Galway

Okay, so I can't update with pictures because I didn't bring my computer with me, but I figured I would post about the first part of my spring brew now that I've left Ireland!

I left Rome on Friday morning to fly to Dublin to take a bus to Galway, where I got to visit my friend Hannah who is studying there this semester. It was so nice to see a friendly and familiar face and Galway was beautiful! Getting to the airport in Rome was interesting because there was a mixup with the bus that was supposed to take me and a few other girls to the airport and it actually left without us (if you watched the EU vs Italy video I posted in my last blog, go to the part about queues in Italy and you might understand), but we got on the next one and I was a little rushed to make my flight, but I made it so it's all good. Once I arrived in Dublin, I had to find my way to the bus that took me to Galway. It's about a three hour drive and I had to wait for about two hours to get the next bus. Luckily it was the express line, so we went most of the way without stopping and it picked me up right at the airport and dropped me off right at the bus station in Galway. Hannah met me at the bus station and it was so exciting to see her! Another one of her friends was with her and we went to grab dinner in the downtown area. They ordered pizza and pasta which I obviously get plenty of in Rome, but I was so excited because I could finally order a real dinner salad! People don't really eat salad as a meal in Italy, and I've missed it. So it wasn't a very Irish meal, but it was just what I needed!

I had been traveling all day by the time I got there, so Hannah and I just hung out at her apartment in Galway and watched a movie Friday night, because we had to be up early-ish the next morning to go on a tour of the Ciffs of Moher. She had already been before so as a student she got to go for free again, but I paid 20 euro and it was absolutely worth it. A bus came to pick us up at her apartment building and took us to the main bus station where we got on our real tour bus for the day. On the way, the bus driver was very chatty with us and was talking to us about learning Italian and Gaelic (Hannah is studying Gaelic and obviously I'm studying Italian). One thing he did tell us was that there are few recorded cases of dyslexia in native Italian speakers because Italian is such a simple and phonetic language, which I can definitely see. We were bummed that we didn't get to stay on his bus all day, because Hannah had actually had him before, but his bus was going on a different tour.

On the way to the Cliffs,we stopped at the ruins of a church, a fairy fort, Poulnabrone Dolmen, and the Burren, which is basically an area of Ireland that is a huge rocky plateau area. That was a different landscape than how I pictured Ireland, but it was beautiful and we saw sheep everywhere! I never realized I liked sheep as much as I do until I saw them all over the place in Ireland... I caved and bought a little stuffed sheep with a shamrock on it. I had to. We also stopped at a pub for lunch and I had the first burger I've had since I've left the US... it was so good to have red meat! We don't get a lot of it in Italy, and the burger definitely did not disappoint. We finally made it to the Cliffs in the afternoon, and we had absolutely perfect weather for them. It was sunny and warm... We walked around with no jackets on and just soaked up the sunshine. The water looked so blue underneath us and the views were amazing. We also climbed a tower that gave us an even better panoramic view of both sides. We definitely got lucky with the weather, because it made our trip out there so much better. I could have stayed out there for a while longer, but we had to get back on the bus and we stopped at a few more places on the way back, including a castle and something called the mini cliffs (basically just a rocky beach in the Burren).

We were pretty exhausted after that day, but we went back to the apartment and had dinner and went out to the Quays, a pub, for a bit where I had my first Guinness! It definitely did not disappoint. We didn't stay out too late, but the next day we took it easy and walked around Hannah's campus and downtown Galway and shopped. I had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for the first time since I've been abroad, which was amazing! Peanut butter is so expensive in Rome because everybody uses Nutella instead. Hannah took me to a Claddagh jewelry shop, so I bought a Claddagh ring of course! That was yesterday... It was super relaxing after our long day out at the Cliffs, but it gave me a good taste of Galway.

We went out to another pub last night. Rebel moment... I ordered another Guinness and stole the pint glass so that I could have one from Ireland! I know I could have just bought one in a souvenir shop, but it's so much more fun to say that I have one from a pub. Oops. I also tried some Jameson which surprisingly was not that bad... Not my favorite, but I understand why the Irish like it! Another friend of ours from Butler went out with us too, so that was really exciting and a good taste of home for me.

I got up this morning and had to take the bus back to Dublin. After a little confusion with the bus timetable, I finally got on the right bus and made the three hour trip back to the airport. I flew on a tiny little regional plane to Edinburgh, but now I'm here and excited to spend the next couple of days sightseeing here and visiting my friend Ellen! I'm hoping to make it out to St. Andrews on Wednesday...hopefully it won't be super cold out there! It's moments like these that make me realize I'm really abroad. I leave for London Thursday afternoon and then it's back to Rome! Ireland was amazing and I didn't want to leave, but I'm sure Edinburgh and London will be just as amazing.

PS: my apologies for any typos or autocorrect mishaps in this post... It's hard to type this out on my iPad!