An Island of Our Own

Even though we didn't want to, we all woke up early the next morning to get to the ferry. Before we got on our boat, we looked out at the Cliffs of Moher and watched some dolphins playing near a small rock jutting out of the ocean. Ironically, we boarded Tranquility that morning, but the water was not tranquil at all. Let me just say, at this point, I had never been more sick in my life. Though the view was incredible, I wanted to vomit through the entire thing because the boat was rocking so much. I am my mother's daughter.

The cliffs from the boat

Tranquil my butt

Our island!

When we finally arrived, we went to put our things down in the hostel that we had completely taken over. There was a hostel dog (apparently he lived up the road, but he liked to hang out at the hostel because of all the people), named Buster who all the girls fell in love with. He was very happy to see forty girls who would give him attention. Once we found our rooms, a few girls asked me if I wanted to go down to the sweater shop with them, and I agreed. Aran is famous for it's wool sweaters, and everyone was so eager to buy one. There was a very nice man running the store, who chatted with us as we browsed. "I'll tell you what girls, I'm very happy today, so whoever can answer my question correctly, or is the closest to it, you can pick out a free pair of socks." I wanted free socks, so it was on. "How many sons do you think I have?" he asked us. I quickly answered three, because the number three is a good number. And that, friends, is how I got free socks. "I'm happy today because one of my sons is coming to visit me, so that's why I'm giving free socks to yanks," he explained. I chatted with him for a while, asking him where the best places to go on the island were, and after we made our purchases, we set out to explore his suggestions. Kat (my room mate back in Maynooth), our friends Bridget and Kathleen, and Bridget's sister, Catherine (a previous SMC who came to visit her sister and therefore came with us), bought our bikes and headed towards the look out point for the seal colony. On our way, we found that the land was beautiful, green, covered with stone walls, and had been taken over by cows.

Our trail

No seals, sad day

There were more than two cows, but I like this photo

We didn't see any seals, for the tide had already come in. So, we continued on our way. After a mile, we came upon a horse grazing by the beach. I wanted to take his picture, so we stopped for a bit. We all tried talking to him, and eventually he came over to us. The girls named him Fergus, and he was definitely a character. I had an apple, which I shared with him, and in return he gave me some fun pictures.

Typical Irish horse

But, a horse that likes selfies!

And loves to laugh!

After we left Fergus, we headed down to the shore. The water was too cold to play in, but we took time to draw in the sand and jump around on the beach.

Kat, Bridget, Me and Kathleen

We continued on up a hill, and, though we didn't know at the time, we passed an old restaurant which film makers had renovated for the movie Leap Year. We were a little tired, so we stopped at a clump of stores to catch our breath and browse what they had. It was in one of these small stores that I found the perfect green sweater that I will probably never take off once winter comes around. After shopping, we continued up a giant hill, which is when we reached, Dun Aonghus, the name of the site. We had to climb up some pretty slippery rock stairs, until we finally reached a grassy area. As we were exploring, Bridget hopped up on one huge rock in the middle of the grass. All of a sudden she says, "Oh! That's straight down. This is a cliff!" We were all careful, but made our way to the edge. I swung my legs for a while and watched the waves crash against the other cliffs to the left of me. As I looked out, the water seemed to go on forever, and it made me feel so small.

I like to live on the edge. Get it?

The waves were so loud

Don't you feel tiny?

Don't worry, just chillin!

Such a cool place

After we took our pictures, we headed back to the hostel. We worked together to make a dinner for ourselves, and, afterwards, Kat, Bridget and Catherine and I all headed out to find a pub. There was a place on the island literally called, The Bar, so we decided to go there since it was the shortest walk. It was a very cool place with an American theme, even Elvis was on the wall. We bought a couple of pints and enjoyed the music of The Keltic Kats before heading off to bed. (We sang Galway girl before leaving though).