MerakiMoon

On our trip to the west, one of the last stops was Blarney Castle, which houses the Blarney Stone! Dr. Reed had told us about his trip and his experience kissing the stone, which did freak me out a little thinking about hanging upside down to do it, but I ended up braving it and getting the gift of gab, although I don't think it's quite kicked in fully. The grounds around Blarney Castle were so pretty, it was definitely one of the prettier estates that we had been to, I really enjoyed how much of it felt like a hike and how green and floral the grounds were. And the tree in the front of the estate was my favorite part it was so gorgeous, and the flowers smelled so lovely. I could've spent the whole day walking around the area, but we ran out of time and had to head over to the Jameson Distillery for a tour. I honestly can't tell which distillery I liked more, this one or Guinness, because I liked them both for different reasons. But this one was really cool, and it felt...

Thursday Our trip to London started on Thursday after class. We went back to make sure we had everything and left for the bus to take us to Cork for the airport. The bus ride was fun, we talked about how we were excited and then relaxed for the rest of the time we were on. Getting to the airport, we were very, very early, which is better than being late, but we sat at a little cafe outside of the check-in and hung out and talked for the hour that we needed to wait. Going through the rest of the airport was insanely easy, I think we went through it in maybe ten minutes. So we sat at another cafe to wait for the gate to open and then got to get on the plane by the tarmac!! Which I've never done before, and I felt like a celebrity. Although the flight made me think that I was going to die because of the turbulence, I was bouncing, and the whole plane was shaking, and I got so motion sick it was crazy. Kinda fun now that I look back, but jeez. The rest of the trip was travel to the Air...

Yesterday, I decided that my workout at the gym wasn't enough, so around 7, I decided to go for a walk. The second I left the townhouse, I knew it was a good choice because the sunset was absolutely gorgeous.  I walked out of my townhouse, and the sky was a very pretty orange and yellow, and the clouds were wispy. I wanted to walk around the corner towards the horse to see if I could get a better view, but it ended up changing. I walked to the corner and turned around to see the water was blue, purple, and pink, with the colors reflecting from the sky, and since the tide had rolled in so high, the clouds looked like they were so close to the water. I ran into Margaret on my way back toward the park, and we chatted for a minute about how gorgeous the night was. I kept walking around and thought of walking across the bridge to the abbey side so I could see the sunset better. So I walked up past the roundabout and turned around to see the sky in bright oranges and reds and all of thes...

Today, we took a trip to the cliffs for a couple hours. They were absolutely gorgeous and so much better than I had ever heard someone describe. We walked around the path to the right for a little bit and went up to the tower to get some more pictures. I went to the top with a couple of people, and it was really cool to see the cliffs from a different and higher perspective. We walked around for a little while and ended up going to the shops inside the building and the little ones on the outside. Grace and I got these cute little puffin stuffed animals. Hers is named Fin, and mine's name is Puffie. I had him sit in my scarf for the rest of the walk around that we did. We did the 4D experience since we had time before the bus left, which was really cool to see a completely different perspective of the cliffs from a seagull's view, it took us around and down by the water, then under the water and changed to a fish's perspective, then back to the seagull's where it took us...

One night, I decided that I was going to go on a short walk by the park to look at the stars and the moon. This is one of my favorite ways to destress at school since there's a good spot to stargaze and moon-watch on campus. I figured I would try my best to do it while I was here since I've been missing home a lot recently, and the scenery around us is too beautiful to not take advantage of. On my walk, I listened to some instrumental pieces, some that I played in high school when I still played the violin, and some from my favorite movies and animation studios. It was incredibly relaxing, and I spent some time standing by the wall to watch the water. I ended up running into our cat friend, that I named Sox, the group has adopted the name for when we see it, too. Very, very sweet cat, it always chirps when it sees me and runs up to get pets, which makes me miss my sweet boy at home. Calcifer has been quite chaotic, I've heard from my parents. For this one, I pulled a couple...

At around 11am, we arrived at Coumeenoole Hill, which was another film spot for Star Wars! I was very excited about the hike since I've been missing going on them at home, and the atmosphere and weather were absolutely perfect. I ended up pretty far ahead of the other group as we ascended the hill, but I was more than happy because it gave me an opportunity to quiet my mind and really appreciate the nature around me. My favorite part of the whole thing was hearing the waves crash against the rocks, and while it was only slightly concerning how close you could get to the edge, I found it exhilarating. I noticed our bus driver had made it up to the tower on the top of the hill ahead of me, so I walked up to meet him, and he talked to me about the history of the tower, a little bit about the area, and then mentioned a bit of pagan influence on the area as well. I pressed a little on that because I have my own personal interests in the history of that religion as well as how integrated...