Midnight Dip

Location:
United Kingdom

crazy, beautiful, life-changing

By Jordan Barnes

American students studying abroad get to experience life like they never have before. Of all the cities I traveled to while abroad (London, Dublin, Derry, Belfast, Edinburgh, Paris), my favorite and perhaps the most memorable was a small little town in Northern Ireland called Kilcar. Upon arriving in early morning, my group of 15 journalism students heading down a 15-minute path to a completely empty beach facing the Atlantic. The beach was beautiful, like nothing I’d seen before. Footprints covered it, but it looked as if it had been untouched frozen in time for years. The Atlantic here is crystal blue and was almost motionless.

We stayed in small house, cramped and worn, but probably the place where our group got closer than ever—and a place I remember with extreme fondness. There were only three bedrooms, each with electric sockets not quite electric enough to charge our iPods or cameras. We spent a night out with our tour guide, Aiden, at a pub where they played loud Irish violin music and we shared pints and laughter. For some reason, several of us were eagerly drawn to our little home near the shore and took cabs back to continue the night.

Once we got home, the pints had begun to kick in, we were joined by the rest of our group and Aiden and our sleepy little house became a loud Irish-American celebration. Wine was poured and then glasses were empty and soon several of us found ourselves walking that same 15-minute walk down to our now, pitch-black beach. Upon arrival, my friend Cara’s eyes met with might in a deviant lust for fun and freedom that we knew we wouldn’t be able to get away with in the years to come.

“Are we going to do this?” I asked.

“Hell yes! You only get this opportunity once,” Cara enthused, followed by “Sorry John!” to her brother as he looked the other way.

And we tossed our clothes to our too-sober-to-act-dumb roommates as the two of us darted for the water laughing and leaving behind a trail of underwear, socks and shoes behind us. Unfortunately, the run to the beach was a lot longer than we had anticipated and we seemed to be running and a Baywatch-like pace—although I doubt it looked quite as good.

We finally splashed into the water, although it was quite a few paces before we could get ourselves completely covered by the water. As Cara and I grew accustomed to the cool waters, the only two other opportunists joined us. There was nothing awkward about this either. Despite our differences and the short time we’d known each other, we knew that were meant to be doing exactly what were doing at that point in our lives.

Further Information

Travel tips: Kilcar, especially the beach, is absolutely gorgeous. Spend some time resting.

Must see/do at this place: Skinnydip.

You should avoid here: Avoid staying locked up in your hostel.

Go exploring.