It's the final countdown.....

Scene: Saturday morning, in my kitchen
Hannah: What are you doing today
Me: Not too sure
Hannah: We're going to the Aran Islands in a few minutes, want to come
Me:.....let me go get my toothbrush

and THAT is why I'm going to miss study abroad. Random adventures with few consequences.

And so I found myself on the Dublin to Galway bus for the third time in two weeks. I amused myself by looking for the different landmarks that I've noticed in my frequent back and forth. The billboard asking you to 'SUPPORT CYSTIC FIBROSIS' (think about it), the house with the giant pouncing stone panther/tiger/nittney lion esque thing, Athlone (the town LEAST deserving of a 15 minute stop over) until finally, Emo gas station

hehehe. 

We spent the night in Galway, having a bonfire on the beach. We were one of two bonfires and kept attracting people mistaking us for their friends. Which I thought was pretty hilarious and led to this exchange:

Irish guy: HEYYYYY! HOW IS EVERYONE....oh wait, you aren't our friends

Kurt: It's ok man, we're all friends here, but I think you're looking for the one down the beach, see ya!

Irish guy: ummm....you guys seem a lot nicer than our friends...can we stay here. 

I also discovered that a 'smore made with chocolate covered digestive cookies are FAR superior to graham cracker 'smores. We had to get up the next morning and catch the 9:30 ferry to the islands, so clearly we ended the bonfire at 3. On the walk back we hit up Supermacs, which is like McDonalds, if McDonalds was a Juvenile Detention Center. CHAOS. Absolute CHAOS. I was slammed against the wall in the bathroom on more than one occasion by a drunk teenager who couldn't quite get walking down. Drinks were flying, food was flying, fists were flying. When a fast food chain has it's own security, you should take that as a bad sign. 

After a nice 4 hour nap we were up and on our way to the Islands. I was originally going to go there last week by myself, but unnamed sources had told me they were a bit blah, and that I would have to take a choppy boat ride there (I hate boats). I'm never listening to that unnamed source again because the Aran Islands were absolutely one of the top 3 (and making a good case for number one) things I've done on this trip. You get off the boat (which didn't make me sea sick at all!) and are met with a choice of transportation options. You can either see the island via Sprinter van tour, donkey cart, or bicycle. All of those sounded excellent to me, but we chose the quintessential study abroad option of biking. I would soon find out a better name for this would be "quickest way to piss off the locals". I don't even know where to begin describing the next two hours because it was pure bliss. Sparkling sea, sun in the sky, wind in your face as you glide down a hill. It was right out of a movie. After riding for about 2 hours we reached Dun Aengus, which is a ring fort on top of a cliff. This made me a bit sentimental as I had spent the past four months in Ireland and had yet to see one neolithic tomb or ring fort. While this one was a bit newer than the one's the Bogucki family usually hits up, still made me feel like the trip was a success. The main attraction of the fort, however, are the cliffs. You climb up to the top and then they drop down 100 meters...with no fence or warning. I've overcome a lot of fears on this trip, but I discovered that heights, still on my list. As my friends lay down on their bellys and peered over the edge I took one look over and immediately retreated. I got the idea. We took the coastal route back, hoping to catch a glimpse of the Aran Islands seals. Anyone remember that movie "The Secret of Roan Inish"? It was pretty much a staple back in elementary school and is about the Aran Islands seals. We didn't see any. After returning our bicycles we caught the last ferry back to the main land. I sat down and passed out, next thing I knew we were pulling into port. After a bus ride back to Galway that took much longer than we had planned, we had to run to Hannah's apartment, grab our bags, then run back into the city in order to catch the last bus to Dublin. We made it by about 2 minutes. The bus ride back was less than fun as we were all tired, sore and still were working off of 4 hours of sleep. All in all, however, a fantastic final adventure.

Oh and...