Galway Girl

Back from Galway!! Mk and I got up at 6am Saturday morning to catch a bus to Galway, Ireland for the weekend. After a two and half hour bus ride (only 6 euro may i add) we sleepily attempted to find her cousin's university that he is studying at for the semester. So, as of now, I have met two of Mk's cousins, having dated her other one for a year now. 

Galway is on the west coast of Ireland, mostly known for its proximity to the Aran Islands and the Cliffs of Moher. It's definitely a college town, which was a nice change of scenery from the hustle bustle of Dublin. We learned our way around the town in less than half an hour, half because of its small size, and half because of how freakishly nice everybody is to us Americans and our "precious' accents. The town is set up similar to Dublin in that there is one main street with all the shopping, and then branching off of it are streets upon streets full of pubs and clubs. 

When we got there, after dropping off all our stuff at Mk's cousins place, we went straight to the city centre market, which we had read about earlier before we left. I am now in love with markets. Definitely the best way to eat on the go, everything is so cheap and as close to homemade food Ive gotten since I left home. We found this man that makes donuts for you right on the spot, then covers them in cinnamon sugar (yummy!) I swear I would make the trek all the way there again for another. 

After that, and getting a bite to eat at at pub in city centre, we went out for a night on the town Galway style. Again, the town had such a college feel. Went to a pub with live irish music and created our own pub/club crawl. Finally found Mk, who loves to meet new people as much as I do. We make friends easily from grandpas, to boys wearing batmen tshirts.

Sunday morning we took yet another early bus on a bus tour of the Burren and the Cliffs of Moher. After getting on the coach bus, we all realized that we perhaps should have done the bus tour first THEN gone out, not the other way around. Nothing a little soup and bread couldn't fix. 

The burren is this vast area of fields, except instead of grass, the whole area is covered in rock. While this sounds totally unattractive, the landscape is definitely beautiful and nothing I had ever seen before. Some people compared it to the moon, but honestly I just thought it was pretty and saw no comparison.

Under the burren, we went on a caves tour and walked around for some fresh air before we loaded back onto the bus to head to the cliffs. We all were blessed with the most perfect beautiful day. Opposite of the normal ireland countryside weather, there was not a cloud in the sky and was perfectly still with no wind. 

The cliffs are unlike any attraction in the states. At niagra falls, you pass through the visitors center, and there are sidewalks and handrails and whatnot to guide the tourists. I was dumbfounded to see no such thing here. While yes, there was a visitor's center, trails around the cliffs are made by so many people jumping a "fence" that seemed to have been put in place 100 years ago. Our tourguide said that usually he tells people to keep a realllly far distance from the cliffs due to the terribly strong winds. He said do no such thing. Its beautiful out. So we did. 

After spending an hour or two at the cliffs, our tourguide took us out to lunch at one of his favorite nearby pubs, and we made way to another castle in the countryside. Dunguaire Castle was directly on our way home on the coast of the atlantic. When we got there, it was closed for tours, but we got to wander the grounds and circle the entire castle.

St Michan's Mummies

I had never seen a mummy before, so when we heard that Madeline was taking us to St Michan's church north of the river, I was super excited. The crypts are under the church, and to get to them, we had to go outside and around the back, and crawl into a tiny staircase. They told us photography was frowned upon, but hey we couldn't resist. I'll refrain from posting most of the pictures though, because honestly they're kind of icky.

The interesting thing is that the wealthiest families in Ireland still continue to be buried there. The most popular mummy is that of a crusader, and is on display for viewing. you walk down the halls and there are rooms locked off with gates that these families own. Personally, I don't want to end up somewhere where tourists walk in and out all day, but that's just me.

Feels Like Home

We've definitely taken advantage of all the trips that our program is putting on for us here.  This past Thursday, our director Madeline took probably a hundred of us to a pub outside of Dublin to see some real Irish dancing and some local music. Best part of the night hands down, Mk was pulled onstage to dance with them, pretty sure they were just trying to embarrass her, little did they know she took lessons and competed for 10 years when she was little.

We love taking pictures with bands.

The next day we went to the Guinness storehouse, which was definitely worth the walk in the freezing cold all the way there. You basically walk around a museum dedicated to showing people why Guinness is spectacular and other beers are all a disgrace. 

At the top of the storehouse is a 180 degree bar with windows overlooking the entire city of Dublin. Despite the fact that it was packed to capacity with people, it was definitely the best view Ive seen of the city. When you order a Guinness at the bar, the bartenders shape a shamrock into the foam on the top.

After cooking for ourselves for a week, Madeline took us all out to Millstone, and treated us all to a three course meal. Hands down, the most popular soup here is vegetable soup. However, its not a broth soup with vegetables in it, to our surprise its more of like a veggie puree. Delicious though. Also here, they love to wrap everything in bacon, definitely have grown accustomed to that!

Oh My Guinness

Soo in a week in Dublin, we have discovered that there are truly only two sports in Ireland: Rugby and Guinness. As a U of I girl, this was quite a slap in the face, and have grown more accustomed to the Irish cider Bulmer's. Scottie and Tom have made themselves quite at home:

We've had some nights out in downtown Dublin, but have learned that they eat away your wallet euro by euro. The first couple nights we went out, we ventured into the Temple Bar district, which is  undoubtedly the most expensive area in Dublin (ooops). 

                           

So after a while, we've learned the student pubs and clubs. Funny, a beer garden in the states is just a concrete square outside a bar for smokers and people to get some fresh air..in Europe, you feel like you've stepped into an oasis filled with trees and waterfalls.

Some problems we've come across while studying at UCD:

1. EVERYONE has the same phone. Pay as you go. Free Irish texting. Enough Said.

              

          

2. Do NOT under ANY circumstances, ask for a "ride" home. Here, that does not mean, "Hello taxi driver, can you take me to UCD?" instead it makes you a prostitute paying THEM for services.

3. People love to graffiti historic monuments, casual display of Irish witty "craic," Gaelic for fun humor.

         

4. Teachers also love to say "craic" in class. Don't giggle.

5. Ireland also has its own Statue of Liberty, except their could fit inside our Lady's torch. According to our tourguide, the people of Ireland resent their statue because she has her back turned on her people. Good thing ours is on an island.

                          

Casual Tourist

Sooo I've finally arrived and have gotten settled :) We are staying on campus at University College Dublin, which is about a ten minute bus ride from city centre.  Love the double-decker buses, literally feels like you're going to hit everything when you turn a corner! Our first weekend, we went on a historical walking tour of Dublin, which was great to be shown around and hear a little bit of the "history," or in our case, our tour guide Liam's opinions of the horrible recent architecture.  We walked through St. Stephen's green, which is basically the central park of Dublin.

I'm still amazed that it hasn't rained yet since we have gotten here! The weather is slowly getting warmer, however I probably should have packed a winter jacket lol This past sunday we went on a day trip to Howth, Ireland, which was only about a half hour from city centre. It's a huge shipping town, but is known for Howth Castle, set on this huge golf course. (which is interesting here, you can just stroll on the course unlike in the states)

         

       

We decided to take advantage of the coastal town, and have some fish and chips. Everyone.