We are currently beginning our fourth week of our study abroad journey and I feel like I am finally starting to get a routine in place, or at least as much of a routine as I can. Day to day life so far tends to vary quite a bit. There are some days where we simply wake up and go to class and then hang out in the cabins and work on things for classes, or we are out on the road traveling to stay somewhere for a few days and explore.
Daily life at the cabins tends to consist of waking up at about 8:00 am, getting dressed for the day, making breakfast and then heading into the main building of our hotel where the professors meet us for class at 10 am. Our classes usually last about three hours, but sometimes they are shorter depending on what we are working on and/or discussing that day. We tend to spend Monday-Thursday at Park Lodge, but there are also times where we travel out of Spiddal in order to have class.
Earlier on this trip we went into Dublin to visit a museum with our literature professor and to watch a play at the Gaiety Theatre, or even today (March 2, 2020) we went into Galway to have our history class at The King’s Head which is a famous pub in Galway, known for its connection to King Charles I, who had been executed in order to put an end to the Monarchy in England.
The part of our lives that is not so “daily” is when we all load up a backpack and head of to a new part of Ireland to spend several days exploring and learning about different parts of the country. We have been to Galway on several occasions, Dublin, and Trim, to name a few, and even hiked all the way to the top of Croagh Patrick, which is a holy mountain that St. Patrick summited back in the year 441. So far, this trip so far has been anything but routine!
Ramblin' Dan 