A weeks end

Just as we were warned, the weekends in Limerick, believe it or not, are pretty dead. The Irish students all go home to work on Friday and return Sunday, so campus is a ghost town on Friday and Saturday nights. However, come Sunday, the students return to reek havoc on the town and go out in full force! Having been told this, Anne Marie, Becky, Craig, Robert and I decided that we should spend our Saturday exploring the town we would be living the next four months in. Though the third largest city in Ireland, Limerick does not have a whole lot to see, so we were able to hit the major cites in one afternoon. We took the bus to King's Island were we explored King John's Castle. Not to sound like a snob, though it was lovely and the history interesting, I've seen better castles in my day. That is only because I was spoiled on my first European trip with tours of some of the most beautiful castles in the world! However, I did thoroughly the view of Limerick City atop the castle towers. After the castle we walked around the island to see St. Mary's Church and St. Mary's Cathedral. The church was beautiful inside and out and the cathedral was just as beautiful from the outside, but it was not open for us to go inside so we will have to go back. The five of us then proceeded into town and did some walking around there and then went to a pub called Dolan's for dinner where I had fish and chips :) It was a great but exhausting we were all ready for an early night to bed especially because we were going hill walking the next day!

My group of friends and I all decided to join the Outdoor Pursuits Club and were excited for our first outing! We would be hill walking in Kerry County at Killarney National Park (the second highest peak in Ireland). Now, there must have been a translation problem or something because what they called beginners hill climbing, we in the states call advance mountaineering. Now, it wasn't that bad at all, but much more intense then we expected. We had a perfect day for it. There wasn't much sun, but there was no rain which made for an enjoyable hike. Along the way we ran into a variety of elements... two are three mud pits, streams, and about 60mph winds to name a few oh, and numerous "hills". One of the coolest things to do was hike for a while and then turn around and see what was behind you. the land just went on for miles and miles and all you could see was varying shaded of green. As we got higher we could see lakes and sun just past the hills behind them. It really was beautiful. (The video is probalbly only about 1/4 of the way up or so). We stopped for lunch about halfway up and that is where it got really windy and cold. The area was referred to as "The Devils Punchbowl." There was a very large body of water running though the mountain that was said to have been created by the devil after he threw a boulder at someone that had punched him? Perhaps there is a more creative story than the one I was told, but that's all I know. After we ate we continued up and were met by thick fog and even faster winds. At one point I was literally blown over and caught myself on a rock. Seeing the winds were not going to die down, after getting 3/4 up the mountain, about half of us decided to head back. I was happy with what I had seen and proud of myself for getting as far as I did and after talking to people that did venture all the way to the top, the fog 3/4 of the way up, was the same as the fog at the top. I must mention that as we were making our trek back down the mountain, my friends and I were talking and someone mentioned the slips they had been making. Anne Marie commented she was surprised that she had not fallen down yet. JUST as I had finished repeating the Howie Day lyric "Even the best fall down sometimes," I found myself loosing my footing and sliding a good five feet on my butt in mud. I was then considered myself "one of the best" that fall. By the end of the day, I was knee deep in mud from the front, and well, completely covered on the back, I was definitely better off then the girl that wore Uggs! All together we did 4 hours of walking. It seemed as though it was colder at the bottom at the end of the day than when we had started so when we were in town and stopped at a pub for food, I warmed up just as I imagine any good Irishwoman would... with a little Bailey's Coffee :) The ride home was quite entertaining to say the least. We sang almost the entire time. Everything from Donna Summer to Simon and Garfunkle and then the leaders singing traditional Irish bar songs. It is definitely something I am glad I did. Next week they are going rock climbing and caving. Though I enjoy a challenge I don't think I'm ready for that. To top off the day, it was Superbowl Sunday. Though here, kick off was not until 11:30 pm. I was not sure I was going to be able to watch any of it, but I wanted to attempt it. I made it though the first half but then headed to bed and ended up watching the highlights this morning on the internet. Just as I expected, the broadcast was not like home. It was NBC's coverage, but broadcasted by the BBC and there were no commercials and one of the commentators was British. I sure did miss fun commercials, loud cheers and overeating that I'm used to.

One last note. I have found that just as entertaining as the Irish accent, is the Irish text. I thought I would share some. This is one I received when we were going to see Slumdog Millionaire. "We will giv a spin down 2 d cinema in a while 2 see wots on and ill let u know den. Wot time-ish wud suit u?" And then when I told someone I went hill walking they replied, "Savage! I went on dat trip a few years ago. Its a good 1. So u got 2 c d devils punchbowl? Wot did u make of d countryside!?" I just found them humorous and wanted to share. Ta ta!