QWFP

It’s been a while since I posted because I’ve been busy enjoying life outside of studying and traveling around continental Europe. Now I’m in Ireland!

Today was very busy because I had to do projects for engineering and attend a supervision for my last exam in modern societies, which I should be studying now.. Our adventure started at 4 pm when Janice and I caught a taxi to the Cambridge train station, then a train to Stansted Airport, then a flight to Kerry, Ireland.

As the plane descended, I looked out the window and saw how incredibly green Ireland is. Lush green fields stretched out uninterrupted in all directions, with cows grazing lazily in patches by the rolling hills. Windmills also dotted the landscape, but beyond that there was little sign of civilization.

At the airport, I went through the smallest border control I’ve yet encountered, and the police smiled at me when he stamped my passport with a GREEN stamp . We walked to the train station which was 20 minutes away, passing signs of campaign advertising for very Irish named politicians like O’ Keeffe and Kelly. Unfortunately they reprsented the Fail party..

The train station was a modest grey building that looked eerily abandoned as we approached it. After circling a few times and knocking to no answer, we noticed spider webs covering the doors. I was beginning to feel that there was no civilization left in this place.

We decided to go ask at the bar across the street, which I found initially intimidating because I only saw two beefy guys drinking. But with Janice by my side I felt braver . We went in. According to the bartender (who was very nice!) the train station only opens right before a train arrives. So we ordered some soup and dessert and sat down to wait. It was very nice and bright, even at 9 pm.

We went back to the train station after eating to find the station still locked. We were lucky that it was still bright out, but as it neared the time for the train to arrive with no sign of anyone else around, I was afraid we would be stuck in the middle of nowhere for the night.

But a train rolled in at 9:29 according to schedule, a short three car train that looked completely empty. We ran over to the conductor and found that this was indeed the train we were waiting for.. but what about tickets? He was nice and said we were ok – free ride to Killarney!

The train was very nice inside – clean, bright and spacious, with a power outlet at every seat! Unheard of in the UK.

Inside the train to Killarney

We arrived at Killarney shortly and walked to our hostel, right next to Killarney National Park, which we are going to visit. Tomorrow we’ll take a tour of the Dingle Peninsula!

The end. Good night!