We arrived in Ireland on Friday, August 31st. After a 5:30am wake-up call, Jenna and I made our way to the 7th deck where….after 7 long days at sea….we saw LAND!!! After grabbing an hour more of sleep, I woke up and got my stuff together for my first day off the ship which was to be a field lab for my drawing class. I met up with my class and we took a tender into land. For anyone who doesn’t know what a tender is, basically it is where the ship is forced to anchor away from shore and then the crew drove us into shore using the lifeboats.
Once reaching shore, we hopped on our bus and were off on an hour drive through the Irish countryside to the Forde Family Farmhouse. From here we embarked on a 30 minute hike through farm fields filled with cattle to reach an old, run-down castle owned by the family of our tour guide. Fiddaun Castle was amazing. This small castle hidden away in the countryside has been left vacant for hundreds of years and free of visitors for decades.
After the long trek back through the farm fields, we embarked on another long drive back through the countryside where we stopped and ate lunch at a little restaurant. While the food would have only been of a decent standard back in the US, it was sensational after a long week spent on the ship being given only potatoes and pasta day after day.
We then visited an old monastery where we took pictures and drew and then headed back into Galway. Once in Galway, I was thrown into true life abroad. Another girl from my class and I explored while we both looked for the girls we were supposed to meet. A nice older gentleman was kind enough to show us exactly where my hostel was so I was able to check in while I waited for my traveling companions.
After seeing the hostel, I was left uneasy. I decided to head back into the tourist area of the town to find the girls I would be traveling with. Thankfully, due to the small town, I was able to successfully find Brit and Jenna. I was then introduced to Lauren and Lauren who were going to stay with us (they are also students on Semester at Sea and have since become great friends of ours….amazing how a weekend exploring new places will set up great friendships).
We headed back to the hostel where we left our things…not valuables…..and headed back out for dinner and exploring. After an evening spent in McDonalds on free WIFI, we headed out to an infamous Irish Pub before heading back to the hostel. Here we spent the night uploading pictures…afraid to go to bed. Once we were able to conjure up the courage we were able to head up to our room with 5 other girls from all around Europe and a couple other girls from Russia (whom we met when they decided to stumble in loud and obnoxious at 5am!)
The next morning we were up and out of that hostel as soon as the sun came up. We literally spent the night sleeping on our bags with our purses hidden and tied to us. All of us had scarves tied around our heads to avoid touching our hair to the pillows and layers of clothing to keep warm without using the bedspreads. It was by far the sketchiest place I have ever stayed in…but we survived and after that we are practically invincible. Never again will I stay in a hostel picked out in 5 minutes from the internet…the pictures looked nice but they were also taken like 10 years prior. It was an interesting night by far.
After enjoying breakfast in a small café down the street, we headed to the bus station where we were to catch our bus for Cork, Ireland!
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