Today was my first day out of the city and it could not have gone any better. I went to the Wicklow Mountains and was able to see the rolling hills and sheep I dreamed of seeing before I came here. I was able to go hiking and had the best lunch/food since I've been here. More on that in a little bit, but first I will talk about my interviews yesterday.
Well, I went to Starbucks and that other cafe and spoke with the managers, but they both gave me the same response: "We have a stack of applications yay high, so we will try to get through with them as fast as possible." So they pretty much just gave me a maybe, in which it will be another few weeks before I find out any answers. After that let down, I applied for a few more jobs and was able to meet up with Heppe and Jensen.
It was an awesome day once I started hanging out with them, and it was a complete morale booster. We walked around the city for a little bit and just hung out and caught up on things. They have been traveling around Ireland for the past week and gave me tips on all the different places I should go. Then last night we hit up a few pubs and just came back to my place to crash. I then woke up at 7 a.m. this morning to go on the one day tour of Wicklow Mountains.
The entire day today was spectacular. We were on a small tour bus with a group of around 30 and made about an hour trip to the mountains. Before we got there, we stopped at a small mom and pop store so we could buy some touristy things, and to get some coffee and scones. The coffee and scones were great and really cheap.
After we left there, we drove for a while until we got to Glendalough. This is a sixth century monastic settlement with a famous 10th century round tower and a lot of celtic crosses in a cemetery. This is where we got to go hiking. The woods were just beautiful. There were two lakes and we had about an hour and a half to just roam the area. I was wearing my Brewers hat today while my roommates and I got off the bus, and ironically I met a couple that go UW-Madison, and one was even in the journalism school. So it is definitely a small world! That was really nice when I met them because I had more than enough stuff to talk to them about.
While we were all hiking in the woods on a paved sidewalk, the trees, creeks and lakes gave off a vibe that made me never want to leave. It was awesome being away from the city, traffic and hundreds of people always crowding the sidewalks here. It took us about 40 minutes to walk to one of the lakes, but once we got there it was well worth the trip. As the sun finally started to make its first appearance of the day after a morning filled with rain, its shine bounced off rippling water and gave an awesome view to the mountains placed behind the lake.
Since we only had an hour and a half to walk abound, we got a lot of pictures by the lake and had to start walking back towards the bus. After getting lost for a while, we finally found it and headed to lunch. We had the choice of getting a light lunch at a cafe or going to a hotel and getting a hearty cooked meal that was a little more expensive. I went with the expensive meal.
It was the best and most food I have eaten since I've been in Ireland. It was a Guinness stew filled with a lot vegetables, and the bread that went along with it was perfect for dipping. Needless to say, I was stuffed.
After that we stopped at few more spots in the mountain and I was able to capture some more pictures. It was a great day. I'll upload the photos pretty soon so everyone can see them. You'll really like them.
But tomorrow I'm going to go to a small town outside of Dublin called Howth, which is a small fishing community. I guess it is another perfect place to hike and what not. But until then, I hope everyone's weekend is going well and I will talk to everyone real soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment