a bit of craic

Craic. Isn't that such a good Irish word? It means a fun, enjoyable activity, but as you can probably guess it sounds exactly like crack. How did I come to learn this word? Well, it could possibly be my English is getting worse during the CELTA, so I might as well learn Irish. Or it could've been the fact that I heard one of the CELTA trainees Emma ask someone if they would "like a bit of craic."

WHAT??  For a second I seriously thought she was offering drugs. Emma? Drugs?? No way. Come to find out it is the Irish way of saying fun.

Random.

And scunnered. That is an Ulster Scot word for frustrated. I love these random words I am learning.

So, yesterday I had a bit of craic. Emma took me and the other American on the course, Michael, out for a bit of fun. We took the train from Belfast to Ballymoney and then Emma took us around to some beautiful beaches on the cost, Giant's Causeway, and Portrush. We tried to go to the Dark Hedges (I went there before the course started), but there was a bunch of runners and tourists. The so-called hedges weren't exactly amendable to being seen that day.

It was such a great and relaxing (almost) day. We did have to take a good hike back up a sizable hill (half sand, half huge steps) from one of the beaches, but it was a lovely day. We laughed a lot, made some truly terrible CELTA jokes, and of course, talked about how we are on the brink of losing our minds!

[Note: CELTA isn't that bad, but it is intense.]

Here are a few pictures from the craicy (can it be an adjective?) day:

This is the first beach we visited, Ballintoy. Some of it is actually "beachy", but it is mostly rocks and small rock pools with piles of seaweed. You can scramble on all of the rocks, which is so fun. The waves were beautiful too, cresting and crashing into the rocky shore.

Emma is a professional photographer. And that isn't a joke, that is part of what she does for a living. And her Instagram is amazing! She was so excited to take pictures of Michael and I so we could send some home to our families. She told me to look graceful on this rock...don't know if that quite worked out.

I climbed up to the top of this rock and Emma asked me to jump. Not jump off, you know, but jump for a action shot. Yep, I don't know how well you can see but that rock is most definitely NOT even. It would have been my certain death (or a broken ankle). This was another not-so-graceful attempt at being artistic. 

This is the second beach we went to and had a bit of a picnic. It was lovely and there were a load of cows enjoying the scenery as well. They were just walking up and down the beach all nonchalant-like. Emma has this fear of livestock (for a good reason), so she was trying to avoid the cows at all cost.

Here we are! Michael, Emma, and I. It was the only moment that it wasn't too windy and after I took our "selfie" (ick....I hate that word) I started to laugh since I feel like my head looks HUGE!!

Ah, standing in the cold water of the Atlantic Ocean. We were hanging out down there and Emma decided to wait to take the picture right as a wave crashed against me. It wasn't high at all, but managed to splash my bottom quite nicely. Cold buns.

This is one of the only non-full-of-people shots that I managed to get at Giant's Causeway. It is the amazing pile of the hexagonal stones, all naturally occurring! It looks completely fake, but it is real. What is even more cool is that there identical rocks right across the way in Scotland. There is a legend about a giant that built a bridge from Ireland to Scotland to visit his girlfriend, but the giant Finn McCool came along and destroyed it. 

Here is a better closeup of the rocks. 

Emma captured this for me. She is a fan of the windswept look. I laugh because that one piece of my hair looks blonde. It most definitely is not blonde. 

This just might be my favorite photo of the day. It is an absolutely breathtaking coastline with fantastic cliffs and the storm moving out to sea is just so beautiful. 

What is even better about the day? We didn't get rained on until the very end. We ate at a place called the Neptune & Prawn that served Chinese, curries, and Thai food. Oh, and steak and chicken. And chips, you can't forget the chips. The gluten free options were quite impressive. 

Overall, the day of craic was a success and very much needed.