and her heart it is in ireland: i'm moving up to co. donegal

so i'm taking a break from my weekend of reading to write about my abfab week in donegal with the club :)

it was bloody amazing. donegal is so gorgeous, i want to move there. even if their accents are funny.
so monday morning we met up like usual and 16 of us set off for the bus trip up north.
so a little over an hour into the trip there was a mishap outside of limerick when amanda went unconscious and an ambulance was called. luckily of the 16 of us on the bus more than half were cpr/first aid certified so the people next to her took charge and she was responsive after a few minutes, but they still took her to the hospital. so we were slightly postponed in limerick, where we went grocery shopping, lunch and walked around the shopping centre for a few hours while we waited. luckily everything turned out ok for amanda and pj's (the bus driver) wife was going to come and pick her up. so we continued on our adventure.

pj is the best bus driver ever, honestly. he was giving us any fun info as we drove up. it was actually funny because none of us had ever been to donegal. it really makes me laugh though for such a small country people don't travel around it, ireland is about the size of indiana which isn't a super huge state, it is the 38th in rank of size, which is pretty small jersey is 45th. anyway the trip to donegal was about 250 miles away but it took us about 9 hours. which makes sense why the irish don't travel to the other end of the country, the road are horrible.

anyway so on the way through we stopped at w.b. yeats grave in drumcliff, co. sligo and it was gorgeous. in the background is ben bulbin, these fabulous mountains and the sun was setting so it was so picturesque. so we continued on our way and finally reached killybegs at about 9. we settled into our rooms, the hostel was sooo nice! made some food and then just spent the next few hours talking. my room was pretty funny. karen and i like usual shared a bunk bed. her on top, me on bottom - like the other 3 club weekends away all year, it is actually pretty funny. then brian/tim, richard and tom. so it was pretty fun room.

tuesday woke up with the sun kinda shining and we were ready to go hike the blue stacks. they were about 45 minutes away and it was looking to be a good day. the first bit of the hike was along the road, then a path so it was pretty easy going, there was a gorgeous waterfall, which we climbed down to the bottom to look at and then started the bog. most of the hike was just bog, bloody boring bog. and it was a hard bog to walk through, we stopped for lunch along a stream by the lake and then after lunch was fun, there were these awesome rocks like almost vertical rock slabs that you could walk up, it was really cool. and the boys found some boulders which of course had to be climbed. so then back to the bog for the hike down to the road. a group of people decided to go swimming in the pool by the waterfall but i was tired and so karen and i hightailed our way down the path and road to the bus. it was so nice to take off my boots, the bog was just so soul destroying, more than usual. after getting back to the hostel and making dinner we just sat around talking again and laughing about everything and anything.

wednesday was seriously one of the best days ever. it was bright and sunny when we woke up :) we were climbing slieve league, these bloody fabulous sea cliffs, they are the 2nd highest in ireland and in my mind prettier than the cliffs of moher. so after a long road walk into the parking lot and seeing the cliffs in their glory i knew it was going to be a fabulous day! we set off up the mountain and each view was just better and better, there was some great conversation and it was just spectacular views of the cliffs, the ocean and the valley below. you could also see ben bulbin and the blue stacks in the background, so it was really cool. so after a little lunch along the top of the mountain we went back down, and followed a little stream to possibly the most gorgeous place on earth. seriously i thought i died and found heaven here. a view of most of the cliffs, the ocean was so turquoise/bluey and there was nothing else there. just so peaceful and i wanted to just sit there forever. there was a great big flat rock, we all were sitting on just soaking in the wonderfullness. so after about a half hour of savoring the view we set off for the rest of the hike. and the views were still pretty and we could see the beach where we were ending the hike which was nice, because we were going swimming! so as we were coming down the final hill and the road walk to the bus it was starting to drizzle, but that didn't stop us from swimming. we met up with the 5 people who were climbing and almost all of us went swimming. it was sooooo cold, but totally worth it. i usually don't do crazy things like that but, when am i going to get the chance to go swimming in the north atlantic in march after a hike like that? i was only in the water for about a minute, i ran in and splashed around a bit and swam a wave in. and then immediately started to change into my dry clothes. i don't know how a few people stayed in for a few minutes. seriously. but i guess i am the girl who gets cold after 10 minutes in the ocean in august, oh well. so the hike goes down as my 2nd favourite ever. the first would be the epic curve gully in the snow hike from february and 3rd was the PnP hike in 1998 with camp. so just a fabulous amazing day :)

thursday we were up early to go climb errigal. it was about 2 hours away and it was pretty cool looking. it looked like a volcano and was just neat. after the first hour of hell climbing up a bog it got better, which was surprising because it was all skree. the skree was actually pretty easy to hike up and there was some scrambling :) the top was gorgeous and there were views for miles. so after a fun lunch and about halfway down there were 2 options, to hike onto another mountain next to it or head down. i had a headache and my knee was killing me, so i decided to hike down, and i was the only one, so it was so peaceful. i miss being outside in nature by myself. it is something i am so used to at home, just taking my car and driving. at home it was just for the drive around sussex, at college it was to the dock or the river/bay and at each of the camps i worked at i had places in the mountains or along rivers. and i miss that more than anything right now. so having almost an hour to just be alone was amazing. after the rest of the group came back we drove back and the hostel owner told us while we were cooking that there was going to be a quiz night at a local pub. so we all went and it was hilarious. karen and her captain were having a great night, and we broke into 3 teams for the quiz. i was on the kevin baconettes with ger, shane, and geraoid. and we came in 4th, but 1st for all the club teams :) it was funny with all the jokes among the club, calling out completely wrong and funny answers and just being ourselves. the bartender was getting a kick out of us and we closed down the place. had some laughs back in the hostel before we all went to bed.

friday was a day in the bus. nothing too great, i read a thousand splendid suns and it was amazing. i was crying most of the book and i love books like this. i am interested in islamic culture and i find books like this interesting and i think they are good for most of the western world, especially with everything going on in the world, even though it is fiction. they show how we all are people and the different struggles we all face. i still liked the kite runner better, but this hit me on a different level because the main characters were all female and just the differences between our lives and how i have the option to go to college and grad school and move 3000 miles away and everything i have done so far in my life.

so this weekend i have just been attempting to read for my paper. it is due on the 23rd and the only thing i have done is a topic and bibliography. so i've been reading like crazy the last 2 days
in an attempt to get most of the reading and notes done before greece, so i can write it over the weekend when i get back from holidays and then meet with cindy to talk about it. bah, doing work in gradschool. seriously this one paper a semester thing isn't really working for me. i don't even want to think about writing the thesis, though i pretty much am starting it as soon as i hand in my immigration paper.

so i'm busy busy monday and tuesday, working all day both days and then getting some readings finished and then packing and getting ready for my greek adventure :)
YAY!!

pictures :)

i'll add some pictures at work tomorrow, since my internet connection is circa 1999 dial-up at home.