Hello again! Here is my post about the infamous St. Patrick's Day and about my trip to the west of Ireland the following weekend. At my university, they give us a "reading week" where we are supposed to catch up on all the assigned reading (which no one really does). So, basically it's like we get a random week off. Monday was St. Patrick's Day and it kicked off this lovely week off. I had just gotten back from London so I was pretty tired but ready to experience this country's biggest holiday. We headed to city centre around 10 and it was already a zoo. Dublin, as many other cities in Ireland, have these huge parades but by the time we got there, you could only see a sea of people already lined up waiting for the parade. It barely had started by the time we had to meet our friend Conor to get the tickets for the game.
So, on St. Patrick's day, they have a back-to-back match of hurling and Gaelic football (two of the national sports of Ireland) at Croke Park. Croke Park is the GAA stadium. Its massive and the atmosphere was amazing. The teams playing were more of club teams from specific areas all around Ireland so it was really cool to see people coming from all over to root on their team. It got kinda crazy because a Dublin team was in the Gaelic football game, and they won, so there was a lot of celebration going on. It was such a cool experience and Gaelic football has to be one of my favorite sports now. Its a mixture of football, soccer, volleyball and rugby. IT'S AWESOME.
Here are some pictures of Croke Park and some festivities:
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| There was a sea of green |
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Caley and Kate :)
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We went out that night and the nightlife was exactly what I pictured. It was just this massive, sloppy party. We didn't stay long and ended up in a small pub, just chillin. It was an overall good St. Patrick's Day experience.
So that weekend, on Friday, we left for our trip to Westport. Westport is north of Galway on the west side of the island. We headed out in the bus and first ended up at Killary Fjord, the only fjord in Ireland. We had a private boat tour of it so that was cool! The weather on the west, it seems like, is so much crazier that in Dublin. It was super windy and rainy until we were heading back and then it was sunny. But, overall, it was very scenic and beautiful...
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| Kate :) |
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| At this moment, these little rain drops were pelting my face. So fun. |
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| The sun came out! |
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| Maddie, my roommate <3 |
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| Snow topped mountain in the distance |
The city that the port was in is where the movie "The Field" was filmed (if anyone knows and have seen it).
On Saturday, it was the "highlight" of the weekend. We had a 19 mile bike ride on what is called The Greenway. You ride from town to town and see some very picturesque views. Since I was on a bike for hours, I didn't get a lot of pictures and what I do have are lopsided so I apologize! We experienced all forms of weather but I have to say my favorite was when it started hailing like mad for 10 minutes. Hail mixed with bikes on asphalt is such a great combination for me. ;)
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| Sheep selfie. At one point, they were on the trail and started to charge my bike. |
Later that day, I explored Westport, the city we were actually staying in. It was very small and cute.
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| This is called the Mall |
On Sunday, we saw a sheep dog demonstration at this man's farm. This guy is actually pretty famous because his sheep were in the movie Marley & Me and he has all these pictures with Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson. Owen Wilson even wanted to buy one of his sheep dog. It was pretty cool but the dogs were phenomenal. I fell in love instantly (maybe because I miss Rocky so much). It was too cool and his view from his house is truly astonishingly amazing.
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| hello, sheep! |
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| This was the view from his house. Like, what? |
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| I was in loveeeee. |
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| This terrier deals with the foxes who try to kill the sheep. Its amazing that this little dog can kill them. He was so sweet. |
After, we stopped in Galway for a little and headed back to Dublin. Overall, interesting and fun reading week for sure, even though reading wasn't really involved. :)
xoxo,
Halle
