So much to catch up on in just a few days!

First, the pictures – I’ve tried and tried to upload some, but it’s not working. Aaargh technology! So I’ll try again some other time.

On Tuesday, after a day of lectures about secondary education which included a very lovely time looking at an English teacher from Galway (and learning a bit too), some of my classmates and I went to Story Night at the Nun's Island Spirit Centre. The night is run by Clare Murphy, the daughter of a friend of my mom's. It was great. Some people were looking for "traditional Irish stories" and I think were slightly disappointed, but that's their problem.

Yesterday was a LONG day! We began with a bus ride out to Clifden, on the far west coast, where we had tea, then we continued on to Omey Island. It's a tidal island, meaning that we could walk to it because it was low tide, but would have been stranded when the tide came in. It was a good two and a half hour walk around the island, seeing interesting historical places that dated back to at least the Bronze Age. We then got back on the bus and headed to Kylemore Abbey. Sarah and I had stopped there five years ago, but we didn't go in. This time, I did go in (I'd already paid as part of my tuition!) and saw the restored walled gardens where I took a ridiculous number of flower pictures. I don't know what I'm going to do with them all! Then we went into the abbey, which is now a girls' school, and it was pretty disappointing. Finally, we ended at the gothic church on the site, which has been restored and is awe inspiring. I love the work that went into old churches. After we left Kylemore, we made an unplanned stop at a Manor House across from Lough Inagh for a pint. I decided to forgo the pint, but did enjoy the setting. Overall, it was a beautiful day and I continue to love Connemara. It really does remind me of home in many ways.

I was going to write more about Donal Taheny, the 92 year old man who accompanied us on our tour (without doing all of the walking) but don't want this to go too long. He's giving us a photographic historical tour of Ireland tonight, so I'll write more about him tomorrow.

I'm having a great time, and now should go write the paper I've been putting off for a few days. It's not due for another week, and my procrastination gene is trying to kick in while I'm telling it to stop.