The Last Day in the Land of Rory McIlroy

As a lukewarm golf fan, the fact that I did not encounter Northern Ireland's favorite son Rory McIlroy at least once on our class excursion to his home constituent country gave me such an "aw shucks" attitude that I (and the rest of the class) decided to embark on Ireland's showcase of nature at the Giant's Causeway to cope. Located at the tip of Northern Ireland near the town of Bushmills, my only past exposure to the wondrous land formation was that of the Led Zeppelin album Houses of the Holy, whose album cover featured the hexagonal columns native to Giant's Causeway, a mystical, orange-tinted sky, and some weird humanoid-figures laying ever so casually on the rocks. Much like with Rory McIlroy, I was perplexed and disappointed to not find an orange sky, weird humanoid-figures, or any of the living band-members of Led Zeppelin, but thankfully, the geographical beauty in front of me was more than enough to overcome my lost opportunity of not seeing things beholden to the aura of Northern Ireland and its intersection with legendary rock albums and professional golfers.

The beautiful entrance to the Giant's Causeway is a sight to behold and appears to have been glaciated at one point in its time with its U-shaped valley, dark rocks, and beautiful overcast climate. Now this is Ireland for all its raw, undeterred beauty!

Even going past the geographical entrance to the Giant's Causeway is enough to understand the allure that Ireland has on tourists and native Irish citizens with its topographic beauty. As a Wisconsinite, the sight of daunting cliffs, odd rock formations, and stunning valleys is not an everyday sight for myself, and I appreciated the sight of Giant's Causeway just alone on its entrance to the park. Walking even further with the group gives you even more eye-candy, with mini-peninsulas, massive boulders acting as the shore to a non-beach area, and the hexagonal columns held dear to what the world believes the Giant's Causeway to consist of (I was of this belief as well before visiting).

Watch your step! The hexagonal columns famous to the area offer a sense of unbelievability that this is not man-made, but natural. The root of the Causeway is one of the most interesting rock formations in the world on a subjective basis.

I have seen pictures of the Giant's Causeway and its hexagonal columns before, but with all its vast landscape and grandeur, pictures simply don't give justice to the beauty on hand. While tourists are everywhere -- frankly too many tourists for my liking -- the Giant's Causeway gives tourists a challenging walk on the columns (like those pictured above), beauty to endure, and even a sense of accomplishment. While walking down to distinctive, unique rock formations isn't an accomplishment in itself, taking a difficult hike up a cliff, regardless of height, is an accomplishment in my book, as Aidan and I encountered in a daring workout after visiting the hexagonal columns. While I am not sure how high exactly the cliffs were (for confidence purposes, let's say higher in elevation than Mount Everest), this level of difficulty in a hike is not one that I have done in the past, and it was a moment of triumph when I completed the hike up the steep ascent and stairs. I have been in an athletic and active slump since I have enrolled at UWL while dealing with some personal and mental strife, and it is invigorating and stimulating to say that I still have some athletic ability with my lean calves. 

In looking back at my past, moments like climbing up the cliff with relative success are events that I must embody when I go about writing my own mini-memoir. I will likely focus on some of the psychological workings of my psyche in the days of high school and college, but areas of personal growth are important for any memoir to describe any sort of coming-of-age relative to the author of the memoir. When I reached the summit of the cliff, I felt incredibly accomplished -- an adrenaline rush of a feeling that I honestly haven't felt in years. It was a testament to believing in yourself when the going gets tough. While I stopped halfway through for a "breather", I contemplated stopping and giving up, but I knew in my righteous mind that I would be punching myself for not completing a task, even one as daunting as this.

The landing zone I encountered after I successfully summited the cliffs of Giant's Causeway. It's the little things in life that make one feel accomplished, and reaching this spot was a major fist-pump for myself.

The class walking down the entrance to Giant's Causeway, yet to be introduced to the daunting cliffs and hexagonal columns famous to the area.

The "beach" of the Giant's Causeway, essentially. Also, some faint recollections to Monument Valley (of Forrest Gump fame) near the seashore in color and formations on the cliff near the center of this picture.

While the visit to Giant's Causeway hardly represents a strong connection to class material, the effects of environmentalism for conservation of the Giant's Causeway landscape were apparent. One would imagine that Giant's Causeway has extensive environmental interest for its raw beauty and eccentric nature as rock formations, and the park has valued employees and governmental protection from the Northern Ireland Department of the Environment and global recognition from UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, so Giant's Causeway will have defense mechanisms to face off against climate change and other environmental crises that may kneecap the integrity of Giant's Causeway's beauty. The visit to Giant's Causeway was roughly my first explicit encounter with the beautiful nature of Ireland's notable landscape, and I found the visit to be very cathartic in tone for my psyche. As aforementioned, moments mirroring the visit to Giant's Causeway can lead one to be reflective in their life -- as nature has proven to do with human interactions -- and I was one who encountered the same sentiment when I climbed up the cliff. In this regard, our class trip to Giant's Causeway acts as a break from all of life's issues and drops the weight off our shoulders even for a temporary, necessary basis, and allows us to simultaneously look inward as we look out onto all the raw beauty the world offers us.