Surfing and Hunger Games and Shenanigans -- Oh My!

Sorry that the title is silly and contrived -- it's the most entertaining thing I could think of at this point...

Kyle surfing! He, Taylor, Amber, Andy, and I went on Monday as well -- all of these pictures were taken on Wednesday by Taylor or Pat.

Surfing is quite fun in Ireland on the right day, and it's definitely not something I expected being able to do.

Catching waves is all about timing and form, both of which come more naturally to some than others... the conditions make each day different, too. On Monday we had a harder time catching waves because the swell wasn't as strong but the wind was ferocious. Here, it was easier.

Elvis, our instructor, getting Rick his wetsuit. Those things are amazing -- you don't feel cold at all until you have to take them off at the end!

Taylor!

How we look from dry land -- it's insanely difficult to tell people apart when you're watching from shore. There are only three or four colors of wetsuit, and trying to keep track of who has what colored suit and board is just too much. Hence, in many of these pictures, it's very hard to tell who's who...

It's much easier to maneuver boards in the water than it is to haul them around on land, since both Monday and Wednesday saw a good clip of wind, and the boards are very light.

On Wednesday, when we had a group of 11 or 12 in the water, it got a little crowded...

Taking a breather. On Wednesday the wind had died down, but the swell was a lot more powerful. I got tucked under by a curler I didn't see coming, and I wasn't the only one. It made it easier to catch waves, though, so I didn't mind much :)

Katie managed to catch several good waves on her first day out!

We had a lot more people catching good waves here :D

 It was a lot of work, though, so I'm glad we have a bit of a a break before we're able to go again.

Yesterday, a group of 10 of us rented a mini-bus and went into Westport to catch a 2:15 showing of 'The Hunger Games' -- and it was totally worth spending a day loitering around in town!!

Kyle and Katie... bonding... We shopped around for a little bit then got to the theater at 1:15, and had to wait outside for probably a half hour or so until the movie started...

Katie sandwich :)

OUR THEATER. It was so exciting to finally see it, and even better to see it here in Ireland!!!

Later, we had more downtime, so Taylor, Brittnie, and I chilled out at an open-air cafe, where Taylor ordered a double shot of espresso (turns out that was all it was) and I got a coffee I actually liked.

Mint chocolate and I :D

The evening rounded off nicely with a group going back into Westport and a group staying in Louisburgh to watch movies and hang out. Tonight we have a local play to watch, and then, bright and early tomorrow morning, we head out on our Long Trip. Southern Ireland, here we come!!!!! I will have much to catch you all up on when we get back in a week, but until then...


-S

 

Spring Break Days 7 and 8: The Return from Dromoland to ST. PATRICK'S DAY

Hello friends. I apologize for the long absence: I didn't mean to take this long to put this post up.

There was definitely a hawk in front of Dromoland. Just chillin'. Ready to go hunting or something. No big deal.

The swimming pool facility at Dromoland. Very snazzy!

After walking Da over to the workout facility in the morning, I took a rainy solo tour of the grounds -- here, the overflowing lake. I can't tell if the picture is interrupted or made all the better by that silly orange cone...

There were way more flowers blooming than I expected here!!

A return to the walled gardens :)

Again, way more flowers than I ever hoped to see

The lake from a different view

These ducks were less than a foot away from me. I assume they followed me around because they wanted me to feed them, but I took a picture and ran away instead.

The forest walking paths. We would've taken a better tour of those, but it was raining :(

The view from next to the luggage. We left Dromoland around noon or so, and started the long trek back up to County Mayo and Louisburgh!

Because it was a long car trip after so many long car trips, we took a lot of pictures of sheep.

And clouds. And mountains. Y'know, all the stuff I've been boring you with until now :D

DRAMATIC CLOUDS. It rained off and on, kind of as it felt like it.

Rapid change into pretty trees!

Aashleigh Falls :)

Misty hills

Some of the sheep were less inclined than others to share the road with us...

 Somehow, we made it back to Louisburgh in one piece. The fam dropped me off and headed on to Westport, where their hotel was. I finished work on my St. Patty's Day costume and went straight to bed, in preparation for a nice day in the morning...


Except that it started raining exactly when the parade was happening. Le sigh.

Kyle and his patriotism :)

You can't tell very well in this picture, but Katie's hair is green :D

Joe and Da with Joe Mac himself!

Two gentlemen in front of a pub, waiting for the parade to begin

The first parade group -- the band!

Some sort of caterpillar group

The GAA club, or Gaelic Athletic group.

LOUISBURGH STREET ARTISTS!!! That's me in the funky blue costume

See? Scary fish god of doom!

For our theme we combined a poem about the first men to arrive in Ireland with the legend of Grace O'Malley, pirate queen of Louisburgh :) hence the pirate ship haha

Pullin' the ship along

Brenda read the poem aloud when we stopped in the town square -- she did a very good job! The guy in the foreground with the noisemaker is Will, who helped us all make our costumes, etc.

A better picture of my costume :)

The swarm of tiny warrior children that followed our ship

A very cool picture Ma took while waiting for the parade to come back around. This may have been while it was hailing on us :P

A very waterlogged crew

Kyle in the foreground, Taylor in the druid costume in the background, hauling the ship

RAIN FACES

Sam and the Katies, watching the Ireland-England game of Six Nations. The pub was PACKED but we came in at the end of the Wales-France game, and staked our claim to a good table.

Me and da boys :) sadly, it wasn't a very good game to watch, but we had fun being there on St. Patty's Day!!!

After the rugby game we went out to dinner and I said goodbye to my familia :( but, they have since arrived at home safe and sound, which is a very good thing :D I miss them, and they miss Ireland, but it's really not too long now until I reach the end of this fabulous adventure of mine!!! O_O


Tomorrow is going to be a grand adventure to Westport to see 'The Hunger Games' movie, so I'll try to post about that and surfing before we leave on our Long Trip to the south on Monday... There will be MANY posts about that trip when I get back!!


Until then,
-S