The First Weekend - Causey Farm

This weekend was the first weekend we were able to travel with our American coordinator, Roberta. Every weekend up until mid-October, the Saint Mary's girls and I are going to be on tours all over Ireland. Since the process takes a while to get the student visa, I will not be able to leave Ireland until then so the trips on the weekends will allow us to get a taste of this beautiful place we are staying! On Saturday, we went to Causey Farm in Meath County. It was your traditional Irish farm with animals, a haunted house for Halloween, and a Hurling field.
We started off the day with baking our own Irish wheat bread! The recipe was quite easy; wheat flour, white flour, baking soda, salt, an egg, and butter milk.

 






While our bread was baking, we got a tour of the farm and got a little bit more about what they do at there. We got a tour of the old buildings and barns. Right when we got off the bus, we were welcomed by two Bordie Collies who happened to have a litter of seven pups. Of course us being the girls that we are, we had to stop and say hello the the cutest little creatures I have ever seen!

After we cuddled and had a photo shoot with the puppies, we moved into the oldest barn on the farm and learned how to Irish dance! Being Irish, I remember I Irish danced for a little when I was younger and I wish I could have stuck with it because it is so much fun! This isn't an actual video of us dancing but this is the dance we learned. It is called the Siege of Ennis and it is one of the more traditional Irish dances.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_bishBer5U
Going along with the theme of music, we learned how to play the Irish drums and played a few rhythms on those!

Then, we got to milk a cow! I have milked one before but for some girls it was quite interesting to see their expressions on their faces as they went up to the cow!

 

Once we finished milking the cow, we went back to the main building and had our lunch accompanied with our homemade bread! 

As I have noticed over the past few days, the Irish play some interesting sports that aren't found in the US. After lunch, we got a chance to play one of those sports called Hurling. It is a combination of catching, throwing, hitting, and scoring goals. The best way I can describe it is a mix of lacrosse and field hockey. 

Look intimidating?! 

Then after lunch, we made our way towards the mud bog. If you aren't familiar with a bog, it is a natural mud pit. The bog we jumped into was made of about 75% water and the rest natural mud. Our tour guide insisted that there was no manure involved and only mud. This was by far the coolest and most out there thing I have done so far here in Ireland! I was first a little apprehensive about jumping into a pit full of mud as it would be disgusting and I would have to sit in crusted mud the whole way home but I am so glad I jumped into the bog! The expression on our faces is priceless because we thought that the mud would just come up to our knees but it actually came up to the bottom of our chests. The hardest part was getting out of the mud. There was a moment of panic because you cannot move through the liquid so you had to dig yourself out of the mud. I am not one for confined spaces so being stuck in mud from the abdomen and up was something I was not happy about. 

 The look on our faces is what makes me laugh the most! 

It was a very memorable day with my friends at the farm! I am still in shock that I am actually here, after waiting all this time. This past week has been a dream come true and I am having the time of my life! 

Sláinte! 

-Libby