Day 1/Day 2 – Planes, Buses, and Delirium.

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Galway, Ireland. Wow. It is everything I could have ever pictured it to be and more. With the beauty to rival any tourist destination, it is also a very quaint city, about 3 hrs outside of Dublin. Well worth the trek.





Traveling, although rather exciting, can be extremely exhausting, as was the case for me. We left the Birmingham Airport around 2:30 pm and didn’t arrive in Galway until 7:30 am (Ireland time). It was raining when we arrived in Dublin so we decided to catch the bus straight to Galway. Fighting sleep was the hardest part but the beauty of the landscape is captivating enough to keep anyone awake.



We reached Galway around 11:30 am and by then the delirious energy had set in. We convinced ourselves not to sleep through lunch and instead went and wandered a bit. The city is beautiful. All of the main shops, pubs, restaurants, and anything else you can imagine are all assembled on a street right off of Eyre Square, the town center. Our Galway guides say that we will be become familiar with the town in no time! I can’t wait.



The Kinlay Hostel will be our residence for the next 2 weeks. Going into this situation, I had my reserves and worries about staying in a hostel. I literally envisioned sleeping with one eye open and my computer under my pillow. To my pleasant surprise, this will not be the case! My friend Diana and I are sharing a room fit for 6 people. It has 3 bunk beds, a private bath (which has a flooding potential, I’ll update that later) and a lovely view of the city. The icing on top, it has locked doors. Thank goodness! I already feel very secure and at home here and I know it’s definitely going to be a factor in my already growing love for the city.



The biggest thing I’m nervous about is the food. Now, anyone who knows me knows that I love food and I am generally open to being adventurous with it. Well, this trip might challenge that. We ate lunch at a pub called Quay’s (pronunciation questionable). It was a very clichéd Irish eatery and I loved it. The atmosphere, the people, it was exciting! I probably ordered the most non-Irish item on the menu but I wasn’t quite ready to start on a diet of lamb 3 times a day. So the sweet and sour fried shrimp had to do. The shrimp itself, wonderful. The questionably cold pasta salad on the side, not so much. I’ve already realized though that a big part of this adventure is making mistakes. I can promise you I will order the wrong thing a few times, get lost, panic about my cell phone being missing while it’s simply in my hand, etc. From the words of Finn, our lovely hostess, “When in Rome, do as the Roman’s do.”



Dinner was an equally as lovely venue. The place was named Ard Bia. If my internet was working better, I would probably Google it to see what it means but for now, we can just pretend it’s something fancy. The meal consisted of 3 courses. I chose the lamb something-or-another, the fillet of something, and a chocolate pot. Questionable, yes. I would argue those choses were made in a state of exhaustion mixed with a serious lack of hunger, BUT I still dabbled in each course. The chocolate was the best, hands down, but chocolate always wins, no matter what country I’m in.



All in all, day 1 and 2 are kind of a blur now that I’m sitting in my hostel at 10:45 pm (it’s still slightly light out, weird). Diana wanted to go explore but looking at her right now, asleep and beyond happy about it, I think we’re going to call it a night.



Goodbye until tomorrow! J

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Comments

[Jordyn]

BA!
so very excited for you! and cant wait to read this and feel like im there too! have fun

[Molly]

Hi Daley!
I don't know if you remember me, but your Uncle Dan told me you were on this adventure and I think it's great that your mom and dad are so supportive of your passion and future career and helping you take opportunities such as this one! Hope to see you some day again, and that you have a great time!