One Month!!

I can't believe it, I arrived here a month ago practically right now. It doesn't seem like I've been here for that long, but when I try to remember what I did last Monday, it melds together with all the previous Mondays...so I guess it must be true.

Yesterday was the first day of Spring and it definitely felt like it, the weather report said it was supposed to start raining and keep going for ten days, but that didn't happen, it was sunny and in the fifties. It did rain this morning, but that cleared up and it's been sunny and warm again, it's so beautiful, I can't wait for Spring to actually hit and for things to start blooming. I ordered a field guide to the wildlife of Ireland that should be here soon so I can start identifying things!! I had hoped to get one before going on the hike on last Sunday, but it turned out that it wouldn't have been that useful anyway.

So yeah, the hike. It was good, really good to get out of the city again and see more of the Irish countryside. We drove a couple hours west of the city and camp upon a ridge of hills rising in the distance, called Caherbarnagh. They didn't look too big and that's basically all they were, hills. But man, the mountaineering club here is no joke, it's not a hiking club, it's moutaineering. We climbed straight up those hills, and as you were climbing up, they definitely feel like "just hills" anymore. We were scrambling up through gorse (pricklies) and without a trail. It was fun, but very exhausting work. It had started out as a warm and sunny day, but the clouds rolled in and by the time we got to the top it was freezing, like literally. There was snow on the ground and the wind was ferocious.

I thought we looked very reminiscent of the von trap family at the end of The Sound of Music when they're climbing over the alps (I think) in a line. If I'd had enough breath I would've sung "Climb Every Mountain". It was definitely worth it, and it was a beautiful view from up there. So we clambered up, then walked along for a couple hours, stopping for lunch on the way. There was snow up there (not that much, but still!) and little boggy areas were frozen completely solid. Then it was straight downhill and an hour walk back along the road to the cars.

The ascent. See the green up there? That's all prickly bushes, I fell into them a couple times...

View from the top of the first hill. It was a kinda foggy day, but the view is still pretty good.

It was very windy up there...so much so that they're able to harvest the stuff!

Close up on the wind turbines...no Don Quixote in sight...we looked though.

View from the top, this may have been around lunch time. Man, it felt good to get up there...an achievement like.

There's the Von Traps now, leading the way. You can also see the snow ahead, it was in an area that was sheltered by any other hill, it started and then stopped suddenly.

Frozen moss. It was really pretty, the white dots in the ice are air bubbles, I wish I had captured it more artistically but I didn't want to be left behind.

I can't ever imagine climbing a mountain like Everest, or even Hood, I was freezing at the top of this hill!

The hill down. They hadn't hiked this mountain in ten years, so were kinda making it up as they went along...but we lived, and that's what counts right?

Look!! A whole herd of Sophies hanging out on the mountain slopes. This must be where they breed labradoodles!! No, but really, Sophie would've loved this hike.

The people in this club were really really nice. We all went to a pub afterwards, where they get cheap beer, probs because they always bring huge groups of people in every week, and free pizza...woot! It was a lot of fun, I've heard that the hikes only get harder from here, and I was totally wiped after this one, but hopefully I'll get myself to go again. With this hiking and rugby and all the walking I've been doing, I should be getting in shape. 

Haha! Speaking of rugby, at practice last night, we had half the field, and a men's rugby team had the other half. At the end of their practice, for some reason, one of the guys had to pick up all their gear...completely naked. It probably had to do with the fact that the women's team was their, but it was still ridiculous shenanigans...oh college, gotta love it!

Classes continue to be good, finally starting to get paper assignments, but they're still not due for awhile. This week is also tradfest, it's the week the traditional music society does a lot of stuff. So there are good concerts and such, tonight we're hopefully going to head to a ceili, maybe I'll remember some steps!

Irish proverb of the day (this one is apparently a blessing):

That's all, I don’t have any other story
Sin sin, níl aon scéal eile agam