Nick Snyder: Dublin Week 3 – The Irish West Coast

My third week in Dublin was full of a lot of cool sights and adventures. It was highlighted by our weekend 3 day trip to the west coast of Ireland and specifically, Galway. It began with a 6:50 AM bus ride from UCD straight to the Cliffs of Moher. Some people believe that the cliffs are one of the best sights to see in Ireland, and I would agree as they were breathtaking. Even during the 3 hour bus ride to the cliffs, the scenery in the countryside of Ireland was quite beautiful. After seeing the Cliffs for a couple of hours we started our drive towards Galway and stopped at the Burren along the way for some photos. The Burren was on the edge of the sea and we took a lot of photos on the rocks and took in the views. We then arrived in Galway and checked into our hostel where everyone was sharing a room with 5 other people. It was my first time living in a hostel, but I got through the conditions. Later that Friday afternoon I went to the Blackrock beach outside of Galway with Brad, Tennyson, and Max and we swam in the brisk ocean there. We went back to our hostel and then went out for dinner that night.

The next day we took a bus right to a port in Roosaveel that led us to a ferry going to Inishmore, of the Aran Islands. When we got there we were given bikes to ride around and explore the beautiful island, and Brad, Max, Tennyson, and I explored different parts of the island including Dun Aonghasa and the diving wormhole. It was a lot fun biking around and seeing all different types of scenery on the island while also talking to other people that we met. As we rode back to the port to reach the ferry, we had to ride up hills and traverse a more mountainous landscape than I had expected, but it was still a lot of fun. As we got back to Galway we went out again for dinner and spent a little more time exploring the city before calling it a day.

Our final day on the west coast including us going to the famous Kylemore Abbey castle a little northwest of Galway as well as the Killary Fjord boat tour. Both of these experiences were quite enjoyable as there was a lot of history surrounding Kylemore Abbey and the boat tour had some breathtaking views. After this was all done, we had a three and a half hour bus ride back to UCD, which was quite long but I slept the entire time. When we arrived back I went straight to bed after a really awesome and fulfilling weeekend.

On Monday we had another class for judging justice where we talked about the difference in abortion rights between the United States government and the Irish government. In the afternoon we took a tour through Dublin Castle and then the Custom House as well. We learned more about Irish history which was pretty interesting. I then arrived back to my internship on Tuesday and began working right away. Everyone skipped our internship on Friday because of our Galway trip, so it was nice to get back into a schedule to start a new week. I’m very excited for what’s to come and Ireland has been amazing so far.