Clambering 'Round the Coast

Hello all!

I know it has been a bit since I've written, and I am sorry about that. Really, though, I didn't have a whole lot to write about before this weekend. I've been spending a seriously unfortunate amount of time in my room working on essays that count for a terrifying percent of my semester grade- and I'm still not quite done. Yuck.

This past weekend, though, I couldn't stand it anymore and had to go do something before I went stir crazy. It wasn't much, and I'd been both places before, but each was a truly lovely day and a new experience despite the familiar settings.

There have been a couple of fun little things I've been up to over the last couple of weeks. Last Wednesday my friend Anique had an event that she and some of her classmates had to put on called "wine dating," which was a great little wine tasting with wines and yummy snacks from different countries. Another day I walked to town with a friend for ice cream, and on the way back picked up fish and chips for dinner (which is really exciting actually, since I've been meaning to try it since I got here. It was pretty yummy actually, which is saying something since I generally detest seafood.) There have been some other days that were just plain lovely, and I enjoyed walking to town or just sitting outside to get some homework done until the rain clouds decided to reappear.

 Also, having a kitchen to myself over the weekends is a total blast. I've tried all sorts of yummy recipes: Nutella Cake (basically brownies, made exclusively of nutella and eggs. AKA magic), banana mush based "ice cream" (not exactly, but has a surprisingly similar consistency and tastes awesome. I tried it with strawberry, chocolate, and peanut butter. It. Was. Awesome), banana oatmeal cookies, strawberry/banana smoothies (bananas are just great for yummy and simple recipes. for realsies they're awesome.), I taught myself how to make quesadillas (SO DELICIOUS. I could eat them for basically every meal.), ummm a bunch of thrown together tomato yummies ( I am on such a tomato kick right now) and some slammin omelettes, actually. Sometimes not having a meal plan and having to take care of all of my meals sucks, but other times it is super awesome.

This past weekend, though was just so nice. Friday, three of my friends and I decided it was a lovely day t walk to Portstewart and check out a burger joint we'd seen the other day for lunch. It was warm enough that ten minutes into the walk we all stripped our ever-present outer layer. Lunch was great, and then we decided to walk around for a bit. We ended up checking out some cliffy-like areas with loads of giant rocks that we decided we'd clamber about on for a bit. I don't know if it looked as cool as it felt, but we certainly felt pretty adventurous the entire time. We found a gorgeous little cove, too, that if I lived a little closer, I'd definitely visit often just to sit and read or write, or maybe just sit and watch the clouds.

I swear I will never get tired of this country. If I could I'd just stay here. 

Zee cove. It was so pretty! And LOOK! a Cave! too bad we didn't have a boat to go explore it. but seriously, the water is even super pretty here! 

Some of the boulders we scaled. 

And there were these little pools between them (the ricks went right down to the ocean) with some really pretty marine life goin on. 

After we meandered and climbed around for a while we decided to stop for ice cream because, well, it's ice cream. I had a stupendous waffle cone with a mix of cookies and cream and honeycomb ice cream  (PLEASE can Turkey Hill start making honeycomb? It's so delicious). After that we headed back to campus, but it was just such a nice day. That night, too, actually, the girls and I had a thoroughly memorable movie night to top our Friday off.

Saturday we started pretty late actually. We only left on the train at about 10 till 2, which was okay. It gave us all a chance to eat something before we left and (in theory) time to get some work done (a noble attempt was made, but alas procrastination won out.). We decided to head out to Castle Rock again, since the last time we hadn't actually gotten as much time as we'd wanted to explore. We came at it from a different direction, too, which meant new trails we hadn't seen before.

The day had a fairly consistent misty-vibe going on, sometimes raining a bit harder and sometimes letting up for a few minutes, but it gave the whole atmosphere a completely different feel than the last time we'd visited. It was almost like stepping into a fairy tale. I don't know if I've said this before, but even if I have- It is astoundingly easy to see why Ireland has so many mystical and fantastical stories seeping through her history and literature. It's so incredibly beautiful that it just ignites a sense of wonder in you, and I don't think I'll ever get enough of it.

We climbed up to the peak of a cliff across a gulf from the one that houses the Mussenden Temple. It was a stunning view, and we had a fairly clear view of Donegal from where we were, despite the fogginess of the day. We found a path down and managed to make it to the bottom without falling (Woot woot!). There was a staircase up the other side, which was both helpful and daunting. Every time there's a "stairway" here in any sort of touristy area, I swear the builders were just like, "Is it plausible to haul yourself over these steps if your life depended on it? Yes? Good. Go with it." Got some serious thigh workouts in.

Then we hung out for a few minutes beside the Temple. It was so different from the last time we'd been there. First of all, because of the kind of day it was, we were the only five people around. Also, the temple was open- we went inside for a bit to get out of the rain. it wasn't actually stupendously impressive inside. OH! There were also lots of sheep. And just the general feeling of the place was different, in a good way. There's just something about leaning on the wall atop that cliff and looking over the ocean that just... I don't know. Both times I've been there I just felt so calm. I really am truly in love with this country.

See? It was all overcast and gloomy and it was SO COOL.

My heart might not survive leaving.

I swear... Northern Ireland and their dang steps are going to be the death of me.

It got suuuper misty for a while there. At some point we were able to see Donegal out that way, and then all of a sudden, nope. 

SHEEP

We walked a little farther after that- went through the castle again. When the others weren't watching I waltzed with an invisible prince in the Grand Hall. We found a path, too, that led into the woods, and followed it for a while before heading back to town. It actually took us less time than we expected, so we spent a little while out on the beach, which was really really wonderful too. I found some really cool new shells! Unfortunately, I went to rinse them off in the really really shallow water, when the tide decided it was going to start coming in- right over the top of my boots. It was... less than pleasant. Thankfully, we headed to the train shortly thereafter.

Gorgeous beach is gorgeous. 

True story. I do. 

So yeah, those were my happy adventures over the last little while. Well. I mean, Saturday night I was kind of up all night retching my entire digestive system, but I'm trying to feel better about that by looking at the bright side: I slept for more than half of Sunday without feeling guilty about not doing anything productive, and that's two days worth of calories I just don't have to worry about. So there you go. Thankfully I'm over that now- I seriously hope, anyway. Taking it slow, staying hydrated, all that jazz.

Well, that's what's been going on in my life here, darlings. Not quite as thrilling as some of my other posts, but I did quite enjoy it personally. Hopefully I'll have more exciting stories to tell you soon! Talk to you later, lovies!