West Cork Journey with Iona!!

Hello hello!  This post is dedicated to Anna and Kirsten from back home because you two told me about IONA and man is it awesome...already!  I hope you read this!

Anyways, Friday night was great!  Jordan and I walked around and checked out some more pubs just to see where they were and then we ended up at a place that had a live singer and everybody was dancing along!  Fun time!!  Then, Yesterday was our trip with the IONA society through the Chaplaincy on campus!

We got on the bus at about 10 am and headed off to West Cork to check out some early Christian ruins.  There were about 15 - 20 people that went:  About 6 or 7 Irish students/graduates, about 10-15 American students, and then the two chaplains: George: Church of Ireland chaplain - very funny, sarcastic guy that cracks jokes whenever he can.  and Joe: the Catholic chaplain for campus who was also a great guy to talk to and get to know!

Mini Stonehenge!

On the bus, Jordan and I really got to know Edwina (working on her masters) and Brendan (just finished his masters) from Cork.  Brendan was actually originally from the main areas we went to throughout the day so it was like a homecoming for him!  We started off the day stopping by Drombeg stone circle which was literally a mini stone henge! haha.  Joe (Catholic chaplain) was the main "guide" you could say for that and we learned that the stone circle somewhere along its lifetime was a gathering place for Catholics to have mass!  The circle itself actually dates to about 1000 years B.C.!!!! yes B.C.!!! Anyways, we learned a lot more about that but it would take a lot of explaining so I will stop there.  However, also at this same site was ruins of a Bronze Age house and hot bath of some sort.  I guess they would use stones to heat the water for a type of hot tub!  haha...I didn't really get how it worked but it was cool!  Overall, it was very interesting stuff, not to mention the beautiful view of the surrounding area and ocean coast!  It was a great first stop!

Joe: saying as much as he knew about the circle!

Bronze age Hot tub!

Then, we hopped back on the bus and headed to Rosscarbery, Cork.  There, we visited a Church of Ireland Cathedral which George knew quite a bit about!  It was very interesting: I definitely learned that I want to know more about the differences between the Church of Ireland and Catholic.  I have been learning a ton about the Irish civil war and such though through the various sites I've visited and it is much more interesting than U.S. history!  Anyways, then we headed off to another small town (can't remember the name) to eat lunch at a small community center which used to be a two room schoolhouse.  Joe told us that his mother actually went to primary school there!  While there, we took some time to do a little retreat of a sort and got to know everyone a little better with some icebreakers and small discussion groups!  It was very neat to talk to other Americans about their reasons for coming as well as to the Irish about their lives in general!  The theme for the day was "Journey" haha kind of broad but very appropriate as all of us there were definitely on our own unique journeys through life! 

Church of Ireland

After lunch, we headed to Timoleague, another small city that was rich in heritage!  There, we visited another Church of Ireland church and George led us in a little prayer service.  Very neat!  After that, we headed to the ruins of the Timoleague Friary which was founded in the 13th century by the Franciscans.  You could tell that Joe loved every moment of it and was eager to share with us all the knowledge!  It was another very neat sight...then, as we were leaving we got to see the Catholic church in Timoleague at the request of Joe who wasn't leaving the city without seeing his own Catholic church!  (George and Joe have a unique relationship in which they poke fun at each other all the time about their respective churches: fun to watch! haha)

Overall, it was a great day of meeting new people and having a small spiritual aspect involved as well!  I miss retreats like that!  On the bus ride home, Jordan and I learned some more Irish slang from some of the Irish which was great.  At night, the society invited us all out to a pub as well which was another chance to meet even more Irish!  I talked to one woman that is a high school or "secondary teacher" as they call it. We talked about education for a bit which was fun! 

It was a great day again...but one thing I'm starting to realize that i miss dearly is the freedom to walk around at night alone!  But, that's just one minor thing I suppose!  However, another thing that is bugging me is Mass at the churches here.  We went to another church this morning and the mass was in English!  But, they don't sing!!!! It was hardly 40 minutes long and all the responses were spoken, no opening/closing song, nothing.  It's hard for me to get into mass when there is no singing.  So, we met some more girls there and afterward, we all talked to the priest about our talents of singing/playing piano and he said he would relay the message to the actual parish priest!  Who knows, maybe I'll be part of a music renewal in St. Vincent's parish! 

Alright, that's all for now.  I'm excited for class tomorrow - something to do!  I like free time, but not this much!  Peace!