Do We Really Have To Leave? Day 12-By Kiley & Emily

We're on top of the world!

Both figuratively and literally!

This trip has been filled with multiple on top of the world experiences, today being our first literal one. 

Seventeen of us started off our day with a plentiful Irish breakfast to prepare us for our "high" endeavors to come. Once we loaded the bus everyone realized that Meghan and Alex were not with us. James ran into their room to find them and to his surprise found them still asleep. While they got ready, Kristen in her motherly role grabbed yogurt and granola bars for breakfast on the go. Once everyone was on the bus, we set out for Croagh Patrick.

As we approached the statue of St. Patrick, at the base, no one really knew what we were getting ourselves into (except for Kristen). After taking a group picture, we took a minute to look up at the mountain we were about to embark on, convincing ourselves that we could do it. Unlike the rest of us, James looked up and said, “That looks easy!” So he decided to hike up the mountain barefoot for a spiritual penance. An hour and five minutes later Elliott was at the top, followed by sixteen of us within the next half hour. We all took a minute to catch our breath and acknowledge the feat we just conquered. We looked around taking in the beauty of the mountain and the cloud that we were now inside of. Although the view was blocked by the fog from the morning, we managed to take hipster pics on top of the mountain. Not only were our pictures unreal, but we were able to truly captured the essence in a “victory dance” Vine.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eQOlfF2CPc

Once our celebration was over, we were forced to prepare ourselves for the journey down to the bottom. We initially thought the way up was the hard part, but once those rocks started slipping on the way down, we knew we had a tough task ahead of us. Kristen and Annie proved that taking the slow route was the way to go; neither of them took a fall comparatively to the rest of the crew tripping over rocks on multiple occasions. Despite a few tumbles and scratches, we all made it to the bottom by 2:30 and enjoyed a much deserved lunch.

The only thing getting us out of our chairs after lunch was the thought of taking a cold shower and a long nap (extra long for big girls). While some of us napped, others ran into town to pick up a few last minute souvenirs for those at home. At 6:15 our favorite bus driver drove us into town for “The Last Supper.” We all shared our favorite memories of the trip and spent our last meal relishing in the glory of being “On Top of The World.”

While we were here enriching ourselves in Irish culture, we experienced many aspects that we thoroughly enjoyed while there were others that we could live without.

This is a collaborative list of our favorite (and not so favorite) aspects of Ireland.

Will Miss	Will Not Miss
Our group	Tomato sauce (ketchup)
Wheaten brown bread	Brown sauce
Joe/the bus	Dungeon bathrooms
Big Girls	Crowded public busses
Napping in public	Chips at every meal
Pauric	Fat fries
Joyceans	James’s open mouth chewing
Coffee at every meal	Meghan’s tissue
James’s bleats	Elliott’s tardiness
The scenery	Annie’s open-eyed sleeping
Jay’s stories	Being jealous of Kiley’s naps
Dessert at every meal	Waking up early
Skyping Juliette’s boyfriend	No nap days
James finishing all of our meals	Constantly feeling like a “big girl”
Selfies with sheep/ cows	The search for wifi
Constant hipster pics	Heavy loud doors
Paparazzi *cough cough* Elliott	Ordering bacon and receiving ham
Meghan’s singing	Living out of a suitcase
Laura’s piano pieces	Sharing a room
Brian’s comic book knowledge	Adaptors
Christina’s facts	Blood pudding
Juliette’s dancing	Separate faucet handles
Late night meetings	Checking the balance on our debit cards
Being on top of the world	Whipping out our debit cards
Jay, Liana, and Kristen	Mr. Lind, Ms. Bracker, and Ms. Holtschlag

Sincerely,
Big Girls
(Kiley & Emily)

Day 10/11: Mr. Lee

Tuesday morning we started the long drive out to Westport, Elliott managed to be late again, and Kiley didn’t open her eyes once on the bus. Halfway through the drive we stopped for lunch and the second we got back on… Kiley passed out once again. Mr. Lind told an interesting story to keep us occupied for the last couple hours. Apparently he is pretty normal compared to the rest of his family. We arrived at the bed and breakfast, unpacked, and listened to Laura play an amazing piece on the piano. Shout out to you Laura!  We took an hour to check out the shopping around Westport and bought authentic Irish gifts for our parents. Dinner was wonderful as usual, and after stuffing our faces we waddled home. 

This morning, a few of us realized (Jordyn) that if you keep a bathroom window open AND the light on overnight, your bathroom becomes the new home of many moths.  Everyone was wide-awake after the wake up call of girls screaming. After major bug killing, we had a delicious Irish breakfast of poached eggs, toast, black and white pudding, sausage and bacon.  Elliott did a good job of being on time! Gold Star!

     

      

   We departed for Clare Island, which is one of 365 islands sitting in Murough Bay. According to Ms. Holtschalg, only three people inhabit the island! Upon our arrival, we saw two thirds of the population drive by. Oddly enough, we were stumped on why there were more than three houses on the island. Liv calculated that each person must own eleven houses! Talk about wealthy! Sadly enough we were unable to ride bikes up to the lighthouse, but that didn’t bring us down! We took a nice stroll (if you consider a 4k+ long trail a stroll) up to the lighthouse to look at the view off the island. At the very begining of our trek, a miniature Pomeranian dog joined us for the journey. We all believe that this dog was sent by Mr. Lee himself to guide us along the way. In his honor, we named the dog Mr. Lee. Not once did he leave our side, nor did he complain as much as the rest of us. He brought us to the top of Mount Sheep-Poop, name given because of the thousands of gifts that native sheep left for us. The view was absolutely beautiful and smelly. Mr. Lee, on the other hand, didn’t find the smell bothersome, in fact he personally enjoyed rolling in the brown grass.  Our stomachs started grumbling only to remind us of the 4k trek back down to the town. Emily stopped continuously to take selfies with the sheep, and James became a hero after saving Mr. Lee from getting run over by a car. Although James may have caught Derpes (dog herpes) from this heroic act, he seems to be acting fine. Some foaming around the mouth and random bleats have occurred, but I mean its James…

            We rejoiced as we arrived to the restaurant. We sat down relieved, but luck was not on our side for long. We patiently await service only to find the power had just gone out on the entire island... No steak for Big Girl today. Going with the flow, we all ordered cold sandwiches and a drink. Even though Emma was sick, she was extremely flexible and took a tuna salad sandwich when they ran out of her original order.

            Mr. Lee faithfully waited for us, and then we spent the next hour chillin’ on the beach with our new doggy friends: Judd, Arthur and Mr. Lee.  Judd was the community dog and Annie’s new best friend.  Arthur liked to bark a lot, for no apparent reason, and was finicky about which rock he would play fetch with.  Mr. Lee played fetch with everyone, but was a little confused when the rock was thrown in the dry sand.

            Playtime came to an end, however Mr. Lee walked us back to our ferry.  We said our goodbyes and went home.  Soon it was dinnertime again, and we headed to Sol Rio, an Italian restaurant. After a yummy dinner and desert, we walked home and started to relax.  Christina found her new talent, walking like a zombie, and James entertained us with a few songs on the piano.  Then we just hung out with each other and our beloved Wi-Fi.  Good night and see you all soon!

-Annie and Liv

Liv here, at almost every restaurant there has been traditional Irish bread that people either call wheaten bread or brown bread.  The bread has been one of my favorite foods on the trip.  I always ask the waiter to bring us some, so I’ve been rating which restaurant has the best bread.  You know, just in case you come to Ireland and are searching for the bread.

1.     The Fullerton in Balintoy

2.     The Merry Ploughboy in Dublin

3.     The Sheep View Hostel in Balintoy

So there you have it, the best brown bread in Ireland.

Day 9: Sore feet but totally worth it

With an early rise (breakfast at 8:30) we walked over like zombies half asleep and ready to eat! After the delicious food we walked across the street to our bus and said all our good mornings to our bus driver Joe. We then embarked on a three hour bus ride that included many naps and fights over what song to play. We drove through the Glens of Antrim but sadly we were either asleep or very distracted and did not look. That's ok though, because very soon we would see the extreme excitement spread over Meghan's face from the simple mention of "food." We found a great lunch in Ballycastle and then proceeded to do some walking and shopping around the town. 

Once we were shopped out, we all hopped back on the bus, got a few naps in, and drove to the Murlough Bay. In the first few minutes we saw sheep... And lots of them. As soon as we saw them James galloped over and our group baa'd, pranced, and climbed around more than any of the sheep in sight. The scenery was incredible, and there seemed to be another perfect photo moment around every corner. Everyone in the group pushed themselves to keep walking, climb hills, and even sprain a few ankles just to gaze at that spectacular view. Soon we would all go through the pain of walking back up all the intense hills and trails we walked down. Towards the END OF THE TRAIL someone hitched a ride back to the top. As three members of our group and Joe waited for the rest of our troops,  they  just laughed and looked out to the ocean. The walk back up all those hills was a little rough and many of us were out of breath, but it was worth it in the end! 

Despite our sleepiness creeping up on us, we made our way to the infamous rope bridge near our hostel. With a lot more walking we finally got to the rope bridge, and when I say rope bridge, I mean two large boards connected to the cliffs by large ropes... And heavy chains so don't worry parents. Crossing over the deep canyon to the end of the trail we discovered we had to walk all the way back to our bus, exhausted. The best part of the rope bridge in my opinion (Alex) is the attractive guy that tried so very hard to make us feel as scared as possible. Some people were a little freaked out and others were just freaking tired. Some  were a little disappointed in the bridge (which is crazy because it was 10 stories high over a huge canyon and ocean), but nobody could complain with the view at the end or the brownie points we gained from saying we actually did it. Then after non stop action all day, we were ready to eat! We surprisingly went to a different place in our town: a cute family owned restaurant with scrumptious dishes. Thankfully with hot waiters (winkwink), great food, and wonderful friends, the end of the day turned out to be perfect. Tomorrow there may be some sore legs, but it was so worth it!

- Emma, Alex

Our Fairy Tale: Giants and Castles--Day 8--by Kiley & Emily

Wow! Another amazing day in Ballintoy, Ireland!

We started off the morning on a rough note, six girls and one bathroom was probably not the best idea. After some deliberating, Olivia jumped at the chance to go in Mr. Lind's shower.. somehow managing to flood the bathroom. We proceeded on to the conference hall to enjoy our first real Irish breakfast: poached eggs, sausage, bacon, toast, and of course our beloved coffee. At 9:15 on the dot eighteen of us were on the bus, except guess who..Elliott (it did not even matter because he used up all his strikes and his ticket to Serbia for tomorrow morning has already been bought!)

On the bus ride to Giant's Causeway, we discussed the geology of Ballintoy with Professor Jay Lind. He informed us of how close we actually were to home! He pointed out Lake Michigan (The Atlantic), Rhode Island (Sheep's Island), and Hawaii (a random bunch of islands).

As we marched down Giant's Causeway, listening to our handy pre-recorded tour guide Finn MacCool, the hipster pics began.

For those of you who do not know what hipster pics are:

hip·ster pics

1  [hip-ster pics]  

noun Slang.

1.

a photo taken by a hip person

2.

every picture taken by the OPRF Ireland students on their trip.

Example:

Then, after our search down treacherous paths, climbing boulders, the sides of mountains, and steep cliffs, we found the perfect spot to film our highly anticipated "wifi" Vine. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h37ZxdLX2io

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QLyJUIsNj0


The group split up, giving everyone an hour to explore on their own before having to hop back on the bus. Fortunately, everyone was on time except Juliette and Kristen, but we decided to wait for them so they would not have to "whip out their debit cards and pay for a taxi." Once on the bus on our way to Dunluce Castle, Elliott FINALLY noticed an English flag hanging down causing him to inquire why that would be (even though we have been discussing this since we crossed into The North.) 


Upon arriving at Dunluce Castle, we realized it was not the Disney depiction of a princess in her castle, as we all imagined, but the ruins of The McQuillans's castle were enchanting.   


We were given a quick introduction on the history of the regime of the castle and its territory. They gave us one rule: do NOT climb on the walls. Although it restricted our hipster pics, it kept us from plummeting 100 feet to the raging rapids below. Fortunately, our only mishap was Alison's tumble down the hill. Although the scenery was breathtaking, the sounds of our grumbling stomachs distracted us from taking it all in.   


We loaded up the bus and headed to a town resembling Coney Island. The kids, minus the chaperone's BFF Emily, all went to an English restaurant and ordered the closest thing we could find to American food. After some of us began to eat, we discovered they would not take our Euros. Critically thinking, Juliette whipped out her debit card and withdrew 100 Shillings from the nearest ATM. After devouring our food and satisfying our stomachs after our first workout in nine days, we ventured back to the bus awaiting the arrival of Emily and the chaperones. To our dismay, they arrived back with ice cream in hand, unwilling to share, causing all of us to have the "why didn't I think of that?" thought. Their ice cream topping was a "99 flake" highly recommended by one of Ms. Holtschlag's former students on the "Ireland Bucket List" she wrote for her. 


On the bus ride home, the group discussed taking a run to the beach, a thought that sounded ideal at the time, after an one hour nap. When the alarms went off, only the fittest got out of bed and put on their sneaks. The others rolled over claiming another hour to their naps *cough* *cough* big girls. 


After everyone awoke, we went to dinner at the same place we dined at the previous night. It was interesting to see who was adventurous by trying something new versus the picky eaters ordering the same meal as the night before. To our excitement, we discovered that the restaurant had a dessert menu consisting of ice cream sundaes. 


Ready for bed, we waddled back to the hostel exhausted from the long day. Somehow, we were able to make it back into the common room for the highly praised wifi.


Sincerely,

Big Girls

(Kiley & Emily)