Slacking already.

     As promised, I have gotten extremely behind on blogging.  Normally, I could blame this terrible procrastination on classes and homework, but...classes started two days ago and, so far, I haven't gotten homework.  Oh well, now I just have 2 weeks worth of blogging to do!  I'll try to just start where I left off on September 19.  On Sunday, Dad, Ashley, and I drove some more typical Irish roads from Limerick to the Cliffs of Moher.  It looked cloudy and gray, which got us nervous, but it all worked out alright.  I can't remember exactly how long we were driving.  We kept thinking we were almost to the Cliffs of Moher because it felt like we would run out of island, but the road just kept winding on through the Irish countryside.  When we made it to the Cliffs of Moher, the sun was still in hiding behind some clouds, but the cliffs were still visible with the ocean crashing against the rocks on the bottom.  We walked up a bunch of steps along the railings/walls between the sidewalks and the slippery grass and rocks dropping off into the ocean.  There was an old building at the top of the steps on one side of the cliffs that was a bit higher, so you could see out over the water and barely make out some of the smaller islands shrouded in mist in the water facing the cliffs.  By the time we all wandered down the steps and up the other side of the sidewalks along the cliffs, the sun started to peek it's way out, lighting up the grass and cliff faces in a much brighter light.  After wandering through the museum exhibit about the Cliffs of Moher built into the hills at the entrance, we learned that puffins are supposed to be around that area.  Unfortunately, we had no such luck spotting them.  A couple of hours and a few hundred pictures (good ones of landscape and awful ones of people) later, we meandered back to the car for a few more hours in the car to get to Galway.  Little did we know that roads between the Cliffs of Moher and Galway are more than a little bit twisty. 
     I have never seen anybody get carsick before, but after driving on those roads I was extremely glad I wasn't Ashley.  If we had had more than coffee and pastries a few hours earlier, Dad would have been paying for more than a new hubcap for the rental.  The big double decker buses barreled down roads that might have been considered narrow one-ways at home, but are supposed to be a workable two-way road in Ireland.  Never in my life have I been so grateful for interstates.  At home, you can scoot over to let a car through.  That courtesy is a bit more difficult when the edges of the roads are massively overgrown hedges or chipped (but still definitely solid) stone walls.  If you're not scraping the windows with hedges, you're not driving correctly.  The speed limit on all of the roads was 100 km (or about 62 mph)...I don't think we cracked 35 mph for the whole trip.  (And, if you know how Dad can drive, that's saying something.)  Somewhere along the way, we hit massive traffic and were driving through a town plastered in flags and pictures of cupids and hearts.  We were some of the lucky people to get a drive-by experience of the annual Matchmaking Festival in Lisdoon.  Based on how many old maids were wandering the streets and how few old men were to be seen, I doubt that much matchmaking was going to happen in that town...but those old ladies looked like they were out for blood.  :P  After we got out of the bumper-to-bumper traffic for the festival (don't laugh...I'm dead serious...men must be scarce in Ireland), we were overjoyed to be back on some more vomit-inducing roads!  By the time we got to Galway, Ashley was a bit green, I had no fingernails left, and Dad had done more than couple more curb checks on stone curbs.  I think we lost the hubcap somewhere between Galway and Bearna, Barna, where our hotel was.  
     Our hotel was pretty spiffy and about 15 minutes outside of Galway towards Connemarra in a supposedly Irish-speaking town called Barna.  When we checked in, we got fresh iced-tea and plush couches for the 5 minutes that we were at reception at "The Twelve."  In Irish terms, it was quite posh.  I think it was the chocolate-covered strawberries and the cornbread with Metherd written on it in chocolate that really made us feel class.  Oh, and I can't forget the special "mood lighting" switch in the bathroom, which turned on multi-colored lights (you know, just in case you wanted to feel like you were at the club when you were getting ready for bed).  During the daytime, you could look out across the road to the ocean from the Juliet-style balcony too!  We went out to eat at an Italian place in town and then crashed for the night.
     On Monday, we drove into Galway's city centre and went exploring.  We went down to the waterside and back up the main street for a bit.  Dad wandered into a bookstore and sent Ashley and I off to meander down Shop Street.  Galway has a really neat feel to the city, kind of like the hippy sister city of Dublin or Cork.  The buskers on the street were really cool, with accordions, drums, and other instruments that I'd never seen before, just playing away on the side of the street.  People were everywhere, going up and down the streets even in the middle of the workday.  I guess when it's sunny in Ireland, you really take advantage of it! :P  We headed back to Barna after a couple of hours, and Ashley & I went down to the coastline to take pictures by the craggy rocks and walk some more.  It was beautiful and moody, but probably more than a little dangerous, since there was nothing to keep you from falling into the ocean except sure footing.  After eating way more than a personal-sized pizza each at the hotel restaurant, we retreated to the room, content with our sea air and food babies.
     The next day, the car got loaded up again and we made our way back to Dublin.  This trek was mostly motorway, so the car did not inherit anymore scrapes or dings this time.  Once we made it back to Dublin, we drove up to Malahide so Ashley could see my favorite seatown so far.  In hunt for reasonable seafood, we ended up at a little cafe tucked along the main street through town.  The fish and chips were delicious...it's really sad, though, that it took over 2 1/2 weeks to get fish and chips when we were on islands the whole time.  Wednesday I could finally move into my dorm room in Moville on St. Pat's campus!  A quick stop at school let me pick up my keys and pile a load of stuff in my room.  On the way out the door to city centre, we met up with one of the other girls from UNC and I met a boy from Spain and a woman from Japan who are in my dorm too.  The girl from the States came with us to city centre, where we tried to see what Dad wanted to see in Dublin before he went home.  We went to Trinity College in the heart of the city, just on the south side of the River Liffey, to see the Book of Kells.  The books were intricately written in perfect script by scribes and are still perfectly intact on the calfskin they were written on.  The library at Trinity looks like something out of Harry Potter, with a huge arched ceiling and books lining the old wooden shelves that are probably older than the United States.  The librarians working had to wear gloves and face masks to even touch the books.  Busts of famous academics lined the walls and an ancient harp over 1000 years old sat intact in a glass case.  After leaving Trinity, we crossed the cobblestones by the college to get back out onto Grafton St. and O'Connell Street.  Eventually, we made it back to the car and headed back to the hotel before the meeting for international students at school that night.  Ashley came to the meeting with me and tried to convince everyone that she was my sister...they fell for it, but I don't know how when she told them that I was "almost 20" and she was "still 19."  & we're sisters, but I don't have a drop of Irish blood in me and Ashley is Irish and French. :P 
     Dad flew back to the States the next day in the morning, leaving Ashley & I at the school to get packed and ready for our flight to Paris in the afternoon.  And on that note, I think I am done writing for tonight.  Trying to catch up for two weeks takes a long time when 4 days is 5 pages.  My writing is getting more boing by the minute, so it's time to quit for the night.  The stories from the weekend in Paris need a more awake Ainslee to attempt to do them justice in writing.  Plus, Paris deserves its' own blog post...it's just that kind of place! (: 


Slán


(That's goodbye in Irish.)


New Irish-isms:
splash out: splurging, or going on a shopping spree (but usually meant sarcastically)


P.S.  I'll put up pictures again soon, but my computer is out of memory so I've got some creative deleting ahead of me...but they're on their way!  Dad & Ashley: Feel free to correct/add anything I left out, I've got a good "forgettory" too!