The Beginning of My Irish Adventures (Week 1: Aug. 31 - Sept. 8)

Hello all! I apologize for the tardiness of updating my blog, but that just means that I have been very busy getting acclimated to life in Ireland.

I guess I'll start off with recounting my travels. Well, luckily I didn't have to quickly rearrange any clothes, etc. from my luggage, seeing as it was all underweight! That could be a good thing...or a bad thing. After a smooth flight to Philly, I overcame my sadness and moved on to the feeling of excitement in a new place. On Tuesday September 1, I arrived bright and early in Dublin. No problems going through security, seeing as I look Irish yet act American (a.k.a., clueless and spellbound). Since my plane landed early in the morning and my bus to Galway didn't leave until later in the morning, I got some breakfast and a book on Ireland and read up on different places to go see during my stay. Once it was time for the bus to depart, I feel asleep straightaway since I didn't really sleep on the plane. When I woke up, I was surprised to see the very green and lush countryside, with TONS of sunshine! Definitely not the stereotypical image of Irish weather.

I arrived at my apartment building, Cuirt na Coribe, and just so happened to be greeted by two of my Richmond apartment-mates, Jeannie and Bryeanna. There are six of us total in our apartment: four from Richmond, a Belgian, and a German. My bedroom is very small, but nice; I also have my own bathroom which is baller. I made up my bed, complete with Biggie Bunny and my Keystone blanket, two comfort objects from home. Jeannie, Bryeanna and I went to our in-complex restaurant, Scotty's Steakhouse. It was kind of like an Applebee's or something like that, so no Irish food to begin our adventures. Since we were all very tired from traveling, we watched the movie, Love Story, a classic. We decided we would need it to rest up for the next day. Yes, in other words, we were being L-A-M-E, laaaame. Oh well.

On September 2, Kaitlin, our fourth Richmonder, arrived. It started off as a typical rainy day, and of course there were many errands to run. Luckily, we have a lot of stores close to our apartment. There is a Target-esque type of store right across from our apartment, Dunnes. It has almost everything you need: bedding, clothes, groceries, alcohol...ha ha. We have been taking many trips to Dunnes. We had a somewhat of a lazy day, just getting used to apartment life, which of course included watching MTV UK, once our TV was fixed. But we did manage to make it out that night! After drinking some very cheap wine, we trekked out to Shop Street, the center of Galway cultural and nightlife. First we went to King's Head, one of Galway's oldest pubs, established in the mid-1600s. There, we had our first Irish shots--"Butterballs", which tasted like a Bailey's concoction. I also had my first true Guinness there! Guinness is very thick, but not as bad as many people made it out to seem. We saw some of the other Richmond kids there too. Then we went around to Monroe's to meet up with some of Bryeanna's friends from home. Both King's Head and Monroe's had fun bands playing both traditional Irish music and covers of American songs.

The next day we were all up early for the International Students Welcome on campus. It was actually held in their newly-remodeled wellness center, the Kingfisher Club, located right on the River Corrib. The presentation covered everything from classes, to setting up an Irish bank account, to the all-important (and a tad bit intimidating) registering with the Irish immigration organization, Garda. It was a very long and boooooorrring day, starting at 9:30 a.m. and ending right around 1:30 p.m., with no lunch! It was kind of like freshman orientation all over again. It was also weird being called an "international student." After that, we walked around campus and took a tour. It was interesting to see what an European college campus looks like. For example, most of the lecture halls are all located in one main building. Later that day, Jeannie and Kaitlin cooked pasta and made a salad for us for dinner.

On Friday, I went to several academic meetings that gave a general overview of what classes are like, when they are, where they meet, etc. I went to the English, History and Sociological course selection meetings. After those let out, I did a bit more exploring of campus, and then headed into the City Centre from campus. You know, doing the whole tourist-y thing, snappin' pics for Facebook (shameless plug: y'all should check out ma pics on my Facebook if you want some visuals for this blog). That night Bryeanna and I made fajitas for everyone for dinner. We had some issues with cutting the chicken, peppers and onions--our "vegetable cutting knife" is duller than most of the TV shows shown on trans-Atlantic flights. After dinner, we went to King's Head again to start off, then to Coyotes, an American bar. It was...interesting. They had tons of Americana decor, American flags everywhere and even a mechanical bull!  We think that more Europeans like going there if they can't get over to "Amurrica". After taking in some of the homeland, we started heading home through Eyre Square, and we came across another pub, Fibber Magees. We hung out there for a bit and then came back.

We all got a later start on Saturday, taking full advantage of sleeping in on a weekend. Since we didn't have any plans, we decided to go exploring even more and do a bit of window-shopping. We walked downtown through Shop Street again, but this time we actually went into the shops on the street. There are a ton of sweater shops, selling the famed Aran Island woolen sweaters. Another typical product sold along Shop Street is the Claddagh Ring, the ring where there are two hands holding a heart with a crown upon it. These two will DEFINITELY make my Christmas Wish List... We continued on down through Shop Street, down by the Latin Quarter where the Spanish Arch and Medieval Wall are located, right along the water. There are many memorials dedicated to those, mainly fishermen, who were lost at sea. The area down where the River Corrib meets Galway Bay is called "The Claddagh", hence the name of the rings. So we adventured on down to the Bay. It was beautiful, despite the cloudy and windy conditions. The trip down there helped spark our interest in booking a trip to the Aran Islands. Since we decided to go down on the trip the next day, we stayed in and watched TV. It may sound like all we have been doing is watching TV and being lazy, but that is far from it! We walk everywhere. Plus, the Irish kids had not yet arrived, so it was mainly locals and internationals out at the pubs and clubs.

Sunday was the day of our big adventure. We had to wake up fairly early in order to catch our bus from Eyre Square to the ferry. The Aran Islands are famous for their woolen sweaters that come in many different knit designs, and for their fishing. It is still very much a fisherman's area. There are three different islands: Inis Mor, Inis Meain and Inis Oirr. We left our apartment around 8:45 a.m. to head to the bus station to check in for our bus from Galway to Ros a Mhil, where our ferry was to depart.  It was a very rainy, windy, wet and cold day for our trip, but we decided to make the most of it. We decided to only go to Inis Mor, the largest and most populated island. When we arrived, we immediately went to the Aran sweater market and museum to look around. No purchases, but lots of fun trying the sweaters on and seeing which style suited us best. Then, due to the torrential downpour and whipping winds, we decided to take a bus tour around the island. We saw lots of countryside, with many of the common lands fenced off by stone walls that have been around for hundreds of years. On of our first stops was at a seal colony on the coast of the island. Sadly, we only saw one lone seal perched atop a rock. We also passed the ancient monastery, Cill Mhuirbhigh. The Aran Islands speak Irish (yes, Irish, not Gaelic) and English, but it is one of the last remaining Irish-speaking communities. Most of these Irish-speaking communities are located in Southwest Connemara, the heart of the Galway Gaeltacht. Our bus stopped for a long time at Dun Aonghasa, an ancient fort in which it used to be circular, but half of it fell away into the sea since it was made of limestone. It was a treacherous climb with the wind and biting mist to reach the top of the fortress, but we made it! It was a nice view from the top, looking out into the water. Once we completed our descent, we went into another sweater and craft shop after we ate lunch in the village located at the base of Dun Aonghasa. It served traditional Irish food, but since it was such a cold day, we all opted for the hearty vegetable soup and the brown bread. In Ireland, "brown bread" means wheat bread. The brown bread and butter was very delicious with the soup. The soup was nice to warm us up before heading back out into the wet and cold. When we arrived back near the ferry, we headed into another pub to warm up again with some hot chocolate and coffee. After taking naps on the ferry and bus, we arrived back in Galway City and went home to prepare for the first day of school.

Monday. The first day of school. Right? Well, technically... But most of us had to register with NUI Galway since the online registration was a big FAIL. Unfortunately, I got a later start that most, which was ominous for a not-so-stellar day. First, a button broke off on a brand-new shirt, but luckily I am a former Girl Scout and thus was able to make a makeshift button out of a thumb-tack, notecard and tape. Then I headed to campus to register. I had to wait in what seemed like a never-ending line. Like the line for the "Rock n' Rollercoaster" at MGM in Disney World was probably shorter than this one! Legit, this line was about two hours long, at least. But it wasn't too bad because I met two girls who go to Georgetowne who were nice. So I registered and got my student ID card. It was a great picture! NOT. But not as bad as my current driver's license or passport photo, so yay for me! Then I went to the International Affairs Office to get a letter to set up my Bank of Ireland account. I must not have been the only one who thought that this was a good idea, for there was yet another long line. But this line wasn't as long, probably as long as the line at D-Hall is at prime-time on Saturday morning for brunch. Manageable. I set up my bank account and deposited my traveler's cheques...score! I was going to join the gym on-campus, but I have to wait until I get my new bank card to do that. That night we decided that it was a much needed to go out and have a happy ending to a boring and stressful day. First we went to The Quays, another typically tourist-y pub. It was really cool inside because there are a lot of nooks and crannies to hang out in. After The Quays, we made our way back to King's Head and met some Irish guys there. These guys were a little bit older than us (like 23, 24) and they were grad students at NUI Galway. They bought us drinks and paid for us to get into the club CP's, so that was nice, saving some dolla dolla bills (or I guess I should say some 1 Euro coins yeaaaaaah). It was a fun night to start off a new week.

Tuesday was our first "real" day of class. Well, it started off not so well, considering that it was rainy and we got lost and confused about finding our first class...FAIL. I went home for lunch and a nap before our second attempt to our first class. We went to "The Irish Emigrant Experience," a history class. It seems very interesting. According to the locals, Tuesday is Gay Night, so it is not a very big going-out night. We went to Sonny's/The Front Door Pub for dinner. I had a chicken Caesar salad, but it was very bland. Oh well, note to self: no need in ordering that again. Since I have a lot of Wednesday classes, as do the other girls, we came back and went to bed early to get ready for school the next day.

That about wraps up Week 1 (official week, from Tuesday to Tuesday, ha ha). I hope it wasn't too long or too boring for y'all. Until next time! May your days be sunny and warm, like Galway is right now, a nice break from the erratic wind and rain.