Croagh Patrick

The final few weeks of our program are here. And we had the opportunity to do a field trip to a place called Westport. On our way we stopped a few places just to take in the beauty of Ireland. One place that we got to see is a place called Kylemore Abbey. It's a huge estate that a man built for his wife, but it is now run by some nuns. We didn't get the chance to see the inside or the wall gardens, but I'm glad we were even able to see it at all. 

Croagh Patrick

After Kylemore Abbey we drove to a place called Croagh Patrick. It's the mountain that Saint Patrick supposedly banished all snakes from Ireland. And now it's a pilgrimage for Catholics to climb to the top of the mountain. They usually climb in on Reek Sunday, which is the last Sunday in July. Because of this it got the nick name the Reek. Well on  Friday April 1st I climbed to the top of Croagh Patrick. I assumed it would be like more national parks in the states that have nice made trails and aren't that steep. Well my assumption was very wrong. There was not a nice made out trail, it was very steep, lose rock, and slick. I had to stop a few times to catch my breath. And when I thought I finally made it to the top I found out that I was only half way. So as I stood there thinking about just turning around and going back down, I realized that I may never get the chance to climb a mountain again in Ireland and if I don't take the chance while I can, I may never get the chance again. So even though my legs wanted to me to head back down to the bottom I started climbing again, because I had to finish the climb that I had started. The last little part was worst part of the climb all the rock was loose and if you stepped on the wrong rock it would give and you would fall down. But after a few falls and a few words my mother wouldn't like to hear out of my mouth I finally made it to the top.