Lately we have been living the life in beautiful Bundoran, in our lovely Portbeg homes. Today we even got a visit from from the best Easter Bunny ever! As we are writing this, it is Easter Sunday. Some of our group members are off to a nice dinner, while others are whipping up some fried rice in the kitchen. Before this we had a tumultuous spikeball tournament and tonight calls for a poker night.
Early this week we were at the beautiful, remote island of Inis Coo. While there, our team of 13 plus our lovely leaders Niall and Ryan picked up infinite bags of trash from the beach. In exchange, we got to spend the night in a historic home. Our night there consisted of breakfast for dinner, many games of Coup (we highly recommend this game), and Cards against Humanity. The next morning we hit the beaches again to pick up any remaining trash, then got back on the boat and headed home to Bundoran.
A few days later the group headed out to backwoods where we navigated ourselves on a three day backpacking expedition in the wilderness. We put our survival skills to the test as we processed fire wood, set up tarpaulins for shelter, and cooked food under the open flame. The weather turned in our favor, allowing us to have peaceful nature walks between each campsite. The meals of salmon, steak, sausages, and garlic bread, among other things, were a big hit. Other than a few members waking up with slugs in their ears, the trip went smoothly.
Our work with Liquid Therapy started this week. It is a rewarding experience where we are partnered with Irish kids and cultivate a community where we all have space to learn and form friendships. We get to meet with them at least once a week for the rest of our time here. On top of our surfing with Liquid Therapy, we have spent additional time in the water surfing and cliff jumping.
It is no longer Easter as we write this, we got so wrapped up in our fried rice and poker games that the blog had to be set aside. Today we partnered with the Arts and Culture group for a joint cliff jumping. It is sunny and somewhat warm today, so it was the perfect weather for another round of spikeball tournament. Emma and Blake took a fat dub, of course! Now Emma and Blake are cheffing up a gourmet Mexican night dinner – not to be confused with the sub-par Mexican night made by some other group members two weeks ago. As women in the kitchen, we take our dinner responsibilities very seriously. To finish everything off, Blake made a vanilla cake with chocolate frosting that is currently sitting on the counter tempting everyone.
We can’t wait to start another great week, and if everything goes according to our plan, you will be graced with another riveting blog post within the next week.
Peace, love and good craic,
Emma ad Blake (Adventure & Leadership Group Spring 22)