Traveling to Ireland

1^st of June

Currently I am on the train from Euston to Holyhead, where my ultimate destination is Dublin, Ireland!!! I woke up for the second day in a row at 5am – luckily this time it isn’t for last minute studying for an exam. The past two weeks the weather was incredible. For the most part my exams went ok, well fine actually except for the phytoplankton and marine benthos which fall under the categories of were ‘ok’ or ‘I’ve had better exams’. We’ll see once the grades are out. 

So many green pastures we’re passing now, looking out of the train I can definitely say I am traveling through the English countryside and it is lovely. It is overcast today but warm. Sheep are laying about on the grass. The fields are speckled by old houses of brick and many of the field brighten up the day as they are as yellow as the yellow brick road in Wizard of Oz. The yellow fields are of rape; rape is a big crop here in the UK and produces rapeseed oil which supposedly has less saturated fat than olive oil. 

Earlier in May, I walked a total of 13.5 miles from Salisbury to Stonehenge with Naomi, Matt, Joe, Rob, Sarah, and a couple more people. Stonehenge itself was impressive but very crowded since we went on a bank holiday weekend. Although I didn’t pay to get a closer look at the stones, I was still impressed by how much history is behind this mysterious structure. 

On Monday of this week, Claire, Rachel, Becky, Michael, and Emily threw me a surprise goodbye get together at the Mitre. I will miss them all terribly. 

11:42am- The countryside is amazing from the train!!! At the moment we are going along the coast where the water is out and the beach is covered in shallow puddles which reflect the overcast sky. Some of the stratus clouds are breaking apart allowing patches of blue skies and a cumulus cloud or two. The towns that I am passing are just ADORABLE, currently pulled up in Rhyl which looks like it was built in the eighteen or nineteen hundreds. The signs now are bilingual, but I don’t recognize the new language.  I have been passing the time on the train by playing Sudoku and reading – being away from Sami, Chris, and Logan since they are in a different coach. 

Now stopped at Bae Colwyn, which has white picket fences and the sea just beyond; pink and purple flowers grow along the fence. I actually can see hills and elevation in the scenery to my right (opposite of my view of the sea). So many of these towns I would love to visit eventually. 

I am reading a book that Rich recommended me that I absolutely love reading on this trip, it is called The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. The author has a very unique style of writing; it is written from the point of view of an autistic boy and goes on almost as many tangents as I do. Just the view point and sincerity of the writing allows the reader to relate to the story to some degree.