Cultural experience: Bunratty Castle and the Cliffs of Moher

Ireland has been such an experience! I've learned so much about the culture by socializing with locals and attending the business presentations. Today was by far my favorite day of the trip. We visited Bunratty Castle" the Cliffs of Moher and the Burrens. It was fascinating to see how people hundreds of years ago lived. The tour guide told us about how people were treated and we got to visit the dungeon. People were thrown down there and broke body parts. We noticed the stairwells and doors were very small and narrow, making it to difficult to walk up and down. We had a beautiful day to visit and walk around the property. It reminded me of walking around Sturbridge village with all the small houses around and the little shops. Next, we traveled to the coast and visted the Cliffs of Moher. I've seen pictures before but they didn't do it justice. The view was incredible like nothing I've ever seen before. There was a lot of walking that definitely helped me work off all the food and drinks I've been consuming! The last stop of the day was the Burrens, which was also so cool. The millions of rocks around the land is out of this world. I took some awesome photos that I can't wait to show my friends and family back home. It's a nice environment to take in the culture and see what Ireland has to offer. It astonishes me that trees still havent grown on this land since the British burned all the trees. Ireland is truly beautiful. At night we went to a local pub called Symths and watched the Euro Cup soccer games- Ireland vs Croatia. We were all so happy we had the opportunity to be in Ireland watching the game with the locals. They were all so proud of their culture and supported the team. Myself and nine others went to the pub all decked out in Ireland gear. We drew Ireland flags on our cheeks and wore lots of green. At the bar they handed us even more appeal such as down fingers, shirts, hats, and wacky wigs. I have never experienced such a rush as I felt the entire time rooting for Ireland. Even though they lost, we all had a great time. There was a lot of smiling and laughing The locals were not sore losers and still had a fun time after. Symths' provided a live band and everyone celebrated the accomplishment of Ireland making it into the games, being such a small country and all. I truly got to witness all the pride and respect these people have for their country. In my opinion, I think limerick natives are a lot nicer than people in Dublin because of their small town. We talked to a lot more people at the pubs and actually felt like we fit in. On the first day we met this group of young adults about our age and they shared some of their culture with us. They mentioned how the news here makes USA sound like we're horrible people (luckily we changed their minds). They shared some wise words that have been embedded into our heads- when it rains, we drink cause we're sad and when it's sunny, we celebrate the sun. This simple minded attitude is why I believe people in Ireland are a lot nicer than people In the USA. They are genuinely happy and appreciate the little things in life.