March 2nd, 2016 | Uncategorized
This past weekend, my Victory Scholar friends from the UL Huskies, Sarah Benedetti and Kelsey Harris, stayed the night with Boonie and I after our game against each other on Saturday night. On Sunday, we dragged our tired bodies out of bed to explore the nearby Comeragh Mountains, where Mahon Falls is located.
I’m not really sure how these mountains aren’t better known in Ireland because they were absolutely breathtaking. My Irish teammate Helena, who drove us yanks to see the mountains, was probably getting sick of hearing us say, “This is so beautiful!” about every five seconds. After the harrowing task of finding a parking spot, the five of us jumped out of the car to explore. The mountains were still partially covered in snow, which made them very slippery. But of course, my friends and I wanted to go up them anyway. We climbed all the way to the top of the Mahon Falls waterfall. The view from there was incredible. We were surrounded by two snowy mountain peaks, and could look straight out to see the land sloping downward until it reached the sea.
After taking a ton of pictures, we made our way back down the mountain. I don’t know if it was from the snow melting or from all the rain Ireland gets in general, but going back down the mountain was nearly impossible because of how slippery it was. I watched my friends wipe out one after another, splashing down onto the wet, muddy grass again and again. I’m pretty sure every time I laughed at them for falling, karma came around and got me back for it.
Splash!
Squelch!
Splat!
Down I went 2, 3, 4 times! Each time I fell it was harder to get up—not because it hurt, but because I was laughing so much. Near the bottom, I even stepped in mud so deep that it sucked my shoe right off my foot when I tried to step out. Some poor stranger had to help me yank the shoe out of the mud hole afterwards because it was suctioned in there so deep, while I balanced on one foot since I only had a sock on the other. Needless to say, my shoe was completely covered in mud when I got it back.
Just when we thought we were in the clear, Sarah and I hit a final muddy slope together. Sarah slid a little bit, and I may or may not have seen this and decided to give her a little nudge to test her balancing skills. Sarah was too quick though, and grabbed both of my arms so that if she went down, she was taking me with her. She was basically running in place, sliding on the mud but unable to regain her footing. I was trying to keep my balance too while she wildly hung on to me, and we eventually ended up awkwardly half-walking, half-sliding down the muddy patch together. We gave a few onlookers a good laugh, but no one was laughing harder than my friends and I.
When we finally made it to safety, we all had big wet spots on our clothes from where we wiped out. Nonetheless, the whole adventure was a blast, and I wouldn’t trade one clumsy, muddy, laughter-filled second of it for the world.
Victory Scholar: Katie Fox
Present University: Waterford IT
US League: NEC
Club/Community Partner: Waterford Wildcats
Alma Mater: St. Francis College
Sponsored by: Teamwear Ireland
