October 2010 Archives

Hello everyone,

It was another quiet week for me, but i have no problem with that. I've been enjoying relaxing this weekend and spending some much needed time in Galway. This may be my last weekend in Galway until December! I have a few trips planned for November, but I won't tell you about them now, because it'll be much more fun telling you about them once I've gone on them.

The most exciting news i've got for you this week is that I got my nose pierced. I'm sure many of you will have mixed feelings about this one, but I let my spontaneous side win out. ;) When in Ireland right?

I spent most of today walking around Galway and going in and out of shops looking for xmas presents. I figured I should probably do it now since i'll be gone most weekends. OOOH i also got my halloween costume all figured out today. I'm sure none of you would be able to guess it, but i'll tell you one thing, its impossible to get orange shorts in this town!

Tonight my roomie and I are going out to dinner with another one of our friends and her family who are here for the week visiting. Afterwards we are going to a comedy show that I got free tickets for from a drunk new zealand guy last weekend. Haha. He wasn't planning on still being around this weekend.

I promise to have many new updates for you next weekend because I'll be doing some traveling and it'll be halloween!

Happy Halloween everyone!

Em

Hey guys,

I'm afraid i don't have as many updates for you this time, except that my time here seems to be winding down. I'm already half way through! I just had my first midterm(which went well fyi), and my weekends are pretty much filled up until i leave. I have a few trips planned in november, but the details aren't set yet. When i know more i'll let you know.

A little update on my societies....I've cut it down to 14, but in all reality i'm only actively involved in 2 clubs, Christian Union and Juggling. OOO! I do have news, i bought my first set of juggling balls and can now juggle 3 balls. By the time i get home i'll be a pro.

I'm taking this weekend easy since i've been going nonstop since the beginning. I was going to go to the Dingle peninsula, but i got sick. Instead my roomate and I had a few people over last night for movie night. We watched 'p.s I love you'....cliche i know, but it was wonderful.

Alright that's about it for now, I'm off to go explore Galway city a bit, its beautiful today! No rain.....yet :/

Love you all,

Em

I've got some exciting new developments for ya this week! I just got back from a wonderful weekend at the Killary Adventure Center. We left Friday to the lodge and started our adventures Saturday morning. We got to pick all of our activities so i decided to go kayaking and gorge walking first. Its a bit cold on the west of Ireland so they made us wear wet suits which keep you suprisingly warm. It was a bit too windy so we didn't get a lot of time in the water. But to my suprise....they had another activity for us inbetween the kayaking and gorge walking. CLIFF JUMPING!!!! Um yes! I had to be the first one to go. So nerve racking and fun at the same time. It really wasn't a super tall one, but i think thats a good one to start on than. I loved it so much i went twice :) And for those of you who don't know what gorge walking is(i didn't), its basically walking up a stream/waterfall. I think i only fell once, so that was a successful day for me.

The second activity that afternoon we were supposed to do this 40 foot freefall swing thing, but it was too windy so they canceled it. Instead we did rock climbing and a high ropes course.(which i think turned out to be way more fun anyway) The first activity was a 25 foot pole that 4 people stand on. Of course i was the first to volunteer for this one too. Let me tell you, my ambission is much bigger than my ability, but i feel like thats a family trait. I was the second one to go up, and honestly the worst part was standing up there waiting for the other 2 to come up while the pole is swaying in the wind. We finally got all 4 of us up there, which felt like a miraclt, and than the real challenge came. All four of us had to start leaning back until we formed a circle. We didn't get very far before we all fell. Its amazing how that little experience bonded my friends and i about 50 times more than we already had bonded. The second activity which i volunteered to do again was a different pole about 30 feet tall that 2 people had to stand on and than jump off onto a trapeze. Again the worst part was standing on there waiting for the other person to come up. They all counted us down 3-2-1-jump! We missed by about an inch and did a little free fall until the ropes caught us. Loved it! Don't worry, even though i didn't get it the first time i tried it again and suceeded.

Last day i signed up for the zip wire and the killary challenge. The zip wire is basically a wire that you glide down. It was pretty fun, but i wanted it to go faster. The other challenges we did were sorts of team building activities and more height stuff. Seemed to be very popular among this adventure center. The very last activity of the day was 100% optional, meaning that it wasn't even a choice for me. Unfortuanately i was the only one in my group that wanted to do it. I jumped into a bog, a big pond of mud. My first jump i went in straight to my knees and it took me about 3 minutes to get my legs out. once i was on top of the mud i literally rolled over to the ' water' part of it and jumped in. I was expecting a pond, but much to my suprise it was a watery version of the mud i had just jumped in. I was covered head to toe in mud. I will never regret doing that. I felt like a kid! The worst part about it is that i took 3 showers today and finally got all the stuff out of my hair. Oh good times.

Cheers!

Emily

Hello Everyone,

Not much going happening on this end of the spectrum....except climbing a mountain! Thats right, I climbed Croagh Patrick in County Mayo this past Saturday Morning. It was quite an experience. My roomate, another American friend, and I all left friday night and stayed in a hostel in Westport. Another first for me, staying in a hostel. I enjoyed it a lot! It has a big family type of feel. We started the hike around 10 am the next morning and it took about 4 hours.

Here's the history behind the climb...

Croagh Patrick is a mountain near the town of Westport in County Mayo, Ireland. Each year, as many as one million pilgrims and visitors make the trek to the top to pray at the stations of the cross, participate in Mass, do penance (in which case the rocky journey is undertaken barefoot) or just enjoy the spectacular view. According to Christian tradition, St. Patrick went up the sacred mountain at festival time in 441 AD. After fasting at the summit for 40 days, he banished all the snakes and demons from Ireland.

I happened to see one individual going up the mountain barefoot as i was finishing. I think these people are crazy haha. Its not an easy hike. The majority of the climb is pretty vertical and its all rock. I actually thought it was worse coming down, because the loose gravel and rock make it very easy to fall....which i did twice, but i blame that on my clumsiness. :)

Well thats it for now, looking forward to hearing your comments!

Cheers
Em