"To be in a position in which almost nothing is so familiar is taken for granted." - Bill Bryson
Unofficial
Unofficial is the best/worst day of the year. The best for students and the worst for faculty. It is a long running U of I tradition that on the first Friday of March everyone wears all green, eats all green, and celebrates all day. It started because St. Patrick's Day kept falling on spring break, so the bars created this holiday to make money- but the tradition never stopped. A small group of us planned a while ago that we would go to Dublin for Unofficial and told all of our other friends. Word spread; friends told their friends and soon almost all Illinois students in Europe had decided to do it. It turned into a huge group of maybe 100 Illinois abroad students all booking flights to Dublin for March 1. We all picked the same hostel so that we would be sure to see each other. Saturday morning we all booked a day long trip to see the Cliffs of Moher and the west coast of Ireland. Nonetheless, walking around the streets of Dublin and running all of the people you go to school with was an awesome thing. It was more about getting everyone back together and seeing some familiar faces than actually celebrating, but the pure concept of celebrating Unofficial in Dublin was awesome. It is not such a fake holiday anymore!
Dublin
I flew to Dublin from Sheffield with my good friends Kristi Krumtinger and Abby Cummins, and then some people from their major. We landed in Dublin late Friday night, so we did not get to do much sight seeing. Our hostel was one of the coolest I have stayed in yet. The lobby was filled with young students. Most of them were U of I students, but there was one group of kids all playing the guitar. They played American songs and everyone sang a long; they played the Macarena and all the Spanish girls got excited. It was an awesome atmosphere. Hostels are basically cheap hotels because you share a room with up to 12 other people. We thought it would be a little strange, but our room ended up being filled with all U of I kids.
Friday night, we went to a popular pub- Flannery's. The cab driver actually made fun of us because of how long we stressed "Flaaaaaannery's" instead of the quick Irish brogue. It was so great to have people fly in from all over Europe to be together. Clearly, every one agreed that we needed to see some familiar faces.
Friday night, we went to a popular pub- Flannery's. The cab driver actually made fun of us because of how long we stressed "Flaaaaaannery's" instead of the quick Irish brogue. It was so great to have people fly in from all over Europe to be together. Clearly, every one agreed that we needed to see some familiar faces.
The Day Tour
The bus tour left at 7am on Saturday and drove all day to the west coast of Ireland, the Cliffs of Moher, and some other famous places in Ireland.
The Cliffs of Moher are on the southwestern border of Ireland and rise about 390ft. above the Atlantic Ocean. At one point, Hag's Head, they reach their maximum of 702ft. The Cliffs are an extremely popular tourism sight in Ireland and receive almost one million visitors per year. The Cliffs have appeared in several films, most famously- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and the Princess Bride. They have appeared in several music videos, like "Runaway" by Maroon 5.
Hopefully the pictures will capture partially how beautiful it was. We had perfect weather, too. It was sunny and warm- atypical for Ireland!
After the cliffs we drove along the Irish equivalent of Highway 1 in California. This enormous bus was weaving around mountain turns on a tiny road. The view was beautiful, but I was honestly too scared that he was going to drive off the road to concentrate long enough to take too many pictures. The tiny road gave a beautiful view of the Irish west-coast.
We also visited Dunguire Castle, which is a lot smaller than the castles I have already seen so it did not feel like much of a castle. The castle was built in 1520 and looks its age.
After that, we visited Corcomroe Abbey which was built in 1210.
The Cliffs of Moher are on the southwestern border of Ireland and rise about 390ft. above the Atlantic Ocean. At one point, Hag's Head, they reach their maximum of 702ft. The Cliffs are an extremely popular tourism sight in Ireland and receive almost one million visitors per year. The Cliffs have appeared in several films, most famously- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and the Princess Bride. They have appeared in several music videos, like "Runaway" by Maroon 5.
Hopefully the pictures will capture partially how beautiful it was. We had perfect weather, too. It was sunny and warm- atypical for Ireland!
After the cliffs we drove along the Irish equivalent of Highway 1 in California. This enormous bus was weaving around mountain turns on a tiny road. The view was beautiful, but I was honestly too scared that he was going to drive off the road to concentrate long enough to take too many pictures. The tiny road gave a beautiful view of the Irish west-coast.
We also visited Dunguire Castle, which is a lot smaller than the castles I have already seen so it did not feel like much of a castle. The castle was built in 1520 and looks its age.
After that, we visited Corcomroe Abbey which was built in 1210.