Her life was saved by rock & roll

If you've ever been to Ireland, or more specifically an American in Ireland, then you are very familiar with the song 'Galway Girl'. In case you've been living under a rock in western Ireland (there's plenty to choose from) it's a catchy little ditty that is sang by Gerard Butler in the movie P.S. I Love You. Well, we went to western Ireland last weekend and stayed one night in Doolin and one night in Galway. I didn't hear Galway Girl in any legitimate pubs, however we sang the chorus every time anyone within earshot said Galway 'aye yay aye yay ayee!' - which amounted to be approximately once every 6 minutes.

The Cliffs of Mohor

Once again, the weather was on our side, which if you know anything about the climate in Ireland - damp is an understatement. Thankfully it's been a very sunny March and April is working out to be just as bright :)

Anyways, it was sunny and a tooch windy at The Burren National Park and The Cliffs of Mohor. We were lucky enough to not only get to see it from this perspective, but we also took a ferry cruise on our way home from the Aran Islands and was able to look up at the massive formations. Both views were excellent and we got to see some pretty epic cliffs. Backtracking, we stayed in a little town called Doolin on Friday night. Caught some spectacular landscape, ate some tasty pub food, watched some Champlainers jam out with some trad musicians (and eventually take over the scene) and  had a model United Nations meeting late night on the beach...

Tomb at The Burren

Naturally, I brought my hula hoop and rocked it all over the west. I've taught some of the guys in the program how to hoop and some of em are getting pretty good. At The Burren, while hooping on the Karst (really old crazy looking limestone!) I met some little boys who ran up to me and asked to try out my hoop. Look at me making friends with the local children. I didn't even need to bribe them with candy, the hula hoop was all it took....

Mad rocks. Mad skills.

The trips that Champlain organizes for us are pretty sweet and exploring the west of Ireland wasn't an exception. I loved the pub in Doolin. It was hilarious to see Champlain kids littered all over this small town pub and was even more epic when the entire pub was croonin' to "Wagon Wheel" (recurring theme of this study abroad experience?) along with Andy on the guitar, Kyle on the harmonica and Hannah singing along. I thought I was getting an overdose of "Wagon Wheel" in Burlington but it seems to have followed me here too.  Good times to say the very least. Lots of fond memories in Doolin, even on Friday post-pub when a bunch of us decided to adventure to the beach for a UN meeting. The beach by the way was completely covered in uneven tricky and trippy rocks that made it extremely difficult to navigate after a few pints and a couple Baby Guinness' (Shots of Kahlua and Baileys).

rock me mama like a [west] bound train :)

Saturday we took a ferry to the Aran islands and spent to day biking around the maze of stone walls. There was mad rocks. 

I'm researching Karst and The Burren for my term project in Enviro-earth science, so I happen to know that the Aran islands used to be connected to the mainland thousands of years ago by even more loads of Karst. The people who live on the island had to dig up the limestone in order to free up some land for farming and grazing so they had no choice but to compile the rocks into 
hundreds of intricate stone walls that parade all over the tiny island. Since we were incredibly mobile on these rented bikes we were able to see sights all over like the shipwreck, a burial ground from the 10th century, a burial ground from the 6th century, climb on some castle ruins, some church ruins, get spun and swung on a sick playground, and frolic in some grassy knolls. 

Sean enjoying the green scene

We left the Aran islands via ferry that brought us under the Cliffs of Mohor so we could gaze up at these massive rocks. We may have been exhausted and it may have been a tad windy on the open sea, but seeing these cliffs from the bottom up was a once in a lifetime kinda thing so I didn't waste anytime inside the cabin of the boat. The bus ride to Galway was sleepy. I woke up well rested and ready to rage in Galway (aye yay aye yay aye!) I ate an indulgent dinner of seafood chowder and mussels drowned in a white wine butter sauce...nom nom nom. After dinner we hit some lame pubs. Seriously questionable locations with even more questionable music taste, but the cocktails were cheap and the craic was mighty. I ended my night in Galway at The Kings Head to a cover band rocking out to some Kings of Leon and Radiohead which was vastly superior to the other venues I was unfortunate enough to spend my euros at.

We woke up in Galway and had a few hours to explore before heading back to Dublin. Of course I took this opportunity to pop off some champagne and toast to hula hoops, seafood, breathtaking landscapes and the luck of the Irish. 


I spent the rest of my morning walking around Galway with some of the guys, hula hooping in exchange for strange and awkward looks from the locals. We boarded the bus back to Dublin and said goodbye to the picturesque Ireland I dreamed about when I was back in the states. 




 It was some good craic, and best of all it was all approved by Jesus.