The Weekend

This past weekend was our first of many group excursions. Saturday morning started off by meeting our Theology Br. Colman, who gave a short overview of the Theology course he will be teaching. We all got on the bus and headed to Kiltartan and Kilmacduah, two sites of  former monasteries that are now in ruins. Also at Kilmacduah was a round tower that was used by the monks to save their important books during raids. Next we went to an area called the Burren, where we saw the site of the hermitage where St. Columba started out from when we decided that providing hospitality to others would be a better way to use his gifts than being a hermit. St. Brigid’s well is located there as well. The Burren was a beautiful area with a really interesting landscape. Br. Colman suggested we walk back to the bus in silence in order to fully take in our surroundings, which was a very peaceful experience. After stopping at Monk's pub for the most delicious seafood chowder ever, we continued on to visit a monolithic Portal tomb, which is older than the Egyptian pyramids. That evening, after checking in to the "Jamaican Inn" in the little town of Six Mile Bridge and eating dinner, almost all of us walked to the local pub to hear some live music. The two men playing guitar and singing were really good, and played a fun mix of Irish and contemporary American music. Most of the group was tired and went back early, but a few of us stayed until they stopped playing, which was a wonderful decision, because the dancing was so much fun and our group had a great time. 

We spent the majority of the day on Sunday at Glenstal Abbey, where we attended Mass, were given a lecture on Celtic mythology, ate lunch in a castle that now houses a boarding school, toured the grounds, visited the monastery's icon chapel and saw some beautiful and detailed art, and heard stories from Br. Colman about the Abbey's rare book collection. I know that the idea of hearing a monk talk about rare books sounds extremely boring, but it is actually one of my favorite experiences I have had in Ireland so far. Br. Colman is a really great story teller, and our group was completely enthralled by his tales of how the Abbey acquired these books that are hundreds of years old, or other interesting ones like  Winston Churchill's history of WWII that actually has his initials written on the first page. 

Two recent Johnnie Alums are volunteering for a year at Glenstal Abbey, and came back on the bus with us to Spiddal for the night, with a guitar in tow. Just as I was about to go to bed around midnight I heard our phone ring (all the cottages have phones to make calls to the other cottages) and it was Cottage 5 inviting us over for a little impromptu guitar/singalong session. The rest of my cottagemates were asleep but I headed next door despite my tiredness, and because I have realized since being here that I have a fear of missing out on anything fun. Sitting around the fireplace, singing along and laughing was an excellent way to wrap up our second weekend in Ireland. 

Unfortunately, almost everyone in the group, including me, is sick now. Between the close quarters, cold weather, and many late nights, it was bound to happen. Hopefully we all start feeling better soon, because we are only around here for one more day before heading off on our next excursion on Thursday morning.