On Tuesday we went to Galway with our entire group and took a bus tour around the city. We saw the Claddagh village where the first rings were made, we drove along the coast of Galway bay, saw the city from a hill, were shown some of the historical sites, and where to shop and eat.
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| Galway from on top of the hill |
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| Eyre Square |
We separated into smaller groups to walk around and have lunch. There is a small area with streets that are for pedestrians only with stores and pubs. Macaela, Ben, Patrick and I walked around to see what there was and went into a few stores. There is the jewelry shop that were the first to make the claddagh ring.
The rings from this jeweler are slightly different than all other rings because no one can copy their design. The heart is a little more elongated. The rings range from 30 Euro to thousands depending on the gold and the jewels inside.
After shopping a little we were hungry so we looked around for a place that seemed good. We went to a pub called the Front Door and it was really cool inside. The wood was all dark and the walls looked like an old stone cave and there were lots of rooms with a few tables in each. It was about noon when we were there and the place was empty. When we left a few hours later it was a little busier but not much! We figured they just don't eat out at that time very often. I had fish and chips which was alright, and the other three had a seafood chowder which they said was amazing.
After lunch and shopping we went to Dunnes, the local grocery store. We were a little stressed out and confused about what we should buy since none of us have every had to fully cook for ourselves. We managed to keep our costs pretty low and we got a lot of good food! Our groceries were way too heavy to carry all the way to the bus and my neck is still a little sore. Erin and I also made a last minute decision to buy a hair straightener after my blowdryer blew out and broke my converter the day before.
The next morning we had a Gaelic language class taught by Jane Marie, one of the owners of the Park Lodge Hotel. We learned how to say a few things like greetings and weather. Spiddal is a small Irish town of about 1500 people and Jane Marie said they all speak Gailic. The kids go to a school where everything is in Gailic and some of the employees at the hotel have spoken to us in Gailic. Its extremely difficult because none of the words sound like how they are spelled. For example, BHFUIL is pronouned "will."
Tuesday night we had some friends over to our cottage and then walked to Spiddal to check out the pubs there. We went to a bar called Tubbers with almost our entire group. There were three people in the pub from Manchester and it was Glenn's 62nd birthday. There were also two younger boys from Spiddal that Sarah and I talked to for a little bit about when the fun nights are in town. He told us that Galway is a lot of fun on the weekends but since it was Tuesday, it was pretty empty in there.
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| Some of the Girls at the pub in Spiddal |
I had my first Guinness at Tubbers and it was MUCH better than the one I had at home with my mom this summer; I actually liked it!
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| Abby and I with our Guinness |
Instead of walking back, a few of us called the local hackney, Rory. I was so glad we didn't walk all the way back in the cold rain!
The next two mornings we had Conversational Irish class with Jane Marie and on Wednesday afternoon we had Irish dance class. Wednesday and Thursday we walked to Spiddal, its about two miles. We got a few groceries at the local Spar and checked out the town. It rains on and off here but the walk is beautiful, we're right on the ocean!
Thursday night we went out in Galway and all of the people in the pub could tell we were American right away. Its much different than living in St. Joe where all of the people we would see out are college students. There were people of all ages, and there were a lot more older people than we expected to see. We went to a few pubs and ended up at a really fun one called King's Head where they played live music.
Today we had our last conversational Irish class and afterwards Kate and I took a cooking class with Geraldine and two other people from each college. First me made all different kinds of scones. Some had chocolate chips, some had apricots, some had cheese, and some had raisins. Then we made lasagna and chili for tomorrow.
In the morning we are going to the Aran islands, one of the places everyone has been telling me to go to! There is an old fort there called Inis Mor and I've heard its beautiful and I'm looking forward to it!
SLÁN
GO FÓILL - Goodbye for now!
