ACU COBA in Oxford 2010 (unofficial blog)

Saturday, after our early, hectic flight to Cork, Ireland, a few friends and I decided to go visit Blarney Castle right outside of Cork. Our friendly cab driver was happy to take us out there and acted as a tour guide to us as we made the short trip through town. We were in awe as we drove through the beautiful green hills and finally arrived at the Castle. Because of our early flight, we were some of the first to enter the castle grounds that day, making us feel like we had the entire place to ourselves for discovery. We crawled through the narrow tunnels of the dungeon and took pictures on the bridge by the stream that ran by the castle before making our way to the top. From outside on the bottom of the castle, you can see high up on a ledge on the top, the couple of bars that are supposed to protect anyone from falling when kissing the legendary Blarney Stone. As we made our way up the tiny stairways and went through the small stone rooms, I couldn’t help but think that this would not pass city codes back in Abilene. Finally we reached the top where, the views were unbelievable. We walked over to a nice Irish man that was waiting to lower us down (upside-down and backwards) to kiss the magical stone that was hidden in the castle in the 1400’s but had been around much longer than that. Looking down before I kissed the stone might have been a bad idea, but it made it even more worth it afterwards. I can now say that I have been given the “gift of gab” which gives me the gift of eloquent speaking. Kissing the Blarney Stone, and more importantly exploring the beautiful fern garden, poison garden, castle, and other grounds of Blarney Castle has been my favorite European experience yet.

-Tyler Sutphen (6/7/2010)