Submitted by Emily Bange on the 2012 fall semester program in Granada, Spain…
The most exciting thing that I did last week was not actually in Spain… it was in Ireland! I traveled with my roommate to the Emerald Isle for three days, and had a blast! We flew from Málaga to Dublin on Thursday, getting into our hostel around 1 AM Friday morning. On Friday, I got up and hit the streets of Dublin, partly sightseeing, while keeping an eye out for a pharmacy. My roommate caught a cold the day before and was in desperate need of medicine. Rapid temperature changes will do that to you, as I found out yesterday.
Despite her illness, we both had a great time. We spent Friday walking all over Dublin looking at churches, markets, and GRASS! For anyone who has ever wondered, there isn’t really any grass in southern Spain. It definitely has its charms, but one thing that Ireland has on it is greenery. I took tons of pictures of grass in parks and fields, just because it seems like so long since I’ve seen it.
On Saturday we took a bus tour to the western coast of Ireland, stopping at various castles and villages along the way. It was incredibly fun, and well worth the money. I was a little disappointed that we couldn’t stay longer at some of the stops, but such is the nature of a bus tour.
The best and most important stop on the tour was the Cliffs of Moher. For anyone who is a Harry Potter fan out there, I’m told that this is where they filmed a scene in the 6th movie when Harry faces off with the bad guy in the series. As you can tell, I’ve never read this series, but the cliffs were magnificent nonetheless. We walked along the edge taking tons of pictures and taking in the majesty of it all. It was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
We’ve returned to Granada now, and are incredibly happy to be back with our host family. I really missed them by the end of the weekend, particularly when I was starting to get sick and wanted my host mom to take care of me. They are really the best!