Hello there! Sorry it took so long to post this next one. The longer I procrastinated, the more and more I forgot what happened. But I just looked in my friend’s blog to remind me =D. It’s gonna be a long one- just a warning. Two weekends ago, a group of us all decided to go to Galway for the whole weekend since everyone raves about it and there’s so much to see there. A detailed description of every day follows:
Day 1: The bus ride wasn’t too bad- just 3 and a half hours. We arrived at the hostel and ate our packed PB&J sandwiches and apples and left to meet up with one of the Marist girl’s friends who was studying abroad there. We went to the grocery store and all split a big pasta and garlic bread meal for 2 euro each that we were going to cook in the friend’s apartment. We also split stuff for breakfast and dinner the next night saving probably around 20 euro on food if we went out to eat for every meal. (I’m very proud of our poor student tactics we’ve been taking to save money =)) After dinner, we watched our favorite Irish dating game show, Take Me Out, and then headed back to the hostel to get ready to go out. We ended up going to 2 bars with live bands which were really fun.
Day 2: The next morning we woke up early to go on what we thought was a pretty cheap bus tour of many different sights, the main one being the Cliffs of Mohr. We drove about 30 minutes listening to Bill, the tour guide/bus driver crack corny jokes and tell us interesting things about sheep and castles. We stopped first at the Aillwee Caves which the only thing I can remember about them were that they were old caves. However, it cost an extra 5 euro, so naturally we chose not to see them. Instead, we went to do a little exploring on our own. We saw a sign for a Woodland Walk, which ended up being a half mile of a circle of tree stumps with creepy men carved into them. But we had fun anyway (see picture below)
We then saw this cool rock mountain thing across the parking lot that we decided to climb somewhat gracefully. The view was really cool.
We then hopped back on the bus and headed to another photo stop called the Poulnabrone, or the Portal Tomb. It looked like a small version of the Stone Hedge. And there, I also made friends with a horse.
We finally headed to the Cliffs of Mohr, which was incredible. The view was amazing and even though it was freezing up there, I’m glad it was a clear, dry day. We took about a trillion pictures after we climbed over a wall to stand on some illegal section of the cliffs which we should have been afraid of after all the stories Bill told us about the people that fell over. We took in the stunning sights and went back on the bus to continue our day.
We stopped at a photostop Ballyreen which was a mini version of the Cliffs of Mohr, but still pretty because it was during the sunset.
We got back on the bus once again and began nodding our heads out of exhaustion. But then something interesting happened. While Bill was explaining every detail of everything we passed, he pointed out that there was a cow lying down on its side which is strange to see. He put the bus into reverse to observe the cow, said “I don’t think she’s breathing, I think she died. It was probably during giving birth.” Pauses, stares some more and says “Yep, she’s not breathing, let’s go find the farmer so he knows.” We stopped at the next house and Bill demands his whipped tour guide in training to go to the door and tell the farmer. He finds out he’s not the right farmer so he goes door to door to find the correct one but ends up leaving a message with a worker at 7-11 type shop. We found it so strange to see people really going out of their way to inform the farmer of the dead cow. If this was a bus tour of the farms of New Jersey, the cow would have probably never even been noticed. This is one of the big differences I see between Irish and American people.
We FINALLY get back to the hostel, take a nap, eat our ready-made pizzas from the grocery store, and are reenergized for another night out. We went to another bar with a really fun live band who played awesome covers. We all took shots of what we were told we had to get while in Galway. They were called Baby Guinness’s. It was chocolaty Guinness goodness. I also ran into my friend Megan from home who is studying abroad in London but was visiting her friend in Galway for the weekend. I would call that a successful night.
Day 3: We woke up at the last minute possible before we had to check out of our hostel, after having a terrible night’s sleep because one of the guys staying in the same room was getting sick all night in the bathroom (I received this virus 2 days later). We went out to do some exploring on the streets of Galway. Because it was Sunday, the entire town seemed abandoned. (The whole country shuts down on Sunday and then necessary shops open around noon)
We walked over to the Spanish Arch which was pretty hyped up because of its historical significance but it was pretty puny. We headed over to Salthill which was the beach on the coat and it was beautiful. There were palm trees (which are everywhere in Ireland anyway) and docks. The smell reminded me of the Jersey Shore and it gave me a little taste of home.
We then went to lunch at a café (our first meal out might I add) which we had 20% off coupons for =) It was deliciousss!
Then we headed home and slept until now. That’s really why I didn’t post this until today =)
