So I acknowledge that I haven not written in a few weeks. Hopefully no one has been kept awake at night wondering if I got brainwashed by the Irish folksongs and went native. Don't fret; I still have every intention of returning home in May. (quick aside: I've heard from a couple of sources that rumor has it I plan on sticking around here for an extra month, or the rest of summer - depending on the version you might have heard. I'll go ahead and dispel that; I still have every intention of coming home at the end of May, cross my heart!)
As to what shenanigans I have been up to in the past few weeks? If you are up to date with my adventures (really you have no reason not to be - everyone likes to procrastinate, not to mention you had plenty of time to catch up) then you will know that the next destination on the agenda was Bunratty Castle and Folk Park outside of Shannon. Noel and I met up to catch the 8:00am bus down which took about an hour. Once in the park we started out the morning with a cup of tea and delicious homemade scone at the Tea Room in the Folk Park. Since it was technically during the off-season we had the place mostly to ourselves; this made roaming around a bit easier as there were no crowds to fight. We spent the better part of two hours in the castle alone.
We toured a bit more of the Folk Park which was comprised of small cottages built in the fashion of homes from different areas of Ireland, then headed out of the park to get lunch. There was a restaurant called the Creamery Bar a little ways off with delicious clam chowder. Actually some of the best vegetable soup I've ever tried, too. Why are all the best restaurants out in the middle of nowhere? Well, Vernon excluded...
We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering the grounds of the Folk Park, a pretty extensive place with about twenty-three shops and homes we could go into. Actually it was mostly houses, then one area representing the main street of a village.
Other event worth mentioning: attended the Law Ball last Tuesday with Brad, a fellow from the states who was here last semester as well. Each department hosts a ball every year. I cannot speak to the rest of the balls but I have to imagine that they're all pretty similar. It was a nice affair starting with cocktails at the Galway Bay Hotel, dinner, then a band. I admit I was a bit disappointed that the band actually played mostly American music, but on the bright side I knew the majority of the songs. The shindig went well into the night/morning and there was an after party, well, after, but we ended up just heading back at that point.
(before I rendezvoused with Brad; this is one of the few pictures I have from the night. also, Beth is on my right, Meg on my left)
That's really all the craic (pronounced "crack" - can be used for anything from "good time" to "What's the craic?" which is essentially, "How are you?") here. Finally got out on a horse yesterday with the Equestrian Club. Just tryouts to place us for lessons (I think... they were very vague) but it was great to be back in the saddle (I know, curveball coming from me)! Headed out to Dublin Thursday after class to meet up with Brigid (buddy from Thacher). She's in Florence for the quarter and wanted to come to Ireland for a bit; she is a McCarthy after all! Needless to say I'm excited to see her after almost three years! Actually, I'm going to be out of town the next three weekends. Heading to Kilkenny the following weekend, then meeting up with Alex and Dub (also Thacher comrades spending the semester in Madrid and Florence, respectively) the first weekend in March. Anyway, that's all I have on the horizon at the moment.
Oh, and the horse? Still MIA...
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