Up on the Mountain: Part 1

I have had some astounding moments with nature while here in Ireland. I'm in a country that is known for its landscapes and natural beauty, and I am fortunate enough to see and experience this beauty on a daily basis. No matter how many times I drive past the sparkling harbor in Schull or the green rolling hills in the countryside, I never cease to appreciate the incredible sights around me. Over the past few weeks, I've had plenty of opportunities to visit some popular tourist destinations that are well-known for their spectacular views and gorgeous environments. Since I have so many great experiences to share with you, I will be posting this blog in two parts, so stay tuned for more stories in upcoming days!

My first tourist visit, a few weeks back, was to Mizen Head, the most southwestern point in Ireland and the most western point in all of Europe. However, it's not necessarily the significant location that makes it so famous, but rather the incredible terrain and landscape that mark this unique point. As one Irish woman told me, a visit to Mizen Head is almost a spiritual experience. After a visit, I would definitely agree.

It was a bit of a drive, but I thoroughly enjoyed zooming down the windy roads and feeling like a master of the Stick Shift. :) When I got to Mizen Head the area was about to close, but they let me go through anyways, telling me I was the last person to enter the park for the day. That meant I had a quiet walk down to the bridge by myself, only passing a few other people who were already on their way out. Luckily, the guard at the entrance told me to take my time, so I didn't have to rush through it. I walked through the park down a path around the side of the mountain and came to a fork. One side of the path went up a steep hill and the other side was about a hundred steps lining the edge of a cliff and leading down to somewhere I couldn't see. Since most people were coming from up the stairs, I decided to go that way and began the long journey down the steep flight. Out to my left, the ocean stretched out as far as the eye could see. As I descended, I came across a nice old couple who stopped and offered to take my picture in front of the sea and cliffs we were walking on top of. We snapped a few photos and I continued on my way to the bottom.

As I rounded the corner, I finally saw the view that everyone had been telling me about. The famous Mizen Head Bridge floated gracefully in the air, stretching out its white shining beams from one magnificent cliff edge to another. Below, turquoise water rushed in from the ocean, crashing against jagged rocks and forming a small pool at the cliff's base. The wind blew fiercely as I stepped out onto the bridge. I gazed out at the massive cliffs before me and in a moment knew exactly what the Irish woman had meant about this being a "spiritual experience." I felt completely overwhelmed by the strength and majesty radiating from this grandiose terrain and considered the power and might of the God who created them, painting each stripe on the rocks by hand and stirring the sea to form each wave as it collided with the land below. No other word could describe how I felt except "small."

Growing up in Arizona, I climbed mountains all the time. Living in Texas, I saw unbelievable storms that ripped apart buildings and destroyed sections of cities. Still, none of that even slightly compared with the true majesty that exploded in front of my very eyes. All I could do was stand still, letting the wind whip through my hair, the sea breeze spray across my face, and the monstrosity of the great cliffs consume me. It was stunning, breath-taking, awe-inspiring. It was God's power and the most beautiful demonstration of His splendor and glory.

I continued across the bridge and ascended back up another ramp on the mountain I had merely been looking at a few minutes before. I briefly toured the signal station (like a lighthouse, but not as tall and not nearly as cool) and walked past it to get to the very tip top of the mountain at the very farthest edge. The farther I walked, the windier it got, until eventually the wind was so strong I could barely stand up. I reached the top and stared out over the edge, making sure to do a full 360 in order to get every angle of the view in.

Someone told me a few months ago that one of the places I needed to visit while I was in Ireland were the Cliffs of Moher, the famous location for The Princess Bride's Cliffs of Insanity, the sixth Harry Potter film, and the proposal scene in Leap Year. I had been determined to go to the tourist destination because I knew how magnificent and beautiful those famous cliffs are. In the moment I stood at Mizen Head and looked out over the sea, I lost every desire to go, because I knew that what I was seeing was just as spectacular, if not even better.

I took a deep breath and took in the beauty of the green, rocky cliffs triumphantly projecting from the foaming sea below. My attempt at taking pictures completely failed. A camera with a limited lens cannot possibly capture beauty that is so grand and so huge. As I tried to snap a picture of the monstrosity of nature in front of me, I realized that this would be a moment I would not be able to specifically share with the world through the art of photos. I guess you'll just have to take a trip there yourself ;-)

Another memorable place I visited was Garnish Island, a small island right outside of Glengarriff Harbor, not too far from Bantry Bay. Meg and I, plus two of our friends, loaded up in the car and drove out to the town of Glengarriff to take the 15 minute ferry over to the island. On the ferry, we passed a tiny place called Seal Island, but the tide was so high when we passed that Seal Island really just looked like a rock in the middle of the water with two or three seals on it. I still enjoyed seeing the funny creatures lazily basking in the sun, taking an occasional dip in the water to cool off. 

When we arrived at the island, we realized we wouldn't have much to do unless we visited the botanic gardens covering the whole of the island, so we bought tickets and entered in. Before beginning our walk through the gardens, we sat down in the Cafe to have a quick lunch and some tea, and then continued on our way. The map showed us areas around the gardens called Happy Valley, the Jungle, the Walled Garden, and Martello Tower, so I knew we could be expecting to see some exciting places.

We started out walking through somewhat of a forest, fighting our way through the trees and shaping our own path as we went. Not sure where it would lead us, we finally found our way back out into open air, only to find ourselves looking straight up at an abandoned old house hidden at the back of the wood. One of the girls commented on how it was the perfect setting for the beginning of a horror movie. Nevertheless, we had no fear and explored all around the property, even enjoying the nice view from the private pier at the end of the road.

After taking our jaunt off the beaten path for a bit, we had to climb back over a fence to get back into the gardens. Once there, we followed the manicured paths and walked through the well-kept gardens traveling all the way from Happy Valley through the Jungle to the famous Italian Garden. We enjoyed several different areas including rocks and trees that the girls fearlessly climbed, a hidden cove with waves splashing at our feet, a gazebo on a hill overlooking the countryside below, a garden of roses surrounded by a wall, and beautiful statues and buildings in the Italian gardens. After wandering around each garden and appreciating the diverse charm of each one, we all collapsed onto a green stretch of grass outside one of the buildings and basked in the sun until it was time to catch the ferry back.

A week or two later, I visited a well-known location in the Bantry area called the Bantry House. I had seen it on my very first trip into Bantry, the first day I arrived in West Cork, and I had been wanting to go ever since. My schedule could never match up with anyone else's to go (or the weather), so I ended up driving over on my own one day while Meg was at work. When I arrived, there were tons of tourists outside the house taking pictures, relaxing in the sun, and enjoying the beauty around them. I went into the main entrance and bought a ticket to enter the house.

The Bantry House is a historic house of Ireland that was once inhabited by the White family as a second home, starting in the 17th century. Over time, the house was expanded by its inhabitants, including Richard, the first Earl of Bantry. Even now, descendants of the White family still live in the house and are kind enough to lend part of it to the public for tours, concerts, weddings, and special events. As I was touring, I felt like the house was awfully small on the inside for the size it looked on the outside, but now I quickly figured out that we weren't seeing the whole house, only a small part. I absolutely loved what I saw though! I wandered up several grandiose staircases and pondered what it must have been like for the families that had actually lived there. All the historical furniture had been left exactly in place, so walking through the house made one feel like they were walking right into the 17^th century. As I ascended one of the staircases, I heard beautiful music flowing through the halls. Searching around for the origin of the sound, I came across a library with closed glass doors. Inside, a young man about my age was magnificently playing the clarinet. You can imagine my ecstasy.

As a clarinet player of at least 10 years, there is no music more exciting for me to hear than that of my very own roots. I awkwardly stared at the guy playing, just listening to him practice and run through his warm-ups. Even from that, I could tell that he was good. Eventually, I got up the courage to open the door (completely disregarding the sign that said not to disturb the musicians) and give him my compliments. He was from London, was 22 years old, and has been playing clarinet for 17 years (you can do the math). He was at the Bantry House preparing for an ensemble concert that evening that was put on as part of the West Cork Music Festival. I had originally been planning to go to that concert, but tickets were a bit expensive so I had started to reconsider. After getting pretty much a private concert from this guy, I figured I didn’t really need to pay the money anyways! He continued to play and I listened to the whirl of notes and wondered how he could possibly play so fast and with such good tone, and then I moved on to see other parts of the house.

Since the house was small, I headed outside to the gardens and walked around there for a while. It was later in the afternoon, so most people had gone home already, leaving me as one of the only people in the gardens. After walking through the rose garden and the stables, I made my way to an impressive line of stairs leading up from the garden, so high that the top was almost out of sight. I saw a sign that marked the upward path as 100 Stairs, and was immediately up for the challenge. Taking my time, I made sure to pause on each landing and take a picture of the incredible view. Nothing compared with what I saw from the top though. Once I arrived to the very top stair, I turned around (panting and puffing of course) and looked down at the Bantry House below me. You could still almost hear the faint tunes of the clarinet drifting upwards towards the forest behind me. The house stood sumptuously at the bottom of the stairs, eclipsing the sea and mountains in the distance behind it. It was a lucky family who got to see a view like that every day.

I trudged on into the woods behind me with the intent of having a nice hike and some thinking time. Plodding through some mud, I followed signs to a lookout point. Unfortunately, when I got to the lookout spot, all I could see were trees and a tiny window to Bantry Bay below. Instead, I took pictures of the sheep that were glaring down at me from a hill beside me. I wandered all over the grounds, finding a tree from 1789 (it was labeled) and a hiking path that led to some office buildings (I guess I went a little too far outside the gardens…). Eventually I returned to the Bantry House, went around to see the gardens in the front of the house, and then went home for the evening.

For a few more stories about my Irish adventures, check back in a couple days to read Part 2!

The City Buzz

I've come to find that there's nothing else quite like the city. I love it, no matter where I am... the buzz, the bustle, the people, the excitement, the sights, the buildings, the history... it all captivates me. True, some cities are a bit overwhelming and completely exhaust me with their craziness and chaos (i.e. Rome and New York City), but every so often I find a gem - a perfect city with the perfect amount of buzz. In Texas, it was Dallas. In Italy, it was Florence. In Ireland, it is most definitely Dublin.

After spending only a few brief, jet-lagged hours in Dublin upon my arrival, I was very anxious to return and explore all the wonderful things I've been dying to see ever since watching Leap Year. Amanda and Meg were planning to take a trip up to Dublin to go to the Take That concert. For those of you who are unfamiliar, Take That is Britain's legendary version of N'Sync or Backstreet Boys, a boy-band sensation that has been dominating the pop charts since 1990. The entire city was packed, every hotel was booked, and the concert was anticipating at least 78,000 people, a majority of those being crazed middle-aged women unashamedly obsessed with the gorgeous Robbie Williams. Needless to say, if there was ever a time that Dublin was packed and buzzing, this weekend was it.

In addition to the concert (which Meg and Amanda had the time of their life at), there was a huge street festival going on with a Where's Wally theme. I know... it should be Where's Waldo, right? But apparently here in Ireland and the UK, you'll get made fun of if you say Waldo instead of Wally. Not sure why they renamed him, but those red and white stripes and funny glasses are unmistakable anywhere in the world, regardless of the language or pronunciation! The festival, Street Performance World Championship, was aimed at setting the World Record for the number of people dressed up as Wally assembled at one time. The city of Cork also participated in the competition last weekend while we were there for the Frames concert, but we left early because of bad weather and never got to see the great assembly of Wally's. Dublin was different however. Anywhere you went in the city, you were sure to run into a Wally... or four... or ten... walking down the street or shopping in a store or riding on a bus. Wally was literally everywhere you looked.

So we had our fanatical 30-something year old women, our Wally's, and of course the typical young crowd that enjoys the hopping nightlife of Dublin, with each group adding just a little extra "flavor" to the city. But that's exactly what made Dublin so great! So many great people and so many fun things going on, yet Dublin still maintained a feeling of smallness - not too huge, not too crowded, not too crazy. It was clean, it was beautiful, the people were friendly, and the nightlife was fantastic. I loved everything about it. But the absolute best part of all?
Madeleine Wilgus was there.

If you remember back from my blogs about Italy, Madeleine is a friend that I met at Rome Baptist Church while I was au pairing in Italy. She's an au pair in Rome and has been there for the past year but is returning to the States in just a few weeks. Ever since I left Italy, my friendship has continued to grow with Madeleine. We kept in contact through Skype and talked to each other on a regular basis, even when I came back over here to Europe. I had been hoping to make it back to Italy to visit her, but since my time is so short in Ireland and she is leaving in only a few weeks, that idea didn't work out. We came up with a different plan instead: meet up in Dublin for the weekend so that 1) I could have company when exploring the biggest city of Ireland and 2) Madeleine could see Ireland before she leaves Europe and 3) two great friends could reunite once last time before ending up on different continents again! She shelled out a pretty penny to get over here to Ireland, but it was absolutely, a hundred percent worth it. Madeleine and I had quite a few awesome adventures while we were in Italy together, and I cannot even begin to explain how wonderful it was to share another adventure with her once again in Europe. We reminisced lots about fun things we did together in Italy, and I got to hear more stories about how life is going for her there still. It made me miss Italy a lot. But then it just made me appreciate it. I started thinking back on my life and realized that I've had some pretty incredible experiences. Although it hasn't all been easy and simple all the time, there have been some amazing and wonderful experiences in my life, and I'm so thankful for each one and the role it played in shaping who I am today.

That's why I loved Dublin, and this time I am spending in Ireland, and the loads of fun I had with Madeleine, and the days that I have to clean cat poop up off the floor or kill the fleas in my bed. It just makes me appreciate life and all the laughs, frustration, excitement, sweat, fear, and love that come with it. It's beautiful, and it's been so good.

This weekend was all of that, and it was perfect.



On Friday afternoon, I took the tram into the city center to meet Madeleine at a place we had determined beforehand: The Grand Central Bar. I walked in at 3:04, quite amazed that I was only four minutes past our planned meeting time, and found Madeleine sitting in a booth with a bowl of steaming soup in front of her. When she saw me, she jumped up and we both yelled out in excitement and gave each other a big, long hug. It was so good to be together once again! Throughout the weekend, we could not help but be amazed at how things had worked out - two people who randomly met at a church in another country and became such good friends, and then were split apart for an indefinite period of time, only to come back together again in a place neither of us would have ever anticipated, and at a time that was perfect and the only time the occasion could have actually occurred (two weeks later and I won't be in Ireland and she won't be in Italy!). It's just really amazing to think about how God worked everything out so perfectly and how he allowed me to spend time with someone whose friendship I truly value.

After meeting up initially on Friday, Madeleine and I set out to do what we do best: shop! We found the shopping center of Dublin and just went for it: Forever 21, Stradivarius, Top Shop, H&M, Zara... all the great European stores we love so much. Unfortunately, most of my shopping consisted of trying clothes on, falling in love with them, and then pouting in front of the mirror because I didn't actually have money to buy anything. Shopping when you're low on funds is really not the funnest thing to do. We still made sure we had a good time though. By the time we were finished, it was already evening and we wanted to go experience a little of Dublin's nightlife.

Temple Bar

I had been told by three or four different people, each from a different country, that I needed to go to a place called Temple Bar while I was in Dublin. I didn't understand what was so great about this one bar, but I figured I would go check it out. Turns out, Temple Bar is not just one bar, but is actually a whole area filled with restaurants, bars, pubs, discos, and tons of places to hang out at night. Meg described it to me as "buzzy," which seemed like the perfect word. There's enough going on there that you could be entertained all evening without even setting foot inside somewhere. When Madeleine and I first arrived, we walked around and just took in everything that was going on around us. There were street musicians playing on every corner, men in kilts standing on some steps, girls handing out coupons to get into clubs later, homeless people talking nonsense to random passerbys, tourists out taking pictures, people standing around eating... everything you could possibly imagine. We grabbed a hamburger from a cute little restaurant we found and ate out on the street. Then it was time to figure out what to do... which is a challenging task when you have so many good options! We followed the crowds, and the music, and jumped around from pub to pub until we found a place that seemed fun but where we could actually breathe and move a little, and had a great time meeting other tourists from all over Europe.

having fun in Temple Bar!

This is what a night out in the city will do to you :)

Our night on Friday ended pretty early because we had to make it back to the house we were staying in (the place I stayed right when I arrived in Ireland) before the tram stopped running. Naturally, nothing ever goes smoothly when it's late at night and you have no idea where you are going, so we took the tram to the stop we were told to get off at and then spent a good thirty minutes searching for the right house. We finally found it (thanks to Meg's help!) and crawled into that wonderfully comfy bed for the next nine hours.

Saturday morning, after feeling very rested, we set out to be tourists for the day... something I haven't done in quite a long time. Our first stop after breakfast (which was really lunch) was Trinity College to see the famous Book of Kells. I didn't know what the Book of Kells was, but it was another one of those things I was told to see, so I went. It turned out to be really cool. Apparently it's an elaborately decorated copy of the Bible's four Gospels in Latin, dating back to the year 800. We visited a whole exhibit with a detailed analysis of the Book, explaining how it was made, what materials were used for it, who made it, and why it was so significant. After walking through the exhibit, we actually got to see the book on display. It was fascinating. As I was reading the information about it beforehand, I didn't see what the big deal about the book was. When I finally saw it, however, I could see what was so amazing about the intricate detailing of the letters and artwork that is contained within the book, as well as the precision and accuracy that went into each letter and line that was painstakingly copied by scribes. The best part of the entire visit though was the library upstairs.

No photos were allowed, but of course I had to sneak one!

After viewing the Book, we took some stairs up to a very famous room called the The Long Room. The room was a massive long room (clearly) filled with nothing but books, stretching up two or three stories. One of the men working there told us that the ceilings had to be extended at one point, because there was not enough room for all the books that they wanted to keep in there. In total, the library contains over 5 million books, the oldest one dating back to the 1400s (a page from a copy of the Gutenberg Bible, the first printed book ever) and the newest from 1906. Madeleine and I were absolutely intrigued with all the history that was in the beautiful room we were in, and we spent a good deal of time interrogating the man on duty to find out more information. We learned that only a few weeks earlier, the Queen had been standing in the exact same spot we had (and that lucky man got to meet her!). We also discovered that the library is actually in use, although no one can really touch anything, and students of Trinity College are allowed to request books to use for research and can read them in a study room under supervision. The man also shared with us a few interesting facts about the room, like how the busts that line the room get less important as you reach the back, starting off with famous philosophers and ending with library benefactors and people no one has ever heard of. In addition, the man explained that the books are in no way categorized alphabetically by author or title. The largest and heaviest books are on the bottom shelves, and the books get increasingly smaller towards the top of the shelves. The number and letter system that we saw massively printed on the side of the shelves was in fact a reference system that corresponds with the card catalog for the library and has absolutely nothing to do with the books' authors.

Trinity College

Dublin Castle

Madeleine and I left the library with substantial knowledge about The Long Room and the Book of Kells, and next headed to see Dublin Castle. We arrived, looked at it from the outside, took a few pictures, and decided that all castles are pretty much the same and we didn't feel like going in another one and listening to a boring tour. Instead, we went to Starbucks :) I think that made Madeleine's year, because Italy does not have Starbucks, and she has been deprived for over a year from the world's best coffee! It was absolutely the most expensive frappucino I've ever bought ($8 after the exchange rate and the charge on my card for foreign transactions),
                                                                                       but it was worth every sip!

After relishing in the deliciousness of our coffee, we set out to find Wally. Not a hard task. We followed the throngs of Wally through the city until they became increasingly bigger, and found ourselves at a huge fairgrounds where all the Wally's were assembled in one place. Walking through the fairgrounds, we passed dozens of crowds surrounding street performers, magicians, musicians, acrobats, sword swallowers - you name it. There were kids everywhere, the smell of fried food, and games and entertainment for the whole family. We didn't spend long there... just enough time to take some Where's Wally pictures and watch a performance or two, and then we concluded we'd seen enough. On our way out of the park, I heard music playing and looked to my left to see literally thousands of Wally's standing together, facing our direction, and dancing to Walking on Sunshine. It was the Great Wally Assembly for the Guinness Book of World Records competition, and we just happened to be there at the exact right time! A ton of people were standing around taking pictures, but the professional photographers were the only ones with a good view, as they were perched on top of a scaffold overlooking the crowd. As Madeleine and I weaseled our way to the front of the other pedestrian photographers for a good shot, it suddenly started to pour and the music immediately changed to "Singing in the Rain." It was brilliant. Umbrellas popped up, and all the Wally's put their hands up and started waving them back and forth as if at a concert. We took as many pictures as possible before the rain became a downpour, and once we were satisfied with what we got, we darted under the nearest awning to try to stay dry until the rain died down.

Our plan had been to walk the ten minute walk to the hostel that we had booked for the night. It took us at least forty minutes. You can't make much progress in a walk when you have to stop every couple hundred feet to avoid getting soaked. Eventually, the sun came back out again (that's the great thing about Ireland), and we easily found the Shining Hostel.

Of course, when we went in and checked in, the two employees looked at each other with an expression of panic and then with wide eyes told us there was a problem with our booking. Now, the reason I say "of course" is because there is guaranteed going to be a problem anytime I try to book or stay in a hostel. When I went to Rome in December, I booked my hostel for the wrong day. Last weekend when we were in Cork for the Frames concert, Meg, her friend Kirsty, and I showed up at 11:00 to the hostel we had booked, only to find a locked door with a sign on it that said, "Sorry, we're full!" Not a good feeling when it's late at night at you have nowhere to go. It wouldn't have been so bad except for the fact that every single hostel in the city of Cork was full. There were signs on all the hostel's and B&B's doors that said "No Room." I got a little taste of what Mary and Joseph may have felt like on Christmas...

pouting in the room about something or another

Anyways, the problem in Dublin was actually not our fault, but the manager's, because he overbooked some of the rooms. It's not an airplane... you can't just expect people to not show up to a hostel because they didn't make their connection or had to wait in a security line... and you can't pay people to give up their spot for the night. We actually tried that one ;-) The guy at the front desk was really nice and helpful and called the manager to see what he could work out for us, but the manager didn't seem too keen on that idea. There were beds for us, but they were in two different rooms, not the ones we booked, and I didn't want to stay in a room with creepy men around me by myself, so we asked for further options. We even considered just staying at the house we had stayed at the night before (with the comfy bed), but it is outside the city and there were no buses that run past 11:30... and we were definitely planning to be out later than that. The guy helping us asked his manager if they would pay for a cab for us, but that was a definite no, so he took a look around and actually found two beds available in one room - the staff room. He gave us a ten euro discount, and we took it. The room had a shower, although it was a pretty nasty shower, and two top bunks available for us, so we were happy to take it since we knew we were only going to be there for a few hours to sleep.

We set up our stuff in our room and simultaneously met some of the staff members (from all over the world) that are working at the hostel and getting to stay there for free. One of the guys we met was from Guayaquil, Ecuador, the city I just visited in March. I thought it was really interesting that of all the places in the world that he could be from, he's from a place that I just traveled to! It was nice getting to talk to some of the people, although I wasn't the biggest fan of having a bunch of guys in my room... but it was only 10 euros, so I couldn't really complain.

the band playing at the pub

our new french friends, minus the one taking the picture

Madeleine and I set out for a second night at Temple Bar, this time without a time limit. We went straight to the same hamburger place we had eaten at the night before (there's something about hamburgers in Ireland... it must be all the chips) and chowed down on some delicious food. As we were eating, we heard traditional Irish music playing next door in a pub, so we went over there to check it out afterward. It was seriously amazing. We were completely enthralled with the music the moment we set foot inside, and Madeleine disappeared in a trance as she listened to the guitar, bagpipes, and flute play out beautiful Irish folk tunes. In the meantime, I made some friends (there's no point in going into a pub and sitting in a corner by yourself!) with three guys visiting from France. We all chatted and enjoyed the music and then decided to move along to another location. We spent the evening bouncing around from place to place, just enjoying the different atmosphere each spot had. Some places were filled with young people, some had mostly old, some places had live Irish music, and some had DJ's playing American music, but each one was a blast and had tons of interesting people that we enjoyed meeting and talking to. That is absolutely my favorite part about traveling and going out and experiencing whatever city I'm in - I love all the different people you meet and all the cool stories you get to hear. It's so neat to be in a foreign place and to meet people from literally all over the world that you have something in common with - you're all traveling. Everyone has their own story about why they are where they are and how long they've been there and how they got there, and I love being able to relate and connect with people who I'd never meet at home in the U.S. and probably wouldn't even notice. It opens your eyes so much to other cultures, other personalities, and other types of people that are out there in the world and you can learn so much from them and their way of life! I love it!!

trying to cram everyone into a picture together

Needless to say, going out to Temple Bar was such a blast, and Madeleine and I finally returned to our hostel around two (not too late actually!). We went straight to bed, but don't think we had any sort of great night's sleep. I'm pretty sure I woke up about ten times to things like people snoring, a million showers being taken, guys walking around with not nearly enough clothes on, couples fighting, alarms going off, and people laughing to themselves as they watched movies on their laptop. You know... just a typical hostel ;-) To no surprise, I woke up quite a bit earlier than I expected on Sunday morning. I hadn't thought about it much, but suddenly the idea to go to church came to mind, and I thought it might be cool to find a church to go to while we were in Dublin. I woke Madeleine up and asked her if she wanted to go, and she was all for the idea, so we got up and got ready with a good two hours before any services started. I went down to the front desk and asked them if they could google Baptist Churches in Dublin, because I was really hoping for a comfortable place that felt like home. Nothing came up. She typed in a few other things but all that was coming up were Anglican churches, but I was hoping for something different. She scrolled down the page of search results and then I saw something that caught my eye. It was called Destiny Church, and after a quick look at their website, I asked her for the address and service times.

Destiny Church was just around the corner from the hostel, and the second I walked in, I felt right at home. The best part of all?? I didn't have to worry about any of it being in a different language! It's really nice being in an English speaking country :) We were greeted right away and several people came up to us and were very excited to see two new faces. Most of the crowd was younger, so there were lots of people our age around that we chatted with. The service was very nice and I really enjoyed singing some contemporary worship songs and listening to the pastor's sermon on Ezra. Madeleine and I really liked the pastor and thought he was a very wise and humble man with a really interesting background. He didn't become a Christian until college, and he never expected to end up in Ireland (he grew up here but claimed Scotland as his home during his adult years), but God called him to Dublin and he started a church about 15 years ago. And I'm really thankful he did!

Our Sunday was a relaxed and quiet day. We wandered around, with no specific destination in mind. We ate lunch at a bagel shop, stopped in some stores for brief shopping, and sat on the steps of a statue for awhile to rest. It was nearing time to go and we didn't have much time left, so we decided there'd be no better way to end our trip than to do it the same way we started: at the Grand Central. We headed back to the bar and sat down to share one last drink together before parting ways. It was a sweet time, but a little sad too, as neither of us really have any idea when we will see each other in person again.

We took the tram back to the house to meet up with Amanda and Meg, packed up the car, and headed on our way back to Cork. Madeleine stayed an extra night in Dublin because her flight didn't leave till the following morning.

I think I smiled the whole way home. What a wonderful weekend :)