Another action packed week here in Ireland has flown by with so many amazing memories and experiences I’ll remember forever. I am amazed at how quickly the time has passed here and I cannot believe it is already week 5!! I enjoy my weekly routine of working, spending time with good friends, and visiting more places I’ve never been to. As a whole, this experience has taught me a lot of self responsibility and independence in terms of managing my time well and making the most out of everything I do. With each week that passes, I feel more confident navigating life here and more appreciative of the opportunity to live, learn, and explore in such a beautiful place. I’m excited to share some of the highlights from this past week!
On Thursday this past week my family flew in from New Jersey and my boss was extremely kind to give me the day off to spend with them. I surprised them at my Grandparents house in Wicklow and we all had a delicious and traditional Irish breakfast together with scones, sausages, eggs, pudding, and mushrooms. Shortly after breakfast we did one of my favorite pastimes to do here with my family…Golly Fishing! Gollies are a type of crab that reside in the river that runs through my grandparents’ town and this activity involves tying a piece of meat to the end of a rope or putting the meat in a net and lowering it into the river. Once you see crabs climb on we slowly pull up the string and bring the crabs onto the ground. It is fun to either pick them up (but risk getting pinched) or watching them scurry to the edge and jumping back into the water. Later on we went to Glendalough, where their hotel was, and went on a walk around the cemetery and through the woods. This week they are exploring Galway and other parts of Ireland but I look forward to seeing them again this upcoming weekend!
Another few highlights for me from our weekend trip to Northern Ireland include the Titanic Museum, Carrick a Rede Rope Bridge, and of course holding a baby lamb!!! I’ve always really wanted to visit the Titanic Museum and here I learned so much about what went wrong with the ship that I never knew about and got the chance to see some artifacts that were found from passengers on board. It was sad to learn that out of all the passengers on board only 713 people were saved while 1,512 lost their lives. It was also interesting to see models of what each room looked like for first, second, and third class passengers. The next day at the Carrick a Rede Rope Bridge we walked across a suspended rope bridge above the ocean. The views from the cliffs were incredible and the water was so blue. It was definitely very windy and we were surprised with a sudden but short lasting rain shower. Later on we visited the Glenshane Farm where we watched a sheepdog demonstration and learned about how the owner trains his sheepdogs to obey his commands. In the barn everyone had the chance to hold baby lambs which definitely made everyone’s weekend!
