I flew out of O'Hare on Monday with nine other Saint Mary's girls, and after a much too long flight (though watching the sunrise was quite beautiful), I finally got to set foot on Irish soil! Most of us girls have never met before, but we're all becoming fast friends. We moved in right away and when I first walked into my apartment, I dropped my bags off in my room and walked down to see the common room. The entire coffee table was covered in beer and liquor bottles and the floor was extremely sticky. Apparently my roommates like to have a good time haha! I have four Irish roommates and one more I haven't met, but the ones I do know are super friendly so I think I'm going to enjoy living with them. My first few days have been consumed with orientation, class sign-up, and tours (including one of Maynooth Castle which left me an expert in siege warfare). On our second night all of us SMC chicks went to a couple local pubs. First up was The Roost where I had my first Guinness. Then we went on to Brady's where they had a live band playing. They were magnificent and played "Galway Girl" for us! The next day I had to wait in line for almost three hours to sign up for a history class but at least it allowed me to make some new French friends.
On Saturday we all went to Causey Farm and were extremely "un-Irish" because we arrived early on accident. However, this turned out to be a good thing because we not only got to watch and to help herd sheep with a dog named Patch, but we also got to learn camogie which is simply what they call women's hurling. I was pretty good at picking the ball up and passing it but not so good at scoring goals. After camogie, we made traditional Irish brown soda bread which we later ate with our lunch (we also had tea and hot scones with jam and whipped cream which I know Mom will be jealous of). Later we learned a simple Irish
céilí dance and how to play the bodhran drum. I've always said that nothing refreshes you from dancing like a bit of warm milk straight from the cow. Luckily, Daisy was happy to oblige me with a squirt and my first ever milking lesson. I also got to bottle-feed a lamb and visit some horses that would be the Irish equivalent to wild Mustangs. Afterwards, Patch came back and herded us over to see his new half-siblings who were happy for a chance to get out of their cage and chase some chickens. They asked us to leave our mark on the farm and paint a mural on one of the whitewashed walls of a barn. We painted the SMC French cross and signed our names.
Our last activity of the day was by far my favorite. We took a short tractor ride over to a bog which is a kind of wetland filled with peat, moss, grass, and small bushes and trees. Now most of the bog actually has plants growing up from the rich earth, but since they allow visitors to walk around in one small area, a mud pit has formed at the edge of the bog. A few of the girls and I brought a change of clothes so that we could walk around in it. However, I had the brilliant idea to go up on the small ledge and jump into the deepest part of the bog. I sunk in almost to my armpits. I was actually afraid that I wouldn't be able to get out because it was a bit like quick sand; the more you struggled, the deeper you sank. I ended up having to dig around my legs until I could pull them halfway to the surface then I half rolled, half crawled my way to more solid mud. It was spectacular! I even jumped in a second time with another girl and ended up having to help pull her out. I felt like Atreyu trying to pull Artax out of the swamp in "The Neverending Story." The farm doesn't have showers so we washed off with a hose tap and buckets of water. I don't even want to think about laundry!
On Saturday we went to Cahir Castle which is southwest of Dublin near Tipperary. It was beautiful if a bit chilly and we toured around the castle looking at all its defenses. We even saw a cannonball stuck in the wall from one of the attempts to take it! All of the doorways, stairwells, and hallways had extremely low ceilings, so while one of my 5'1" companions could stand up straight, I was basically crawling through them.
After our tour, we scurried over to the Swiss Cottage just outside Cahir. It was designed by famous architect John Nash. The cottage was never lived in, but only used by the Lord and Lady of Cahir as a place to entertain guests for the day. The design of the cottage is meant to blend with nature, so nothing is linear or symmetrical. Every single window is a different shape or pattern. Many of the rooms inside have slightly crooked window sills or oddly shaped doorways too. The cottage looks large but actually only has four rooms and a kitchen in the basement. I noticed that every room was not only shaped differently, but it was decorated in the theme of a different country too. One room had part of the original Turkish-landscape-wallpaper still in it but all the other rooms were restored to the expected style of the time. I wonder if the decorator intentionally made one room French and another Roman classical to go with the architect's theme. Unfortunately we couldn't take pictures inside, but I would have like to show you these chairs that I saw. Each one was intricately carved out of a solid block of wood and it took two men several years to complete just six of them.
We loaded back up onto the bus and drove northeast to see the Rock of Cashel which is the name of a giant hill. The legend goes that the devil took a bite from a mountain about 20 miles away, now called Devil's Bit, but Saint Patrick banished him from the cave and the devil was so surprised that his mouth fell open in shock and the rock rolled out and became the Rock of Cashel. It is also rumored to be the site of the conversion of Aenghus the King of Munster by St. Patrick. There is a huge cathedral built on top of the Rock but it is in ruins. Unfortunately they had to put up scaffolding to protect a portion of it, called Cormac's Chapel, from further weather damage so we couldn't see the beautiful fresco inside it.
The cathedral had a large stone cross outside it's entrance but they put it inside to protect it from weather as well. In its place is a replica. There are two legends about the cross. First, if you can wrap your arms completely around it so your hands can touch then you will never get a sore throat again. I tried but failed. Second, if you grab your right foot and hop around the cross nine times then you'll be married within a year. I tried but failed again (thank goodness!). There is another cross back by the cemetery that has an interesting story too. Apparently it was struck by lightning and the top half shattered. I could still see chunks of the cross lying next to the base.
When we were standing at the top of the Rock, we could see that nearby there was another ancient structure called Hore Abbey (I'm not joking). The name came from the monks' white habits. Apparently the white reminded people of a hoar frost.
We did all of this in only five days! I can't wait to see what this week brings!
I flew out of O'Hare on Monday with nine other Saint Mary's girls, and after a much too long flight (though watching the sunrise was quite beautiful), I finally got to set foot on Irish soil! Most of us girls have never met before, but we're all becoming fast friends. We moved in right away and when I first walked into my apartment, I dropped my bags off in my room and walked down to see the common room. The entire coffee table was covered in beer and liquor bottles and the floor was extremely sticky. Apparently my roommates like to have a good time haha! I have four Irish roommates and one more I haven't met, but the ones I do know are super friendly so I think I'm going to enjoy living with them. My first few days have been consumed with orientation, class sign-up, and tours (including one of Maynooth Castle which left me an expert in siege warfare). On our second night all of us SMC chicks went to a couple local pubs. First up was The Roost where I had my first Guinness. Then we went on to Brady's where they had a live band playing. They were magnificent and played "Galway Girl" for us! The next day I had to wait in line for almost three hours to sign up for a history class but at least it allowed me to make some new French friends. 
On Saturday we went to Cahir Castle which is southwest of Dublin near Tipperary. It was beautiful if a bit chilly and we toured around the castle looking at all its defenses. We even saw a cannonball stuck in the wall from one of the attempts to take it! All of the doorways, stairwells, and hallways had extremely low ceilings, so while one of my 5'1" companions could stand up straight, I was basically crawling through them.
We loaded back up onto the bus and drove northeast to see the Rock of Cashel which is the name of a giant hill. The legend goes that the devil took a bite from a mountain about 20 miles away, now called Devil's Bit, but Saint Patrick banished him from the cave and the devil was so surprised that his mouth fell open in shock and the rock rolled out and became the Rock of Cashel. It is also rumored to be the site of the conversion of Aenghus the King of Munster by St. Patrick. There is a huge cathedral built on top of the Rock but it is in ruins. Unfortunately they had to put up scaffolding to protect a portion of it, called Cormac's Chapel, from further weather damage so we couldn't see the beautiful fresco inside it. 
The cathedral had a large stone cross outside it's entrance but they put it inside to protect it from weather as well. In its place is a replica. There are two legends about the cross. First, if you can wrap your arms completely around it so your hands can touch then you will never get a sore throat again. I tried but failed. Second, if you grab your right foot and hop around the cross nine times then you'll be married within a year. I tried but failed again (thank goodness!). There is another cross back by the cemetery that has an interesting story too. Apparently it was struck by lightning and the top half shattered. I could still see chunks of the cross lying next to the base.
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