Carrowkeel

High atop a quiet and seldom-traveled Irish hill sits the home of several 5,000 old passage tombs known as Carrowkeel. 

For a small group of students who braved the rain and left the beaten path (literally) to join archaeologist Sam Moore at his "favorite place on Earth," it was a life-altering experience.

We learned about the history, geology, anthropology, and archaeology of the area.  But it was the intangible that had the biggest impact on us, we agreed -- the sense of time and connectivity that pervades the place, which is especially strong once you climb inside one of the tombs.

And the veiws aren't so bad, either...