Wednesday, June 20, 2007

easkey 2007

ooookay, so much further than i expected to, i'm adding some pictures and snippets from easkey 2007. in fact, so much further that i've already been to ireland and back again in the meantime, so probably around easter you'll get those pictures and update.

i guess today is just a super productive day for me... but european travels are deservedly worth putting up online. :)

we stopped at tesco's on the way out for some essentials, leaving the car looking like this:
car

sarah w-s came to visit me abroad. she's brilliant. but it provided for serious back-seat adventures on the, what, 7 hour drive from cork to easkey, in county donegal.
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the first night we got there it was rainy and absolutely gross- as well as everyone else already having achieved their goal of chasing sobriety away for the evening. however, the next day provided little surf and a river to challenging for a mere fresher such as myself.
sarah and i explored the castle instead. :)
castle


however the nights' activities were as they should be when one is with a group of paddlers from cork....
it started with a beautiful sunset that i captured with some essentials in the foreground... hehe
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you see, at easkey, the clubs captaincy is passed down to the new committee. for ucccc, this meant a celebration of willy and his exploits. we were so kind as to get him what he really desired....
boobs
a gift certificate to munster dive and canoe so that he could get a paddle. :-D

international love
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sunday was beautiful. there was a close by section of the easkey river that we were all able to do.
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here's me! woooo!
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here, noelle is trying to explain to willy (still drunk from the night before) something of utmost importance.
probably along the lines of: "it's cold, willy, wouldja put some pants on??"
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the river poured out into the ocean where there was a tiny bit of surf :) i would have liked a liiiiitle more, but, it broke on a reef, which was a little scary for someone who wasn't entirely experienced.
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the sunset was beautiful again. bean, one of the paddlers from dubland, took this picture.
sunset

that night was more drunk adventuring, the way it should be done ;) me and shiv
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at one point, sarah w-s, ally, and i went to go sit near the ocean and just sing songs we all knew because we were sad. i was sat to have to leave, ally missed the ocean, and sarah w-s just graduated ( i think she was more exited than sad, though, but she likes to sing too )
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the following morning was defo a late one. we were all exhausted after the previous session, so it wasn't till afternoon that we actually awoke. here's another picture bean took:
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before we were capable of cleaning up and driving back, i came back to the campsite after breakfast to see willy chasing cian around the site with a huge dead fish someone found on the beach. there was lots of screaming and running, from all parties involved.
clearly.. it was kind of gross...
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it was a good weekend, all in all. a good trip, too, i'd say. :)
i do miss it....




alright, i'll get the pictures from this past jack's weekend, as well as some photos from my road trip across the uk up here eventually.
hehe, whenever that may be.

love, chris

Wednesday, June 06, 2007

leaving on a jet plane.

such a corny title, i know, but i guess it's how thing will be. i'm sad to leave. i'm terrified to leave. i'm excited to go home. i'm happy to see my family.

last night we all went out to dinner... we all being me and 10 other paddlers... it was only supposed to be a small thing, but i was THRILLED to see everyone one last time outside of the context of a drunken easkey weekend.

tomorrow morning, i'm going to get into a car with WAY more shit than i came over here with and then fly away back to america... my belly turns into a rock of anticipation just thinking of it.

i'll miss:
relaxed schoolwork
paddling with everyone here
thinking nothing of a pint or five on a random night
ucc campus
the river lee
the paddlers.
green hills in every direction
the smell of turf
cuddles
living by myself
going out on the piss
learning in a group re: paddling
the clubs and nightlife
feeling connected
crazy party weekends that go into history
seeing rainbows
the irish accent all around me and within me
sausages for brekkie


i'm excited for:
giving my family their prezzies
getting to camp, meeting new people
learning some wiki wiki moves in my own boat (but i'll have no one to show them off to *tear*)
cheaper drink
reuniting with my smith friends
sleeping in my futon
with clean sheets
and not having to buy my own toilet paper
riiiiise and shiiiiine and give god your gloryglory
figuring out my life from here
buying things and not having to worry about how i'm going to pack them


ohhh man i'm going to miss it here though. there's so much here for me.

so here's what'll happen with this blog: i've got an entry or two more for you with photos from easky weekend and the dinner last night, (i'll probably plug 'em in in chronological order, before this one) ..i've a writeup for joy, i'll put that in here too... and i'll probably leave it all at that. i don't want a consistent blog up online anymore. just for travels, and this year.

love, chris.