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The Lesson

The worst thing a person can assume about a place is that there is nothing new. Nothing new to see. Nothing new to discover. Nothing new to learn. Ireland is a great teacher of this lesson, cloaking her secrets only to reveal them slowly and with great care. Whether the student is flirting with the edge of a Moher Cliff, snapping an aerial picture of Killarney National Park from Ladies View, or like me making footprints in the mud at Howth, Ireland will always find a way to astonish her protgs. My lesson began on a Friday in late February. I was on my own for the first time since arriving in Dublin two months ago as a student studying abroad. It was a fleeting moment of solitude where I was not merely a face in a crowd of ten other American students. After six weeks of migrating in a pod I finally could move about freely. I chose Howth because I was suffering from a serenity-deficiency and needed a tranquil escape from the rush of the city. To the tourists eye the little fishing town in northern County Dublin seems easily typed: a glorified wharf complete with bracing sea air, calming strolls along the beach and a freshly caught seafood lunch. But a person does not need a doctorate or a crystal ball to know there is more to Howth than its scaly residents, and I wanted to discover the other facets that lay away from the waterfront. I journeyed until I came to a long, gated drive. Behind the gates, manicured lawns unfurled while the wind swayed the trees, rustling the leaves like pages of Irelands textbook. I followed the drive to the parking lot of Deer Park Golf Club. At the backyard of the property a set of stairs ascend to an overgrown, wooded trail. After two months of cultivating a healthy curiosity, I wanted to know where such a random staircase led after disappearing into the

canopy of leaves. The modestly steep climb up rain-drenched steps eventually plateaued. The stairs morphed into a narrow, muddy trail which looked as though it was created more through happenstance than intentional planning. Rocks with shawls of moss protrude from the soft soil. Branches tangle and extend in a constant state of waiting. Waiting for that clumsy hiker to stumble and reach for a helping hand. Needless to say, I was grateful for their assistance. As I ventured forward the air became thick, trapped among the leaves and knitted brushwood which bowed over the trail. The senses are overwhelmed with smells of damp earth, the chorus of birds and array of color. A profusion of kelly greens and espresso browns were punctuated by the muted pinks and saturated reds of exotic, flowering trees. I continued upwards until the mud-to-rock ratio began to favor the latter. The trail started to rise at a more dramatic slope as the bright colors began to fade behind me. Just as I was about to turn back an uneasy feeling that I was trespassing somehow causing my feet to quicken their gait the brush thinned and drew back its curtain. And there it was, in all its glory. Howth. Dublins northern-most gem stretched below me in a glorious panoramic buffet of breathtaking views. Straight ahead, Howth Castle stood in iron-gray splendor against a velvet green carpet. Deer Parks golf course trundled to the left, and the rooftops of the fishing village reclined just beyond that. The Irish Sea circumscribed this portrait with a silk blue mantle. Stunned into stillness, I took a long moment to memorize each detail: seeing it, breathing it, hearing it. This was the climax of my journey and I wanted to end it with this feeling of bewilderment. However, the sense of adventure had not completely eroded away. On the climb down, smaller paths branched off from the main trail like veins from an artery, all of which offering their own special emprises. I took one, then another, all the while descending to where this fantasy began.

To say the hike was beautiful would be like calling the Cliffs of Moher steep. The description completely undermines the place. Thats what Ireland taught me. Whether the person is W.B. Yeats or a lowly college student, no one can capture the ethereal essence Ireland radiates. Though, we will never stop trying. Though, we will never stop learning.

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