Week Three's Treats

January 24-26

School Stuff

The beginning of this week was spent focusing on schoolwork and getting ahead in my classes to make room for all the upcoming fun happenings. On Tuesday, I finally attended my first lecture for Digital Marketing, and I am so excited for the class! It's so nice to finally take major classes in a subject area I am extremely interested in. On Wednesday, I attended my classes and got more work done so that I didn't have to do as much over the weekend.

So far, the workload for classes is incredibly manageable. It's nice only having to complete assignments and do readings for the next week. I'm interested in all my classes, so that makes getting my work done enjoyable and not a chore. This past week, for my Wellness & Work class, I had to do a three-minute breathing exercise everyday, and I loved it. In an unfamiliar city with life having been turned upside down in the last few weeks, it was very nice to take a few minutes to just breathe.

My Global Marketing class definitely seems the most difficult, but we will be doing a semester-long project, so I am excited that the class is application-based. My group is all girls, which is also very exciting (very different than my groups back home). By Wednesday night, I was in a good place with my work, so that means fun stuff coming up for the weekend!

January 27

Day in Bray

On Thursday, one of my roommates and I took a short bus ride to Bray, a seaside town! Starting in Bray, there is a cliff walk that follows the edge of the Irish Sea. I cannot put into words how beautiful this walk was. Around every turn, we were shocked at how stunning the cliff sides were and how blue the water was. We started off at Bray Beach, already in awe of how pretty the seaside town was. Little did we know what was in store for the rest of our walk.

See that tiny cross at the top of the mountain? That's where we ended up.

Along the shore was the cliff walk, so we followed the road that led us to the start of the trail. I swear we stopped a million times in the first quarter of a mile to take pictures, and this was just the start of it.

We kept walking, and around every single bend, our jaws would drop a bit lower. The amount of times we said, "this is so pretty!" or "this is so cool!" would have made any other companion that went with us go crazy. But, it was true. The views were simply incredible.

Around this one bend, we came face to face with the largest cliff face I've ever seen. At the bottom were train tracks and a tunnel. The pictures do not do the sheer size of the gorge-type area justice; it was one of the most imposing pieces of landscape I've ever seen.

On we went. Around more bends, we saw more and more of the Irish shoreline.

At one point, we found a gap in the fence and marks of a footpath, so we followed the path to a sitting spot. We sat in the sun for a bit and took in our stunning surroundings.

This is where things got tricky. After we left this cliffside field, we were pretty much at the end of the cliff walk. We looked up different paths we could take to get back, and one of the options was up. We didn't really have any other alternative routes, so up we went. And up, and up, and up. Literally up a mountainside, not wearing proper equipment I may add.

The, at some points, treacherous trek up to the top of the mountain was completely worth it. Along the way, I kept turning around and would see the most stunning panoramic views of Ireland. We kept getting higher and higher in elevation, allowing us views that kept getting better the higher we went.

After a long while of navigating bramble bushes and uneven terrain, we finally got to the top of the mountain... where we encountered a fence with a gate. Earlier, we had seen a sign saying that we were now on a farm, so we thought this fence was the edge of the farm and that we weren't allowed past. This would have been fine had there been any other path that didn't require us to backtrack down the mountain. After a few seconds of figuring out what we should do, we tried the gate. Unlocked! So through we went.

At this point, we were on a more well-maintained path that took us along the top of the mountain with the sea to our right and the Irish countryside to our left. After walking for what felt like hours, we finally reached the cross (remember I mentioned it a few paragraphs ago?) at the top of the mountain. We made it!

Amazing, gorgeous, stunning, breathtaking are all understatements for the feeling of being on top of the world. We could see the town of Bray below us, the Irish sea spread out infinitely, and the Wicklow mountains. With the wind whipping around us, we stood in awe of the world spread out in front of us. Never will I forget the feeling of being on top of that mountain gave me. The sights validated why I came to Ireland. I feel so grateful for the opportunity to explore this wonderful country and experience things I will never be able to experience at home.

It was so refreshing to get out of the city and explore the ruggedness of Ireland. I can't wait to see what the rest of the weekend has in store!

Cheers!