Before the trip, I had never been outside of the United States and the places I had gone were mostly limited to the East Coast. Traveling abroad to Dublin and then visiting additional places such as Belfast, Howth, Galway, the Giant’s Causeway, and the Cliffs of Moher opened my eyes to things I never would have imagined them seeing even a year ago. The overwhelming beauty of everything took me over and has had a lasting effect on everything I do now – I think it’s nice to know that things like that are out there while I go about my life back here at Cazenovia. One of my favorite memories of Ireland was sitting in St. Stephen’s Green early in the week with Katie A. and Aubrie, just relaxing in the sun and sketching in my notebook. We sat there for about an hour and a half watching the birds and listening to the distant music playing on Grafton Street, and the drawings I created during that time are my favorite of the whole trip… I think my project resulting from this trip will be something I’ll be happy to carry with me in the future. The Cliffs of Moher was another highlight of the trip for me – I can’t describe them well enough to do them justice, but I won’t forget my first view of them rising out of the water and disappearing behind one another into the atmosphere, each one more faded and softer looking as they progressed backward. I had to sit down while everybody else kept walking to take them in, and I still feel like I didn’t get enough of the view. I felt the same kind of awe at the Giant’s Causeway – the strange rocks and rainy weather combined created a very surreal kind of feeling in me. I was also excited to be only 9 miles away from Scotland while we were at the Causeway… I have a lot of Scottish heritage on my father’s side, and so Scotland is a place I’ve always wanted to visit. Maybe next time! The Book of Kells was another fantastic part of the trip – I have been fascinated by it since I first learned about it in Art History before I came to Cazenovia… I never thought I would actually have the opportunity to go to Ireland and see it myself. I bought a print of the Chi Rho page at the gift shop, and it is now one of my favorite things. Overall, Ireland was the best week I have ever had – I am so grateful for the experience and for the wonderful people I had the pleasure of seeing it with. I hope we each get another chance at some point to return to Ireland – now that we’re back, it feels like something out of a story book and not something that actually happened. Katie McCutcheon
