Above Photo: "Kayla on the rocks"

Day one: Laura Hughes.

This place is poetry.
It is music.
It is the sun and the cloudless blue sky,
a phenomenal first impression for those who have never seen the splendor that is Ireland on a sunny day.
It is the fresh sea air in your lungs and tossing through your hair, peeling back the layers of stress and grime acquired on the long journey of taxis, buses, airplanes, more airplanes, forgotten and misplaced luggage, delays, waiting, and more buses... exhaustion.

It is the feeling that you were meant to be here somehow, and that it was all worth it.

It is the hills that touch the clouds, that make you want to run even though your tired legs felt immobile a minute before.
It is the people who go out of the way to brighten up your room and make you feel at home.

It is the feeling you get, as you sit on the rocks facing an irish sea and an irish sun, that your heart and your soul are both completely alive and completely at peace.

It is the feeling that you needed this, and you need to be here.

This place is the inspiring, breathtaking beauty that you desperately try to catch with your camera.
It is the wish that those back home, or those who have not known peace for some time, could see what your eyes are seeing
... as even your fancy camera could never do it justice.

It is the strange feeling of unity and camaraderie with people you barely even know, but know that you will know, and come to hold dear in your heart.

... right next to your mental picture of rocks and sea and sun and...

green.

This place is Corrymeela, Ballycastle, Northern Ireland... and we are apart of it now.













(above photos, from top to bottom: One of the corrymeela buildings/Sarah and Alissa finding treasures/tidepools on the beach/Robbie exploring the beach/some of the group enjoying the weather/Some of the group enjoying the view/The sun setting on a beautiful day)