Once Through Tara's Halls...

Happy Easter, everyone! I'm in Ireland! We arrived late Friday night and have been on the go ever since. I'm traveling with some of my friends-- Emily, John, Andrew, and Sarah, and in Munich we are going to meet up with Danielle.

The group of us left Bath on the 1:24 train to Bristol Temple Meads, then promptly got the Bristol Flyer to the airport. We left early because John was worried about Good Friday traffic (although he's the one who had to run back for his passport), and we had hours to sit around the airport doing nothing. After several hours of nothingness we checked into our flight and made it through security where we found Sylvia waiting for her delayed Venice flight. It was nice to see Sylvia one last time before everyone seperated for the week. Anyways, our flight was on time, nice, easy, quick-- and we were in Ireland! I listened to Great Big Sea the whole flight and bus ride from Shannon to Galway. Once at the bus stop, Andrew met up with his girlfriend, Megan (she's studying abroad in Ireland), and they headed off to a hotel while the rest of us trudged to our hostel.

Our hostel is much like a summer camp. They have a board saying where all the craic (fun) is, and they push tours, and the room we are in has eight beds (we fill four) and they are all bunked. Last night we had two Swedish girls and two German girls with us. We have new roommates tonight, but we haven't met them yet. Friday night we didn't really do anything, because everything was closed for Good Friday.

Saturday, however, we went out to the Aran Islands! We went to Inishmore, the largest of the Islands. We all rented bikes, which might have been a bad idea, considering I'm horrible at bike-riding and terrified of bikes, but I managed to overcome my fear (sort of) and rode around the island. We went to this old Celtic Fort built in 2000 B.C-- it overlooks the Atlantic and is absolutely beautiful. We rode by the sea quite a bit. It was a really nice day. After we got back yesterday evening we tried to go to a pub for dinner, but everything was packed! After much walking around we finally found a little American style diner called Eddie Rocket's (Johnny's brother? His Irish cousin?) and got hamburgers, fries, onion rings, and milk shakes. I think it was much needed. We're all kind of missing America right now. After dinner we all went to a pub called "The King's Head." I stayed for a few minutes, but I was pretty tuckered out from the day, so I headed back to the hostel to rest.

Today, Easter, has been amazing! We woke up, got toast at the hostel, then headed out to church. We went to a Catholic Mass at Galway Cathedral-- the Cathedral is beautiful, and the mass was very nice. They opened with the hymn "Jesus Christ is Risen Today," the same hymn that all Episcopal Easter Services begin with, and that made me really happy-- it can't be Easter without that hymn. Strangely enough, everything has been open today. Apparently Good Friday is the day that everything is closed. We spent the day in Galway shopping (I got a scally-cap for Jacob!) and looking around. Emily and I got some Irish donuts which were AMAZING but I can feel them clogging my arteries, and we got a traditional Irish breakfast at 12:30 at Riordan's, which was sooo good. Everything here is about Claddagh-- all the tourists shops sell the rings, there is a museum dedicated to it (closed today, though, ironically) and everyone wears Claddagh rings. I like that I already had one-- it makes me feel special. It also makes me miss Jacob more than ever. Everything here is also about Guiness, which I have yet to drink in Ireland-- I may do that tonight, just to say that I got a pint while in Ireland. Also, I've seen about eight rainbows since I got here. Now I know why the rainbow is a symbol of Ireland-- they are around everyday! Which makes sense, because everyday is the kind of day while the sun shines as it pours rain.

Tomorrow we're going to the Cliffs of Moher, which promise to be amazing.

Hope everyone is having a great Easter!