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Tim was supposed to pick me up at 7am this morning and he pulled up in front of my place at 6:40!!! Good thing I'm strange and woke up wide awake at 5am so I was already completely ready! My plan had been to wake up with just enough time to grab my stuff and walk out the door. My body apparently knew he would be here early. Since I woke up so early I had time to shower and do my hair. :) Time drove me to Belfast and me and the students from Queen's University road together to Killary. I'm glad that I got to ride with them because they are really easy to talk to and we get along well. Belfast is only 5 min away from me so I have some more close friends!! :) There are two Katie's an Amy and one guy named Sean.
Since Tim was so early picking me up we got to the bus sooner than the others which was actually really nice because I got the front seat of the bus. I get motion sickness on long car rides and with this being a 5 and a half our drive I wanted the front seat. Everyone was able to be very comfy though cause there were only 5 of us and enough room for 16 people haha. The bus was pretty cold so I was glad I'd layered up. I had assumed in before leaving that it would be about a 2-3 hour car ride so when I realized it was 5 and a half hours I had wished I'd brought my Ipod...I ended up being completely fine without it though.
Tim had told us that we would be driving for 2 hours and then stopping for breakfast and then heading on the rest of the way there. The first 2 hours we all talked on the bus and looked at the gorgeous views. We were all tired but too busy trying not to miss anything we stayed awake. We saw some of the best rainbows I've ever seen!!!
I hate that you can see glare from the window...but still gorgeous!!
Look at how many times the colors repeat!!!
It's beyond gorgeous here, breathtaking really. Ally and I were talking the other day about how we don't ever realize how far we are from home or that we aren't still in the states. Yes, we are far away and can't see our friends and family...but I actually have to remind myself that I'm in Ireland. Road trips like these, seeing the amazing land that is here, makes me realize how incredible of an experience this is. (Also Mom...I'm pretty sure I actually saw a monkey puzzle pine tree!!!!).
We stopped at one point between leaving and stopping for breakfast so that the bus driver could fill up with gas. While we were sitting there the radio was playing and a caller had called in an was discussing the fact that some people are so rude to not pull their emergency breaks at stop lights. I had noticed when I was in Dublin riding in Maria's car with her that she did this...I thought it was weird but didn't think much of it. Apparently it is a thing Irish people do. They pull their e-breaks so that their break lights don't shine. The guy on the radio was complaining that not enough people do it anymore and that it's annoying that people are so rude and he has to stare into bright break lights all the time. Hahaha I just thought this was funny. :)
We stopped for breakfast in a town that...I think...was called Glenfarne. We met up with Tim there and he bought our breakfast. I wasn't all that hungry because I had grabbed a bowl of cereal before I left but I had some eggs and toast. When we got back in the bus everyone decided they would try to sleep. I decided that was a good idea because I needed to stop filling up my camera with pictures of the rainbows! Apparently I was the lucky one...I woke up to Sean telling me "Morning Sunshine" and being really jealous of the fact that I was able to sleep. I guess I was the only one who fell asleep because the bus driver was a scary driver on the windy roads. I was out so fast I didn't notice his driving! I woke up about half an hour before we got there and took some pretty scenery pictures that didn't end up having the glare the rainbow ones did.
Once we got there we walked in and signed up for our first "activities." The way the camp works is that you have once morning and one afternoon activity. So tomorrow we'll have 2 activities but today we got here right at lunch time and so we just had the afternoon activity. I signed up for the thing that my three friends from Dublin orientation signed up for (they got here before me) which was abseil, rock climbing and giant swing. Once we got signed up and put our things in our rooms we went up to where everyone was eating lunch. We had egg salad sandwiches (with corn in it...weird) and some type of vegetable soup. Since our group was the last to get there (we had the farthest to go) IFSA had already passed out sweatshirts and tee shirts to everyone so I'm going to need to go find a staff member later and mention I haven't gotten one yet.
After lunch was over it was time for our activity. It was soooo much fun!!! I met up with my Dublin buddies and we re-bonded like we hadn't even been apart which was great! :)
First was the abseil which was a bit nerve wracking for me. We went to the top of a really high tower and wore harnesses and rappelled down a flat wood wall. I thought it was scary because with a flat wall you can't get any traction...but it was still a cool experience.
Next we did the rock climbing which I didn't end up getting any pictures of me actually doing it (which was on purpose...they would have all just been of my butt which I didn't feel I needed) but It was on the opposite side of the wall we abseilled down and was very fun but the part we were really excited for was the swing!!! The last thing we got to do was a giant swing. You get all strapped in and a big heavy cord pulls you waaaaaay up in the air backwards and when you get as high as it goes a staff member counts to three and you pull a cord that lets you loose so that you swing back and forth. It was VERY fun! :)
Once we were done with our activity we headed back to camp, signed up for our activities for tomorrow (morning = hill walking afternoon = laser tag) and wasted time until dinner. We played scrabble while we were waiting and drank tea to warm up...I lost very badly. I say we were warming up because it was quite cold out, however the staff mentioned that today was the nicest day in awhile. Apparently this was the first activity they have done where it hasn't poured down rain on them in about a month. They told us not to expect to stay this dry the next few days.
Dinner was pretty good. We had this chicken and peppers concoction that looked like curry but had practically no flavor and rice and vegetables. It wasn't bad at all it was just quite bland. Dessert was the good part though! Peach cobbler with vanilla ice cream. :) Very funny when food comes out...there are around 100 of us and when they set stuff out a herd of people are around it within seconds. I am very thankful I am less of a picky eater than I used to be. I had dinner with the people I met from Belfast and one of the Katie's doesn't like anything. I don't know how she survives!
After dinner Jess, Catherine and I (the girls from Dublin orientation) went for a walk. It was nice because the views are unbelievable! When we got back we went to Sean's room with everyone and just hung out and talked. We were wasting time until 9pm because that was when they said we would have a trivia game type thing.
The trivia game was fun. It felt like I was back at summer camp again only this time the prizes were free shots of whisky hahahahaha. To say the least it was a very long and very loud game. I hardly knew the answers to any of the questions and even if you did know the answers you usually couldn't understand the questions because they were being asked by a guy from Scotland and although we are getting pretty good at understanding the Irish accent this threw us off.
That was pretty much my whole day...now I'm back in my room writing this and getting ready to go to sleep. It has been a GREAT day and I'm looking forward to the rest of this weekend a lot! Also, I made plans with my Dubliners to go there for Thanksgiving to celebrate with them which I'm really excited for. :)
Saturday October 8th
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This morning I lucked out having a girl in my room with a medium sweatshirt decide that she wanted a large (I would have wanted a small but they didn't bring any...strange but whatever). I was going to have to get a blue sweatshirt because they were all out of green but she didn't want her medium green so she gave it to me...I like the green ones more! :) We all woke up surprisingly early this morning. I think it's because we did so much physical activity yesterday that we were so ready for breakfast we just woke up haha. Breakfast was simple...we had cereal, fruit and toast with juice...but it was all very good. After breakfast we headed off on our morning activity. As I mentioned yesterday we chose to do hill walking as our morning activity. Now...with the name hill walking I was expecting a nice little walk to be able to get some great scenery shots...I did get nice scenery shots but it was NOT a nice little walk. We hiked up and down big hills and the ground is so soft and muddy that it was a big challenge! Here is a shot of the scenery...and what the scenery did to my feet:
As you can see in the first picture it was really foggy out...which did look very cool but unfortunately we weren't able to see all that far. Our guide told us that if it wasn't foggy we would be able to see forever. We hiked for a long ways and got really muddy so at the end we got to walk in a river to get the mud off and find a "treasure." Our treasure ended up being cans of guinness so we stood there in the river and drank a pint haha.
This is definitely not the most flattering picture as we're definitely not ready...but it shows me with my treasure and also the other IFSA girl I found who will be graduating in December when we get back!
When we were done with our guinness we walked back to camp for lunch which was bratwurst and potato salad. The potato salad was really really good! I wasn't such a fan of the bratwurst which is sad...I'm a big sausage fan and I don't like the sausage here. It's different and not in a way that I like. But after all our hiking I was very hungry and ate it! After lunch it was pretty much time for our second activity so we all met up in the lobby to get with our groups. Our second activity was laser tag so we met up and headed off. Once we got down to where we got our gear we suited up in camo jumpers, face paint (that they mentioned AFTER we got it on how hard to get off it is) and got our guns.
Laser tag was very messy. Our "army field" was out in the bogs so you would take one wrong step and end up knee deep in mud! It was a lot of fun though! I ended up getting very stuck in the mud at one point and it was very funny. It was a good thing we had jumpers on because by the end you could feel that your actual pants underneath were about down to your ankles!! When we got back from laser tag we took a group photo and got hosed off with the absolute coldest water I think I've ever felt!!
Tonights dinner was amazing! Earlier today we got to sign up for what dinner we wanted...there was the option of Irish stew, salmon or a vegetarian something. I've already had Irish stew since getting here so I chose the salmon and it was a great choice! It was sooooo good....and we also got mashed potatoes which made it even better! :)
After dinner we hung out in Jess' room talking for a bit. It was me, Jess, Catherine and then Jess' roommate for the weekend Kelsey and her friends Ann and Megan. Kelsey and Ann are both from Washington and go to school in Tacoma!!! We hung out until our "disco" was supposed to start at around 9:30 tonight. The disco is what made me realize how difficult it is being the only one from this program at my university here. (Oh...ps, disco is just what they call a dance). Yes I know my Dublin people and the people from Belfast a little, but they've all been getting super close over these past few weeks and even though they're nice I still feel a little out of place. The day activities are super fun, but things like a dance I didn't feel like I fit so I've come back to my room early. Which is fine because I'm really beat anyway!
Sunday October 9th
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First I'll just start off by saying....HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOMMY!!!!!!!!!
This morning was really really windy and wet and cold out and by the time Catherine, Jess and I got to the morning activity sheets they were full for all the fun stuff anyway so we decided to just hang out for the morning and play board games. There were quite a few other people who did that too. I played a game with a couple people called King's Corners...it was a card game and was actually really fun! Also, I was able to first, talk to Geoff about getting a t-shirt because I still hadn't got one yet (now I have one!) and also Maria wanted to talk to me about orientation which I was really happy about. She wanted feedback on how they had me come to Dublin instead of do orientation in Belfast. I didn't tell her exactly how much I didn't like the way they did things but I did give good feedback I think. I told her I was glad I had people to be with (and I also realized this weekend how glad I was to have already met the Dubliners because it would have been really hard to come this weekend knowing no one) but that there should also have been at least a day in my town with help getting bedding and a cellphone and that type of stuff. So hopefully next time this happens the student will have a better time than I did! :)
Oh..I was about to talk about lunch but realized I forgot breakfast. Same thing as yesterday lol. :) Lunch was the same thing as Friday with sandwiches and some soup. :) We ate lunch and then headed to pack up our stuff and head out. I said my goodbyes to my Dubliners and got on the bus for our long bus ride home. I got a couple more really good scenery pictures too!
Learned a few different things this weekend. I was a bit cranky about the fact that the others in Dublin have fully furnished kitchens and I had to buy everything. Apparently the students in Cork don't have ovens and can only cook in the microwave so I'm glad I at least have an oven!
I got back to my place around 7:30 tonight and have been skyping Robert and talking to Kay and doing laundry because my clothes from the weekend got really muddy and wet! Now I'm about to go to bed because I have class at 9:15 tomorrow. :P Let's do this week 3!!!
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