Adventuring

Last semester we seemed busy enough just getting used to life in Dublin. We learned how to navigate the city, the transportation, and our respective schedules. Looking back, I feel pretty accomplished to know that we just packed up and moved to a foreign country and still have our sanity intact. Aaron and I feel closer, our marriage is stronger, and we both feel a new sense of confidence in ourselves as capable adults who can handle big, scary transitions. That being said, now that we feel settled in Dublin, this semester is going to be busy in a different way. We've got all kinds of trips planned so that we will be able to see Ireland and other parts of Europe in the limited time that we have left here. We've got to fit it all in so we had a pow-wow and figured out one big trip we want to go on for each month. This month was Howth (again)! Aaron and I loved our last experience in Howth, and this time we invited all of our friends to come along.

It was a pretty early call time for some (10 am at the train station!) but we had a pretty good sized group for our 3 and a half hour hike around the coastal mountain. We took a different trail that we had previously, and this one was much shorter, in order to accommodate the varying hiking skills of our group. Everyone had a blast, took tons of pictures, and had some good laughs. This trip was totally different from the last one, in that we had SUNSHINE! We love the sun, and I didn't realize how much I had missed it! It has been overcast for most of the time since we've been back, but since our trip Saturday, we've had glorious sunshiney days :) I'm so happy... At the end of the trip, we finished everything with delicious food, feeling that we deserved an excellent meal for all the walking we did. It's almost a requirement, that when you go to Howth, you have fish and chips, so that's what we all got! It was delicious. I'd never had battered haddock before, but I can say now that I'm a fan. After that, we headed back down to the pier and had some ice cream cones before hopping onto the train and heading back to Dublin.

For February, we're hoping to organize a big trip around the Ring of Kerry, which is the most scenic drive in Ireland. March, our friend Stephen comes to visit us for the whole week following St. Patrick's Day and we may do some travelling with him. April is our big month--that's when I finish the program, we have a class trip to London, and following London, Aaron and I will be going to ROME. We're going to be going with Aaron's boss and his wife for four days, and they found a great package deal that includes plane tickets and a three star hotel! We're so excited about this semester and we're doing our best to really appreciate all the time that we're spending in Dublin. It's so strange to see the end of our time here in sight, and we're really hoping to make the most of it.

I just posted all of our Howth pictures on my facebook account, so if you're friends with us, head over there to have a look! This has been a quick post because I have homework to do :( Talk to you all soon!!