left my heart in Galway….
It’s been almost 10 days since my last post, but for good reason. I finally took my coveted tour du Ireland last week(end). We had a couple of days of fiesta in Spain for their Father’s day, conveniently directly after St. Patty’s Day, and took full advantage. Despite the fact that they don’t lie about the weather, it was pretty miserable, we had a few sunny days, and Ireland was the first place that I’ve visited where I could have seen myself studying abroad. The Irish are my people. They are quite possibly the most friendly and accommodating culture I’ve experienced ever, the cities and towns are quaint, but the pubs numerous, and they live everyday with one goal in mind—to enjoy it. Although I can definitely apply that to the laid back lifestyle here in Madrid, the Irish reminded me that life should be about being happy and having fun. And oh the fun we had in my 5 day Irish romp.
Everything started off great when a beer we had bought in the airport exploded in my bag while we were waiting to board the plane, and thoroughly soaked and skunked everything in my purse. After then sitting on our plane, at its gate, in Madrid for over an hour before actually taking off, we were trying to go out when we finally arrived at our surprisingly nice hostel in Dublin on what was more like Thursday morning. A few of our friends were still leftover in Dublin from St. Patty’s madness the day before, but unfortunately when we tried to contact them, we realized that NONE of our phones worked. So deciding the luck of the Irish was actually against us on Wednesday, we decided on going to sleep and starting our day of fun in Dublin at an early 9am on Thursday morning. First stop on Thursday was the Guinness Factory, and what a way to start the day! We learned about the ingredients in beer, the brewing process and had fun with the waterfall & barley samples, before we hit the tasting room and climbed up to the gravity bar for a foggy view of Dublin & our complimentary Guinness pints. Satisfied with our hometown beer experience, we headed out in chilly Dublin for a little bit more traditional sightseeing. We hit Christ Church Cathedral, St. Patrick’s Cathedral & park, the Dublin Millennium Spire and then Trinity College. We washed down a ‘toastie’ special with a Guinness at a little pub off of Dame Street called the Stag’s Head that was well worth the thorough search we put out to find it. Allie and I said goodbye to Jenna and Alex and hopped on a bus at the Busaras station for Cork!
In Cork, we were staying with gal pals Megan Maginnis (she might be a little irish) and Laurena from BC! We finally arrived at their apartment at around 11:30pm on Thursday, and when we arrived we were greeted with hugs and chocolate chip cookies, and stayed up chatting and sharing international stories and mishaps until we couldn’t keep our eyes open. It was a big girl slumber party of sorts. Laurena & Meg had a ton of work that week as it was their last week of class before their 1 month travel break prior to exams, so on Friday morning we got up and took a bus to the nearby town of Blarney when they headed for the library. Of course the draw in Blarney is the stone that gives you the gift of eloquence, as if I need any help talking, but Allie & I climbed our way to the top of the castle Blarney and kissed the stone! Blarney was filled with daffodils, rolling hills and beautiful nature walks, and we spent the afternoon wandering around the castle property before heading to a pub for a burger and some of the cute Irish shops for a little gifting. We headed back to Cork that afternoon and took a much needed nap, before all joining forces to make a taco feast in Megan’s apartment, and heading out for a night on Cork-town! Cork was an adorable quaint little Irish town that was completely walk-able and river centered, as it appeared most Irish towns were. On Saturday morning we thanked the girls and grabbed another 4 hour bus to Galway’s coastal paradise! When we arrived around 5pm on Saturday afternoon we dragged our luggage all over the city looking for our hostel. But when we finally arrived after taking an impromptu tour of Galway, the adorable little old man who owned/ran the Nimmos Hostel was hysterical! He was what I would have imagined as the face of Ireland, and couldn’t have been more accommodating or helpful! The honeymoon continued as Allie & I headed out to explore. Stop #1 was the Galway fire department, to hook my Dad up with an Irish FD patch. The men there were so friendly even when I started tearing up with the overwhelming emotion that seemed to all hit me when I walked in. It was like I was slapped in the face, and the realization that I was taking the trip that I have always known my Dad dreams about choked me up; it was at that moment that I truly realized how much of an unbelievable experience this has all been so far, and the only thing I was missing on this trip was my Dad. I hope someday we get to go back, I know how much he’ll love it and how much more he will appreciate it than even I feel like I have. After thanking them a ridiculous amount of times and apologizing for getting emotional, we went on our way…
Noticing the abundance of people in the streets, the packed club windows which I guess I didn’t think was unusual for a Saturday afternoon, but certainly didn’t anticipate, we headed into a bar that a traveling friend in Galway had recommended. The Quays (pronounced Keys) was packed with Irish rugby fans—Ireland was playing Wales in the championship of Rugby’s 6 Nations that afternoon, and we just happened to be in Ireland while this monumental event was taking place. We squeezed into the back of the club, and watched backwards, Ireland come back to win the Championship for the first time since 1948 and the history of the ‘6 nations’ (last time they won it was 4). It was a great night for Galway, a great night for Ireland, a great night to be Irish, and a great night for us to say the least. After getting a taste of authentic Irish night life on Saturday, we woke up very early on Sunday to meet our bus & experience the wondrous Cliffs of Moher. We spent the day making our way down Ireland’s west coast stopping to get out and enjoy the view at Blackhead, LeHenge, Doolin, the Cliffs of Moher and finally checking out a famous stone tomb dating back to the 4th century BC (like a mini Stonehenge) & trekking through the cool Ailwee Cave. We got back in Galway in time to catch a 6pm bus back to Dublin, checked into our hostel there, feasted on the equivalent of yummy “Johnny’s” diner food and headed off to bed, not too excited about our 5 am alarm Monday morning.
As we headed to our gate in the airport the next morning I picked up an everything bagel with cream cheese, knowing it would be the last one I would enjoy for another 8 weeks. Saying goodbye to Ireland for me was almost like leaving to go abroad all over again. I’ve adapted to life here by adopting this “learn to live without” attitude, where I’ve really tried not to think or worry about all of the things I don’t have, and focus on all the new & different things I do. However, my trip to Ireland really reminded me of all those things I’ve given up for an extended Lenten period. Everything seemed to remind me of friends or family, and it was definitely hard to go from a place where I’m once again sure of myself, back into a place where things are still sometimes lost in translation. I’ve decided that although I’ve been everything but homesick since I’ve been here, with Easter nearing, and me having crossed the halfway threshold, I miss the people that make up ‘home’ for me most right now, and I hope you know that I think about all of you everyday. It’s weird living two almost entirely disconnected lives and the process of coming ‘home’ is going to be more like a process of becoming ‘new’ I think, and somehow finding a way to bring these two distant worlds into one for me. I’ll have to make myself “learn to live without” a completely new list of people & things then too…. and although they say you can’t have it all, I feel like right now I’m extraordinarily lucky to have something very close.
Greece–Athens, Santorini, Paros & Mykonos, the dream starts THURSDAY!
B-
Is seems that every day of your incredible educational journey gets more amazing. I too hope that one day mom, sean, you and I will be able to travel the beautiful country of Ireland(and maybe play a wee bit of golf!). Thanks for the Galway FD patch, it will always be very special to me. Continue to keep that wonderful and curious openmindedness with respect to the many great cultures of Europe and we are extremely proud of your accomplishments. And until we blog again, as always, we love you and miss you very much. Be well, be safe and God bless.
love,
dad