Hatters and Hares

As the title implies, the last two weeks have been MAD!!! Crazy, that is. The International Society and classes have had us poor exhange students running ourselves what feels like all over Ireland. And there may be some truth to that. We've had signups for trips around the country, signups for clubs, signups for classes and tutorials, and signups for other signups. Well, that last part may be exaggerated, but not by much. The preparation has paid off, however, as we have begun to take trips with our respective clubs and societies.

Yeah, the cliff behind the guy in red. 

For example, yesterday was the Outdoor Pursuits Club's journey to The Burren for rock climbing.  Being on this trip, I was expecting to make a fool of myself by not being able to make it the whole way up the cliffside. Just to give you an idea, here's a look at the cliff they wanted us to scale.

However, because the rocks were too wet to climb (because this is Ireland and it's always freaking raining), they decided that it was not safe for us poor beginners to attempt to climb this cliff. My thighs and my dignity thanked them.

Instead, we took a hike of the area, a set of cliffs that overlook the Atlantic Ocean called the Burren. While some climbing was involved, it was more like this >>
than the whole fall-to-your-death thing they had planned. Which was also a relief. Overall, we all had a great time slipping on rocks and risking our lives just to get a peep at where the ocean hits the bottom of the cliff. Really, it was a beautiful experience and one I will likely never forget. Because of strong headwinds, the guides had to keep telling us to back up. Actually, the way they phrased it was "We're not fishing Americans out of the ocean today, guys! The water is too cold." -_-

Having more balls than brains, I risked my life to get the perfect picture to summarize how beautiful this experience really was. The Atlantic really is prettier on this side of the pond. The sound of the water hitting the rocks was especially soothing. Particularily since it was like 10 o'clock on a Sunday morning after a Saturday spent out with friends at the bar. One of my new German friends, Thomas, took a picture of me on the edge, but hasn't sent it to me yet. I'll include it on the next post so that you can all applaud me for my bravery. XD

Since we were so unfortunate as to not be able to rock climb at the Burren, the guides decided that we could spend the rest of our day relaxing at the beach. Lahinch Beach in County Clare was the next stop on our fantastic Sunday voyage. However, it didn't really feel like a beach (probably because it was so freaking cold). But we took a walk on the sand and enjoyed each other's company. We picked up shells and skipped rocks as we walked along the shore until we reached a bridge at the end of the beach. As we waited for stragglers, one of the senior members found a balloon in her pack and balloon rugby was founded.
I didn't get any good pictures of some of the fantastic tackles that went on. Suffice to say, more than one person went home with sand in their shorts. Sadly, the balloon did not make it home, as it was tragically killed in the first play of the game. Its remains, however, were passed from one member of the OPC to another for several minutes after its demise. Once all of the stragglers were accounted for and we did a buddy check like good little fifth graders, we all stood by patiently for a group shot before heading back to the other end of the beach, where the town starts and the pub beckoned.

However, because some of the members are completely crazy (like the Thomas I mentioned before) they thought it would be a fantastic idea to strip to their underwear and go for a nice swim in the ice cold ocean. Did I mention that it was 9 degrees Celsius outside? That's about 48 degrees Farenheit. Not nearly warm enough for sane people to go swimming, but as I said before, the first few weeks drove us crazy. Or at least that's my excuse. Once they were done being crazy and were dressed again, we headed back to the bus for our dry clothing and went out to the pub to watch the Ireland v. Wales rugby game, which was lost in the last minute due to a penalty on Ireland's part. It was not a fun bus ride home. XD

Even though it was cold and exhausting, I still had a fantastic time on my first look of Ireland outside of Limerick and UL. And I still had enough energy to finish out the night at the bar with a couple of friends, so all was great. Hope you all had as nice of a weekend as I did, and hope your week promises to be a fantastic as mine. I'm leaving for Scotland on Thursday, so there will most definitely be a new post by Saturday at the latest.

As always,
Brooke