Dún Aonghasa

August 30th was literally the best day of my life (As in actually literally, not figuratively:). But that’s only so far, right? Cause I’m in IRELAND, duh!!!!!!!!!! Anyway, on Saturday morning we set out for the Aran Islands. After about a thirty minute bus ride north through the most beautiful Irish countryside right alongside Galway Bay (think stone fences and sheep), we got on a ferry and sailed the rest of the way. There’s nothing quite like standing on the back of a boat that’s rolling up and down like a roller coaster with the Atlantic wind blowing in your face. Absolutely nothing. I loved it. We arrived on the largest of the islands (I’m not sure what it’s called, but that would be fun for you to look up, wouldn’t it?) and rented bikes in this tiny coastal town. Yes, people actually live in this unbelievable place. So will I, someday! Anyway, we biked across the island in groups, seeing nothing but stone fences and beautiful little houses with red doors and thatched roofs the whole way. The entire island is crisscrossed with these stone

fences. Most of the plots are abandoned, now, a lot of people left during the potato famine, but many people still live there, right on the edge of the cliffs. This place completely and totally stole my heart. I’ve abandoned my idea of never actually moving to Ireland! I completed the 12 mile bike ride with Izzy, Emily, Shelby, and Lauren. The day was cool, as always, and windy, but sunny and clear. We only felt a few drops of rain on us once. On the very opposite side of the island, we came to this tiny little square with a café, a visitor’s center, and a few tiny little shops right at the base of what we came to see, an ancient Irish fort called Dún Aonghasa. These were all the kind of shops that sell sheep wool sweaters and Trinity knot jewelry. We left our bikes there and then climbed ancient, crumbling stone steps all the way up the very steep hill. Before we actually reached the fort, which was on a mound a little farther up, we got to the cliffs. The flat ground was mostly stone, stone seems to be everywhere on the Aran Islands. Tammi, the program director, has a rule that everyone has to crawl on their stomachs to the edge of the cliffs. Lying there on my stomach with the wind in my face, inches from a hundreds and hundreds of feet drop into the A

tlantic ocean, I felt more alive than I ever have before. This is where I belong. This is what life is meant to be like, living on the edge and never looking back. The pictures really tell the story, and I think I’ll be adding those this afternoon. At long last we tore ourselves away from the edge of total nothingness and climbed the rest of the way to Dún Aonghasa. The fort/city, first built in ancient (BC) times, was used all the way up until about 1000 A.D. What’s left of it now is the circular outer stone wall which is open on the cliff-edge side. A few doorways lead down into the wall, but whatever they led to caved in sometime in the distant past. There was an enormous “stone table” in the center of the circle which could have been an alter or something back in the day. Once again we laid on our stomachs on the edge of the cliffs and looked down. The water is so blue as it crashes against the rocks, it looks like someone dyed it with food coloring. I need to finish this now, so I’m going to end by saying that everyone needs experiences like this in their lives. Everyone needs to feel free and on the very edge of achieving their dreams. There’s nothing like it.