A real tea party!

Hello again from Ireland! It has clearly been a few days since my last blog and goodness what busy days they have been! Not only were the incredible sports of hurling and rugby thrown at us, I also want to brag about a tea party that I was oh so fortunate to attend. Yes...a tea party; and a real one at that! In a real castle and everything! Sunday, March 14th a number of students paid €20 to attend an event at the Castle of Lismore. This has been home to the Dukes of Devonshire since 1753 and we were fortunate enough to enter the gates of the grounds and indulge in delicious tea and biscuits before touring the the property's incredible gardens! Talk about really experiencing the past...I felt like a little kid imagining what life would have been years ago and if I were to be walking the same land; I would have had to be a pretty significant kid to begin with! Regardless, that was quite the experience and being a part of that history was brilliant.

Yesterday, Monday the fifteenth (aka the IDES OF MARCH!) all of the students including most faculty went on a tour of West Waterford. This was an incredible, exhausting day. We visited the town of Ardmore, the oldest Christian settlement in Ireland and saw the round tower and Cathedral along with some other miraculous sites. The cathedral near the round tower was breathtaking in itself; on the west gable of the cathedral is artwork that dates back to something like the 9th century! Standing in that very spot gave me to the chills. Placing my hand on the round tower that was 1,000 years old and learning the history did just the same. After Ardmore we traveled back to Lismore with the whole gang. Because the castle is closed to the public we were not able to return back inside the gates; but seeing it was just as wonderful. Not to mention Lismore has so much I could write about that it would take days! The cathedral, St. Carthage's to be specific that we visited again gave me the opportunity to live in the past and just imagine what it would be like to be in that very place. It was cold. It was large. The altar tomb we learned about with the 12 disciples covering the sides was brilliant. The fact that all of what we saw still stands is something magnificent. We also visited Mount Melleray Abbey in Cappoquin.

Again, there is too much to write and now that a day has passed and I plan to go back through all of my pictures and read about the history again I can only imagine it will all come to life. I truly did feel I got to live in the past.

Seeing as tomorrow is St. Patricks day I know I will be back writing soon. Many more memories are to be made and more history is yet to be lived.