My Motto: Try Everything!

Today was Day 5. This post is being written at 9:15pm. Today was a fairly rainy and wet day, but that didn't stop the fun!

       My grandpa once said "Ashley, you've got a once in a lifetime trip you are going on" and as any 19 year old granddaughter might say I nodded in agreement and assured him that I knew. He then reminded me and gave me advice to "do it while I'm young because I might never get the chance again." During the time leading up to the trip I developed this motto and this outlook that I was going to try everything (every time I say it I instantly start singing the song from Zootopia). I knew there were going to be adventures on this trip that were going to be downright terrifying, but good ol' grandpa once again knew exactly what he was talking about, and boy was he right. The point here? Today I faced something that was absolutely terrifying to me and there were moments when I was a little bit afraid to climb to the very top or cross the rope bridge, but I knew I had to do it because I very well may never have the chance to return to Ireland, and IF I do, I likely won't have the same opportunities.
        Now that you understand a bit about where I'm coming from writing this post, I can get into more of what "actually" happened today.
        Today we ventured out to the northern coast of Ulster where we made a few stops for pictures and eventually found ourselves touring the Bushmills Distillery. We were able to see how the ever so famous Irish Whiskey is made (yes you can smell it while walking on the tour) and then we ended with trying a shot of the whiskey itself. In addition, we got a complementary drink and were able to eat lunch at the distillery. Following this experience, we continued our bus ride and stopped at Giant's Causeway which was an amazing view and involved quite a bit of rock climbing. Due to the rainy whether the rocks were quite slippery so we were warned to be careful and we were. A few nursing major and I may have had to bandage a finger of one of the professors, but there were no impactable injuries so all was well!
        We made a final stop at the Carrick Rede Rope Bridge and bravely walked across said bridge. It was quite terrifying (I feel like it honestly wouldn't have been bad if it weren't for the gusting winds swaying the bridge), but again, I had to do it because I didn't come all this way to chicken out! The travels from the bus to the rope bridge and back were quite the hike indeed, but provided for more great photo opportunities and I loved every minute, stunningly beautiful it was!

The majority of us students slept on the bus ride home we were so tired which is why I am in bed at such an early hour! Tomorrow is a free day so I can only imagine the adventures and great experiences that will bring!

Stay tuned!

Ashley
       

Day 4

It is actually terrifying to think that it is day 4 already, as a matter of fact, I don't want to think about it so let's move on!

    Today began with a ride on a coach bus, the way many great adventures begin. Our group took about an hour and a half drive up to Omagh, Northern Ireland where we heard a brief lecture regarding the history of the Irish emigration at the Mellon Centre for Migration Studies. I particuallary liked how the gentleman talking to us made connections directly to Wisconsin and to Marian University. Following his lecture we were able to spend a few hours exploring th Ulster American Folk Park. The best way to describe this was an Irish Heritage Hill. Honestly, it was JUST like it! Very fun and lots of learning!
       Further, we rode back to Belfast where we were given free time. As you can imagine many of us are quite bushed out. A few of my friends and I decided to stay in for the night and we were able to explore a grocery store in the city, try a little bit of wine, play card games, and just have a relaxing evening. Tomorrow is a VERY busy day so this post is going to be a tad short, but if any of the readers have any questions or comments feel free to send them my way!

Thanks,
Ashley

Day 3 (A day late)

Day 3's blog post was written 1 day late and it is indeed day three due to the fact that Day 1 was strictly travel. (If that doesn't make sense its ok, just know that it was day 3!)

        Today we did a Hop On Hop Off tour of Belfast which involved riding a bus to various "landmark locations" around the city. You rang a bell/pressed a button on the bus if you wanted to get off when they announced the stop. The ever so famous Titanic Museum (or Titanic Experience as the locals like to call it) is an automatic stop on the tour. 3/4 of the way through the stops our group got off at the Cumlin Road Gaol (a now vacant prison) and we were able to get a tour and learn a lot about what it was like during the troubles and times when the jail was still operating as normal. It was  very interesting to see the Cumlin Road Gaol and it's operative functions of punishment as well as what they did with the people who were housed there.
         Following the tour we were able to break off into our various groups (with whoever we wanted) and explore on our own. My group was fortunate enough to have time to eat at the Titanic Museum and complete the Titanic experience as well. This was an eye opening experience seeing that there was a TON of information on display and as they say in Belfast, "she was alright when she left here." We then walked our way back to the main city area and stopped to take pictures and enjoy the scenery in the process. We broke off and hung out in hotel rooms for a little bit to catch a break and get ready to go check out the local pubs for a night. They are not kidding when they say that is literally what people do at night in Ireland, you can't escape it. No way, no how. After searching for a LONG time for a pub vacant enough to fit 6 of us we enjoyed some time exploring and wound up at the same place we were the previous evening. Eventually, we all got tired (as if we weren't already) and made our way back to hotel rooms for a whopping 4.5 hours of sleep, but hey, it's Ireland and it is in fact a once in a lifetime experience so we might as well take advantage!

Thanks,
Ashley

2 in 1!

Post Written at: 10:54pm

     Hello! Our crew of Marian students very impatiently arrived in Fond du Lac May 25th to depart for our journey to the Emerald Isle, and depart we did. After a bus ride down to Chicago we waited 3+ hours in the airport before we were finally able to board and depart for what was an extremely long (but shorter than it was supposed to be) flight. We knew that adventures of "trying new things" were bound to occur in Ireland, but many of us were not expecting to be adventurous by eating meals on the plane. Kayla, if by any chance you read this, "Would you like something more to drink?" (The flight attendants were wonderful, but a few hours into the flight we were pumped full of water, lemonade, and food that we thought we were going to explode.
      Beyond the long flight which I personally was VERY excited to get off of, we collected our baggage and drove from Dublin, Ireland to Belfast, Northern Ireland. Most of us slept on the bus ride due to the lack of sleep on the plane. We checked into our hotel accommodations and then took a Black Cab tour of Belfast. This was a unique experience and was something I was not expecting. It made for lots of great pictures, but was also a very warm tour! The temperature today was a little over 70, something that is quite hot for Ireland. Me, my roommate, and another friend then set off to grab a bite to eat which ended up being a burger (because we didn't have a lot of time) that we literally ate while walking. We may or may not have gotten lost (I like to say we got turned around) in Belfast, but with the help of a map we made it to our destination with just enough time to meet the group!
       Following our bite to eat we got to experience a historic pub tour of Belfast, we learned all about the history of the pubs in Ireland and were able to learn about how they came to be. We landed ourselves in a different pub one final time before we headed back to our hotels and I am now looking forward to wrapping this post up and getting some shut eye!

Stay tuned!

Ashley

The Day Before the "Big Day!"

        It seems like just yesterday I was sitting in my on-campus apartment filling out the application for what I thought was going to be nothing more than a dream. Despite my thoughts at that point, my dream has become a reality and tomorrow, yes... tomorrow, I will set out for a day of travel and eventually end up in Ireland. Fun fact: I'm still not fully packed. This is something I never saw myself doing, but when I had a spark of desire, my family and friends supported me. My grandpa recently passed away, but during the last few months of his life, I've never seen a person more excited to watch someone else go on a trip. He will be with me on this trip, that much I know. My parents have provided incredible support, they've helped me navigate getting a passport, packing, finances, and beyond. My roommate, Kelsey, has given me amazing insight from her great experiences and has challenged me leading up to my trip abroad. Various other friends have continuously encouraged me to step out of my comfort zone for a couple of weeks in order to experience a once in a lifetime opportunity and even provided ideas for how to stay busy on an eight hour flight. Thank you to everyone and to God for this incredible chance to take a leap of faith and do something crazy. I can now say that I'm ready, or as ready as I'll ever be, to study abroad in Ireland!

If connections while abroad allow, I will hopefully update this blog as much as possible so everyone back home can follow along with my experience!

Thanks,

Ashley

Pre-Trip--Countdown: 158

    Hello friends, family, and fellow Ireland followers! This blog will make a lot more sense once I explain a little bit and even more so after I actually begin my travels. Here is a bit of background: Long story short, I saw a poster for a Short-Term Study Abroad to Ireland and for the fun of it I decided it wouldn't hurt to attend the informative meeting. As I sat through the meeting I told very few people about my desire to travel to such a far off place, but I did not want to get my hopes up, there was a lot that had to happen before I could say I was going to Ireland. I consulted with family, friends, and other individuals around campus who have traveled to Ireland previously. This was probably the hardest part, I wanted to go, but I needed to honestly weigh my pros and cons in this scenario. After many hours, days, and weeks of hard thinking I picked up a Study Abroad Application and a couple weeks later, submitted said application to the Study Abroad Office at Marian. In addition, I made my first payment toward the trip. I nervously waited (I still don't know why I was nervous), but after a few days I got the officially email saying that I would be accepted to travel to Ireland. I then made the final step in registering for the class I needed to get credit for this opportunity. That, my friends, is how I landed in this crazy dream of a situation that I find myself in right now.
    Recently, (and by recently I mean two days ago), I started a countdown on my phone for the trip. Currently this countdown sits at 158 days as one can tell by the title of this post. I came up with what I thought was a genius idea (but later I realized a lot of people do this) and I created this very blog. I will document thoughts and updates in the process leading up to departure, but I will also make a large attempt to update this blog while I am in Ireland. I will be able to post pictures and explain what great experiences I will have had. This way, I do not have to worry about forgetting to send someone pictures of everything I did that day. Naturally, my immediate family and friends will get priority with whatever service and whatnot I will have during my trip, but others who are interested in hearing about my experience will be able to learn about it here!
    If anyone has any specific ideas or thoughts on what they would like me to post or write about, PLEASE let me know. I am most certainly open for suggestions during this exciting part of my life.

Whether it be big or small, take a chance and make a change.

Ashley.