To start it off, we drove to a beach about an hour away and a) went swimming in the Atlantic Ocean (The waves in the Wave Pool at Splashdown are NO comparison), b) played soccer on the beach (My first time playing it-I think I'm the next Mia Hamm), c) learned and played rugby, d) had a cook-out on the beach, and then e) drove around the Dingle Peninsula. On our drive, I took at little over 200 pictures, putting my overall picture-taking at about 800 pictures in all.
Swimming was AWESOME! Originally, I wasn't going to swim, so I just rolled up my trouser legs, kept on my hoodie, and waded into the water in search of seashells. Then Ashley looked at me and said "It's now or never" (I also knew that Will would be very disappointed if I missed that opportunity). So, we charged the waves and swallowed SO much salt water. SO very much.
Salt water brings up another point-19 out of 29 people on this trip got very sick over the week-end and two girls had to stay in Greystones at the start of this trip to visit doctors and get better (Haha-They're all talking about "Swine Flu" concerns and I laugh. I've been exposed twice this summer-If I was going to die from it, I would already be dead!). I am one of the lucky 10 who haven't gotten sick yet...(and I've survived two sick roommates, both at home and here in the hotel, since we switch up roomies on our travels). However, all that water today washed away any traces of stuffiness.
Going back to the older post about Glendalough and death-There were about 17 of us who went on the 6 mile hike up and around the Wicklow mountains. It was a beautiful day, with blue skies and awesome sunshine. For the first 2.5 miles, we were literally hiking up rocks, grabbing where we could reach on the rocks, and making our own footholds. Then, when we reached the top where we had to go over the gap, we crossed at tiny bridge and began another climb up, but this time on a path that was two railroad-ties width. Whoever had the genius to put thousands of staples in them to create friction was brilliant-Those were life-saving. After we crossed the gap, it started raining and the wind was unbelievable. There were times when we had to literally stop, crouch down, and wrap ourselves around the railroad ties to hang on (the wind was that strong) to avoid being blown down the side of the cliff. However, it got really f-u-n when the person behind you grabbed YOUR backpack to keep THIER balance. Then, there was one "look-out" point where it was a wind tunnel, and all there was to keep you from falling off was a single rail. We had so much fun! Most of the second half of the hike was cliff on our left, and mountain-side on our right. It was dangerous, wet, cold, windy, and amazingly fun (I say dangerous because Taylor U did have a fatal accident on that same hike about 6 years ago).
I am having the time of my life here, and it still kind of seems like I'm in a dream. The whole group gets along (We have a cd called the "Brian Bus Jam Cabam!" which contains all the great Disney Princess songs-We ALL sing those on our bus rides home...). Our leaders are great, Brian (our bus driver) is great, Jen (our chaplain) is awesome, life is good.
Can't wait for my family to see home! It's incredible!
(For my siblings-The names Liam, Connor, and Kathryn are my kid's names-Don't steal them!)
I'm heading to bed now-We have to leave early tomorrow to drive the Ring of Kerry!
Love!
Erin Flathers (O'Flathery would be our Irish surname...We're from CO Galway, which is where the "Black Irish" are from. They're called "black" because of all the Spanish influence!)
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