Better Weather As We Sail Away

It was rough waking up this morning, since we all went to bed sorta late. We had breakfast supplied by the hostel (toast and cereal...), and then checked out. Most of the group stayed downstairs watching a movie, while Marit, Ala, and I decided to take a walk down to the southern part of the island. It was a much nicer day today - sunny and semi-warm. We walked along the coast until we got to the Black Fort. This fort was used by Oliver Cromwell as a prison for excommunicated priests before they were sent off to be sold into slavery. Harsh, eh?


From there, we walked farther along the road, past the island's only airstrip, to a cemetery. It was filled with beach grasses and contained a single church - St. Enda's. This church is half-submerged in sand and slightly dug-out. It's kinda random, but pretty cool to look at.


We next decided to climb up to St. Benen's church. This church is supposedly the smallest in the world, at a whopping 10.75 ft x 7 ft. It was quite a hike up the side of the mountain, but worth it for the views. The little church was neat too, though it's hard to see how more than five people could fit in it. The three of us had a time walking down the mountain, cutting through fields and climbing over stone walls.


When we made it back into town, we got lunch at Supermac's and went down to sit with everyone at the pier. The weather was gorgeous, and we sat around in the sun and had a good time. After some time laughing at local kids jumping off the edge, we went shopping at the Aran Sweater Market and other gift shops. Our ferry was supposed to arrive at around 5PM, so we waited around watching TV and walking on the beach for the last two hours.

The ride back was really nice - we all sat on the back end outside enjoying the wind, waves, and sun. The weather was definitely better for taking pictures of the islands, and we even saw the Cliffs of Moher. I can't wait to go see it, and take even better pictures for Mom! By the way, the rest of the pictures from my trip can be seen here.


After we got back to Rossavael we had to wait a bit for a bus to show up to take us back to NUIG. When we finally got back to Corrib Village, Marit and I watched the Big Brother elimination show. It was pretty amusing. They have, like, five shows for their Big Brother, and the obsession is huge. But it's just ridiculous. We watch it anyways...I might be getting addicted. Hopefully not.

My Irish cultural lesson for today is about telling time. Here, they like to use the word "half". For example, when it's 1:30, they would say "half one" instead of "one thirty". Took me a long time to catch onto that, but now I'm using it all the time. Funny how that works.

Well, I think we're going to go out again tonight. Should be interesting, at the least. Tomorrow will probably be a lazy day. Cheers!