Thursday I was able to hit the gym in the morning. I’ve come to the conclusion that Im not going to be stressed about finishing all the reading because 1) feckit, i’m in Ireland, 2) no one else is doing the reading, so Im at least ahead of the curve and 3) Id prefer not to lose it while i’m here (sleep and my sanity are more important than knowing the nitty gritty details of the humanitarian work in somalia at the moment).
Im finally getting into the rhythm for class. Ethics has been gradually getting better (collective sigh of relief for those of us who didnt/couldnt drop it)
My flatmates and I have decided that Thursday nights are pub nights. (We’re not going out EVERY night like some of the other students, but we still want to enjoy the local pub culture a bit while we’re here) We ate an early dinner (for us mind you, it was 5 but we’ve been eating after 8 the rest of the week) We headed out to town to hit a pub. We wanted to go to one we knew would be playing music, but we found out it was quite a walk from the shuttle drop off and we weren't in the mood. On the shuttle, a couple of guys from our class mentioned the Coyote bar and that they were having a 90’s music night, so we though we’d check it out. Our bus driver made mention of a pole, but we thought he was just being cheeky. When we got to the Coyote, it wasn't even open yet. We decided to have a drink at An Pucan and wait and see if they’d open soon. When we got there we all ordered drinks and hung out for a bit. (We got the bartender to stick our dollar bill to the wall behind the bar which we had written all of our names on :D) Colleen made friends with a cab driver over the course of the evening, and he said he might drive us to Dingle (score there if it works out with his and our schedule) When we asked what time Coyote opened and mentioned that some people suggest we check it out, our new friend warned us that it wasn't the type of place girls like us should be going. Apparently its pretty skeezy and there are a lot of fights. (Also, the cops get called quite often because of the problems that happen there) Hmm.... not exactly my idea of a classy joint. Also... they dont open until 10-11pm.... er? WTF?
We ended up popping over later after they opened only to find the place was dead. The inside was plastered with American stuff and Coyote Ugly posters.... right.... EXACTLY my kind of place to hang out when Im in Ireland. We ended up not even having a drink. So we went to another pub down the road and had a pint before heading back to An Pucan to listen to some music and find our new cabbie friend to give us a ride home. We hung out for a few minutes and waited to see if Taxi Tom would pop back in as he said he would (he was in and out all night). Because we had an early morning, we decided to give him a call to come pick us up. The bartender called him for us because for some reason it wouldn't go through on my mobile.
After we got back to the flat, I got ready for bed and passed out. It was going to be a long day Friday, so I wanted to get as much sleep as possible.
Friday, we had a group trip to Inis Mor (the largest of the Aran Islands) (we learned on our trip Inis means Island and Mor means large in gaelic- so its the large island in the group of the Arans)
After waiting around for the bus to pick us up we had a 45 minute ride to the ferry. Usually a bus ride isn’t too bad, but we had annoying girl sitting behind us. Without going into detail, I know way too much about this girls life now and I don't even know her name. Her guy friend was pretty obnoxious too.
We then took a ferry from the mainland to the island. It was pretty packed and there were a bunch of really annoying french teenagers, but I ended up falling asleep on the boat.
When we got to the Island, a guy approached Colleen and Monica about taking a horse ride around the island. We decided to go by horse because it wasn't much more than renting a bike and we thought it would be fun. We ended up taking two horses/carts. Monica and Colleen took a cart with Sean and Bob Marley (the horse) and Kimberly and I rode with John and Jack (the horse)
The main language spoke on the island is Irish (Gaelic) -(english is taught as a second language) so it is a bit more difficult to understand their accents, but after a while I got used to John’s accent and it was easier for me to understand what he was telling us. (Also, I noticed they say “you know” and “Luv” a lot. It was mildly amusing when I picked up on it)
The ride to Dun Aonghasa (a prehistoric fort) was really nice. John pointed out a bunch of different things about the island like the school and different houses. (even where he and his family lives). He also pointed out the different villages. Inis Mor is 9 miles long and 2 miles wide and has 10 small villages. The population of the Aran Islands is only about 800, so you can imagine that it isn't very densely populated. Theres lots of open space. John also tried to teach me a bit of Gaelic. I was quite bad, but he thought me trying to pronounce the words was funny.
When we got to the entrance of the fort, John dropped us off and said he’d see us in about an hour and a half. The only way up to the fort itself is by foot, so we were going to be doing some climbing! We each paid for our ticket and then we began our journey up the hill. The terrain of Inis Mor is quite rocky. Thats why there are all the rock walls everywhere- over time people have tried to clear areas to use for farming, grazing cattle, etc. The path wasn't too bad to start out- it was fairly clean and easy to walk on, but once you start climbing up the last bit to the fort you have to climb over rocks in the path (it was like very steep stairs) At this point, the group of us were really glad we had opted for the carriage ride out to the fort, because if we’d have gone by bike we’d be suffering (plus we wouldn't have learned as much as we did about the island sans our “tour guides”)
When we finally made it to the top, the view was amazing. Despite being a very overcast day, we could see much of the island. It was quite beautiful. I tried to take a bunch of pictures, because it’d be difficult to describe the view to someone who has never been there. ergo-go to photobucket if you want to see them. http://s58.photobucket.com/albums/g246/ayeip/Ireland%20Summer%202010/
The fort is right on a cliff as well, so we could see out into the Atlantic. The cliffs were quite beautiful. There are no railings, so we were able to walk right up the the edge. I laid on the ground and hung over the cliff a bit to take some pictures. (Its quite a drop down I must say, so defiantly not a task for anyone who is afraid of heights) We later asked John if anyone had ever fallen over the edge and he said someone did about two years ago. (Considering the amount of people that visit and the lack of safety precautions, I think its a fairly decent statistic.)
After we spent a bit of time exploring the fort, we headed back down the hill. On our way out we met up with a few of the other students who were just arriving (an hour after we did) Add one more reason to the list of why we are glad we took the carriage.
We decided to have a quick bite to eat before we headed over to meet up with Sean and John. We ordered wraps and were surprised to find they weren’t exactly like we thought they were going to be. It was actually really good though. They used a wrap and it was grilled with the stuff inside. I had one with chicken, cranberry sauce and brie... Om Nom. :D
After we finished eating we headed back to meet up with John and Sean. Before we got back in the carts John took us back to see a 6th century church. It was pretty cool. He pointed out a few things that unless you were looking for them, you wouldn't notice them. For example, there was a heart on the wall of the church which was pretty hard to see, but when it was pointed out, you can kind of see it.
We then walked back to the “road” and got in the cart. We had another driver take a picture of the four of us (Kimberly, John, Jack and me) and then we were off. John took us back a different way along the shore so we could see a different bit of the island. The tide was going out so we were even able to see some seals laying out. When we made it back to town John pointed out a tiny building on one of the hills as the smallest church in the world. If we would have had time we could have hiked to it, but we didn't have a huge amount of time to explore the island. (Another reason why we were glad we took the horses and carts- it showed us more than we would have been able to see by bike)
John told us to make sure we told our friends about the carts. (Which I do defiantly recommend to anyone who visits the island, it was well worth it) Sadly, John was telling us during the trip that there are fewer and fewer horses and carts because some people cant afford to keep them us. Because there are now buses that take the tourists out to the fort there has been a significantly increased risk for accidents and the insurance for the drivers has become quite expensive. (Id support a local cart driver over a tour bus any day, because lets admit it, tour buses are obnoxious and you don't get to hear the personal stories like we got to hear with our own personal driver) Jon also told us to tell our friends who had taken the bikes what we had learned about the island. He said that was the traditional way of learning about the island. The stories are passed down- its not something that they learn about reading books. Their parents and grandparents tell them stories about the history of the island. (And the island does have a rich and long history)
At some point during the trip we learned that John and Sean used to be fishermen, but they started driving the horses because the price of fish had gone way down, so it wasnt worth it for them to continue working in the industry.
As we were saying good bye John introduced me to his friend who is “looking for a lady” (aka, a wife) - John’s selling point- he owns a bar. :P I chuckled and said hello and then the group of us said goodbye to John, Jack, Sean and Bob Marley and headed to the sweater shop.
I figured, we’re on the Aran Islands, which is known for its sweaters, so Im going to buy one while Im here. I was able to find one for myself that wasn't too expensive (and by that I mean, it was still WAY more than Id usually pay for a sweater, but it was cheaper than the 200 Euro ones) I would have liked to get one with my family’s clan pattern (different clans have different knit patterns) but 1) I didn't notice them until after I had paid and 2) they were amoung the 200 and up, which I wasn't really willing to pay no matter how high quality it is.
After Kimberly and I bought sweaters and Colleen and Monica finished watching the film in the shop about the island, we headed up the road to SPAR to hit an ATM because I was close to being out of cash. After SPAR we went to one of the “local” restaurants. John said the prices were good- better than the places closer to the hotels. I had a cup of tea and a homemade scone. We hung out there for a bit and then started making our way back to the docks where we would be getting on the ferry back to the mainland.
We had about an hour before our ferry was supposed to leave, so we just kind of hung around the docks. Some of the other students started showing up so we hung out and talked. When the ferry arrived (quite late) we sat on the top deck this time so we could see the scenery. The ride was very windy and quite chilly, but it was beautiful.
We arrived back at the mainland about 45 minutes later and headed straight to the bus. Luckily, we got a seat at the front far from any of the obnoxious classmates. A group of us talked and enjoyed the ride back.
When we got back to Corrib Village, tired and hungry, we high tailed it back to our flat to start making dinner. I was really hungry so I threw the bag of leftover root veg. in the microwave to tide me over until dinner was done. However, I learned that the plastic bags here are not as strong, and the plastic ended up melted in with the potatoes and beets, so I had to toss it and clean out the microwave. I guess I’d just have to wait for dinner to be done.
Colleen made grilled cheese and roasted potatoes. I was mildly amused by the fact that Kimberly and I were drinking red wine with our grilled cheese. Not usually a combination one would put together, but hey- it was a long day and that’s what we had to drink in the apartment.
After dinner, I started working on my blog post, but I was exhausted, so I went to bed and now Im finishing it :D
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