I Want To Lunch With You On A Mountain/The Hills Are Alive With The Sound Of Me Wheezing

The day after the excursion to Clare with API, Lauren, Monica, and I decided that we would go on a day trip with the Mountaineering Club to Kylemore Abbey in Connemara. I think it’s safe to say that none of us really understood what Mountaineering Club does. It was a little like the macaron/macaroon incident, but on a larger scale.

To start the hike, we simply got off at this church, sauntered behind it, and then just went into this field. Apparently, that’s just fine to do in Ireland, which I totally can dig. Anyway, for the first section the way was quite flat, but the wind was strong against us and the ground was like a swamp. Sometimes we would have to leap over little streams, and at the beginning, we were all trying to avoid the sheep poo, (spoiler alert: that will change by the end). 

I thought it might be kind of neat, instead of telling you about what went on, to just lay out my thoughts as they happened throughout the day. It may be a nice change-up to how these posts are normally. I’m sorry if they are a little sporadic, but hopefully it will be enjoyable for you to get a glimpse at my MENSA-like mind.

-This is so nice! I can’t believe I only paid 8 Euro to come out here! Look at all these mountains. We just get to take a nice hike, and then afterwards we get to see Kylemore Abbey!

-No path, that’s pretty cool. We just will get to frolic in the fields. This is going to be so fun.

-Jeez, this wind is a killer.

-Wow, we are kind of getting close to the hills and mountains there…

-Oh good, a break, I’m already starting to get winded.

-Oy vey, this ground really sucks. Literally.

-Okay, I can manage to do a few hills.

-I bet my cheeks are so red right now. Well, at least I won’t look like the corpse I normally look like.

-SHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEPSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!

-Huh, I wonder if there is a path or gorge or something that leads through the mountains.

-Alright, I guess we are breaking for lunch. Good, I’m tired.

-I should not have eaten that entire sandwich and granola bar. I didn’t know it was just snack time, not lunch time.

-Whoo, this incline is getting a little steeper. I wonder if it’s going to level out soon.

-Please stop for a break soon, please stop for a break.

-A break! Yes!

-Picture time.

-Hmm, the leaders just pulled out a map. Why are they pointing up the mountain? Nuts, time to get going again.

--epiphany- Oh. My. God. The plan is to climb a mountain…

-HOW DID YOU NOT KNOW THEY WOULD CLIMB A MOUNTAIN, ALICIA!!!!! THEY’RE THE FRICKEN MOUNTAINEERING CLUB!!!!!! WHAT DID YOU THINK THEY WERE GONNA DO?!?!? YOU’RE SO STUPID, IDIOTFACE!!!!!

-It’s gonna be okay, you’re fine. You come from two athletic families. Easy squeezy.

-YOU MORONIC DOPE! IF YOU’RE SO “ATHLETIC” HOW COME YOU FINISHED IN LAST PLACE AT THAT 5K FOR ADRIAN AND MARGARET’S WEDDING?!?! RIDDLE ME THAT, YOU FOOL!!!!

-Cursing.

-sheepsheepsheepsheepsheepsheepsheepsheepsheepsheepsheepsheep.

-I can’t wait to tell everyone about this.

-What happens if I have to pee out here?

-Dang. I have to pee.

-How is Lauren going so fast? She’s a beast.

-A breaaaaaaak! Please break! Please please please.

-MY THIGHS ARE ON FIRE!

-Prayer.

-Come on, Alicia, give me 10 more steps.

-Woah! This is so pretty. –Takes pictures-

-MORE SHEEPIES!

-Why is this happening to me?
-Prayer.

-Climb every mountain!!! Ford every stream!!! Follow every rainbow TIL. YOU. FIND. YOUR. DREAMMMMMMM!!!!

-Cursing.

-Thank the Lord that we picked to do the short, easy course.

-I can’t believe I’m actually doing this! This is AWESOME!
-Cursing.

-I wish I was an asthmatic or something because then I would have an inhaler.

-How is it possible for there to be a bog on the side of a mountain?!?! It doesn’t make any sense!!!!

-SHEEP, SHEEP, SHEEP!

-You can do it! 10 more steps! 10 MORE STEPS, FATTY! Now do 10 more!

-Nuts, my sock is wet.

-This wind is ridonculous! Why won’t it stop?!?!

-I should take more pictures because we are 50 feet higher and everything is a little bit different.

-Prayer.

-Cursing.

-Prayer.

-A break!

-Gah! None of these pictures look like the mountains are that big!

-Baaaaaa. AHHHH IT LOOKED AT ME! I CAN SPEAK SHEEP!

-If I fall off this mountain, Maj will never forgive me.

-I am so tired.
-I'm gonna die up here.

-My lungs feel like I swallowed a chunk of anti-freeze.

-You’re doing great, buddy. Keep up the good work.

-I wonder if the sheep come up here because the grass tastes better.

-Whoops, something just popped out. Ow, ow, walk it off, walk it off!

-So close, almost there!

-Stop being a pansy, pansy-woman!

-I want to stand with you on a mountain! I want to bathe with you in the sea!

-WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! I’M ON TOP OF THE WORLD!!!!!!
-I DID IT! I DID IT! I DID IT!

-AWESOME!!!! THIS IS SO WORTH IT!!!!!! IT’S SO BEAUTIFUL UP HERE!!!!!

And then, I was at the top. After reading that, you may be thinking, “Wow, Alicia sure does have an awful lot of personalities,” and this may certainly be true, I’ve never been tested, but it was definitely both a big physical and mental challenge to get up that mountain. When you’re up there, though, that’s the greatest feeling in the world. On the one side are all the surrounding mountains, but I felt like we just climbed the tallest one.  On the other side is the vast expanse of the Atlantic Ocean. Basically, it’s as if there are all these massive entities all around you, but you are the greatest of them all. Then, it’s as if a sudden switch goes off as you realize how completely small you are, but, really, it’s okay to be that small if you are a part of something as great and beautiful as this world.

Before things got real.

Prior to the Pain Train leaving the station.

Pondering out the meaning of the world...

My shoes wouldn't talk to me for a week after the crap, literally, I put them through.

Sometimes the grass reminded me of Oscar the Grouch's fur.

Some people had fancy hiking poles. Those people intimidated me. I was also afraid they might accidentally stab me.

Atlantic Ocean.

Maybe if I look hard enough I can see Langhorne!

If you have eagle eyes: beneath the lake on the right is a small white speck. That's the church we started out from.

A lake on top of a mountain. I was pretty certain one of these lakes contained water that would give you immortality, but immortality makes me nervous, so I refrained.

I had to sacrifice Lauren's face in this picture. It was the best one I had of the 3 of us. My apologies to your face, Lauren.

Ah, here's a better one. I stole it from Monica.
Photo courtesy of Monica.

Mom told me the day before to not do anything dangerous after the whole Cliffs of Moher debacle, so, naturally, I just walked along the top of a mountain.

We took our real lunch on the top of the mountain, which made it the most epic lunch I have ever eaten, even if it was just your standard PB & J. It was like eating a PB & J that would decide the fate of the world. I tried to capture it in this video right here:

I have also been watching that video whenever I need a laugh. It cracks me up. Additionally, while we were happily munching on our noms, Monica says, “I’m probably sitting in sheep crap right now. I just don’t even care.” Then, she proceeded to get back to her sandwich.

Look at them all on top of the world. They are probably thinking big, important thoughts, such as, "I should have put more mustard on this sandwich."

The one in the multi-colored hat is Monica. She doesn't give a crap that she's sitting in crap.

Coming down definitely wasn’t as hard as going up, but there were absolutely moments when I ate it. I wasn’t too worried about myself when it comes to clumsiness, but there was the chance that if I fell that I could take another person down with me, so I tried my best to be careful. The atmosphere was a lot different on the way down. People were joking around and getting to know one another, instead of heavily panting with snot coming out of your nose.

Having to walk sideways like that caused me to develop some weird ankle muscles.

Shortly after taking this picture my butt got well-acquainted with the ground. 

We were pretty high up considering how tiny the road looks. I'm surprised I didn't get a nosebleed.

The Abbey is almost in view.

I thought it was pretty cool how they put Jesus watching over everything.

The mountains could get pretty steep.

This was kind of a weird change. It felt more like tramping through a forest in Malaysia or something.

As we were about to come down the last section of the mountain, the trail popped out at the back of Kylemore Abbey, which meant that we had to walk through their estate to get out. One of our valiant leaders, Ingus, told us that when we got down to the Abbey we just had to stroll through very casual-like, even though we looked like a bunch of dirty hoboes and hoboettes. He said we weren’t allowed to take any pictures or look around until we got outside of the Abbey’s grounds. We didn’t have tickets, so the Abbey apparently frowns upon people trespassing on their land. Who knew?

Once we were in safe territory, we could fully appreciate Kylemore Abbey. The Abbey itself is quite exquisite, but it is absolutely augmented by the spectacular surroundings. It is situated so that backing it is the mountain we came down, and directly in front of it is a placid lake. I’m sure that in the springtime when the trees are bright green it would make for a great backdrop, but I still thought that it was wonderful.

This used to be a boarding school for girls. I bet they were really rich girls.

There were no penguins out this day. Whoops, I mean nuns...

Being in the middle of nowhere has it's perks, though. I bet when it was a boarding school, the nuns never had to worry about teenage pregnancy.

One of my favorite parts of this whole experience was when I went outside the bus to change my horribly muddied shoes and socks, and I heard a bunch of the leaders talking. I don’t think they were being malicious, but they were just joking around a little about how people in the short/easy group were saying how difficult it was. I certainly wasn’t offended, I could see how they leapt around the place like mountain goats, but I did laugh about how this reinforces how out of shape I am. Even though this is apparently not one of the harder mountains to climb up, I’m still proud of myself for doing it!

I did feel really great after the trip, though. In my eyes, I killed not just two birds with one stone, but four birds! (I imagine it was a little like skipping a stone on a pond, and hopefully, they were either pigeons or seagulls, both of which I loathe.) I figured out that the Mountaineering Club does not do hiking trips, they do mountaineering trips; I met some really cool people on the trip who were Irish, American, Canadian, Spanish, French, Finnish; I saw one of the places that was on my list of things to see in Ireland, Kylemore Abbey; and I accomplished one of my life goals, climbing a mountain!

Yeah! Go me!

I’m sorry these posts are so wordy. There is just so much I want to tell everyone about, even the little things. Although, I don’t think that asking everyone to take 2-3 hours out of his or her day to read about me is too much to ask for. Maybe 3-4 tops if you’re a slow reader.

This is an extra bit you don't need to look at, but here are pictures of all the cute sheepers I saw. An ode to sheep, if you will. sheep.

sheep.

sheep.

sheep. sheep. sheep. sheep.

sheep. sheep.

This one's a little hidden. He's the Where's Waldo? of sheep, or, as they call him in Ireland, Where's Wally?
(Hint: how did he get up there?!).
sheep.