Month: April 2022

Hello from Galway, Ireland! 

This month we have been focusing our time on our final essays for our classes, but since it is also our last full month in Ireland, we have been going out to explore as much as possible. County Galway is actually a really vast area to explore with lots of cool history and nature around us. Our classes this semester focused a lot of the archeological background and sites of medieval Ireland, and since we have been hearing about these places in our lectures, we wanted to go out and see them for ourselves. We recently visited Clifden and took a beautiful hike to Clifden castle.

One thing that turns people away from exploring around Ireland is the weather. It can be extremely windy, cold, and rainy even in the springtime. Whenever we have taken our trips, we have usually been given really nice weather, or we have planned for days when it was supposed to be nice out. When we took our trip to Clifden, it was misty, gray, and cold outside but we decided to go anyway. We found the experience with the weather to be even more delightful, and so incredibly Irish.

We took a bus to Clifden in the early afternoon and about an hour later we arrived. The castle was about a 40-minute walk away from where the bus dropped us off. When walking to the castle we saw lots of really cute cows, donkeys, and sheep.

The Irish landscapes looked beautiful in the gray mist, and the green hills reminded me a lot of Oregon. The castle itself was an amazing experience. Because we came on such a gray day, we were some of the only people at the site.

We were able to walk through the old structure and look at the stone walls, and rooms up close. The castle was taken over by vines and the earth around it which gave an amazing effect of man-made structures mixed with natural beauty.

After exploring the castle for a couple of hours, and taking lots of pictures, we headed back into town by the sea. The day was so perfect for a walk by the stormy ocean.

We grabbed dinner at an amazing restaurant and caught the bus back to our apartment. It felt really nice to be able to take a break from finals and look closer at the sites we were studying. 

Best,
Isabel Brown 

If you’re curious about how students studying abroad are able to pick up and jet off to dreamy destinations on a whim, I’ll fill you in on how it’s all possible.

Flights around Europe, once you’re already across the pond, are cheap. And I don’t mean a couple hundred dollars cheap. We’re talking only 14 euro if you can manage traveling with one backpack that fits under a plane seat. Accommodation is also very affordable if you book a hostel or split the cost of an Airbnb with travel partners.

With a two week break before finals officially commenced, I bought a ticket and packed a backpack. My first stop was in Nottingham, England to visit Jakob, another Linfield student who’s studying abroad. I was only there for two days before we both set off for a day trip to London. While the weather continuously shifted from blue skies to downpours, it didn’t stop us from catching sight of Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, the London Eye, Tower Bridge, and a city view from 35 floors up.

We spent the night in a hostel before catching a train to the airport at 4 AM for a flight to Croatia. The rest of our holiday was spent in Croatia between two cities, Split and Zadar.

Both cities were breathtaking in their own ways. The atmosphere in Split became especially magical as we watched the sun rise over the terra cotta roofs, and then disappear into the ocean as it set.

From both locations we took day trips and even ended up visiting three national parks! The first park we reached was Krka National Park, known and recognized by its impressive waterfall. This park was gorgeous and very family friendly, but lacked the hiking excitement we sought.

We also went to Plitvice National Park, an area filled with waterfalls and complemented by incredibly clear turquoise water. This park was also less adventurous than anticipated, but again, beautiful and accommodating. We were able to create more excitement by renting a paddle boat and exploring the area further by water!

The last park we visited was Paklenica National Park. This was my favorite park out of the three as it provided us with some great hiking! It was really fun to be immersed into the Croatian mountains, summit a peak, and look out across the whole mountain range.

The rest of our time was filled with a bit more hiking, a visit to Ugljan island by ferry, and just some quality time in each city amongst locals and other tourists.

Spending my holiday in Croatia was more fun than I could have hoped for, and I’m glad I took advantage of visiting while I live so close! 

Thanks for following along on my holiday abroad!

Best,
Laney Green

 

Hello from Galway, Ireland! 

April here has been focused on our finals since classes ended April 1st. One of the cool things about our classes here in Ireland is that you have a lot of time to prepare for finals after classes end, and for my classes specifically, I only have essay finals. Between writing our final papers we have been able to adventure more around Ireland in the last few weeks. We were able to start off the month with a beautiful hike pretty close to home. We went to Rosscahill woods about a 30-minute bus ride away from us.

The woods themselves were beautiful and we had a wonderful time exploring the forest full of mossy trees, cool rocks, butterflies, and amazing flowers.

Since it was a pretty secluded location, we ended up waiting for the bus back for hours in what felt like the middle of nowhere, but overall, it was still a beautiful hike that was worth the bus wait.

One of the cool things about studying abroad is that you get to volunteer in your new community. My roommates and I have been on the hunt for volunteering opportunities in Galway, and this month we were able to volunteer at two different places. At the first volunteering opportunity we helped to build a raft for terns in order for them to be studied on their migration paths.

The raft building was from a local conservation group, and it was wonderful to see the group gather to volunteer to help their environment. For our second volunteering opportunity this month Haley, Zell, and I signed up to help with the Cuirt International Festival of Literature here in Galway. The week of the festival we all had different time slots to help at a variety of really interesting events. I helped out venues holding chats with authors, poetry readings, meet and greats, and more.

We also helped to pass out flyers and spread the word about the festival to the people of Galway. This experience has been one of my favorite ways that I have been involved in Galway because it was such a fun week getting to come together with people who were passionate about literature and the arts to make something beautiful happen.

I met so many amazing people who were also volunteering for the festival and made lots of connections to people in the community. The coordinators of the festival also made sure that the volunteers got discounts at local places, free access to the events they were not helping with, and even hosted celebrations every night at a bar to say thanks for all the hard work.

I had a blast getting involved in the community more this month, and I can’t believe we are almost done with school now.  

Best, 

Isabel Brown 

My number one tip for anyone studying abroad is to take classes outside of your major. If you’re studying in a new country, why not take the opportunity to fill your head with some fascinating country specific knowledge to word vomit back to everyone in the states?

This is the approach I took when making class selections for my semester at NUI Galway. While three out of four of my classes are pretty random, I’m still able to get Linfield credit for them! So really, I’m having the most culturally enriching semester of my university career, and I’m still on track to graduate on time. 

With that being said, my favorite class this semester has been The Development of Castles in Medieval Ireland. Not only was it fun to attend lectures about castle history in Ireland, England, Wales and Scotland, but we got to go on a field trip as well! 

The field trip took all day and in total we visited three different castles: Pallas Tower House, Cloonburren Motte and Bailey, and Dunamase Castle. 

Pallas Tower House was our first castle of the day. It’s located about an hour away from campus in what appeared to be someone’s backyard. The castle was still in mint condition for having been built in the 15th and 16th century. It was accompanied by a bawn wall and the remains of a house. We were able to climb all the way to the roof of the five storey tower to enjoy the view. 

Our next stop was Cloonburren Motte and Bailey in County Roscommon. While surrounded by livestock, farm land, and the Shannon River, it is also positioned right behind someones house. 

Mottes are a unique type of castle as they appear as a hill or even just a lump in the ground. However, the height of a motte is what makes it a naturally defendable site. We were able to hike to the top and imagine what it may have been surrounded by back in the 13th century. 

Our last stop of the day was at Dunamase Castle, located east of Galway toward Dublin.

Dunamase was probably the least aesthetically pleasing in photos, but it was definitely the most impressive castle of the day. It’s the largest castle in Ireland which meant the entirety of it couldn’t be captured in a single picture. In person it was absolutely magical, especially since we explored it as the sun began to set.

Dunamase is positioned on a tall limestone outcrop and while in ruins, you can still tell this castle would have been just as impressive on the inside in its late 12th century heyday.

This field trip was something I’ve been looking forward to since I registered for classes in January. In the end, it lived up to my high expectations and was an amazing experience. 

In the next two weeks I plan to travel outside of Ireland during the break before finals. I’m really looking forward to visiting two new countries and sharing my experiences here. 

Best,
Laney Green