Galway Girl

After a few days of being in Galway, I think I'm finally starting to believe I'm going to be living here for the next five months!

We had our first couple days of orientation - still seems odd to be referred to as international students, but the campus of NUI Galway is gorgeous, and there are many interesting classes available to us, so I think this will be quite an exceptional semester - academically of course.

Although, the social scene in Galway seems great too. Last night, we went out for the first time to visit a few pubs....they're everywhere. We went to two, and both had live music. I experienced my first request to show my ID, and purchased my first drink at a bar (legally) ever! I had a Bulmer's - which tastes like cider - and then a hot whiskey - which is sort of like tea with hot water, lemon and cloves but instead of a tea bag, you have a shot or two of whiskey. Both were pretty delicious.

Speaking of delicious, Amanda and I did a little exploring today, and stumbled upon some delightful foods! I'm pretty sure the majority of my money will be spent on food over the next five months. The good news: I can't think of a better way to spend my money. We found the Farmer's market we originally set out to find, and bought a crepe at the small stand. My crepe was just the crepe and nutella - perfect. Then, after walking around for a little while, we stumbled upon a tiny bakery called The Oven Door (which came highly recommended) and bought a scone to try. Also delicious. Although, my favorite purchase of the day had to be a chocolate croissant (I bought three actually). Yummm.

But enough about the food - this isn't supposed to be the food diary of Audrey Germer. During our exploring today, we got lost a few times (okay more than a few), but found some great places along the way. We found the place of the original Claddagh ring (the ring that originated in Ireland with the two hands holding a heart with a crown), and read a little bit about it's history. We also saw some excellent streets for shopping that we will be revisiting soon, some more interesting restaurants and pubs, the Spanish arch, a beautiful cathedral, and the Galway bay.

Hopefully the more we wander aimlessly around, the more we might continue to stumble on some gems like the ones we found today.