Oh Darling, Let's Be Irish Adventurers: Take me away, Galway!

With no school panned trips or major assignments due for the rest of the week, Kathleen and I decided to take our own trip somewhere in Ireland. Since I wanted to go somewhere on the coast and Kathleen kept playing the song “Galway Girl”, Galway became the lucky city for our next adventure. After a late night of browsing through various hostels and things to do in the city, we finally booked a nice-looking hostel and an express bus ticket and had a list of things to do. By Thursday morning we were packed and ready to begin our trip. The two of us caught an early bus to Dublin, and once in the city we managed to find where the express bus to Galway would pick us up. Situated on the bus, we were on our way to Galway.

Galway bound!

When we arrived in Galway a few hours later, we were starving so we found in the main square, Eyre Square, a Supermac’s to eat at. Supermac’s is the main fast food eatery in Ireland, like a McDonald’s. We both opted for the chicken strips, the seemingly least greasy item on the menu, but were disgustingly let down. The chicken strips and fries were dripping in grease, but we kept eating because we were hungry and we paid for it. After letting our greasy food settle in our stomach, we left Supermac’s and then searched for our hostel. The hostel was centrally located and bright orange, and once we checked in we locked our backpacks away in our room and made our way back to the streets of Galway. A pedestrian path lined with shops branches off of Eyre Square, so we made our way down this street, popping in and out of shops along the way, until we hit a bridge. Across the bridge we could see the bay so; naturally we gravitated towards the water. After taking in the sights alongside the water, we decided to head towards Salthill.

Taking over the streets of Galway

Overlooking the bay

However, Salthill was not as close or as easy to get to as we had hoped. After veering away from the water and onto the road we somehow ended up in a neighborhood and nowhere near Salthill. With the weather still somewhat sunny we decided to walk further along the coast. Little did we expect the wind to pick up as we skirted the edge of the water, instantly turning the air colder. Soon after the wind, rain then hail and sleet pounded our faces as we continued to walk. No sooner than when it began, it stopped and we looked up to see a full rainbow, so it made up for the 15 minutes of dreadful weather. Wanting to get inside, we decided to visit the Galway Cathedral.

She's glowing!

The Galway Cathedral is massive and exquisite in its grand design. Whilst walking around inside I found the Lady Chapel and spent some much needed time to pray. Prayers said and solace reclaimed we made our way towards the city center and popped into a mall. We looked around the Penney’s there, and then hungry once again we set off to find a particular famous pizza joint. Although the selection of pizza was small and the wait was long, it was well worth it. The pizza was fulfilling and delicious. Bellies full, we made our way back to our hostel and met our roommates. They were super nice and were also American students studying abroad in Paris and the Netherlands. We ended up conversing for over an hour and then decided to go to a pub with one of their Irish friends one of them had met earlier. We found a bar that was giving out two types of free drinks, so of course we went there. A band was setting up to perform so we sat with our drinks and listened to their rock music. I ended up not liking my lager, but instead was entertained by the band’s one biggest fan, who knew all the words to their songs and danced. He was hilarious! After the band concluded, we called it a night and went back to our hostel to get some much needed rest.