11/22-11/26: Ireland

The trip to Ireland was a pleasant one. The guys staying there this semester seem to be doing well. They are scattered in a few townhouses in a complex not too far from town. Though school over there is difficult, they've maintained good grades and have stayed quite healthy. Baker broke 10 minutes on the 2 mile a couple days before we arrived. Boussie's lost some weight. Berg is in touch with his emotions more than ever, and he's not afraid to have a good cry every now and then. I think they've enjoyed Galway's nightlife, but only in moderation. They showed us some great pubs and clubs, but we didn't stay out too late since they all had upcoming finals...

Before taking our late flight up to Galway on Wednesday, His Thompness and I decided to spend the day in Venice. Our flight left from there, so we figured we might as well experience it if we had to buy a train ticket up there anyway. I found Venice to be one of the most interesting cities I've ever seen. There are absolutely no cars in the main town, which is very nice. I loved the canals and all the tiny sidestreets. It was confusing to navigate and we got lost as we wandered around. A lot of times, we knew where we had to go but couldn't because you can't cross a street made of water. We caught a great sunset from their Old Bridge and then grabbed a bus to the airport. Venice was well worth visiting.

We finally arrived in Galway at 2:45 a.m. Irish time. I couldn't get over the Irish accents, though they were speaking English, it often sounded like a completely different language. Berg and Baker greeted us at the bus stop and we got settled in and caught up on things until the early hours of the morning.

The next day was all about getting ready for Thanksgiving dinner. We had around 25 people getting together for the feast, and we baked two turkeys, two sacks worth of mashed potatoes, and a bunch of other food. We had an absolutely epic feast followed by the biggest game of flipcup I've ever seen. It was awesome to be together with so many close friends for Thanksgiving.
On friday we explored the town of Galway. The dudes gave us a great tour and we finished it off with a beer at a local pub. We shared some great stories from our year so far and reminisced about the old days back at GU. That night we had a lot of fun at some different bars and nightclubs. Galway is a college town with tons of international students. It's a lot more developed than Florence; there are bigger grocery stores and shopping centers and American restaurants like Papa John's and Subway. But you can still enjoy the Irish culture. I'd say that the living situation there is much more like back in America compared to ours in Florence. The townhouses reminded me of larger Burch apartments.

Saturday was our last full day there, and it was a great one. We walked along the river and saw some of the countryside. Ireland is so green and we even saw the ruins of a castle covered in ivey. We then played a game of football on a rugby pitch with the river, green countryside, and old castle in the backdrop. It was a very Irish experience.

We made lots of pasta for dinner and went out for one last hoorah together until May. We went to this club called Karma which was awesome.

It was really tough to say goodby to everyone on Sunday morning. If there's one thing I learned from this trip, it's that the destination isn't nearly as important as the people you're with when you get there.

As I write this, it's 12:30 a.m. Sunday night and I'm sitting at a McDonald's in Milan with His Thompness. No, this was not the original plan. The plane couldn't land in Venice because of the fog so we had to land in Milan. We then had to take a bus from Milan's airport to the central train station. By the time we got there, all the trains to Florence that night had already departed. So we have to wait until 5:30 a.m. for the next train. What's going to eventually happen is that we're going to arrive at the Florence train station and then head directly to school for morning classes. I won't be able to sleep until 3:30 p.m. Oh well. IT was worth it.

Notes on Galway

• Not nearly as many gingers (redheads) as I thought. But I still saw some.
• Irish people are generally really friendly to us and like to have conversations with us. Like I said before, though, I'm not used to the dialect and often I can't pick up on what they're saying.
• Guiness is absolutely huge there and they had a seasonal beer called North Star that's probably some of the best beer I've ever tasted.
• Ryan Air sucks
• The GU guys over there and all their roommates were incredible hosts. Thanks a lot guys.