I know I should be studying for my three essay finals, BUT I thought it best to write a journal entry about my great weekend before I get too deep into my academics....well, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it! J

This weekend my friend Beth came to visit from Cork! It was once again really good to see her! She arrived early Friday afternoon so we spent some time wandering the shops on Shop Street and catching up on things. Later that night, brace yourself....I cooked us dinner! I know, shocking. Steph, Beth and I enjoyed some garlic chicken, a salad, and some “half oven baked/half microwaved semi-cooked sliced” potatoes. So obviously I’m still myself and not the greatest cook, but it’s the thought that counts. We spent the rest of the night being lazy and reading or watching T.V. Beth enjoyed all 20 of my channels since she only has 4. J

We woke up bright and early (about 7:30 a.m.) and headed out on our adventure to the Aran Islands. The weather seemed nice, a bit chilly but no rain at that point. After a 40 minute bus ride to the ferry, I was nervous about our sea voyage since we all know how motion sick I get. Brianna + choppy waters + high waves + 40 minutes at sea = not a good combination. Luckily, Beth helped me get to my “happy place” – I just needed to focus on the “relaxing effect” the waves give you. It worked like a charm and I didn’t get sick and I got in a nice nap.

We arrived on Inis Mor, the largest of the three islands, only to be greeted by cold, wind and rain. Oh Ireland, I love and hate you. After getting off the ferry we opted against our original plan to rent bikes and explore that way. We decided to take a bus tour. When you get off the ferry, all these guys are waiting by vans saying “Hello! Hello! Do you want to take a tour? Hello!” We decided to go with Rory, the only guy who didn’t harass us as we walked past.

We picked up one more passenger, a Wall Street lawyer from New York on vacation, and then we were off on our tour. As we went along, our tour guide pointed out things like “If you look to your left you’ll see a traditional thatch roofed cottage. The roof is caved in. And if you look to your right, you’ll see another thatch roofed cottage caved in. These were the traditional cottages natives of the island lived in.” Wow, thanks Rory. Half the time I couldn’t see what he was referring to “ on the left or on our right” Some cool facts we heard were:

- There are over 4,000 miles of stone fence on the island. Fences were built to clear the land of all the rock. If a fence tips over into your side, you need to rebuild it. If it falls into your neighbours, it’s his responsibility to fix it.

- The island, which has a population of 800 people, didn’t have electricity until 1973.

- Cottages used to have one door, two rooms and three windows. If they had more windows they could be charged taxes for the light they got from the extra windows. This was known as the “window tax”.

My favourite fun fact came when Rory goes – “If you look to your left you’ll see da old folks home. It was built about tree years ago. Before dat we sent da old folks to da mainland where dey would die of loneliness. But now dey can stay on da island and live out da rest of der days here.” I could barely contain my giggles. Another saying I was very fond of was “If you look to your right you’ll see an old cottage. It had one door, two rooms and tree windows.” This was repeated A LOT.

After seeing Mary’s Cottage and then getting out at the Seven Churches to snap a couple photos in the pouring rain, we continued on until Rory dropped us off to explore for about an hour and a half. We were literally dropped off in the middle of nowhere. The sights in the area included a stone fort, a pub, a couple shops, and fairy houses.

We decided to head back a little bit down the road and check out the fairy houses. To get to them you basically trespassed through the most ghetto back yard in Ireland. The fairy houses were waaaay in the back. After taking a few creative photographs with and of the fairy houses, we turned around to head back only to be greeted by two natives who had been watching us. Creep much? As we passed the one said something that sounded like “I have more fairies in my shed here. Come look.” Perhaps he meant more fairy houses, but either way we were totally creeped out, said no thanks and ran down the road. Creeeeeeeepy. Keep in mind it’s still raining and windy and cold. J

Our next stop was Dun Aengus, a semi circular stone fort a top a cliff. As we climbed the steep, slippery, rock slope the wind increased its speed. I’ve never been in wind that gusty. It was insane. We finally made it to the blustery top and saw the great stone fort. Our next task was to risk our lives and go to the edge of the 87 meter high cliffs in this ridiculous wind. Smart? Perhaps not. Worth it? Completely.

I can’t even describe how cool it was too look over the edge with the wind whipping at your face and feast your eyes on the treacherous waves below crashing against the cliff. It. Was. Insane. Our only scare came when we decided to go to the edge inside the fort, where the winds were even worse. Beth was army crawling to the edge when her hat started to fly off. As she quickly grabbed it, she tried to roll back to safety and was caught up in a big gust of wind. Terrified she scrambled to get back from the edge, bruised her knees, and laughed out of shock that she almost died. It wasn’t funny right away but we laughed about it about 2 minutes after it happened. After that we were basically done army crawling to the edge. We'd had enough adrenaline for one day. Freezing, we headed back down the huge hill in the pelting (painful) rain and wind and enjoyed cappuccinos and a couple treats at the pub before Rory picked us up for the rest of the tour.

The tour continued and we had one more among us, Rory’s daughter, who he must have picked us after he dropped us off. We saw some seals, well kind of saw seals. I’m not completely convinced that they weren’t rocks far off in the distance, but for the sake of adventure, I’ll just say they were seals. We saw a couple more cottages with “one door, two rooms and tree windows”, some schools (Gaelic is the only language spoken by the natives) and wrapped up the tour at the Aran Sweater Shop. With about three hours to kill before the ferry left, we shopped and then ended up at a pub to watch some locals in their native habitat and finally warm up and dry off a bit before the trek back.

After another 40 minute ferry ride followed by a 40 minute bus ride, we arrived back in Galway to be greeted by near flooding of the Lough Corrib! I blame Beth. Cork flooded and now she brought it to Galway! J It was cool so we headed down to the river to check it out. A local woman walking her dog told us this is the highest she’d ever seen it. I took her word for it. It was high. It was up to the edge I used to sit on when I first got here, so about 10 feet higher than normal.

After checking out the high waters, we headed to my apartment to changed for dinner. I took Beth to one of my favourite restaurants, Mustard. We then headed to Kings Head for a pint and some music. On Sunday, I took Beth to the bay and luckily it was sunny. However, it was wickedly cold and windy. What’s with this weather? I also showed her a little bit of my college and a cathedral, which I still don’t know the name of after 3.5 months of living here. Wow, I suck at life sometimes. J

It was such an enjoyable weekend, but now I must get back to academia. Boo. Only 11 days till mom arrives in Galway! J Check out my Facebook album ‘Livin on the Edge’ for some photos from our trip.