We drive on the other side of the car, and the other side of the road. That is if the road is wide enough for 2 cars.

(Note: the road above is a two way road) So this past week a friend of mine from Maine came over to Ireland and my goal was to give them the best Irish experience possible. Based on my experience in Ireland if you want to see the true beauty there's no better way than driving. So I rented a car with no prior experience to driving on the opposite side, when I pulled out of the parking lot I used the entrance lane not the exit lane, but fortunately that was the first and only mistake I made throughout the week. This gave me an experience I have never had in Ireland prior, we visited the beautiful Blackrock Castle which is actually owned by CIT and used as a planetarium. We then took off for the beautiful Ring of Kerry which I had always dreamed driving around and hope to do so again someday. Followed by the winding Gap of Dunloe, and Killarney National park. Then headed up the west coast to Galway and then went to the Connemara National park making many stops in between. I've really only travels Ireland by bus or train before and having the luxury to stop and pull over whenever you see an abandoned castle or a beautiful rainbow over the ocean made the trip that much more incredible. We were extremely fortunate to have spells of good weather since for the past month Ireland has pretty much been underwater.  But all I can say is even in bad conditions Ireland still holds many breathtaking views. 

Happy New Year!

2016? Wow how did that get here already. 2015 will surely be a year I will never forget, honestly I think it's been the greatest year of my life thus far. I have many many things to be grateful for, but I owe a massive thank you to Senator George Mitchell as well as the state of Maine for making the year of 2015 so special for me. The experiences I have had, the people I have met, and the places I've traveled wouldn't of been possible without this incredible opportunity. Ireland has become a home to me more now than ever, it's even to the point where in conversation when people ask me "oh ye here on holiday?" I look at them confused as I forgot I'm actually from the U.S. I have learned so much from this experience not only in school and about the Irish culture, but especially about myself, being able to overcome many obstacles, changing habits and conforming to a different lifestyle. It's been such a pleasure living in Cork and studying at CIT that I've actually decided to stay a second semester to continue on this journey. I will continue with this blog over the next few months as well. Although I won't be here as a Mitchell scholar, still be writing about Travels around Ireland and Europe and the experiences of being a Corkian.