Untold adventure awaited us on the international student trip. We arrived outside the Foundation Building at 7:30 am for our 7:45 am departure. There were Americans, Japanese, Canadians, and other peoples all waiting to experience the wonder of southwest Ireland.<\/p>\n
But we didn’t leave at 7:45.\u00a0 The Americans were there, the Canadians were there, even the overly-fashionable Study Abroad coordinator was there (in her camouflage pants, midriff-exposing shirt, enormous belt buckle, and absolutely unnecessary down-filled vest).\u00a0 We’re not sure what the problem was, but at 8:05 we hit the road.<\/p>\n
Our first stop was the friary.\u00a0 I was hoping to talk to a monk but this particular friary was built in the 14th century and no longer had a roof.\u00a0 Or many of its walls.\u00a0 There were no monks there.\u00a0 Our tour guide was extremely knowledgeable and gave us a good tour with the limited amount of time we had.\u00a0 One of the statues in the pictures below was meant to be kissed at midnight to cure toothaches.\u00a0 Our tour guide implied that young people today were more focused on kissing each other at midnight.<\/p>\n
We rushed back onto the bus and raced over to the Foynes Flying Boat Museum.\u00a0 We watched a video about Charles Lindbergh’s accomplishments, the rise of the “flying boat,” and the fall of the “flying boat” a few years later.\u00a0 Flying boats, we learned, are the huge airplanes that land in water and were used to transport people across the North Atlantic in the 1930s and 1940s.\u00a0 By the time WWII was over “landplanes” had become the dominant technology and this Foynes place was no longer used.\u00a0 Irish Coffee was also invented there by mixing coffee, cream, and Irish Whiskey.\u00a0 At 5 euro each we stuck with our PB&B (peanut butter and bread).<\/p>\n
Next we went to the ferry boat.\u00a0 This particular ferry took us across the river Shannon.\u00a0 After crossing the river we continued our journey.<\/p>\n
The dolphin sightseeing boat was the highlight of the day.\u00a0 Half our group piled into one boat and headed west, the other half in another boat heading east.\u00a0 We were told these tours last between 30 minutes and two hours depending on how long it takes to find the dolphins.\u00a0 We cruised for 30 minutes and saw no dolphins.\u00a0 We cruised for an hour and saw a few wind turbines.\u00a0 We cruised for 90 minutes and saw a lighthouse.\u00a0 We cruised for two hours and saw a few sailboats.\u00a0 After two and half hours the captain called it quits and we turned around.\u00a0 It took us 30 minutes to get back – I think we were just cruising in a big circle.<\/p>\n
Now, something must be said of our fellow shipmates, one in particular.\u00a0 Sitting on a boat for three hours affords one the opportunity to eavesdrop on quite a few conversations.\u00a0 There are the loud Americans, of course, talking about this and that.\u00a0 There are the other loud Americans, talking about that and this.\u00a0 On this particular day there was also a little Japanese girl with a big voice and an even bigger desire to SEE A DOLPHIN<\/a>.\u00a0 It was well known to the other passengers on the ship that this girl wanted to SEE A DOLPHIN<\/a>, she mentioned it often.\u00a0 All hell broke loose when we got back to the dock without SEEING A DOLPHIN<\/a>.\u00a0 The loud Japanese girl threw a temper tantrum, stomping her way along the dock and shouting I WANT TO SEE A DOLPHIN<\/a>!\u00a0 Repeat that audio file about 37 more times and you’ll get the idea.<\/p>\n Our last stop was the town of Kilkee where we had sandwiches, soup, Sprite, and some cookies we’ve come to enjoy that are labeled simply ‘Chocolate Taste.’\u00a0 We had a few minutes to look at Kilkee’s beach and walk down its main street before getting back on the Bus and heading back to Limerick.<\/p>\n There are some UL campus pictures at the end.<\/p>\n\n\t\t