They (sometimes) call me "Eyes That Pierce Death"

         So it seems I have many untapped talents, amongst them clay pigeon shooting. Fo seriousness. IFSA went this weekend to Killary, an outdoor adventure center in Connemara, in the buttcrack of nowhere. It was supposed to be pretty miserable, so imagine our surprise when it was sunny and warm and some of the most beautiful days I’ve seen in Ireland thus far. It’s located in a valley, surrounded by snow-capped mountains and right on a lake. Zomg the view in the morning was unbelievable! The night we got there we moved into our rooms, which had BUNKBEDS. I felt like I was at a 5^th grade sleepover haha. The staff put on a pub quiz that night that included lots of challenges and random questions. At one point we had to showcase a talent, and apparently no one else in my group had one so I had to burp the alphabet. Oy…embarrassing yet hilarious! And we came in second too!! I won a copy of In Bruges, one of the most awesome movies ever. Anyway, it was full of insanity and yelling and lots of crossdressing.

The girls and I signed up for archery and clay pigeon shooting in the morning, along with two guys from the Galway group and an IFSA leader. The guys made bets but we were pretty convinced none of us would do well so we didn't haha. Turns out I outshot them all…aw yeah hand-eye coordination. So obvs my future career is to be a sniper lol. Our group was really great, making fun of my inherent ability to kill or maim, and how gingers have no souls. Archery was next, though I didn’t really do great at that. Guns are clearly my specialty…INSERT SARCASM FONT HERE. But I had a really fun time, actually, and totally wanna do clay pigeon shooting again. The IFSA leader, Geoff, was really good at archery, and apparently I gave him a really dirty look (I didn’t mean to, I swear!!) so they named me “Eyes That Pierce Death.” We had a really great time—I don’t think it would have been as awesome with other people who didn’t joke all the time. Good craic, right there.

         They fed us really really well there…veg soup, oatmeal bars, and lots of fruit. I haven’t been that healthy in months :P The afternoon was high ropes and outdoor laser tag in the effing mud. Alyssa and I had to stack two towers of beer crates as high as we could while standing on them, obvs attached to harnesses. Yeah, have I mentioned I don’t like heights? I really only wanted to do the laser tag, and was hoping to skip the high ropes haha, but it actually was pretty fun. I think I’m getting over it, a little bit. We managed to get to 11 crates high before we overbalanced; Alyssa and I were holding onto each other to balance and catch the crates as the others threw them up and so when one fell we both did. Best part was that we also got to be the anchors for other people, basically keeping their ropes tight to keep them from falling. The girls from Galway were pretty hilarious…we kept laughing about how we put our lives in each others hands.

         Laser tag was insane cause we were outside in this bog running around in camo trying to hit these little sensors on people’s heads. I was running trying to get away from Alyssa and I stepped in a knee-deep mud pit but I kept going, except my shoe didn’t come with me. So after a lot of tugging, I manage to get my shoe out, except Alyssa’s coming after me so I start running across the bog in my sock carrying my shoe full of mud. I ended up dying pretty quickly after that anyway haha—the gun made an awesome WOARGH noise as I died. Apparently my skill with rifles does not extend to laser guns. So sad :( Ugh my shoes and pants were horrific after that. The rest of the time was pretty chill..there was a slightly awkward dance party that night, I did zip line the next morning but it was gross out, and then we finally took the 6 hour bus ride back home. Epic weekend, but good to be home and clean haha.

Slán go fóill!