Getting out.

I have just returned home from my first weekend outside of Dublin in the five weeks that I have been in Ireland. We went to Galway, which is completely adorable in every way. I immediately fell in love, much like everything else I see here for the first time. The center of town in some ways resembles Dublin, but much more cozy. The shops are all different facets, textures and colors and contrast each other perfectly on the streets. We arrive by train into Galway at 5:30pm. The 5 girls and myself booked a hostel about a 5 minutes walk from the station. We wandered for a little, got lost for a little, and finally made our way to the Wood Quay Hostel(quay is pronounced 'key). This was my first ever hostel experience and it was interesting to say the least. We had a six bed room, for 20 euro a night. The mattresses were like wooden planks, but they did the job for two nights I suppose. Nothing compared to my bed at home, but I've come to find that nothing compares to my bed at home. After checking into the hostel, we put our stuff down and set off to find something to eat.

We settled on a place called the Couch Potata, a cute little restaurant recommended by the "Ireland for Dummies" book. It had potatoes, obviously, with any and every kind of filling and topping baked inside. It was a novel idea, and I don't know why I've never thought of it before. I ordered the Hawaiian, consisting of 2 huge baked potatoes, ham, swiss cheese, and pineapple. It was delicious. My friends all got various other potato dishes and we were all satisfied after the meal.

Later that night we decided to go out to a pub called The Quays. It was on the main tourist street, Shop Street, and it had loud, live music and lots of people. We went in and the inside was decorated like a pirate ship, I was stoked. The special of the night was 3 euro bottles of Carlsburg, a light beer that I find to be, well, not repulsive. I bought one, and started talking with some guys who are from North Carolina, and have thick, thick accents. Though they are clearly out of age range, Lisa and I decide to milk it for all it's worth and see if we can score a free drink out of the situation. We did. The kind chap bought us both Jager bombs. [For my mom, dad, and grandparents: Jager bombs is a shot of Jager dropped into a cup of Red Bull and you chug it]. It was delicious. Lisa and I decide that these men are of no use to us anymore and go hang out with our friends on the upper level by the band.



The live band was really good, playing songs that everyone could sing along to. Everyone had a great time, but by 1 am, the bar started to close up and we headed home. We had scheduled a tour of the Cliffs of Moher for the Saturday and the bus was leaving at 9:30 am, ouch. After we left the bar we some how ended up at a fast food restaurant. That seems to be the trend here in Ireland; dinner, drinks and fast food. My body is starting to take a hit from the late night fries and after this weekend I have vowed to stay away from any sort of McDonalds after I go out. I am literally scared I will turn into a french fry because I eat them so frequently.

Bed time - 3:00 am, wake up time - 8:00 am. Sleep on a stiff mattress with a pillow that doesn't have much fluff did not give the adequate sleep that I needed for the tour I endured Saturday.