Arrival:
I got to Ireland on the 28th of August. My first good view of it was from when we turned around in the plane above the English Channel, and started flying in towards Dublin for our landing. I had barely slept at all on the 8 hour flight, but I couldn't keep my feet from tapping excitedly when I saw those green hills sloping into the ocean. As the plane got lower, we could see sprawl of buildings that is Dublin and it's surrounding small suburbs, but right outside of that, we could also see a less-populated spread of hills and farmland, green and crisscrossed with fences.
The first thing I noticed about Ireland when I got off the plane was the air. It was cool, fresh, and wet. It seemed to bode well that even on the outskirts of Ireland's biggest city, the air could feel so nice.
After an hour and a half of customs and immigration, we three Concordian travelers (Erica, Suzanna and I) stumbled our way through the airport, sleepy and lost, until we somehow managed to find a bus headed straight for Galway. We paid our 15 Euro, and enjoyed about 30 minutes of free wifi until we completely conked out. I'm somewhat ashamed to say that I slept across the majority of Ireland - but nearly 2 days of being awake (between packing, goodbyes, airports, and long plane rides) will do that to you. I woke up again about 5 minutes outside of Galway. I looked outside to see, literally, sheep in a small green pasture hemmed in by low rock fences. Hello, Ireland.
It was still early when we got into town, so we Cobbers dragged our luggage onto a bus, hopped off where we were fortunately supposed to be, and checked into our apartments. The day still young, we decided to walk into town. We marched our tired bodies through the first of many 30 minute walks to campus, and beyond that 20 minutes or so to the center of town. The walk seems much shorter now, but that first one inspired me to get a bus pass. We saw much of the "must see" spots of Galway, none of which are really worth seeing. Galway isn't a place where you play connect-the-dots between 5 sites that your guidebook tells you about, to pause, take a picture, and go on your way. There isn't really anything like that. In order to enjoy Galway, you simply have to sit back, relax, and let it be. There are dozens of pubs on shop street alone, and thats where the real life is. That's not to say that all people do is get drunk (though it is a college town, when it comes to that). But the pubs seem to be the social and cultural heart of the city. That's where you can go any night of the week to listen to live music, sample a pint, and make good conversation with anyone who comes along. The Irish people live up to their notoriously friendly nature, and 90 percent of the time will start a conversation with you just because. I quickly learned my first three Irish words: "Failte," or "welcome," "slainte," or "cheers!" and "craic," or "good fun." The last took some getting used to, and I still giggle when I hear someone say "We'll have a lot of craic." Don't worry, they're not druggies... just looking for a good time.
I'll update soon with more of my good times!
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