3. week

Siru was still a bit ill on Monday, so she went to the student health care with her hopes up to get antibiotics. The doctor, however, in his great wisdom just stated that it’s just the asthma and prescribed an inhalator.

During the first two weeks we had already got a load of presentations and projects to do for the subjects we are studying and on Tuesday we got a lot more work to do. Wiser from last weekend’s “nothing to do”-situation we decided to get professional help. We visited the tourist office of Sligo to get ideas of what to do during the weekend. We got the local bus timetables, a few maps of the local areas and 7 thick booklets about North-West Ireland, West Ireland, South-West Ireland, and so on covering all the Ireland.

On Wednesday in Adventure Tourism class we went to Donegal Adventure Center to do some teambuilding exercises. This time we were facing the high ropes challenge, which included wall climbing, abseiling, Jacob’s ladder and Leap of faith. Jacob’s ladder was a 10 m high ladder, which was consisted of huge logs hanging from cables that were fixed from the top but loose at the end. The distance between the logs was first about a meter, but it was constantly growing the higher you went up to two meters. The task was supposed to be possible on your own, but very difficult. We were assigned to get a pair to climb up with. Working together with Siru we got to the fourth log – there was still way up, but we got high enough.

Wall climbing and abseiling

After that we both tried Leap of Faith – about 7 m high pole with ridiculously small platform on top of it. We had to climb to the top of it, get up on our feet and jump off towards the bar hanging 1,5 m apart from there. No big deal, right? Getting up to the platform was horrible enough – it was high, small and wobbling uncontrollably – not to speak about getting on your feet. The body and mind completely shut off by the thought of jumping into nothingness; you just had to overcome your fear. Afterwards, when we we’re safely on the ground (obviously we were safe all the way with our harnesses) we felt great and alive. In the evening we felt that we deserved to go out. Earlier we had spoken about Lillies traditional music night on Wednesday, so the decision was not difficult.

On Friday we decided again to rely on professional help with our plans for the RAG-week. We had heard that on Raise and Give –week the Irish students wouldn’t be much around and the teachers would know that and some of the classes might be cancelled or have lighter content, so we decided to take advantage of that and go to the Southern Ireland. We made a draft of our itinerary and over the weekend we would think of the details before booking anything. At the same time we also booked a taxi for the following day, as we had planned to go around hoping the weather would be nice.

On Saturday morning the weather actually was nice; the sun was shining behind the clouds as we started our journey. We picked up the girls and after stopping to buy croissants, we headed to Glencar waterfalls. Going there we had a scenic ride beside the glorious Benbulben Mountain. Our lovely taxi driver, Paul, who happened to be the owner of the taxi company, chatted with us all the time and gave us useful tips of seeing Ireland. Just a couple minutes’ walk off the parking place was the waterfall. The nature was lovely, green and peaceful – we could have stayed there for the rest of the day, but we still had some other places to visit. 

Next we went to Rathcormac crafts market, where there were local producers and artists and Siru and Camille ended up buying scarves. 

Microcosm by Moss Terraniums/Artworks

Dave McLoughlin Ceramics

Next we went to county Donegal, to Mullaghmore cliffs. We stopped to take a deep breath of Atlantic sea air and enjoy the sound of waves hitting the coast. We saw Classiebawn castle, previously owned by Prince Charles’ godfather Earl Mountbatten, but only from a distance, as it is now privately owned by some businessman. 

Classiebawn castle

As an ending for our trip we visited Rosses Point quickly before retreating to our apartment’s warmth. In the evening we decided to go to some pub with Siru, which turned out to be more easily said than done. Only after five crowded pubs we could find one with at least some space – and it was more of a disco than a pub. In Shenanigans we had a few drinks, danced a little and went home.