The Giant's Causeway

    On a recent trip to the North of Ireland, I had to opportunity to visit the Giant's Causeway. This area is filled with 40,000 interlocking basalt columns which is the result of a volcanic fissure eruption. This place was gorgeous, one of the prettiest places I have seen so far. We also went on a warm, clear day which made the whole experience even more enjoyable. When you get there, you have a few options to choose from to get down to the causeway; you could take a bus down and be there in 2 minutes. You could walk on the road to bus takes and be there in 15 minutes, or you could take the scenic route and walk down a mountain and be there in 40 minutes. I chose the long way so I could soak up as much nature as possible and it was worth every second. Being able to see the causeway from a bird's eye view made it even more spectacular. The walk down to the Causeway was very easy and filled with different angles of the coastline and the mountains surrounding us. I was also doing the walk with my friends, so the trip was filled with laughter and conversations.

    Being in nature is one of my favorite hobbies. Whether it's going on a run with my dog in my neighborhood or a hike with my friends in the woods; I love being outside. So, when I can enjoy the great outdoors with beautiful scenery, I feel like I become the best version of myself. I just feel free. Free of my problems, free of my responsibilities, free of everything that weighs me down. I just feel so present in the moment that everything else just fades away. While I was at the Giant's Causeway, I broke away from my group for a bit and ventured to the tip of landmass and sat alone to soak up to beauty I was witnessing. I took that moment alone just let all my worries wash away like the water splashing on the shore. I wish I could say I was reflecting on the trip or doing some soul searching but I wasn't. I was just in the moment, taking the time to be present in my surroundings and lettings myself stop for a second and breathe.

 

 However, this trip did remind me of William Yeats' poem The Stolen Child. In this poem, Yeats reflects a theme that nature is an escape from life. It allows a person to forget of their "worldly" problems and be present in the beauty of Mother Earth. Yeats uses a child to convey the pull of how enchanting natures beauty can be. He also uses descriptive imagery to allow the reader to picture how gorgeous the outside world is and ends each stanza with the same sentences. 

  "Come away, O human child!"

  "To the waters and the wild"

  "With a faery, hand in hand,"

  "For the world's more full of weeping than you can                understand."

    This poem tries to get a child to come into the woods by explaining how beautiful the world around them is. While at the same time telling the child that the world they are currently living in is full of cruelty and weeping. As a new adult, I now understand how harsh the world can be. As a kid the world is fill with possibility and opportunity, now I see that those things come at a price. The world can be a cruel place, but if you allow yourself little moments to feel the earth around you, all your other problems seem so much smaller. 

    The Giants' Causeway is a breathtaking experience that I highly recommend people to go to at least once in their life. However, when you go, put your phone down and find a quiet place to embrace what you're seeing. Live in the moment for as long as you possibly can because pictures will help you remember but the feelings you experience will make more of an impact than any photo ever will.