Home. In Both Senses.

When most college students travel to study abroad it is mainly about going out and seeing everything we can. Traveling as much as possible. Discovering new things to do and new cultures. What our group found that was very different from most of these experiences was not only the previously listed things, but a new home. We made friends there we will have forever and are welcome to return whenever we would like. We grew accustomed to the differences there and truly fit in by the end of the trip. So even though we were returning to the United States our actual "home" it was incredibly hard to leave because Dungarvan, Ireland is our another place we can actually call our home. There were incredible experiences and the fact that the terrible ones cannot mar those speaks for itself. I hope to return to Ireland soon!

Mommy and the Hulk in Fungarvan

After I finally got released from the hospital I had a few days to show mom around Dungarvan before we had to return so I could be cleared to fly! I could not walk for more than an hour with support so they were short excursions but the town is not too large so it worked!
The first adventure was showing mom the town. We walked to the harbor and watched the two Dungarvan swans majestically floating around for oh, about forty five minutes. To be fair, we don't see many swans at our house in Georgia!
The second trip into the town was when the first Maritime Festival ever was launched in Dungarvan! We saw the tall ships and other boats come in. Then we went grocery shopping which was fun because it is incredibly different from shopping in the United States. I tried to buy some champagne to celebrate being out of the hospital but mom was having none of it. Something about mixing medicine and alcohol she wasn't comfortable with.
The third trip was to the candy shop. Where we bought out the store. There were chocolate, fudges, truffles, gummies, unkown candies, lollipops, and everything else. And we bought all of it, initially for our friends at home but somehow half of the treats were missing when it was time to pack them up...
The fourth trip out was my moms favorite. We saw the fireworks that closed the Maritime Festival. They lasted for twenty minutes and were, frankly, much better than we were expecting for such a small town! There were so many different kinds and it was somewhat surreal to watch them sparkle over the water. Plus I was deaf in one ear so the loud noises were not bad at all!
I know it does not seem like she got to see much but I went to a lot of trouble to get her to Ireland. I am kidding of course!

The Hulk in the Hospital

There were only three weeks left of the trip and one of the weeks would be dedicated to traveling around Europe. I went with some friends to the gym as normal before class to run for a bit, beer and potatoes are not the best recipe for trying to stay in shape. As I was running I started to feel a bit faint and pressed the pause button on the treadmill so that I could stop and sit down for a bit. That is the last thing I remember happening until three days later when I woke up in the Waterford hospital.
According to my friends and people who saw what happened I stopped the machine, stood there for a few seconds before I passed out, fell backwards and hit my head off the rowing machine behind the treadmill. I managed to give myself a concussion, crack my head open, burst my ear drum, fracture my cheek and jawbone and damage one of my facial nerves. For a while I was unable to talk or realize what was happening but apparently had some conversations with people later during the day and turned into a sass queen. For example, when the doctor was putting staples in my head he didn't really tell me what was happening. I don't remember this but my friend who was with me said he quickly explained what had done when he was finished and ran out of the room. I looked at her and said in the most offended and privileged tone, "did he...just put...STAPLES in my head??" I did not know that I was in the hospital or what was going on.
I stayed there for the rest of the week until I came to when my mom was flown over. I just woke up and suddenly knew what was going on. I was released for two days and spent it sleeping which I'm sure my mom was thrilled about. She comes to Ireland to watch me sleep, must be entertaining. Then I realized I could not move the left side of my face. I was driven back to the hospital and it turned out that the cheek and jaw fractures and the eardrum had damaged my facial nerve severely and they needed to strengthen it immediately. This is where the stories begin.
For the first week I was concussed and did not know what was happening. The second week I was pumped full of steroids. I took twelve tablets daily once I was released the second time meaning...I was on way more in the hospital. I was also aware of all the IVs unlike before. The combination of very strong pain killers, antibiotics, and steroids made me decide that I was the Hulk and that I needed to get out of the hospital. Two weeks in there was a pretty long time, to be fair. One of the first nights of the second week I got up, took my metal IV stands and started walking out of the Ward. I was quickly returned to my bed by the nurse where I promptly began trying to take the IVs out. When the nurse asked me what I was doing I declared that "the Hulk doesn't need your poison." The next morning I woke up with my head bandages sort of taped to the bed and the nurse filled my mom and I in on the shenanigans. It was a proud moment for her.

I Kissed a Legend (or just, the Blarney Stone)

After Cork we set off to our bed and breakfast where we were going to stay for the night after we saw the Blarney Castle. It was called the White House and was absolutely wonderful. Not only was it so comfortable and welcoming but it was luxurious inside! We dropped off our luggage and then went to find the Castle. This was very easy as Blarney is on the smaller side.
The grounds of the castle was the first thing we saw. They were stunning. Flowers everywhere, trees hanging low, a rushing river than ran throughout the whole place, and tiny waterfalls. It was glorious. Then the Castle loomed up on the hill. It was all stone and most of the inside had fallen down but we found the staircase and started the climb, which was actually frightening. There was a rope hanging down the stairs that went up in a spiral pattern. The steps grew smaller and smaller until just the balls of our feet were able to make contact with the stones. Then just when we thought we were going to die the staircase opened up to the top of the castle and a view of Blarney. We had a 360 degree overlook of the grounds, we could even see our bed and breakfast from the there! After admiring that for a few moments we made our way to the stone to kiss it and hopefully receive the gift of gab. Not like any of us needed it. We had a tendency to talk over one another.
Kissing the stone was not scary just...unexpected. You lay down and a kind elderly Irish man directs you to hold onto the metal bars they placed there. Then he holds you as you lean back...back...further back...until you think you are a gymnast and can finally  reach the stone. Then he pulls you up and you are done! It was very informal. After that we ran around the castle grounds for a good few hours.
The next day we woke up to the most fabulous breakfast. For one thing...the White House served us real pancakes! Delicious, American-style pancakes! After some time spent in heaven, we went to see the Blarney Mills before we went back to Dungarvan thinking we could maybe afford a pair of socks. We were not expecting there to be so much merchandise. There were blankets, scarves, about ten thousand sweaters, a baby section, toys, and of course the socks. That doesn't even cover half of it. It was just a huge place filled with wool EVERYTHING. We all ended up making a purchase to bring back to remind us of Blarney.

The City of Cork

A group of my friends and I decided we wanted to go see the Blarney Stone. However I stayed in Cork for a bit before we headed to Blarney. Cork is by far my favorite "big" Irish city that I was able to travel too. Dublin was very touristy but Cork was grand. There were murals on the walls of alley ways, a huge market that sold everything possible, tons of shopping, live music in the streets, and just a general lively and welcome feel to the city. A few things of note happened here:
1. We found a live human turtle. Just kidding, it was a boy wearing green with a green turtle backpack on as shown to the right. But we can stick with human turtle because it is better than the reality.
2. We found Chinatown in Ireland.
3. We saw the unique color blocked houses that lined the hills.
4. We just loved Cork.
Walking around and exploring was so gratifying because it was as if the city had a culture of its own. I highly recommend going to Cork just to walk around.

Karaoke in Ireland

One activity that the group signed up to do was go to a Karaoke Bar a little ways outside of Dungarvan. This was a most excellent idea. After a few pints we were all primed to perform. It was a great experience because not only did all the Americans make the Irish people's ear drums cry, but it was a great chance to bond with other people in our group.
Then one of the greatest moments of my life happened.
It was around minutes before the group was supposed to leave to return to Dungarvan and one of my friends and I had entered a card we thought was not going to be called. We had written down that our names were Jack and Rose and that we were to be performing "My Heart Will Go On" from the Titanic.
I am a ballet major and my friend is a music major and can actually sing quite well. So what happened next was that we absolutely put on a show. We were romantically dancing and eventually had the entire bar singing along and dancing with each other. As soon as the song ended we were applauded and then loaded onto the bus to go home. But not after complimented by everyone we passed with Irish phrases such as "that was great craic!"

Clonea Beach

I had tried unsuccessfully to find Clonea Beach since so many of my Irish friends told me to visit it. This is mainly because I kept getting lost since I apparently can't read street signs correctly. I will stay in school. One day I set out with one of my friends on a bicycle to find this beach...and we found it! It is easy to see why William Butler Yeats was able to write so many poems simply out Irelands scenery. On the way to Clonea we rode through a field of cows as usual and were startled by a baby peacock flying over the hedge in front of us. Yes, a baby peacock. After this we arrived at the beach surrounded by countryside and cliffs. The beaches in Ireland are very different from the beaches in America. We have white, powdery sand and very flat areas surrounding our beaches whereas Ireland has rocky terrain leading right up to the water. It was beautiful. My friend and I sat on the rocks looking out at the ocean for a long time just trying to take it all in. Then the tide decided to join us so we went back home.