(Almost) Finalized Schedule and Aran Islands - Bikes, Sunburns, and Great Times!

I have officially completed my first week of class here at NUI - Galway, and although schedules are not finalized for another week, I know now (pending any unforeseen complications) what my schedule is going to be this semester. I have made a few changes since my last post, and with this new schedule I am not using any of the 2 (that's right, two) electives that I get at SJU. I am still taking Ancient Philosophy and Classical Social Thought, which count as philosophy and sociology, respectively, to fulfill my General Education Requirements at SJU. New to the schedule is Literature and Culture: Romanticism, an Art/Literature requirement and finally, we were able to get Management approved by SJU, so I am able to fulfill one of my business requirements as well.

These classes make up my final schedule for now. I still have another week before registration, and another week after that to change any courses, so it is not yet official, but I think I will be sticking with all of these classes. It will be a well-rounded semester from an academic point of view to say the least! One of the best things about this schedule is that all of these classes meet on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday, so I have no classes on Monday or Friday! This will be really nice when it comes to weekend trips and various adventures around Ireland.

Speaking of weekend trips, we made our first one this past weekend to the Aran Islands. They are three islands that are just outside the Galway Bay, so fortunately not too far. Of the three islands, we decided to spend our weekend on the biggest of the three; Inishmore. We reserved our places about a week in advance and hopped on a bus early Saturday morning! We continued on a 45 minute or so ride to the Aran Island Ferries (there are currently no ferries that leave from Galway City to the islands), jumped on our ferry and embarked on another 45 minute ride to the islands. We landed, checked into our hostel, and were set for a great weekend on the island.

I must add at this point that the weather was exceptionally nice this weekend. Prior to our departure for the island it had rained, even if only for a bit, just about every day. During the two days on the island, there was barely a cloud in the sky. The sun was out, and it was very warm. I had never thought I would need sunscreen during my semester in Ireland, but after this weekend, I wish I had some! I got a nice sunburn all over my face and arms (thankfully, it is not anywhere near as bad as some of my past burns). I will happily make that sacrifice for a weekend of awesome weather like this one!

Ok, so back to the details. After checking into the hostel, we decided to rent bicycles, the #1 mode of transportation on the island. They were a great deal, at 6 euro per day, and by far the easiest way to get around the island (although it is the largest of the three islands, it has an area of only 12 square miles, so the whole island can be explored by bike quite easily). We grabbed a map and set off on our journey! There were 17 of us, so we made up quite the bike gang on the little island. On our ride, we discovered all kinds of neat stuff.  

This was the first stop of our bike journey, the highest point of the island. Most intelligent people park their bikes at the bottom of this mountain of a climb, and walk to the top. I wasn't having that...I figured a hard ride to the top would be a worthy sacrifice for the extra-speedy decline. In retrospect, maybe not the best idea, but I had a blast doing it, and it was a heck-of-a workout!

 I am climbing on the ruins in this picture, and posing awkwardly for this photo. Behind me is a lighthouse that has an incredible view across the whole island. (You may notice my pants are rolled up...this is because of the unexpected weather. I was planning for weather comparable to what we've experienced in Galway, but as you now know, I was happily mistaken)

 

Our next stop on the ride was the infamous Dun Aengus cliffs, the main attraction of Inishmore. This photo is of the climb up to them. The people in this photo comprise the majority of our group, but we managed to lose a few due to bicycle malfunctions and detours. Note the view behind us, we are about 100 metres from one coast of the island and you can see the other coast quite clearly behind us.

Alright, be prepared to be wowed. These are the Dun Aengus cliffs. The wall you can see at the top is one of the many layers on the ancient fort that was built on the highest point of the cliffs. At any point along these cliffs, you can walk quite literally right up to the edge, where there is no barrier or safety protection whatsoever. This was a stomach-churning experience. Prior to climbing up to the cliffs, we read that on very windy days in the past, tourists have been blown off the cliffs, and fallen 100 metres to their unfortunate deaths. Scary.

The only way to really appreciate the height of the cliffs is of course to look over the edge. For obvious reasons, we crawled on our stomachs to the edge in order to look down. These are two of my friends doing so.

Here is my attempt at taking a picture over the edge. I probably could have made it better, but I did not want to remove both of my hands from the death grip I was giving the rocks.

Some of our group admiring the incredible view, mere feet from the 100 metre drop.

Dan and I near the edge. Just as soon as this was taken I high-tailed my way back away from the cliffs. I was getting nauseous standing with my back to that drop.

After the cliffs, we tried to find The Wormhole, another main attraction of the island, but it is much more remote. We went on a little excursion and found this instead. Although we never found the wormhole, we were quite satisfied with this discovery.

These are what the roads all over the island were like. We biked almost all of them.

Here is Dan posing outside our hostel (K walking past trying to avoid the picture...oops). It was a great first hostel experience.

This is the view from our hostel into the Marina. Also where our ferry dropped us off. Notice the horse drawn carriage, for those who wish not to bike, they can opt for this mode of transport. Twas quite the place.

Dan is standing on this old building that we came across on our second day on the island. Not exactly sure what is was originally used for, but it is abandoned now.

We made a second failed attempt to find The Wormhole on our second day on the island and this was our discovery...again not too shabby, but unsuccessful nonetheless.

Color shot of the same as above.

After our second day, we were all pretty exhausted. We sat outside our hostel on this wall and basked in the sun while waiting for our ferry to arrive to take us back to the mainland.

The view of the town from our ferry, right before departing the island.

Alright, well I apologize for the incredible length of this post, but it was quite the busy weekend! If you know me at all, you know I could never only take as many pictures as I posted above, so if you would like to see the rest, you can find them here! 

Everything is still going great here, and I am loving every bit of it. I will be registering with the Garda National Immigration Bureau next Monday, and after that, I will be able to leave the country and re-enter legally. Just in time for my weekend trip to Munich for Oktoberfest! 

Until next time, I love you all, miss you, and think about you often! 

I have a phone here, in case anyone is dying to talk to me...it will be free for me if you call me, but unfortunately not for you. Here is the number just in case: 353 0879917614. 

Always, 

Shane