The next day being a Thursday, I went to my usual lectures then I went to dinner at my relative’s home. I was picked up by my cousin Luke who I have gotten to know and he drove me south of Dublin to his cousin’s home Phyllis and her husband Liam’s home. There I was met with warm welcomes from Phyllis, Liam, May-Luke’s sister, and three of her grandchildren. I enjoyed some traditional Irish fare and got to know more relatives and looked at pictures from a family reunion, where I looked about three, with Phyllis and Liam’s daughter Leigh. We also watched a video about a mock wedding, which was made for purchase so the proceeds could go towards cancer. It was great a time and interesting to see even more relatives in the video who live on the West Coast in Co. Mayo. Luke then drove me home and I was able to quickly run and meet up with some friends at the Roost.
Friday then came and could not wait for it to come. Luke’s son Des had graciously been able to get three tickets to the Meteor Ireland Music Awards so I invited my two friends Kellie and Bridget to go. We made our way there on the train and when we arrived at the venue, we stood in line waiting with other fans for a half-hour. Eventually we were let in and everyone ran to get a spot as close to the stage as they could. We were about 7-8 rows back and had a great view of the performance stage. On the other side of the floor was the stage where the awards were given out and there were sets of seats on either side where the nominees and other fans sat. It was an amazing time as we heard various bands such as Florence + the Machine, Paolo Nutini, Temper Trap, Bell X1, The Coronas, Westlife, etc. Colin Farrell was also there to present an award, along with my personal favorite Adam Clayton from U2!! My friends and I had such a great time and were so grateful for the amazing opportunity. However, to avoid the rush out of there, we left a few minutes early and made our way back so we could get some sleep before our trip the next day.
On Saturday morning, we had a trip with Saint Mary’s to Cahir Castle, the Rock of Cashel, and the Dunmore Caves. We had an early start at 8:30 and were taken about 2.5 hours to Cahir where we spent a short time at Cahir Castle, which was fairly interesting and used greatly as a defensive castle. We then went and had some lunch, which are generally great and my favorite part of the SMC trips. We then loaded back on the buses and headed to the Rock of Cashel. Perched upon a hill, the ancient cathedral is magnificent. Once, the best choir of eight men resided there and the position was highly distinguished. The Cathedral is not completely in ruins and still has much of its structure left making it one of my favorites spots to see along our tours so far. Apparently up on the hill of the Rock of Cashel, looking out over the fields, Johnny Cash was inspired to write “40 Shades of Green”. Again, everyone hopped on the buses and we were off to our last stop of Dunmore Caves. Although I loved the Rock of Cashel, the Dunmore Caves were probably my favorite part of the trip. When I was told we were going to a cave, I was expecting a small hole in the ground with maybe a few stairs to descend down into it, but boy was I wrong. The caves had been used by earlier people, to defend themselves against the Vikings. Although the caves would have been interesting to live in, they did not serve the purpose of the people and eventually thousands were killed by the Vikings. There were about 700 steps, which took you down into the caves. They were absolutely incredible to walk around in. There were different passages and chambers which all had served different purposes. At one point, we had climbed up and around in the caves that we were back near the surface and also saw a rock and mineral formation which if you really squinted looked like the Irish Tri-Color flag at the bottom, a hand in the middle clutching a Guinness above—at least, that’s what the Irish like to think. Then our tour guide turned off all of the lights in the cave and we were able to experience what he said was the third darkest place in Ireland….I personally did not know that people went throughout the country looking for the darkest places, but interesting nonetheless. Thoroughly exhausted from a long day, we headed back to Maynooth and I just watched a movie with a friend to finish the day.
I had a relaxing Sunday to follow simply going to church, trying a new café in town (while also trying the horrid black pudding), laundry, and packing for my adventure to Oslo, Norway!
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