Field Trip #4 : Final and Best

Our fourth, and final, field trip was an overnight in Galway that took place for the past two days. This one was definitely my favorite!

Day 1:

First stop was to the Cliffs of Moher.  They are so breathtaking and we lucked out with a sunny and warm day, which made for visible cliffs, and an enjoyable experience walking around.

Caitlin and me enjoying the view

 Caitlin, Me, Chelsea, Nicole

Second stop was to an old fortified house belonging to the O'Brien family

Third stop was to Poulnabrone tomb.  It is a portal tomb dating back to 4000 BC

Fourth stop was to Corcomroe Abbey, a sixteenth century church

Heather, Nichola, Caitlin, Chelsea, Me, Nicole, Molly, Katy

We spent the night at the Kinlay hostel in Galway city.  It was a very nice hostel and was located directly in the city square so we were right in the center of all the action.  I had a lot of fun revisiting the city and seeing some of the places Katie took me to the last time I was there, and I hope to be back again soon.

Galway City

Day 2:

Friday morning was an early wake up call and off to the Aran Islands! We went to the largest of the Aran Islands, where there are only 800 inhabitants on the whole island.  It is an entirely Irish community in that Irish is the first language taught and spoken, and english is the second.  It is absolutely beautiful, with classic Irish stone walls as territory markers along with cows, sheep, goats and horses grazing everywhere in between.

This island is home to Dun Aonghasa, which is a massive defensive fort consisting of three layers of enclosures.  But the cool part about the fort is that the enclosures are only on one side because the other side of the fort is a 100 metere drop off of the edge of a cliff.

In the words of our professor :

"people fall off relatively frequently so for health and safety reasons we are going to avoid the edge"  

 Enclosed side of Dun Aonghasa 

Caitlin and me far from the edge

 Drop-off! 

View from the edge of the island looking out onto one of the smaller Aran Islands

This trip was incredible, and a great way to end my early start experience.  I have been well immersed into Irish history and culture, however now it's time to immerse myself in present day culture with the start of classes Monday.  

I can't believe three weeks have passed already, time is really flying! 

Field Trip #3 : North Cork

Today was our third field trip for my Archaeology class and we went to North Cork.

Itinerary:
1. First stop was to a wedge tomb.  This site was very old, but to the naked eye looked like two large protruding rocks on the side of the road.

2. The second stop was my favorite of the day.  This had nothing to do with the Archaeology class but it is a really cool site so we made the stop anyway, thanks Tomas!

The Mitchelstown Cave goes was 3km underground, but only the first kilometer is open to the public. We climbed 80 steps down, which in relative terms is the climb from the first to the fifth floor of Wheeler dorm at Holy Cross.

The pathway was much wider, this looks into the depths of the cave from where I was standing

Photo Credit goes to Chelsea Brophey, thank you! 

This cave was awesome because it is incredibly old.  There were stalagmites that were several inches long, and the tour guide explained that it takes one to two thousand years for them to grow an inch! At one point they turned off all the man-made lights that illuminated the cave and we were engulfed in absolute darkness, so much so that I could not see my hand touching my nose! 

3. Stop three was to the Rock of Cashel in County Tipperary. It is from the 13th century so not much of it has survived, but what does is an incredible collection of Celtic art.  

 Rock of Cashel

Field Trip #2 : West Cork

Yesterday our class took a field trip to West Cork, which is the western region of Country Cork.  So naturally to prepare for this field trip, where we would be going to very beautiful and historic sites, I would charge my camera, right? Wrong.  So I apologize for the sub-par quality photos, but lesson learned and hopefully this will never happen again!

To begin the day I took the sunrise spin class, at 7am! It was with a different instructor than last time, and this class incorporated more than just biking.  I enjoyed the workout but I am definitely not coordinated enough for all the dance moves while spinning!


Our first stop was to an old ringfort, but to the un-archeologically trained eye it just looked like a swampy field so I figure you can use your imagination on this one.

The second stop was to see a couple of very old castles.  It is so cool how these houses survive for so long; nothing built today is going to last the way these castles still do.

Ballinacarriga Tower House belonging to the late Hurley family

Coppinger's Court

Lastly, we saw the Drombeg Stone Circle which is a ceremonial megalithic site.  This part was my favorite because we lucked out with beautifully sunny weather and you could see the gorgeous (green!) valley below. 

 Stone Circle:

 View of the Valley:

By the end of the day, my legs were definitely regretting the early morning workout, but it was so beautiful it was well worth it! 

Field Trip #1 : Overnight in Dublin

These past couple of days have been exhausting, but very fun! Friday morning we left at 8am to get going on our first field trip.  We made our way up to County Meath to see Trim Castle.  We learned a lot about the castle and its history, and archeological significance, but as to not bore those who will not be tested on this material, I will just show you the beautiful pictures!

Trim Castle

 View from the top of Trim: 

             

Top Row: Molly, Chelsea, Caitlin, Nicole, Katy

Bottom Row: Heather, Me, Nichola 

                                       

The girls in this photo that you do not recognize are our new friends from the University of San Diego! 

Town of Trim 

Next stop was Newgrange, which is a neolithic tomb. This monument is special because it is so old; to give you a reference point it was built before the Egyptian pyramids. But, the best part about Newgrange is that it is Jane sized! As you enter the tomb it is a narrow space with veryyy low ceilings, but while everyone else was squeezing and ducking to get through the pathway I was fine.  Clearly, I must be a decedent of the neolithic people.

 Newgrange: 

Entrance into the tomb: 

Our next leg of the tour was to visit a cemetery that held a lot of celtic crosses. 

We stayed overnight in the town of Slane, which is about a half hour outside of Dublin.  The hostel we stayed in was on a farm, and smelled exactly like you are on a farm.  But, it was only one night and we are students roughing it so it made do.  At night the group went out to a local pub, where there just so happened to be a group of friends, with excellent musical skills, playing together.  They were so good, and they really enjoyed the influx of American spectators! It made my night when they played one of my favorite songs, "Little Lion Man" by Mumford and Sons, and we could all sing along.  

The next day we were off to Dublin! We stopped at the Christ Church Cathedral.  It was a combination of Gothic and Romanesque styles, and it was really neat to see this after having seen French cathedrals in these styles on my previous trips to Europe. 

The trip was great, and we have two more day trips coming up this week! It was so fun making new friends with the students from the University of San Diego (USD)  through this experience, as well as get to see more of Ireland, and its rich and beautiful history.