And I lost my heart to a Galway Girl

The next morning we had to be up too incredibly early for my liking. We met outside a hotel waiting for our bus to come and then we all piled in for the long journey ahead. I wasn’t quite sure what I packed so I was in for a treat to see what I was going to be wearing for the weekend. We were all so tired that we fell asleep and before we knew it, we were in Kilbeggan. Kilbeggan is famous for primarily one reason, their famous whiskey distillery. Oh dear Lord, this was going to be an interesting field trip. As soon as we got there we were served a traditional full Irish breakfast complete with an egg, beans, rasher, sausage, and some chips (or fries for the Yanks). It was certainly delicious and filled me up for a bit of time. From there we went on a tour of the place, I must admit that I really was not that fascinated, the old large machines that stood in front of me, well they looked impressive and all, but I had no real interest. There were points of time throughout the tour where the smell was greatly overpowering and well..just plain awful. At one point we were taken to the actual distillery area and two shots of whiskey, which was not finished, were passed around and we were told to simply dip our fingers in for a little taste. 75% alcohol is not something I like to taste at 10:30 in the morning. The two shots ended up in the hands of two guys and they were encouraged, especially by an old Irish man working at the distillery to take the awful, disgusting shots. With a little more encouragement full of chanting and dares from the thirty some people on our program, the two guys downed the whiskey. One did it successfully and barely bat an eye, the other...well he found a nice little bucket for smokers in which to, for lack of a better word, relieve his free breakfast from the morning. We moved on with the tour and ended with a free taste for everyone of the famous whiskey. I had had just about enough after simply dipping my finger into the previous contents, so I politely declined and wanted to head back on the bus for Galway.





Eventually we started back on the road and before we knew it, we had reached the other side of Ireland and one of my favorite places in Ireland. We were dropped off in Eyre Square and then made our way to the hostel where we would all be staying. Just to get to the reception, one had to climb four flights of stairs of which were some of the longest and steepest and then another flight to get to the rooms. Needless to say I got quite the workout in Galway. The girls were split up into rooms of four and the guys in six. I stayed with three girls from my house Marissa, Kat, and Melissa. We got ready and then wanted to head out to a pub down the street to watch the USA soccer game. The rest of the program also showed up so it was quite eventful watching the game with loads of Americans. After the game, our house headed out and went to McDonaughs? for some traditional fish and chips. Once we were done there, we went around a bit and then went to the King’s Head pub to watch the England match. There was a mix of Irish who wanted to see the English win and those who did not. Overall it was a fun night and ended with a live band playing who did all sorts of covers and were quite good. But again, our whole program showed up and the place was overtaken by young Americans...certainly something I’m not used to after being in Maynooth.







The next morning we had another early start and we were off to take a tour of Connemara to see Kylemore Abbey. I had heard a lot about the beauty of Connemara so I was excited to see it all. The trip was good, but as usual in Ireland, the roads were winding, bumpy, and extremely narrow. The combination of those three elements led to three people on our program requesting the bus to stop and then proceeding to jump off the bus and again upturn their stomachs after a long night of drink. Embarassing, yes. Annoying, yes because after three stops just for those to relieve themselves, our bus also made several unnecessary stops making the start and stopping even worse for the stomach. Eventually we made it To Kylemore Abbey and it was beautiful. Today it is still working as a convent and also a school. The outside was gorgeous framed against a hill covered in green foliage and the lake in front of it reflecting off the green and the blue from the sky. It was incredible, I absolutely loved the view there. However, the inside itself was not quite interesting and with only three rooms open to the public, there was not much to see in way of interest. We then decided to go see the walled gardens which were incredible themselves. There were different plants I had never heard of and there were descriptions of remedies and different things for which they could be used. The garden was also partly on a slope which made it even more unique. A few of my friends and I spent some time there just relaxing and enjoying the sun. Soon though we had to head back to the bus and make our way back to Galway. Much of the trip back was spent sleeping, so when we made it back to Galway we were all pretty happy. That night, UCD provided dinner for us at a pub and then we were free for the night. A few of my housemates and I decided we wanted to try and again not travel around in a group of 30 so we went back to King’s Head for a bit, then made our way back to the pub where we had had dinner, The Front Door, and then we ultimately ended up at Quay’s where everyone else seemed to be. Overall it was a fun night and I certainly miss Galway already.















The next morning we all had tickets for the bus to go home so we were free to leave whenever. A few people went to the Cliffs of Moher, but the girls who I roomed with decided that we wanted to stay in Galway so we went in the morning for a walk around town. We went out to a pier and just there with our feet hanging off for a while, just relaxing and taking in the peacefulness. We walked a bit more along the coast and then went to get some kebabs for lunch, did some shopping, laid in Eyre Square, and then decided it was time to head back to Dublin so we caught the bus and made our way back which took a whopping four hours. I was ready for bed as soon as we got home so that I could start another work week!