Galway!

Ok, here goes a really fast summary of the last 2 days!

Yesterday was basically a free day. We woke up at Jacobs Inn and then we went to see the Book of Kells at Trinity College, which was pretty interesting. In the upstairs of the building that holds the Book of Kells is this gorgeous library with tons of beautiful books and busts of writers and other contributors to society, and it also has a really interesting display of books that have contributed to Ireland’s history. It was really fun to see that and read the same pages that people read hundreds of years ago.

After the Book of Kells, I went to lunch with a couple of people and we had some fun window shopping too. Then we headed back to the hostel and I finished up some homework that needed to be done and we had a really interesting meeting about what we thought the class was about for us. It was a long and intense meeting, but it definitely was needed. After the meeting, we hung out for a while, had some dinner, and then we went out to The Celt (IRA bar again) and listened to some music from the same band that was there the last time we went. They were so fun! Then we went back to the hostel and ended up talking until 3 am…I ended up getting all of 2 hours of sleep, which I’m definitely feeling right now. Oh, wow, I’m surprised I’m still awake! The conversation and the rest of today were totally worth it though.

Today we left for Galway…REALLY early. We caught the bus at 7am…which means we left the hostel at 5:45…in the morning…yyyeeaaaahhhh…and yet, it’s 11:15 and I’m still awake! Woot! So anyways, we got on the bus at 7 and it was Hannah, Tony, Jacque and I. We drove the few hours to the Galway bus station and then got on our tour bus for the day – our driver was Desmond and he was absolutely hilarious. He was probably 75 years old and has been doing that tour for 20 years, and is firmly planted in the “I’m old, I can say what I want” camp. He was telling us the story of the claddagh ring and then he started telling us about how after his tour men often propose to their girlfriends at the Cliffs of Moher with a claddagh ring. Then he told us that if our men propose to us at the Cliffs and we want to say no, we should “run like holy hell” away from the cliffs so they don’t throw us over! He was an interesting character, to say the least. So today we saw a bunch of tomb-like structures, Celtic crosses, rock formations, and all that fun stuff – I took a TON of pictures. We also “saw” the Cliffs of Mohr…by that I mean that we saw an enormous amount of fog in front of the cliffs. Today was not observing weather. It was kind of disappointing, but at the same time I feel like what I’ve already gotten to experience of Ireland has been such a blessing that missing one thing won’t even touch the experience as a whole. I love this place.

So right now we’re in Galway at a hostel. We went out and got some really good pizza once we got back from the tour – it was amazing! Then we went to the oldest pub in Galway (The King’s Head) to listen to some music. There was a band there called “The Elastic Band”, and basically they played covers of American songs and then they played Galway Girl (because let’s face it, what is a night out if you don’t hear that song? LOVE it!). After we heard them, we went back to the hostel and talked for quite a while, and now it’s bedtime. Two hours of sleep won’t cut it tonight!

Love,

Amanda