That evening we took a bus back to the hotel and enjoyed an awesome three course meal, courtesy of DBS. And, something that was completely unexpected, Elizabeth walked around and gave each of us 20 euro for the trip (courtesy of DBS). Needless to say, because it was the 250th anniversary of Arthur Guinness (obviously a HUGE deal here), many of us spent our first 2.50 euro on a pint to celebrate. After dinner, we relaxed in the rooms for awhile (we had TV! it's been weeks since I've watched any TV!) and then went out for our first night in Galway. We found a really great pub called Fibber Macgees, and we were happy to see that pint prices were about half of what they are in Dublin. After Fibber Macgees the girls all wanted to dance, and we found a great club called Coyote to dance the rest of the night away.
Friday we took a 2 hour bus-ride with our charming driver, Bart, to Connemara. There, we saw Kylemoore Abbey, which basically looks like a postcard, no matter how you look at it. There were beautiful views all around the abbey, and we stopped for many photo-ops. Let me tell you though, the roads to Kylemoore Abbey were not the kindest. Even after getting off the bus I couldn't quite shake the feeling of swaying side to side, like we had on all the narrow, bumpy, country roads. For the views, though, it was worth it.
Saturday was my favorite day. We woke up early for a huge buffet breakfast in the hotel (it gave Colonnades a run for it's money... and I've definitely been craving Colonnades brunch!), and then boarded the bus again to go to the ferry. We took a 45 minute ferry ride to Inis Mor (pronounced inish more), the largest of the Aran Islands. There are only 800 habitants on the island, many of whom speak only Irish (gaelic). It was really cool to see a place that really hasn't been touched by urbanization/globalization like most of the other places we'd seen. Once we got to the island, we boarded mini-busses, and that was an experience by itself. Our driver loved the puns, which rubbed off on us, especially when he let us look around in a cemetery that he told us "people are dyin' to get into". After that we were dropped off at Dun Aengus, so we could see the cliffs. We paid the euro fee to get in, and hiked up to the top of the cliffs. The views at the top were UNBELIEVEABLE. The top of the cliff is pretty much scattered with mostly flat rocks, and you can walk right up to the edge and look down 250 ft. to the water below. Literally, you can stand right at the edge. Or, in my case, lay on your stomach and inch yourself forward, bit by bit, until I could look over the edge because I am far to afraid of heights to trust myself standing right there. We stayed up there for awhile, just wandering around, taking in the views, and laying on the edge of the cliff. And even though it was a little cloudy, the views were like nothing I've ever seen (in real life) before. After we'd seen all we liked, we had a great lunch of paninis and scones, before taking our ferry and bus journey back to Galway.
Sunday, we woke up for another great breakfast, and took our time moseying back to Dublin via Bart's mini-bus. Most of us snoozed the whole trip, and it was a nice relaxing ride back. Once we got back to Dublin, Allie, Meaghan, and I realized our fridge was basically empty (minus a few salad dressings and a loaf of bread), so we went on a huge grocery shopping trip to a new Tesco that Kelsey and Ally took us to, just a little ways up the street from us. We all splurged on tons of food, vowing to try to be healthier, and then trekked back to our apartments with reuseable grocery bags full of chicken, rice, romaine lettuce, tomates (Tesco has the best tomatoes I've ever eaten... seriously... and I don't even like tomatoes), and more. I tried to watch a little bit of a movie, but ended up calling it an early night since I had to wake up early for class registration Monday morning.
Now, Elon class registration runs smooth as butter, so that's what I'm used to. At Elon, I know what classes I'm taking, what building/room they're in, and what time/days they are at LEAST 3 months before they even start. DBS, on the other hand, everything is the opposite. Schedules are difficult to interpret, we aren't allowed to take some classes because they are a full year long, some classes are only for the european students studying abroad, and times/rooms of classes keep changing. So, needless, to say, the morning was pretty stressful for a lot of people. Luckily, my schedule has worked out (thus far... we'll see how long that lasts), and I'm planning on taking Theories of Human Sexuality (a psych class about freudian theory), Personality and Individual Differences (psych again), Event Planning, and a literature class. I'm currently trying to choose between 20th Century Irish Literature (seems intense!), and Early English Drama. Once I go to both of them, I'll make up my mind. Another difference from Elon, is that here it's a challenge trying to fill free time (some people only have classes 2 days a week!), versus at Elon, I've tried for 3 semesters to not have Friday classes and have yet to be successful. But so far all my classes have been really interesting, and I'm excited to get back to a normal schedule again.
We also had family dinner at our apartment on Monday night-- it was so delicious! Meaghan found a great (light?) chicken enchilada recipe, and between the three of us (and about 4 bags of shredded cheese), it turned out great! Family dinners with our apartment, Anna, Kelsey, and Ally are definitely one of my favorite parts of the week-- it's just a good, relaxing time, and the food is always awesome.
Well the rest of the week holds 2 more classes for me, and then possibly and overnight trip to Cork this weekend. The time goes so fast here, I don't even know where the last month has gone!
Cheers!
Car, looks like you are having a blast. I hope you want to come home when the adventure is over. We miss you. Can't wait to see you in 23 days. Yeah!
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