In the Hills of County Kerry!

Last weekend, I went to one of the most scenic areas in all of Ireland: The Ring of Kerry

The Skelligs off the Coast

The weekend started with a long bus ride. I went with Matt, and my friends, Christina, Sarah, and Allie. We were with a big group of mostly Americans from the University of Cork. 

We first visited a small village called the Kerry Bog Village. A good portion of County Kerry is covered with bog land. The Kerry Bog Village has replicas of houses that existed in 18th Century Ireland. There's an old blacksmith forge, a turf cutters house, a stable dwelling, and a dairy house. In addition to the houses were a few animals. First were the Kerry Bog ponies, which are particular to the Kerry region. They're pretty small and were used to transport peat from the bogs to the roadside. The other unique animals were the Irish Wolfhounds. They were enormous! They were the size of greyhounds, maybe bigger.

Irish Wolfhound (I got this off Google..)

As we were leaving the village, the dogs got out and tore a cat to shreds! Comet wouldn't last in that village haha.

We made our way to the hotel and had dinner. Following dinner, we had a local come in and talk about her upbringing in Kerry. She grew up on a farm and didn't have electricity until her teens. She said they neighbors would come and tell ghost stories or they would play music and dance for entertainment. A large part of her life was digging up turf, or peat bricks, from the bog. She thought it was hilarious that her form of a chore, people now pay to do for the experience..."A Day in the Bog".

After the speaker was one of the major highlights of the trip: Céilí Dancing Class.

Our trip leader described Céilí dancing (pronounced kay-lee)  as Irish speed dating, in a sense, because it's very much a social dance where you dance with different partners. We learned a few dances like The Walls of Limerick and the Seige of Ennis.  Matt and I are clearly not the most coordinated people but it was so much fun! 

During Céilí  Dancing

The next morning, we took a bus around the Skelling Ring. We saw Valentia Island, the Skelligs, and Ballinskelligs. We saw the spot where the first trans-Atlantic cable reached as well as a monistary, carved out of stone atop a rock about eight miles off the coast. The views were amazing! It was really rainy though, and my boots were far from waterproof, so I was walking around with soggy feet all day. Our tour leader was from the area of Kerry, so she showed us where she grew up. We actually passed her mother's house and saw her brother waving out the window! It's a very small, tight-knit community! We also passed by the Skelling Chocolate Factory, which are really good, expensive chocolates. Unfortunately, the night before, it had caught fire and burnt down. There was still smoke coming off the roof when we drove by. 

We had that afternoon free, so we visited the Daniel O'Connell Church (who was the person who emancipated the Catholics, giving them freedom to practice), and stopped for some Irish Coffee at a local pub before heading back to the hotel. 

After dinner, we had another speaker. A top level GAA football player came and told us about the game of Gaelic football and the culture that surrounds it. He plays for the Kerry football team but has made it to the highest level in on all-Ireland team. Gaelic football is definitely a passion, almost obsession, of the people of Kerry. Every single town in Kerry has two things: a church, and a football field (the latter which he said is more important, but don't tell anyone)

After the football player came and talked to us, we had a table quiz, or trivia night. The questions were all over the place. There were spot prizes in between every few rounds, the first one being the first person to get up and sing a song, in any language, wins a prize. So I sprang up and belted out (nervously) one of my shower favorites, and got to pick a prize, which ended up being lotion! Our team was actually doing really well, and I didn't want to be cocky, but I was pretty sure we were going to win.. at least take second! But we didn't place.. oh well, it was still really fun :)

The next morning, we started the day with about an hour long walk up to the stone forts of Cahersiveen. It was a beautiful morning! There was this big, yellow, shiny thing in the sky that apparently people call the sun! The sky was blue and the landscape was beautiful as ever. We walked through fields, saw mountains, the ocean, lakes, horses, cattle, sheep, and of course, the forts. As we were walking down the road, we saw two big sheep running towards us, followed by two running Irishmen.. it was hilarious!

The forts were really, really well preserved. I really loved visiting them. Plus the view from on top was breathtaking. I wish my camera could capture what the scenery actually looked like, but it didn't even come close. 

After leaving the forts, we visited Daniel O'Connell's house, who led the movement for the freedom of Catholics to practice. His house was really beautiful, but the tour was a bit boring. The lady giving the tour literally outlined every single item in the house. Not exactly the best thing to listen to running on little sleep. Our drive back was mostly mountains. We stopped at a place called the Lady's View, where you could see mountains for miles, and the Atlantic Ocean in the background. Again, just breathtaking.

We arrived at Killarney Bus Station and caught the next bus back to Limerick City. 

This weekend was definitely one of my favorites.

Then on Wednesday, I went on the Mystery Bus Tour. Basically, I paid to go on a bus, having no idea where it was going. There were 400 tickets sold, all of them were UL students. So we got on a bus and two hours later, I was back in Killarney! The student union rented out a club there exclusively for UL students, so that was great craic! I also learner the phrase "well, what's the crack, hey!" which apparently means "what's up?" It was a really fun night though :)

So as some of you may know, Elise is coming to visit during my last week in Ireland, and we planned and amazing trip! We're travelling to Rome, Barcelona, and Paris, then flying into Dublin and getting some quality Irish time :)

Unfortunately, my final exams also fell during that week. Two of my lecturers have given me the option of writing a paper, instead, and the other exam is the first day of our trip, so hopefully we can just cut it short a day! But I will be very, very busy for the rest of the semester!

I cannot believe Thanksgiving is in less than a week! My American friends and I are throwing a traditional American Thanksgiving party for our Irish friends, complete with pilgrim hats and the story of Thanksgiving!

I also have an Irish song recital next week for my Irish music class, which falls on the same day as the biggest drinking day of the semester: an all-day fiasco called Christmas Days. Perhaps I will go after my music final...

Also, Matt and I are going to Paris in one week! I cannot wait!! Ahh so much to do, so little time!

Slán leat!