear and arrived in Dublin safely that night.

So what if we missed the Pub Crawl? It was a free event thanks to our membership to ISIC. Besides, after we (FOUND and) settled into our hostel for the night, we made our own stop to a pub (where we named a drink after me) and more importantly, to the local convenience store to grab some munchies. Only Rasa, Becca, and Julie will share my laughs as I try to explain what happened in the surrounding minutes of midnight to kick off Julie’s 21st birthday. However, I will try to explain. Rasa and I were first booked in a different room from Becca and Julie. To get in the same room, we agreed to room that accommodates six people. No one was in the room when we arrived, and still no one was there when we got back with our popcorn, Ben & Jerry’s phish food, and liter of Coca Cola. So who would have thought that precisely the moment we decided to start Friday (4/6)—the celebration of our dear friend Julie’s birth—two strange men would enter and drop their belongings in our room? Awkwaaard.

The rest of Julie’s birthday was quite eventful, despite the fact that we happened to be in Ireland on one of two dry days that the Irish observe. That’s right—no alcohol to be sold or consumed on the day she turned 21. How ironic. But hey—we’re in IRELAND! Our 3-day bus tour kicked off with our first stop at Locke’s Whiskey distillery turned museum. We were able to slide by the ‘dry’ day rules by sipping a shot of some very strong whiskey. Our bus tour continued west to Clonmacnoise monastery founded 1500 years ago by along the River Shannon. Our next stop was simply to grab some lunch from Super Valu, Ireland’s grocery chain. Afterwards, our tour guide let us in on the myth of the ancient portal tomb, Pol na Brone Dolmen.Our next stop was the fairy bush, where Irish superstitions are exemplified. To keep any and all possible fairies, leprechauns, and banshees happy, everyone was to exit the bus and daintily walk the circumference of the fairy bush, very careful not to enter the bush of course.

Hands down my favorite part of the day was experiencing the beautiful Cliffs of Moher. My breath was taken away at the sight of the Atlantic (and the fact that one wrong step can lead to a face-first meeting with the ocean). We had our fun ‘rescuing’ each other from the edge of the cliffs as we ventured further than we were technically supposed to. We made it back safely to our bus in time for our next stop: Flanagan’s Village Hostel, where we enjoyed bowls of traditional (and delicious!) Irish beef stew with soda bread. Then, we found out that our bed situation was again, not perfect. Since one of the beds in our room was meant for two people, we did not want to split one of the couples in our group. So, Julie, Rasa, and I got singles in the same room, which left Becca in a bed next door, full of strangers. Only she can tell you how that night went.

The night was not yet over though. Our tour guide led us on a ‘short’ walk (more like a hike!) to the pebble beach nearby, where we shared quiet moments to enjoy a gorgeous sunset. Then, it got a little too cold for Julie and Becca, so they decided to head back to the hostel. Becca and I, on the other hand, braved out the chill to savor the sparkling sky. For a city girl like me, huge buildings and bright lights commonly overpower the sky; but there were no buildings, no lights, nothing to pail the sheer beauty of the night sky during those moments in Ireland. The utter darkness did have a drawback, however. Becca and I clutched onto each other, as we nearly had to feel our way back to the hostel. The sparkling sky and shooting stars were definitely worth it! I was even lucky enough to get the top bunk with a skylight, and I fell asleep gazing at the stars.

The next morning (Saturday, 4/7), we hopped on the bus again onto the Tarbert Ferry, which took us across the Shannon. That morning, we passed by cities and sights such as the Tralee, Sliabh Mish mountains, Dingle village, and beehive dwellings. By lunch, we reached Coumeenole beach of the Dingle peninsula, known as the site for David Lean’s 1969 film – Ryan’s daughter. After lunch, I was the first of the group to fold up my jeans and leave a piece of my soul – as legend has it – in the water, where it will be waiting for my return in 40 years. After the rest of the gals joined me, our tour guide mentioned how some of the locals were in awe of us (possibly because of our tan skin) and had invited us to a party that night! (Too bad we were leaving...)We headed back on the bus and heard stories of the legendary three sisters and the mystical sleeping giant. Then, it was time yet again to get off the bus in order to hike to the most western part of Europe (a.k.a the closest we will get to being home!).

Before we knew it, we were at our temporary home for the night in Killarney. We did not even get a chance to really settle in before it was time to go out and experience something truly Irish for dinner (lamb chop and potatoes), drinks (Guinness), and dancing (swarming Irish men). After successfully finding our way back to our hostel, our rooming situation was as perfect as it could have gotten – all four of us were in the same room, just sharing with one other girl. As for me, I thought I lucked out again with getting the top bunk with a skylight. Think again. I was too lazy to close the skylight shut and even though I could feel the chilly air penetrating through my blanket. I should have known better to keep myself (especially my torso) warm, because in just a few hours I felt terribly sick for the next 24 hours. Needless to say, I did not sleep very well that night (and neither did my room mates, thanks to me).

Nevertheless, we had to be up early on Easter morning (4/8) and ready to get back on the bus. We were off to receive the gift of gab (eloquent speech) by kissing the stone at Blarney Castle. Now, walking around and climbing stone staircases were already challenges for me that day, but now they wanted turn me backwards upside down to kiss a slab of rock that I am sure thousands of other tourists have stuck their lips?! Eh, what the heck, right? After walking around the beautiful estate, we found our way to some souvenir shops before heading back to the bus. In order to encourage our timely arrival to the bus, our tour guide informed us at the beginning of our bus tour any tardy tourists would have to entertain the rest of the bus with a song. There were only a couple of instances that this happened, which did not include any of us girls. Until, of course, a bit of miscommunication occurred, which left Rasa rushing back to the bus with bags of souvenirs. Despite her efforts, she was handed the mic and accepted a request to sing her rendition of Madonna’s ‘Like a Virgin.’ Our last sightseeing stop brought us underground, where nature has created an acoustically perfect cave. I still was not feeling up to par at this point, and this sight is difficult to explain, so you will just have to ask one of the other girls to explain.

The rest of the trip was a blur for me. I remember sleeping the rest of the bus trip back to Dublin City at the same hostel we arrived in on Thursday. We did not stay the night though; we just got our things together and headed back to the airport, where I mostly laid in line with our belongings. After being shuttled from the airport to the airplane, we spent what seemed forever in the tiny airplane back to Stansted, where we then had to hop on the Tube back to Victoria in order to catch a bus to High Ken, where we walked our way back to Atlantic House to hike up 3 and half stories into our dorm room, where I finally curled into bed and knocked out. What. A. Trip.

No worries, I felt muuuuch better the next morning. Check out my blog about next week to hear how my trip to visit family in Denmark went!

Gifted with Gab,
Danielle