A Wonderful Week

The past week has been one of the best in Ireland so far. It was filled with so many fun moments and little things that made me realize how much I really love it here. For example:

Beautiful afternoon walks to the beach in Spiddal. 

A trip to Kylemore Abbey in the beautful Connemara region. The lake the abbey is on looked straight out of Harry Potter. We had a tour, walked around the walled gardens, and had a discussion session with one of the sisters about the state of monastic life today, which was really interesting. 

 Friday morning was the second session of cooking classes that Geraldine, the cook at the Park Lodge, is putting on for our group. We made homemade scones and jam, two different fish dishes, potatoes, salad and salad dressing. 

So many scones

Look at that plate of fish!

The finished products

That night some of us went to the Galway vs. Bray soccer game. As far as European football goes, this is about as unofficial as you can get. The crowd probably filled a quarter of the stadium. Galway is one of the worst Irish teams and lost by a lot, but it was a nice night out and still a lot of fun! 

A little toga party (note the pink sheets- just working with what we've got!)

On Saturday, the first annual (as far as we know) Cottage Olympics were held at the Park Lodge. We sort of planned the event, and everyone really got into it and it was so much fun. Each of the six cottages competed against each other in events like "How well do you know your cottage-mate?" and a potato peeling race. 

Other highlights of the week include getting TWO packages in the mail (thanks Mom and Patti!!), a fun dinner with our next door neighbors, and a traditional dance class at the music school in Spiddal. There are also some visitors here from the CSB/SJU London and Roman-Greco programs, which was a fun surprise. 

Tomorrow morning Ellen, Kelly, Bethany, Katy, and I are headed to Dublin where we will spend the night and then leave early Friday morning for Brussels. I won't have my computer with me, so my next update will probably be after November 5th when I will be able to tell you all about our adventures in Belgium and Switzerland!