Wow! Where do I even begin? I suppose I’ll start with: why have I waited so long to come to Ireland!? It is absolutely amazing- so gorgeous! Words cannot even do this country justice! I am not going to lie, I have a lot to say so this is going to be a long one...
The last time I blogged I was sitting in JFK airport slightly irritated with Delta; however, I have to give them some credit. Kaitlyn’s mom was watching our flight status online and she told us that Delta explained on the internet what was going on with the delay at JFK and how although the flight was delayed, they did not want our arrival time in Shannon to be equally delayed. So, basically our plane was flying at 35,000 ft at 587 miles an hour!
Flying to Shannon, Ireland was one of the coolest flights I have ever been on. Not only did Delta feed us dinner, which I enjoyed by the way, but we also got to fly into the sunrise. It was an amazing experience. I was actually sleeping on the plane when Kaitlyn woke me up to look out the window. Everything was pitch black but all the way to the right, towards the front of the plane, you could see the slightest sliver of light blue. As we continued to fly towards the blue light the tiny sliver began to expand all the way across the horizon. As the sun rose you could see a bright neon orange glow in the distance. It looked like a fiery pit of lava in the middle of the ocean- so beautiful.
The rest of the flight was pretty nonchalant until we began to approach Ireland. Ireland has a breathtaking coastline! From the plane I could see the shoreline, various islands, beach cliffs, mountains, castles, old ruins, and tons of farm animals. I also took more pictures- there was just green everywhere. The woman sitting next to Kaitlyn and I on the plane turned to us and said, “now you know why it is called the Emerald Isle.”
We had a very smooth landing in Shannon. Getting our passports stamped, finding our luggage, and going through customs was a pretty simple process. We met Sylvia Rohr, our Carlow instructor, Eddie Lynch, a man from Innisfree International College & Convention Centre, and Aiden, our bus driver. The bus ride from Shannon to Sligo was approximately three hours, but we made a ten minute stop at a gas station. The gas station was pretty fascinating: there were loaves of bread, free samples of bread with butter, unrefrigerated eggs, a deli type counter, all sorts of interesting candy, drinks, and snacks, as well as everything else you would find at a regular gas station. We also used the “loo”, which was around back. During the bus ride we got to see so much of the Irish countryside. I am not going to lie though, the whole driving on the other side of the road thing kind of freaked me out. I kept thinking we were going hit the cars, but it did not seem so weird after a while. I just stared out the window the whole time. All of the stone walls were amazing and there were just green pastures everywhere. I was definitely surprised at how close some of the animals were to the roadside. As Kaitlyn said, everything was just so laid back. We also got to see some ruins along the drive. I think the old ruins and castles are probably the more enchanting sites for me- I cannot wait to actually explore them.
During the bus ride Kaitlyn and I got to talk to Eddie a lot. He told us so many fascinating stories about the people, recreation, and history of Ireland. It was really intriguing to listen to him talk because even though we all spoke English, he used different mannerisms and slang terms. For example, he said “you know” after almost everything he said and when someone would “ring him” he answered the phone by saying “what’s the story?” I am just so enthralled with everything here! AH!
Innisfree International College & Convention Centre, where I am staying just outside of Sligo, is stunning. The College sits right on a lake- Lough Gill. Everything is just so serene. We are staying in three bedroom apartments which share a common area, kitchen, and dining room. We all have our own bedrooms and bathrooms. As if that was not spoiling us enough, the food is amazing! For lunch we had salmon, salad, potatoes, and strawberries and cream. The strawberries and cream were delicious but the cream was definitely not what I was expecting. I assumed it would be like whipped cream but it was not, it was not sweet. After lunch we had a brief tour, a welcome, and Dr. Michael Roberts gave a short lecture on “The Cailleach of Sligo”. During the lecture he talked a lot about some really fascinating Irish myths. Most of the stories he read came from a book he just wrote. I am thinking about buying the book so I could read more myths and learn even more about Sligo. After the lecture, we had dinner. For dinner we had pork, vegetables, and more potatoes. Apparently they also bring us tea and biscuits every night before bed! I could definitely get used to this!
I have only been here a day and I am already obsessed, I cannot wait to learn and see more of the beautiful place. In the mean time, I am going to enjoy the“craic”!
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