Wednesday, February 29, 2012

kilkenny weekend.

February 25th and 26th

Spent 2 days in Kilkenny last weekend with Steph, Sydney, Sebastian, Paul, and Phillip (all the boy are German) and had a great time!  Killkenny is known to be one of the most beautiful inland cities in all of Ireland, and it did not disappoint!  The bus ride brought us through the true Irish countryside and many stereotypical small towns... and since I managed to avoid my usual bus sickness it was actually a fun ride!

After arriving at the Machabhainns Backpackers Hostel around noon on Saturday we headed out to enjoy a sunny day of sight seeing.  We stuck to the river and shops at first, but then we walked through the Kilkenny Castle park and realized that spring has sprung here in Ireland... even though it's only February! We decided that with a limited amount of sunshine in the forecast we'd wait until Sunday to actually tour the inside of the castle.






After another hour of aimless walking/sun-soaking/sight-seeing we met up with my Irish friend Tomás, whos parents live in Kilkenny, for the rest of the day so he could show us around.  Our first stop of the afternoon was Smithwick's Brewery!  We went on a 45 minute tour of the brewery and St. Frances Abbey on the grounds, learned about the history of the beer, and enjoyed a pint.  It was pretty cool and I really enjoyed my first Smithwick!




On saturday evening, we enjoyed spaghetti and meat sauce at the hostel before meeting up with Tomás again for a small pub crawl... kilkenny style!  We went to a few authentic places, a wine bar, and an old theater transformed into a night club.

On Sunday we rolled out of bed to get our tourist needs taken care of!  In addition to Kilkenny being one of the most beautiful inland towns in Ireland, it is also one of the most medieval ones.  We started out back at the Kilkenny Castle... although it was fun, it was a little less than what we'd expected and I wasn't allowed to take any pictures. 

Next, we walked back across town to St. Canice's Cathedral which was no dissapointment!!  The church itself was beautiful and completely full of stained glass and old tombs.  But the really amazing thing was the guard tower right outside the cathedral.  There are 32 left in all of Ireland (another 1 is in my pictures from my weekend in Glendolough) but only 2 area actually open to the public... and this was one!  The tower had 112 steps and was 100ft. tall.  The view of the town and countryside was amazing from the top! Something you should never miss if you make it to Kilkenny!





This is the view of St. Frances Abbey at Smithwick's from the watch tower.


We had to leave for the bus pretty much straight from the cathedral thinking we might be late.  However, the bus didn't show up until 30 minutes after is was supposed to come!  Very frustrating... but we finally made it home 5 hours after we left Kilkenny (it should have only taken about 3.5 hours).

It was a great weekend, and nice to have a local guide for the weekend!

Next weekend is only a day trip to the Burren (again) and the Aillwee caves with the international division... thank goodness!  I need a weekend night in my bed here at UL!

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

galway.

Friday, February 17th - Sunday, February 19th

My friends Sydney, Steph, Sebestian, Paul, and I hopped on a bus just outside of UL on Friday to start our weekend adventure in Galway!

Friday:
After making it to Galway we checked into the Kinlay House Hostel about 1/2 a block from the bus station. We ran to Dunnes grocery store to stock up for the weekend...  and took advantage of the great facilities for cooking and hanging out at the hostel! In true American fashion, we made a huge home-made mac and cheese and rashers (similar to bacon) feast for the guys!  We also enjoyed one of the grosses cakes ever in honor of Paul's 22nd birthday!




After dinner we headed out in search of a traditional pub... not a tough task here in Ireland! We eventually decided on The Kings Head where we got to enjoy a pint with some great live music (not too traditional, but still good)!


Saturday:
We spent the morning only blocks from the hostel enjoying some history at the Galway City Museum along the River Corrib. I put some interesting pictures up on Flickr.
But we couldn't stay there too long with the sun shining outside!  From the museum we headed up the river to Nun's Island in search of The Galway Cathedral... not too hard to find with the spires peeking up above the tree line.




The rest of Saturday afternoon was spent wandering the city stumbling upon churches, shops, pubs, and cafes in town!

Saturday evening we found a great restaurant called Busker Brownes for and Irish dinner of beef and guinness stew before a night of pub hopping!

Sunday:
In the morning our group was able to meet up with a few other UL international students staying in another hostel in Galway and make the walk out to Salthill!  It was beautiful!  Salthill is a small town snuggled right in along the Galway Bay.  We enjoyed the sun while walking along the Bay before heading to the Atlantaquaria to see some sea life!





Overall, the trip was unbelievable! we had a ton of fun sightseeing and wandering through town!
I took tons of pictures that I couldn't fit into my blog, but I have put up on my flickr account (I don't know what happened to the link at the top of my page, so just go to flickr.com and search lkmcmullen to see my pics!).

I'm off the Killenny next weekend, so keep a look out for more posts!

irish sports night.

Wednesday, February 15th

The International Division here at UL has done a great job of keeping the international students busy this semester.  They have organized cheap trips and group gatherings.  The main event on Wednesday night was learning to play Gaelic Football and Hurling!  It was great craic!

The university brought in actual sports trainers from Country Clare to teach a bunch of uncoordinated, confused international students their national sports!

We began with hurling, which I already briefly described in another post. However, watching the game is nothing like actually picking up a hurley and sliotar (pernounced slitter, the ball) jogging out to the pitch yourself!


After our Hurling tutorial we got to try out Gaelic football!  The game is played with a ball really similar to a soccer ball.  But the rules of the game are a mix between soccer, basketball, and volleyball!  You can bounce/dribble the ball once during a possession, and you can toe-to-hand the ball (drop it on your foot and bounce it up to your hand)... one of these 2 things needs to be done every 4 steps.  Also, when you pass the ball to a teammate you essentially use a volleyball bump pass... you can never just throw the ball to one another...

It was crazy to learn and I'm sure we looked even crazier when we tried to play!

I will hopefully get the chance to keep watching both of these sports while I'm hear and continue to learn about them!

Thursday, February 16, 2012

OPC weekend.

Friday 2/10-Sunday 2/12 - Glendalough and Wicklow Mountains

PARTY PARTY PARTY PARTY!!! CRAIC CRAIC CRAIC!! (oh yeah... and some hiking!)

I Spent the weekend at the Glendalough International Hostel with 120 other University of Limerick students... all members of the Outdoor Pursuits club (OPC).  We thankfully had the entire hostel booked out to our group... a regulation for OPC put in place by managment for good reason!

We arrived on Friday after a 4 hour bus trip from the University.  I managed to avoid my usual bout of motion sickness by snagging a seat in the front, and by not drinking like a fish with my fellow students!  Needless to say, everyone was feeling grand when we pulled into the hostel.  Sydney and I found a group of 4 girls looking for a few more roommates... we joined them for a memorable weekend in room 20!  About 5 minutes after arriving, while I was making my bed, the legs fell off...  Sadly, this might have actually improved the comfort level of the bed!


Sydney and I finally made it to bed around 1:30 on Friday night with the intention of getting up at 8:00 to join in on the "experienced hike" of the day.  WOW... and they weren't kidding about it being for experienced hikers!  We left the hostel at about 10am Saturday and headed for the Wicklow mountains!  We worked our way up and around the lake the lake we started at, seen in the picture below (this picture was taken at our first big ascent of about 4 or 5... before the clouds/fog got too thick to have a view).


Our hike lasted for about 4 hours before we opted to join the first group back to the hostel... the hike down took another 1.5 hours!  Here a few of the pictures that I managed to snag while I wasn't too scared I was trip/slip with my camera in my hand!





Saturday night was the OPC annual Valentine's Day ball... one of the hostel conference rooms was decorated with pink balloons and cupid cut-outs along with your usual cliche decorations.  We eventually made our way to the one pub within walking distance of the hostel, I'm sure we were a sight for the locals.  When we finally made it back to the hostel around 2:00 the last think I was worried about was the angle of my bed... I slept like it was nobody's business!

Before heading back to Limerick on Sunday we went for a relaxed hike around the Glendalough monastery ruins and saw some beautiful old buildings and structures... even a campanile!




The girls of room 20!

Understandably, the bus ride home was much quieter!  
It was a great weekend full of new friends and new experiences... I can't wait for the next OPC weekend trip!

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

the burren.

Sunday 2/5 - The Burren

Ahhhhh.. so behind on my posts!

Since arriving here at University of Limerick I have joined 2 of the many societies the school has to offer...
-The International Student Society holds events every Friday at one of the bars on campus and keeps up busy with trips, sporting events, and food!
-The Outdoor Pursuits Club (OPC) is really the club that I have embraced since being here though!  They host cheap day and weekend trips for hiking, rock climbing, orienteering, and caving!  They also have social events and are a really great group of people to hang out with!

This post is about the OPC!
I signed up for a day trip to the Burren (a rocky region along the west coast of Ireland) to go rock climbing.  We left at 9 am from campus and drove out to to the Burren to get climbing, but unfortunately found the wet conditions too dangerous for a climb.  Se we settled for a bit of easy hiking instead!

When we got off the bus we stopped to check out the breath taking view of the ocean from the cliff edge...


We then wandered (or struggled) down to the shore line where you quickly learned that getting too close to the waves meant getting soaked!  



After we'd had enough of the Burren we got back on the bus to warm up and head to a small seaside town called Lahinch.  The town is known for its surfing beaches... and there were plenty of people out there catching a few freezing waves!  We walked along the shore and watched the surfers enjoy the sunless day, and a few OPC members even went swimming!



After our hike we took a brief walk around town to see the sights, shops, and pubs... and of course in hopes of finding some traditional Irish pub food!





We met up with the rest of the OPC members to 'watch' the Ireland vs. Wales rugby game at a Lahinch pub.  Despite a loss for Ireland, the pub was a warm and fun atmosphere!

It was a great day, and the fun to get to know the OPC members.  The cheap trips they have to offer are somthing that I will be staying involved with in the future!

a traditional evening in Limerick.

Saturday 2/4 - Limerick, Ireland

After our long day of exploration in Limerick City; Sydney, Steph, and I headed home to eat and regroup before finding our way back into town to grab a pint at a pub!

Our first stop was Mickey Martins... one we had scoped out during our afternoon in town. I sat next to a roaring fire and drank cider with some good friends!  Since we were trying to blend in with the Irish locals all the pictures I took are a little dark... nothing screams tourist like a camera flash in a dark pub!




When we'd had our fill at Mickeys we decided to ask a few locals where else we should go. We were directed to Flannery's.  Although the main bar area of this pub had a much more modern look, we managed to snag a table in the entryway which had a much more trad. pub look!





 I have been given a list of 26 must see pubs in Limerick... 2 down, 24 to go!!