Current location: Westport, Ireland

On Inis Mór, A– and I decided to part ways. She wanted to stay on the Aran Islands for a few more days and then head over to Connemora. I wanted to go to Galway and check out the music scene and then go back to Dublin for a couple of days.

But Galway did not live up to my expectations. It was too much like home, with pubs populated by drunk kids and no good music anywhere that I could see. I couldn’t even find a play or even a movie theater. I finally walked back to my B&B (I won’t name it, because I hated it; but I’ll happily mention the Man of Aran B&B, run by Joe and Maura Wolfe on Inis Mór, Co. Galway, Ireland), and watched television (X-Files was on, followed by ER and, finally, Married with Children). In the morning, I changed my plan to take the bus tour of historic Galway, and took the bus back north to Rassaveal to catch the ferry over to Inis Mór to spend some more time with A–.

A–, meanwhile, had gotten tired of the Aran Islands. We’d seen Dun Aoghasa and the Seven Churches, climbed the rocks on the beaches, and explored the island pretty thoroughly. A– wanted to explore further and do some painting, but by Sunday afternoon she was "fed up" with the islands and decided to head back to Westport. Imagine my surprise when the ferry pulled up to the quay, and I saw her standing on the dock, ready to leave. After about 24 hours of separation, we decided to pair up once more and head up to Aberdeen, Scotland, where she’ll be catching a boat up to Norway.

This time in Ireland has been spectacular. It’s only been a week and I’ve seen so much; rock walls which were built without mortar but which have stood for decades; graveyards on Inis Mór where tombs from the 8th and 9th centuries stand right next to gravestones laid this year; a stone fort built in the Iron Age and abandoned finally in the late middle ages; music that sends the soul soaring; people who restore my faith in humanity. I’ve met wonderful people, including the bus driver who drove us all over the island, and the cab driver who put up with us saying "Stop here! We want to take pictures!" all the way from Dublin to Westport. I’ve also met plenty of cats, including Lucy the Rabbit-Killer, and the cat in the Man of Aran named "Get Out" (who got trapped in our room and spent the night on my bed, reminding me terribly of our cats at home).

And I still have three weeks to go on this trip. That boggles my mind.

I’ve learned something important about myself, though; and that is, I’m not a kid anymore. I enjoy staying up late and listening to live music in a pub sometimes, but that can’t be a way of life for me anymore. When at home, I much prefer to spend my evenings quietly with Jennifer, reading or writing or surfing the web. This realization came as kind of a shock to me, since I remember going to see my friends play in bars in Davis as often as possible.

It’s been an important realization for this trip, and helps me set my agenda better. I’m not into the nightlife in Europe at all. I can get night life in America if I want it. I’m much more interested in the natural history, the geology, and the archaeology of Europe. When we climbed the rocks on Inis Mór, we saw fossils and geological formations that fascinated me much more than news that the Musical Extravaganza was coming to Galway. Most of my trip was planned (what little planning I did, at least), with the notion that I’d be spending more time in the cities and less in the countryside… and now I’m planning on countryside and nature side trips rather than the cities. I don’t yet know how to make the rail system work to that end, but I’m sure I can figure it out.

I also miss Jennifer terribly, but that’s been no revelation. Last night, I took out the lock of hair she’d given me, and held it to my nose; it smelled like her (with a hint of the leather wallet that I’ve been carrying it in). That, and re-reading the notes that she’d put into my backpack before I left, brought me close to tears and reminded me of just how far away I am from home.