when irish eyes are smiling, they're usually up to something.: Take her hand, give her a twirl, lose your heart to a Galway Girl.

27-01-12 Where do we catch the bus?

After about 20 minutes of finding out where we had to catch the bus, we're off to Galway! Although I'm absolutely exhausted I'm excited to go. I talked to my momma earlier, missing her! Ginna, Marraine, and I took by far the funniest picture yet right before we got on the bus. We were standing outside and Bryan went to snap a photo when the bus driver honked the horn...needless to say our faces are priceless, there's a combination of fright and half a smile. We laughed about it for a while.

So! we made it to Galway. Ginna and I slept the entire ride here. Once we arrived at Galway bus station our group split up to go find out seperate hostels... because we waited so long to book we weren't all staying together. First Ginna, Amanda, and I went to find Amanda's hostel (yes she booked alone...not the most intelligent thing I've ever heard of someone doing) Once we got there, I was a little creeped out by the man working behind the front desk with long greasy hair and he wouldn't make eye contact. It was a tad bit dingy and when we got her to her room we realized that they didn't have real lockers in her hostel, they were more like crates under the bed. We then realized we forgot to bring a very important item, a lock! So we began a journey around a city we didn't know to find a hardware store that had locks. It took about 40 minutes of asking people for directions and retracing our steps numerous times before we actually found the only hardware store around. We then went to our hostel where some crazy woman almost ran over the three of us! I grew extremely flustered, irritated, and overwhelmed. I think it was primarily because I was once again dropped in an unfamiliar place with no sense of direction. Once we were in our hostel and I had regrouped, we came to realize that our hostel was alot nicer than the first one that I had ever seen. AND we only paid 13 euro for the night! It was called the Salmon Weir Hostel. We then ventured out to find Shop Street and found so many cute stores, pubs, etc. We went to a place called Monroe's recommended by this guy that we met at the Stables named Eoin (Owen). The pizza was delicious! After that we walked around a bit and I went into Top Shop for the first time in my life. Didn't even bother looking though considering I'd never be able to afford a single item in there. We walked around for a while and saw quite a few interesting characters before heading to The Quay for Bulmers. After everyone else left to get some sleep Ginna and I stayed out for a bit and went to SuperMac's for the first time ever for burgers and bonding. Totally an unnecessary stop but it was delicious. I don't know what I'd do without Ginna, although that's probably already obvious. When we got backto our hostel we watched part of The Bucket List and played cards for a bit.

28-01-12 Dreams really do come true!

Back in my house in Kilmurry! My first hostel experience was not bad at all. I only woke up when all the other people staying in our room came in but quickly fell back asleep. In the morning Ginna and I took quick showers and came to the harsh realization that there weren't any plugs in the bathroom to blowdry our hair... So for the next hour we sat in the living room and took turns using the only plug available and blew our hair dry. We went to a small cafe near our hostel for tea, coffee, and muffins before catching our tour bus for the day. The tour was 8 hours of sight-seeing. We saw The Burren, Dunguaire Castle, Corcomrow Abbey, Galway Bay, Fairy Forts, a few other stops along the way before landing at the Cliffs of Moher. When we arrived at the Cliffs I got a little emotional. Whenever I thought about Ireland before I actually got here, all I could picture was seeing those cliffs. The sight was breathtaking and it was so much more than I had expected. I guarantee for the rest of my life I'll remember how it felt to reach the top of the staircase and be able to look over the wall and see the cliffs. I felt infinite. The air was frigid, windy, and consumed with mist. My camera kept saying the battery was dead because it was so cold. It was so muddy and I'm glad I can say I ruined my favorite boots at the Cliffs of Moher, all because I wanted to climb over the wall that said not to go any further. I just wanted to get a better look and it was so worth it! The view was spectacular, and we had the most perfect few of the Aran Islands. When we got back on the bus Ginna and I talked to the bus driver and told him that we needed to get back to Limerick City so he offered to make a special stop to let us off at a closer bus stop that the bus from Galway to Limerick would stop at. When the bus came to a stop on our way back to Galway and the bus driver informed us that this was our stop, Ginna and I gathered our belongings and got off the bus. Where we were left to wait for our bus. We were standing in the pouring rain, cold, and alone. After standing there for about 20 minutes without any sign of a bus heading our way, a bus started approaching us and it said Limerick City on it so we headed to the sidewalk to get on....except it kept right on going and drove right past us. I could have cried and all I was thinking was, "where the heck is my Gerry or my Declan?" (P.S. I love you and Leap Year references) Finally another bus came and we got on, and after two hours we were back at The University of Limerick.What a day!