Hello everyone!

Last week, my friends, Erin and Sarah, flew from MN and met me in Dublin for their spring break!  Despite not sleeping for 24 hours, Erin and Sarah were troopers, and we still managed to have a busy day on Saturday. We went to an Irish pub for lunch, and of course, we had some Irish stew. We then went to Trinity College and saw their beautiful library.  I enjoyed attending Mass in English for the first time in a while at St. Kevin’s Church! After dinner, we all went to bed pretty early to prepare for our busy next three days.

On Sunday, we woke up early and got on our tour bus to visit the Cliffs of Moher. Our first stop was Dunguaire Castle, a 16^th century castle, which is known as the most photographed castle in Ireland. We enjoyed all of the commentary from our lovely guide, Gary, and we all learned a lot throughout the tour! Gary ended up being our favorite tour guide because of his quirky personality and funny sense of humor. He constantly reminded us to smile during the tours because he said our smiles and positive thinking would bring us good weather. Anyway, we stopped in Doolin for lunch and had our first Guinness of the trip and some more stew and brown bread.

Next stop was the Cliffs of Moher, the most visited nature site of Ireland, made famous by scenes in Harry Potter and Princess Bride. While the morning was a bit rainy and foggy, it cleared up perfectly by the time we got to the Cliffs! Our final stop was at Galway Bay, where we had another incredible view of the ocean. On the bus, I sat next to a Canadian girl who has been studying near Frankfurt for about a year and a half. We enjoyed swapping study abroad stories and getting to know each other on our way back from Dublin. For dinner, we switched it up and went to an Italian restaurant for a Caprese Salad, bruschetta, and a pizza. We went back to the hotel and went to bed after our long but fun day.

On Monday, we got up early again for our day trip to Blarney Castle! Our first stop was a castle called Cashel, where we saw Cormac’s chapel, an abbey, and St. Patrick’s Cross. It was really beautiful but very cold (evidence below :)).

Next up was our stop at the Blarney Castle! We kissed the stone and received the gift of gab. We then wandered around the beautiful gardens, went through the fairy garden, and walked up and back down the wishing stairs with our eyes closed so that our wishes would be granted. We then went to Cork for lunch, and we went to another really good pub. We tried Murphy’s beer, which is brewed in Cork. It was good…. Debatably better than Guiness! We talked with other tourists in our group, where we met a man who was from Lakeville, MN and attended Northwestern! Small world. When we got back to Dublin, we went to a pub with live music, which was really fun! The singer/guitar player was really good and we enjoyed listening to his music, which included many songs we knew like Brown Eyed Girl and Bog Down in the Valley. We enjoyed looking at pictures when we got back to the hotel, and went to bed after another exhausting day.

Tuesday was my last full day in Ireland! We did one more day trip to Northern Ireland. Much to all of our surprise, I think Tuesday turned out to be all of our favorite day. We woke up early and took the tour bus to Belfast, where we went on a black cab tour of Belfast. Our cab driver who grew up in Belfast, told us about the conflict between Protestants and Catholics in Belfast historically and still today.

Our tour guide was probably about 50 and grew up Catholic. Currently, Belfast is about half Catholic and half Protestant, but Protestants used to significantly outnumber the Catholics. The Protestants discriminated against Catholics, and a huge wall separating the two communities was built and remains there today. For someone living there, these walls were not to be crossed because the other side was so dangerous. On the protestant side of the wall, there now exists a peace wall, which many famous people have signed such as Dalai Lama and former President Clinton. Now, the very famous Erin, Sarah, and Katie have their signature on the wall too! It was very sad driving through the streets because on nearly every corner of both the Catholic and Protestant area, there was a plaque dedicated to a person who had been killed there. On the Protestant side, we saw a big mural that read “Remember with Pride.” Our cab driver explained to us that this man is honored within the community, but while he was alive, he consistently was known as the person who killed the most Catholics annually. While not as bad, conflict still exists in Belfast. There are less and less extremists on both the Catholic and Protestant side, but people are still killed way too often. While the tour was very sad, I think it was good for us to learn about the conflict that still exists in other parts of the world today.

After the Belfast tour, we made our way to Giants Causeway!   On our drive, we drove past the mountain where St. Patrick was brought when he was kidnapped. All three of us loved seeing Giants Causeway. We walked to the cliffs above the Causeway to see a bird’s eye view, and then we made our way down to the coast. It was so beautiful, and the weather was perfect! After that, we went to the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge, made famous by Game of Thrones.   This tiny bridge is 20 meters long, 30 meters off the ground, and connects the mainland to a tiny island. The surrounding area was breathtaking, and we could even see Scotland far off in the distance!   After that, we made our way back to Dublin and had our final dinner at a quiet pub. We went back to our hotel, and I packed up for my 6AM flight on Wednesday.

Tuesday marks three months of me being in Europe! I don’t know where the time is going. This weekend, I am stayed in Madrid to do homework and explore the city a bit more.

Thanks for reading my very long post!

XOXO

Katie