Exploring the city

The past week we have done a lot of walking and exploring of Galway.  This is probably going to be completely based on where we ate (and drank) this week because it's such a big part of Irish culture (and I'm obsessed with food...) So once we finally got into our apartments at Donegan Court we were all completely exhausted and jet-lagged.  I obviously could have easily passed out because it was about 4am U.S. time and I had only gotten a little bit of sleep on the plane and bus.  But... the little voice of Jeffrey Crothers popped into my head telling me I had to stay up so that I could get on schedule for the rest of the week.  

Realizing none of us had eaten in awhile, Kelsey, Allison, Amanda, Kelley, Pat, Mike and I set off in search of somewhere to eat.  We stopped at a tiny little pub on the street next to us called E. Brun because they had a sign advertising a soup and sandwich deal for 5 euro.  The bar was small and a little dingy, you could tell everyone in there was a regular or family, and they were all at least 60 years old.  There weren't even menus and the woman that served us reminded everyone of a warm grandma.  I got a ham, cheese, and onion toastie (warm sandwich) with vegetable soup and irish soda bread.  It was deliiiiicious and just what we needed at the time.  

We then set off to find some bedding and essentials because when we got to the apartment it was FREEEZZZING and we didn't even have a blanket. We went into Dunnes Stores (they have everything from clothing to groceries) and found us some pillows and blankets.  We felt like HUGE tourists walking back with all of our stuff back to our apartment.  It was kinda funny though.  All of the stores and shops and pubs are along Shop Street.  It's really pretty and European looking because it's all cobblestones and just a walking street.  

Once we got back around 3 it really hit me and I took a nap for 2 or 3 hours.  It felt good but I had to force myself to wake up because I could have slept through the night.  Kelsey, Allison and I then made ourselves get up and walk back into town to try and get more stuff and get some food in us.  As we walked there it started PORING rain which is something we definitely have to get used to! It was a national holiday so all of the stores were closed by then, so we met up with Pat and Mike for a drink at Tig Coili.  We ended up picking that bar just because as we were walking by we heard traditional Irish music so it seemed like the right thing to do! I had my first guiness there and we listened to some great music.  Every once in a while the bartender would pound his hand on the bar and everyone would go silent.  The man in the corner would start singing a very Irish song with no background music at all.  It was a really cool experience for my first Irish pub!

That night we also went to The Kings Head for some more music and a pint of Bulmers (cider) where they played some American songs and Galway Girl (I think they were making fun of us a little bit.) We also tried out The Quays for some more music.  The Quays used to be a church  so the architecture is really unique and beautiful.  It was a really fun first night to just explore Galway and try out some of the pubs.

Goodbye NH! Hellooooooo Galway.

I'm hereeeee!! It has been a very long 4 days.  But AMAZING already. I guess I'll start from the very beginning... I had a nice dinner at Jumpin Jays with my parents the night before leaving and said goodbye to friends. 

Traveling the next day was very tiring, but was fun because there was a big group of us.  I met up with Ali, Jen, and Kim from Fairfield in Boston and we all hopped the plane to JFK together. We had a nice 6 hour layover in JFK but it went by pretty fast since it's such a big airport!! Then we found Pat, Kelsey, Meghan, Amanda, and Kelley near the terminal, so our group was growing. I somehow got seated next to my friend Pat (nickname=Yellow) on the plane ride over so we played some magical games of battleship on the personal TV screens in our seats (I obviously won). The plane wasn't that crowded so we were all able to sit pretty close to each other.  I had my first legal alcoholic drink as we were flying over international waters.  We each got a little glass of wine and a cider (yummmyyy.) Sleeping was pretty hard for me on the plane but I think I got a couple hours in.  We fiiiiiinally landed in the Shannon airport and luckily made it through immigration and got our luggage with no problem. We missed the first bus by about a minute so we waited around for an hour.... what a perfect time for my first beer in Ireland!!! You know you're in Ireland when they pour you a beer at 7am no questions asked. 

We hopped the bus from Shannon to Galway for 12 euro and made it there in about an hour and a half.  The walk from the bus station to our apartment isn't that far, but we all took cabs because we had a looooot of luggage.  Kels and I got in the cab and accidently went to Dungan Court instead of Donegan Court... oops! Little misunderstanding but the cab driver was nice about it.  We had finally made it to our apartments! This is my apartment (the top 2 levels.)

I'll take more pics later of the inside and everything but I must say it is a lovely accomodation!