Go Bananas!

For the last week, I have been traveling all around Ireland with my new friends. 

I saw a lot of Ireland, met many people from all over the world, and I've even learned a few German words! :) Baum! (It means 'tree'... Really useful... heheh)

The deal with Laura and Sarah is as they learn new American English words and phrases from me, I will learn German words and phrases from them. One day I couldn't think of any super useful phrase to teach them, so I taught them "That's what she said" and "Go Bananas!" We've actually used "go bananas" a lot. Still working on "that's what she said."

We also started playing the game: "Spot the American"... but I'll explain that in another post. 

Onto the traveling...

After Derry was Donegal, then Galway, then Dublin (and a day trip to Avoca), and back to Belfast.

Instead of going into a litany on the travels, I'll just highlight the fun parts:

Donegal:

Donegal was a typical small Irish town with a beautiful lake. Our hostel was like a billion miles away from the town (only like a 20 minute walk). Instead of walking on the road, we found a scenic route along the lake. Along the walk, we met a local guy and his 3 (super cute) kids and their dog. The 4 of us sat along the water to watch the sun set. Ahh sooo beautiful!!

Galway:

On Sunday, while the others went on a tour, I went to church and roamed around the town. I bought some real shoes and a real backpack. Now I'm a REAL 'traveler'! In the hostel, we shared a room with a computer engineer from Derry (he talked in his sleep) and a lady from France that would randomly appear in the room when we didn't hear her come in. Magic? 

Cliffs of Moher: 

No words can fully describe the Cliffs. Like, seriously. Ahhmazing. 

Avoca: 

The location of my favorite BBC show, Ballykissangel, was everything I imagined it would be. Just a DARLING little town. I met some of the locals in the shops and met a crew of older people from Northern Ireland that were touring around. We chatted over a Guinness in the local pub, Fitzgerald's. I was super nervous to go to the middle-of-nowhere-Ireland by myself. It was also a little difficult to get there by bus and I almost got stuck there, but a local lady took me under her wing and drove me to a nearby town so I could get back to Dublin without walking or hitchhiking. I'm so grateful for her!! 

Dublin:

My stay in Dublin was way too short due to my day trip to Avoca. However, while I was there, I went to 2 tourist-y pubs with Sarah and Laura to enjoy some live music. At the hostel, we had a little guitar session where a few of the people staying (including me) played and sang a little. Such a great night to end the voyage around Ireland with some real music! 


This short trip before the semester begins was AWESOME. I met some really interesting people and saw a lot of amazing things. (AND... Only had a couple stressful/cranky moments!)

I also crossed like 6 things off my Bucket List! :) 

Stay tuned for more awesome-ness!