To sum up my experience so far: Ireland is awesome!!! I have had such an incredible time since I've been here. I'm studying abroad with an organization called Academic Programs International. I, along with nineteen other API students, have joined over one hundred other US students at the National University of Ireland, Galway in a summer Irish studies program. We have classes during the week, I'm taking History and Society, and on the weekends we fly off to various parts of Ireland. My classes are so interesting. Professors here at NUIG teach the lectures and lead the seminars. I've learned so much about Ireland in just a week.
This past weekend, we visited the Cliffs of Moher, a long line of cliffs plunging into the ocean in the west coast of Ireland on Saturday. The cliffs stand 700 feet above the water and it is an awesome sight to see. You feel so insignificant when faced with the immensity of nature, standing on the edge, looking down at the tiny waves below. The ocean stretches out in front of you, disappearing on the horizon. Sunday, we visited the Aran Island, an island off the west coast of Ireland, and hired bikes to ride to Dun Aoghasa, a three thousand year old fort on the edge of the island. The fort ends in three hundred foot cliffs standing over the ocean. It was an incredible experience to bike across the island, seeing the scenery and breathing in the crisp, ocean air. Large, stone walls stood around the fort, made even more amazing by the fact that they had been built over three thousand years ago.
As it seems that time is flying by, at the same time I feel like I've been here forever. I am loving my time here, I'm surrounded by the friendliest people, and the island is rich in ancient history and culture.
