To begin the long journey of this last week… Monday began with all of the other exchange students (19 in total) from 5 from Belgium, 6 from Germany, 4 from Italy, 1 from Brazil, 2 from Switzerland and 1 from the United States(that’s me). It was a gloomy kind of day so went to walk around town. The 2 from Switzerland made a Swiss meal of potatoes, pasta, and vegetables. On Tuesday we went in around the Killarney National Park and some went to the Torc Waterfall. The Italians made spaghetti carbonara that was really good. Wednesday we had a day tour booked on the bus to go to Dingle and around the Dingle Peninsula. We left at 10:30 and didn’t get back until 5:30. We had another tour booked for Thursday and we made our way around the Ring of Kerry. We were gone for another 7 hours as the Ring of Kerry is 100 miles long. The weather was really great for both Wednesday and Thursday so it was enjoyable. The visibility was amazing and we could see the Skellig Islands. The islands are where monks used to live back in the 7th and 8th century. On Friday we went back into the National Park and went to Ross Castle. It’s situated right next to a lake so it was really pretty. We had a sad night knowing is was the last night of the trip and probably the last time we would see some people. Saturday morning I left at 6 with Alice. It was actually a good feeling to come back to my home here. It may sound weird but I missed the three screaming little children that I came home too. And of course Paul and Eleanor. 🙂 They said the house was so quiet without me! Haha I don’t know why it’s not like I talk very much or anything…. 😉 well now to all of the pictures of the last 2 weeks……
Enjoying the wonderful Irish sun(honestly I think I got a little bit of a burn that day ha! must be the Irish genes in me)
Sam even got in on the sun tanning haha ahhhh bellisimo
Horse Riding!
the whole group that went…. only one boy wanted to join in
mounted riders
me just makin friends 🙂
everyone after the 2 hour ride
at Natalie’s house
showing my American basketball skills(mostly because I absolutely cannot play soccer)
the lake we walked by with Alicia
my Irish parents
one of the fantastic meals I had at the hotel (just not as good as Eleanor’s cooking 😉
the view from the hotel
from the side of Carrauntoohil the tallest mountain in  Ireland. We didn’t hike to the top though.
the top that we didn’t make it to
part of the hotel
another side of the hotel
I found my meditation spot at the top of Torc Waterfall
Found a piano! so excited
thiissss is what they call an Easter egg over here… I have to say that their version of an Easter egg is much much better than a little plastic egg 😉
the beginning of the hike up to the waterfall
just me with my hiking attire on:)
the beautiful waterfall
the start of the hike up the side of Torc
halfway up
“just keep climbing”
a view from the side of Torc
up at the top
my postcard perfect picture 🙂 (we like to say it’s Paul and Eleanor but I actually have no idea who the people are)
the waterfall with the warming sun in the background (did you notice I even had a T-shirt on? ahhh so great)
follow the leader through the rocks
sitting outside the Lake Hotel with one of the many Killarney lakes in sight
a little beach I found on a walk through a forest
they sure do like to start ’em young here in Ireland 😉
Inch Beach (one of the stops on the Dingle Peninsula)
a common array of fields… I have noticed that they don’t really use many fences but just stack up a bunch of rocks
a ring fort. You can’t see it very well but it actually has a trench all the way around it. Around the 7th century the trench would be filled with water and there would be a bunch of huts on the inside circle. They would bring all of the animals in the inner circle with them at night to sleep to have protection.
The cottage with the red door would be a common house they had back during the potato famine.
It goes on and on and on
See what I mean with the stacked up rocks?
A beehive hut that the monks lived in during the 7th and 8th century. Crazy huh?
New lambs out in all the fields.
Me, Alessia, and Ambra
Out to the left you can somewhat see the Skellig Islands.
Crazy ones that climbed up this. The bus driver came up to me and asked if they had any brains to them haha (nobody died in the making of this picture)
a Be-a-u-tiful view with the landmark they call “The Three Sisters” off to the right
A very old little church
inside the church doing some kind of little prayer session maybe?
Gabriel(Brazil), me, Arthur(Belgium)
Dingle pier
all of the fishing boats
enjoying the Irish sun
Very colorful with a man, donkey, and chair? not sure about this one….
Dingle Bay
The best views ever
On the Ring of Kerry they have a stop that you can go watch a sheepdog demonstration. These are all rare sheep from all around the world that the shepherd informed us about.
A rare sheep that has 4 horns
the shepherd, one of the two dogs, and the sheep he used to demonstrate. The amount of training that the dogs have learned and demonstrated was pretty incredible.
Ahhhh the green green grass.
Really though I can’t say this enough…. we had brilliant weather for almost all of the vacation.
Another beach we stopped at
I love the water!
Marica and me
on the bus with Alessia and Marica
and Benne was there too 🙂
Green grass, blue sky… what more could you want?
this view actually reminded me of back home(must be because you can’t see as much of the green grass)
said to be the best view in all of Ireland
Ladie’s view
Ladie’s view again…
Ross castle…you can see the rain clouds coming but they didn’t fall until the nighttime
the lake by Ross castle
Clara and me
Me(USA), Gabriel(Brazil), Fabiola(Switzerland)
Me, Marica, Arthur, Gabriel, Roman, Clara, Ambra, Vivika, Gesine, Alessia, Louis
Annnd the whole group of us
And for Sunday… a coffee out in Tramore…..
Grace and Oli
The tide was very far in and hit the walls like crazy
…..
The whole beach…another great weather day
I got a latte
And I’m hoping that now that I got my blog done I can finish of my vacation with a lovely Lemon Meringue Pie made by Eleanor 🙂
Mmmmm delicious
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