MerakiMoon

Today was the bus tour of the Ring of Kerry and Dingle. Dingle, out of everywhere else, was honestly one of my favorite places on this trip so far, the environment around it was so gorgeous I was absolutely obsessed. The town was very homey and colorful, and it just felt so nice being so close to the water, too. If you can't tell, I'm a sucker for seaside towns. We took the bus around the peninsula for a couple hours and stopped along the coast every so often to take pictures and do some sightseeing. My favorite spot was Dunmore Head Hill and the beach below it. We walked up the hill before going to the beach, I ended up trucking along and going up ahead of the group just because I wanted a little bit of alone time to enjoy the nature around me. It made me very happy to do that, though, because I felt like I was a lot calmer and at peace than I had been for a while. When I got to the top, the surrounding landscape was absolutely gorgeous. While I was walking and looking around,...

Today, we drove about an hour away from Dungarvan to the small seaside town of Ardmore to meet a tour guide. Although most of the visit was spent walking around and trying to take all of the information that the guide was telling us, I was able to really appreciate my surroundings, and I was very happy to be near the sea. We walked up to Declan's well, and the guide had us do an exercise that had us put down our phones, close our eyes, and listen to the nature around us. I really liked doing this, and I was happy when he told us to go explore and sit for ten minutes and take in everything around us. After that, we did a couple more things to finish up the tour, and then we headed to the beach for bathrooms and then back towards the bus stop to get ice cream or milkshake things. They were super good, and I would so go back to get more. I felt incredibly connected to the earth during this trip because I was forced to take a while off my phone and appreciate the life that I have in fr...

I went for another walk today, just before sunset, while the sun was still out. It was pretty cold but I bundled up so that I could be comfortable while I was going because I've been tending to make these walks longer the more I go on them, just because I really enjoy the time I take with myself. I was extra paying attention to my surroundings, and towards the end of my walk, the sky was turning darker blues and purples, and the air felt cool but not too cold with all of my layers. Before the sun set I followed the sidewalk past the horse and I kept walking to a willow tree that me and Trip found a while back, it is so gorgeous and it has the cutest little bench under it. Walking back I heard a few birds were singing, and I stopped to listen by the water. There were cars now and then, but mostly it was quiet. I didn’t have a plan for it, I just wanted to move and breathe and not think too hard even though I was still thinking about life. Getting back to the water in front of the h...

Surprise, surprise, I went on another walk during golden hour. These have become my favorite things to pass the time, and I look forward to doing them almost every day. yesterday, the moon was out earlier, and you could see her almost all day, so it was nice to be able to see the moon rise and the sun set during my walk. During these walks, I like to try and plan. So yesterday was planning the Fall semester and all of the things I'm gonna have to run around and do to keep busy. I was able to get a pretty good headway on what my plans were going to be like, so the rest of my walk was just enjoying the weather and the sky. I ended up stopping at one point to sit and look out to the water, which wasn't really there cause the tide was so low, which was surprising because the last time I wrote, the water was super high. But it was still pretty to look out for, there was a lot to look at, and it was different from what I usually look out for. I watched birds walking out and picking u...

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...