Field Trip #5 - Dublin Prison

Field Trip #6 - Burial Stone, The Chocolate Garden, and Rath of Rings

I did a lot of climbing on this field trip. :)

The scenery is incredibly beautiful here in Ireland. But home is awaiting me, 43 days left. It's gone fairly quick, I'm hoping it continues that way.

General feelings to this day. Needless to say ... 48 days. :)

I'll post some pictures soon.

Finally, the internet has worked long enough for me to post pictures. The following pictures are from our trip to the Blarney Stone and Castle.

Later that day ... we went to the Jameson Distillery.

The following pictures are from our 3rd field trip - Glendalough.

The following pictures are from our 4th field trip - Kilkenny Castle and Smithwicks Brewery.

(62 days left!!!)

The countdown continues ... 75 days til I return home.

Other than being overly excited to go home, I'm enjoying my time here. Its been so hard to adjust to the lifestyle of the Irish and simply being away from the ones I love back at home. But as I get out and explore everything in Ireland, I appreciate this opportunity more and more. Our field trips (with my Irish Experience class) have been fabulous. They're clearly educational, but more importantly ... to me ... they're enjoyable, interesting, and FREE TRIPS. You can never pass up free trips around another country to beautiful destinations.

Our first field trip ... pictures are below in an older blog. This past Friday (September 30, 2011), we went to an Irish Heritage foundation and the beach that Saving Private Ryan was shot on. Both sites were incredibly enjoyable. The heritage foundation was very informative and interesting whereas the beach was relaxing and beautiful (even through all the rain). Pictures will be posted soon.

We've been doing our best to take mini trips around Ireland on the weekends to get out of the house. There is much more to Ireland other than Carlow's pubs and nightlife (which got old after the first week). This weekend we ventured to Cork, Ireland. There we saw the Blarney Castle and Stone ... P.S. I kissed the Blarney Stone ... and we also went to the Jameson (Irish Whiskey) Distillery. Both sites were so beautiful and interesting. Ireland has so much history and beautiful sites to see.

I cannot wait to continue my ventures here in Ireland. It will be the only way that I can truly enjoy my time here, make the time pass, and take advantage of the opportunity that has been given to me.

Again ... pictures from the past weekend will be posted soon. It takes forever for pictures to upload.

The past few days, it has been hard to blog. The Internet has been rough. After taking about four hours to upload pictures, here they finally are. (From our first field trip on Friday, September 23, 2011.) The following pictures are from a 5th century church and cemetery.

After leaving the cemetary, we headed to see beautiful green scenery. The following pictures show the different shades of green that Ireland has to offer. These shades of green are also shown in an older post, but from a different angle, I'm now at the top of the mountain, looking down...

We then went to another church that was also surrounded by an old cemetary.

The following pictures are from yet another church and cemetery (although, this scene is from the 7th century).

The following hill is located at the same church and cemetery as the above pictures. This hill has much history behind it. When practicing the Catholic religion was frowned upon, men and women would sneak to this area and have a private practice. Someone would sit at the top of this hill and guard the area. It also looks down on beautiful scenery.

Finally we went to a castle near Carlow, Ireland. Although is was very run down and falling apart, it was incredibly beautiful.

All of the previous photos were taken during our first field trip to many historical places around Carlow, Ireland. It was great to see such beautiful places that had so much meaning to the people of this town and country. It was probably the first time that I truly appreciated what Ireland has to offer me and the first time I enjoyed being here. I'm incredibly homesick, but Ireland is very beautiful and I'm thrilled to see what else Ireland has awaiting me in the next few weeks.