This group consisted of students from all over Europe and had a minority of students from the US and Canada. It was great to hang out with new people and we quickly became a little family over the 2.5 day journey. We departed from campus in the afternoon on Friday and began our 3-hour drive to the Dingle Peninsula.
As you may remember from my previous trip to Dingle, my stomach hates this winding and bumpy ride. I was extremely nervous getting back on a small bus heading to this area, but was glad to fall asleep for most of the trip. We got stuck in traffic for about an hour but luckily I made it without getting ill and we arrived around 7:30pm. When we got to the building we were assigned our rooms and settled in. UCC owns a building/hostel down the street from Ballyferriter so we bunked there for the weekend. Anticipating a room with 16 mattresses on the ground, I was pleased to find myself in a two-person room with my friend, Julia.
After we put away our things we headed downstairs to the dining room for sandwiches and tea. We then had a local talk to us and explain what it was like to grow up in an Irish-speaking area and raise her kids there (she spoke English, as do most of the Gaeltacht residents who are fluently bilingual).
Though I was a bit tired, we decided to start the trip out right by heading down the road to one of three pubs in Ballyferriter. The group had a wonderful time and I even talked to some older men sitting at the bar. I mentioned how I was Irish and how my grandmother emigrated from County Westmeath. They asked her maiden name, I said "Holden," and they recalled their being a Leather shop about 20 minutes away with that name. And then it hit me.
Remember me saying that my family had taken a bus around the whole Island when I was younger and that I only remember bits and pieces of the trip? Well then I remembered. WE HAD GONE TO HOLDEN LEATHERGOODS. That was the Holden. My grandmother's family. Easily and correctly referenced with a single name by two Irish-speaking strangers in the town of Ballyferriter that's population is under 300. What a small world (!), or small country? Well, that was a fun night! I had returned to the table of students for about an hour when I heard through the whole (small) pub: "Bye Kansas!" I waived and smiled back at my new friends as they left. They were just so adorable.
The next morning we took a tour of some of the Peninsula's many archaeological sites. We visited two awesome structures, Gallarus Oratory and Kilmalkedar Church. We stopped to see a couple of gorgeous beaches, we walked down to where the ferry from the Blasket Islands docks along the Dingle Peninsula, and even went shopping at a local pottery store.
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| Kilmalkedar Church. You are supposed to go to heaven if you squeeze through the back window, worth a try! |
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| Gallarus Oratory. |
I got to revisit Dingle and ate some ice cream (a better experience than my last time in this cute town), and returned to the hostel for a group lunch. We had free time for the afternoon and decided to take a little walk in the country. This walk was eventful. We met a local dog, Rex, who served as our tour guide for the afternoon. Then we met two other dogs along the way. We got soaked in a small rain shower. We got scared by a man on a bicycle. We saw a DOUBLE RAINBOW. We saw sheep herded by Rex, twice. And we befriended a horse and two goats.
That night we ate dinner and had a singing and dancing lesson from another local woman.
After our musical endeavors we set out for a Ballyferriter pub crawl (two total, we had already visited the third) and it was a blast! The first pub was fine but the second pub was even better because there was a cute shih tzu I played with and we practiced our Irish with a hilarious (perhaps intoxicated) man named Seamus.
On Sunday we went to a mass in Irish and took a walk to the beach. It was beautiful (though a bit cold), and we attempted a classic jumping photo! On the way back we saw a calf that was only four days old and a pregnant cow as well. We then cooked lunch, loaded up, and headed home.
This was my least expensive trip and I was unsure if I wanted to go after a stressful week of school. In hindsight, this was one of my most favorite experiences so far! It was so very Irish - if that makes any sense - nothing fancy, nothing extravagant.We had good food, lots of tea, beautiful scenery, and new (awesome) people to share it all with. I am so grateful for experiences like these, especially as my time in Cork begins to dwindle. Go raibh maith agat (Thank you)!
Yours,
The Opinionated Lassie
ALSO: I decided to try my hand as video blogging (vlogging) and this is my first trip! Check out my video and if you have a Youtube account please subscribe to my new channel: The Opinionated Lassie.
Thanks for watching!
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