The Locals

Since this week was much more uneventful than the last, I’ll only post a short summary of the week’s activities towards the end.

This entry, I would like to talk about all of the locals that I’ve met so far. First, there is Jane Foyle and her sister Aisling. Jane is one of our “professors” even though she isn’t actually a teacher of any kind. She helps run the hotel we are staying at with her brother John Paul, who I will talk about later. Jane teaches us about the Irish language and culture. Technically, she sets up classes with other locals who either have more experience or are just better in those areas. So far, she has taught us about the Irish language, which can be called either Irish or Irish Gaelic. She is a super nice person and loves helping us with anything we need. Her sister, Aisling, is someone I’ve only met once but she is just as kind and helpful as her sister. The man who owns the hotel, John Paul (or JP as I will call him for the rest of the trip) is extremely kind as well. He offers us plenty of advice on pubs in Spiddal and Galway and even gives us free alcohol if we help him with some of the chores around the hotel. For instance, us girls helped him decorate the chairs for a wedding reception that was held in the hotel. He also has the cutest kids, one named Oshee (who we did get to meet). Another of the locals that we’ve come to know very well is John, who is one of the drivers for the cab company in Barna, a town close to Galway. He drives the bus, which we take if the whole group is going. If he is taking us in to Galway, then he usually tells us of many different places we can go to. He even shows us around, telling us good places for college students. We’ve very much come to enjoy his company. He also owns a bunch of horses, which he tells us we can go pet any time as long as we close the gate behind us! Those are the main people we’ve met so far, but everyone has been very kind to us so far. When we are at the pubs, most people are friendly and willing to talk to you. When we were climbing Croagh Patrick (which will be talked about at the bottom), many people talk to you or offer support to get up the mountain. On the way up, one small group, made up of two older gentlemen and one older lady (in their 40s or 50s), offered me lots of advice, telling me to take it at my own pace, and even gave me one of their extra water bottles, which I was very thankful for later on. Another gentleman told me I was doing great on my way up while he was coming down. On my way down, I stopped to talk to a lady and her kids. Even the kids were nice! They told me that I did good, even though I didn’t make it to the very top (though I was close enough – only 20 minutes or so from the top), and that they were glad that I pushed myself. It’s very empowering to have complete strangers help or encourage you in your journeys. Also, the people who had dogs were more than happy to stop and let me pet their dogs for a moment. I saw a husky, a pug, a beagle, a Labrador, and some fluff ball named Rocko, who had done this more times than I write Croagh Patrick in this entry! It was a bit strange to see dogs climbing mountains, but they all seemed like they were enjoying themselves and even knew exactly where they were going.

So this week, we had our first “field trip”. So this weekend, we went to the Country Life Museum, Pearse Cottage (Pearse was one of the rebels against the English), stopped at Kylemore Abbey (even though we didn’t go inside, we still stopped at the café and shop outside of it), and passed through a few of the more scenic spots in Ireland like Wild Atlantic Way. Most importantly, however, was that we climbed Croagh Patrick (pronounces as “crow” Patrick). Croagh Patrick is a holy mountain where St. Patrick fasted for 40 days. Many people make pilgrimages up that mountain, especially in days like Good Friday or other days for special masses. It is .47 miles high, so not even half a mile, but it was still pretty crazy to climb a mountain. However, I didn’t do it for me.

In case you didn’t know, my baby cousin, Charlie Stephens, passed away at the age of 5. She battled leukemia for 3 years and lost that battle early in the morning of January 10th. I loved her like she was my baby sister and I have a feeling that she would have loved something that was as majestic as Croagh Patrick, or just Ireland itself. So this climb was for Charlie, and I know that she was watching me and cheering for me as I climbed that holy mountain.

Thanks for keeping up with me and I hope everyone else has had a great week.