How do I even begin with Ireland? I was lucky enough to visit the beautiful country of Ireland during St. Patrick’s Day weekend. I took the trip with other study abroad students from LMU and stayed in Dublin. When arriving in Dublin, everything was already decked out in green, white, and orange (the colors of the Irish flag) in preparation for the big holiday. It seemed like the entire world was in Dublin, as the streets were packed with Irish, Americans, Brazilians, Australians, Spanish, you name it. It was easy to tell who the tourists were as they all sported the matching leprechaun hats, green t-shirts, shamrock headbands and shamrock sunglasses.
Our first day in Dublin we decided to start our trip with the typical touristy thing to do: taking a tour of the Guinness Storehouse. There, we learned the process of crafting Guinness beer (minus the secret ingredient) and had the opportunity to taste Guinness up at the Gravity Bar, with gives you a panoramic view of the city. The Storehouse even has some food tasting every couple of hours and I was lucky enough to snatch some yummy chocolate truffles. After the factory, one of my schoolmates’ friends who was studying abroad in Dublin took us to a pub to grab some lunch and more Guinness beer. While at the pub, she taught us an Irish trick with Guinness. While drinking Guinness you try to make rings on the cup from the foam; the more the better (it takes practice). Here’s a tip: pause after each sip to make a ring.
Another interesting discovery was that all the pubs in Dublin are huge. They have multiple rooms and then have stairs in random corners that take you up to the next level. I got lost just trying to find the bathroom. After lunch at the pub, we went to St. Stephen’s Green, a little park with bridges and a pond accompanied by several swans. Next to the park, a huge stage was set up with a live band. A large crowd jigged and danced around in circles below. The celebration had already begun.
To get away from all the craziness of Dublin, we went sightseeing in the countryside. The LMU crew decided to book a tour bus that took us from Dublin to Galway, to a 300-year-old family farm in The Burren, and to the Cliffs of Moher. In Galway, we had only about an hour to explore, but we were able to walk through “Shop Street” and stroll alongside the Corrib River. Galway was a cute little city and I wish I had a little more time to explore it.
The Burren region was beautiful, with barely any buildings, and all green hills. When we got to the family farm, our tour guide (who was a member of that family) joked that their population was pretty big considering it had about five to nine houses. At the family farm we were taken up the “mountain” as they called it (which was really a hill covered in rocks). Every step we took we were given a more and more beautiful view of the valley below us. At one point of the mountain we reached the “fairy tree.”
According to Irish myth, fairies looked like humans but were very pale and lived underground. A fairy tree symbolized the connection between the fairy world and the human world and one of the legends was that if people tied something that they owned onto the tree, they would leave their worries behind. So we all dug into our bags to find something we could leave behind. One of my friends ripped a napkin into fourths for us to write our name on and tie onto the tree.
Back down at the family farm, we had a snack break. Here, we had the chance to eat the family’s very own cakes and pies from their little bakery. Along with my cake, I had cinnamon hot chocolate, which warmed me up from the chilly breeze outside. We all tried a bite of each others’ choices and everything was delicious.
Our last stop was at the Cliffs of Moher, the place we had all been waiting for. If you haven’t heard of the Cliffs of Moher, it is a range of cliffs at the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. It is absolutely beautiful. At the cliffs of Moher there were two pathways along the cliffs. One behind the safety wall, and another closer to the edge of the cliffs. Of course the one closer to the edge of the cliffs was the most popular one. You could get better pictures. You just had to watch out your footing so you wouldn’t slip in the mud and down the cliffs. Luckily we had plenty of time to spend at the Cliffs of Moher (so we had time to snap a picture every two steps we took).
At one point we found a little hidden grassy patch at a flattened part of the cliff. We took the liberty to lay down for a mini-nap with the view of other side of the cliffs spread out in front of us. The grassy patches felt like clouds (we literally sunk into the grass) and I thought I had died and gone to heaven. Eventually one of the patrol men blew his whistle and told us to get out since we had bypassed the wall barricade. Oops.
Even though our destination had been completed at this point, our tour wasn’t over. One of the best parts of the tour was the bus ride. With the excuse of being carsick, I sat up at the front of the bus with my camera and watched the landscape in front of us through the front window of the bus. On our bus ride we saw castles, the coast of Ireland, little villages, and so, so much green. We were lucky enough to have a very enthusiastic tour guide on our bus. As she told us herself, she loved telling stories and, boy, she had tons of them. She also had interesting facts about Ireland, one of which being that in the Irish alphabet there are only 18 letters. Therefore, to make certain sounds, letters had to be put together. For example, our tour guide’s name was Nieve but in Irish it is spelt Niamh. Interesting, eh?
Our last day in Ireland was our biggest day of all. Sunday, the day before St. Patrick’s Day was celebrated as if it actually was St. Patrick’s Day. The streets were covered with green people and most people were under the influence of alcohol (at least the tourists were). At the start of our day our group ran into an Irish man who offered to take us to a bar and tell us how the Irish do it. Him and his two friends talked to us about Ireland, first giving us advice to try hot whiskey, which is a drink that you typically have after a long day of work or if you’re sick (we call it a Hot Totty in the U.S.). They told us that while people in Ireland speak English, certain areas outside of Dublin have a rougher accent that even they themselves have troubles understanding.
I discovered the truth in this later on when I met another Irish group. I really couldn’t understand a word they were saying because their accents were so strong. It was very entertaining. Another thing our new friends told us was which bars we should visit that night, and they proceeded to draw out a map for us. I decided that Irish people were my kind of people. What was perhaps the longest day of my life, my last day of Ireland mostly consisted of walking, bar hopping, and shoving through crowds.
The real St. Patrick’s Day was spent sleeping in the airport, waiting for my 6am flight to get back for class that Monday morning. I have to say St. Patrick’s Day weekend in Ireland was one of my wildest experiences, considering I didn’t think it was possible to have so many people in one place. But I’m glad to say that I’ve had the experience. Sláinte! (That’s cheers in Irish).
