Who all seen the leprechaun say "Yeah!"

Unfortunately, none of us thought about acting out that news story in actual Ireland last weekend.

Did we see any leprechauns? No. A rainbow, yes. Which very well could've had a pot of gold at the end, although we were on the coach when we saw it, so no one could venture out to look.

Speaking of the coach...whoa. I've never spent so much time on a bus in my entire life. I slept a little bit, watched a couple of movies, but spent a lot of the time looking out the window at the wonderful countryside of Ireland. Ireland, Ireland, Ireland. I still can't believe I've been to Ireland. I felt like I was walking in a landscape painting the entire time. You just don't have these kinds of spectacular views back home. The hills, the grass, the farms, the abundant amount of sheep, some of which were in the middle of the road at one point of the trip. The food is the best, but the views...just absolutely breath-taking. The water was so clean, clear, pure, and the beaches were untouched. It was like we were explorers uncovering the land for the first time.

I went on another new mode of transportation for the first time. A ferry. We took it from Wales to Ireland. I slept the majority of the time on it, seeing as I got practically no sleep the entire time, which continues here at Harlaxton. But, I did go out on the top deck. And now know what it feels like to be in a hurricane. The winds just hit ya. It was so hard to walk around up there, but it was really cool.

We went to Killarney, where I sang the only words I knew to "Christmas in Killarney" which was basically, "It's Christmas in Killarney" (because that's about all I know of the song) and went to several pubs where they had some awesome music. A man playing an electric fiddle. I was transfixed. What's not to like about that? The atmosphere was so great. Lively, happy, just easy-going. I wish we had pubs in the States, though. I mean we are really missing out in the U.S. by not having those things. Definitely. Killarney's a cute little town. The hotel we stayed at was very quaint.

We spent two days in Killarney, the second we went on the Ring of Kerry. We rode around in the coach and got off at different stops. We saw waterfalls, the Atlantic Ocean, other bodies of water, mountains, hills. Words cannot even explain the views we saw. It was such a feeling standing at the top of a hill and looking down at a farm or a small village at the bottom. Or driving by the hills and seeing sheep or cows just grazing on the side. Or being on the other side of the Atlantic. Or seeing a man play the banjo with the greatest scenery in front and behind him. IT WAS JUST SO GREAT. I still can't get over it. AND we had great weather.

We then rode in the coach to Dublin. Dublin is a really cool town. I wish we could've spent more time there, but it was still amazing. We went to the Guinness factory, the drink Ireland is known for. It was really neat seeing all that went in to making it. We walked around Dublin a bit, finally ending up in the Temple Bar district, which had great food and great music. I've come to the conclusion that Ireland has the best food and the best music. Ever. In the history of the world. Yep, that's that.
I LOVE IRELAND. GREAT TRIP.