Dilapidated Village.

Heyloooo!

What to write on the bloggity-blog today... Well, a few exciting things happened this week.
I finally got my travel plans together and purchased a few plane tickets! At the end of this month I am going to Edinburgh(!!) to meet up with the program that I'm studying abroad with. So I will be with a bunch of Californians for the weekend. I also get to see my friend Cammi who is studying abroad in Edinburgh! I can't wait to see a bit of Scotland! I also bought my tickets for my Spring Break trip to Madrid in April! Wooooooo! Really, really stoked for this trip... even though I only know a few words in Spanish. A lot to look forward to!

I sent out some mail last week. I want to send out a bunch of stuff back to California, especially candy! All the American candy is a bit different. For example, Skittles and Sour Patch Kids have a blackcurrent flavor. We decided that is tastes um... kind of sweaty. So I'll let some of you be the judge of that. As you can see Rocky and my parents got their postcard already:

Gotta send my best friend some mail

I spent yesterday on a field trip! It's awesome because this is something I would never be able to do back at UC Santa Barbara because the Anthropology classes are just way too big! So I woke up bright and early (except it's never bright in the morning here, har har) and met up at school with my class. We took about an hour long bus ride to The Burren. I visited before when I went on my Cliffs of Moher trip. This time I got to check out a village that was abandoned during the famine. It was a wild experience to get to the village to say the least... It has been really storming the last few days so the mud was in full effect. I bought some Wellies (AKA less-fashionable rainboots) and I'm so glad I did. There were some people who chose to wear regular shoes and the mud got all in their shoes and socks. All while my feet were clean and I got to stomp in the mud and puddles!

We finally made it up to the village. My professor gave us a run down and lectured a bit on the site and then she let us walk around freely. Not sure if you want too many details on it (and I can't really give out too much anyways I think...), but it was a settlement used during the 19th century up until the Irish Potato Famine. It's pretty crazy to stand in the remainder of a house that was lived in. I can't imagine sharing a room with your entire family and your livestock.

We also checked out a few churches that people from this settlement and a few others worshiped at. Out of the three churches, two had burial grounds. It is said by the locals that people from the famine were buried here. Famine burials were marked with large rocks that were not too fancy.
All in all, it was a very interesting experience. Now I have to write 2000 words on it...

Have you ever heard sheep? They're so loud and funny.

Famine Burial marker and beautiful countryside

Remainder of a 19th century house

Wall of a 19th century house

Haha, sorry for all the archaeology stuff! While I'm "studying" abroad, I have to talk about studying a bit, right? But the scenery in Ireland is absolutely breathtaking! Today was one of those days that I sat there and thought "Is this really happening!?" It's incredible.

Anyways, hope you all are well--where ever you are. I appreciate you all taking the time to read about my experiences! Talk to you next week! x