I know, I know...

...I haven't updated in awhile. I could tell you that I'm stressed and the like but I'm not really sure what it is. I guess I just haven't been up to it.
Today Carolan, Cate, Lizzy, her friend Becca and I went to Youghal (pronounced Yawl). It's a pretty cute beach town and we were able to walk the beach and look for seaglass and shells. But before we found the beach we walked around through the shops and found a really cool old church. We couldn't go inside but we walked the grounds and walked through a really old cemetery that was right beside it, it was basically a part of the church. The girls were chatting and I decided to follow a path through it that led up the hill to a stone wall that had stairs going up to a tower. It was a really beautiful view of Youghal and the surrounding area. It was really peaceful too. Behind me was a suburbia type area - very quiet - and in front of me was the ground of the church and cemetery and trees. Beyond that was the small town of Youghal with it's beach side buildings and then the actual beaches and the ocean. You could even see a lot of other parts of Ireland since Youghal is kind of inset on the island so it's surrounded by a lot of other parts of Ireland. It was really nice. I loved it. Eventually the girls found their way to me and checked it out too. From there we wandered farther from the port area in an effort to find a beach that we could walk along. There was also a really cool area that you needed to take stairs to get to, since a lot of Ireland's coast is cliffs it was the only way to get to this part of the beach. While the others looked through the rocks for seaglass I went meandering and scampering over all the rocks. The waves were crashing all around me and the smell of salt water made me think of summers in Seabrook. After a while we found another stretch of beach and walked it for a long time. Once we were toward the end of the stretch there is a large hill so I climbed up there and gave Mom a call. It was a good conversation and we've come to a decision. Life is too short to not take chances - chances with travelling, with people, with your heart. It's just always worth the risk. If I hadn't decided on a whim to come to Ireland I never would have experience any of this, and no not every minute has been great or memorable, but every moment has made the next possible and I feel like I'm learning so much from this. Enough of being comtemplative. I don't really know where I'm going with it. I'm just tired and rambling on and on. Ignore what you want to.
After we were finished meandering around Youghal we headed to the bus stop. There was a Centra(like a CVS) nearby so we went in and got snacks. Snacks is a word that I use lightly since what really happened was Cate bought a pie and we all had forks and we stood at the bus stop and ate the apple pie.
So here's what I will fill you in on soon enough:
Florence (the rest)
Venice
Athens
Santorini.
Dingle