Well it’s been one week since I arrived in Galway and I’m honestly in love with this place. So here is how my adventure has gone so far…
Anyone who knows me well knows how much I hate flying and how much the idea of being in a plane for 6.5 hours scared the living daylights out of me. To make matters worse right after we pulled away from the terminal we had to wait to take off for almost 2 hours... to say that was a pretty miserable experience is an understatement but we finally got in the air and made it safely to Shannon Airport. The moment I looked out of the plane window and saw the coastline of Ireland I started smiling and I basically haven't stopped smiling since. We had to take a bus from Shannon Airport to Galway, which was about 2 hours but I was lucky since I had about 40 Irish songs that a friend of mine downloaded that I was able to listen to as we were passing the gorgeous fields and small towns.
Once we arrived in Galway we lugged our bags to Niland House, the place we will call home for the next 4 months. Our apartment is great and the location is fantastic since we are only about a 20 minute walk to campus and about a 5 minute walk to center city. We had absolutely amazing weather from the day we arrived until Sunday. I almost forgot that it has a reputation to rain in Ireland! Unfortunately, the good weather did have to end and it ended on the day we decided to go on a tour of the Cliffs of Moher and the Burren. To say the Cliffs of Moher should be on every single person’s bucket list is definitely an understatement. Even in the cold and rainy weather they are absolutely breathtaking.
Yesterday was the first day of classes at NUI Galway so I attended my Saints and Sinners of the Celtic World Theology class and my Philosophy of Science class. The classes here are going to take some serious getting used to since many of them only really have a final paper or exam as opposed to the way classes at home are set up where we have multiple tests and papers throughout the semester. Another strange thing about the classes are the fact that almost no Irish students attend class so even if the class has around 100 students it wouldn’t be unusual for around 20 to show up to class. Registration here is a huge pain in the butt so it can be a bit frustrating since I still don’t know for sure all the classes I’m taking since we don’t technically register until September 17th. As of now I’ll be taking a Celtic Civilization class for a theology, Philosophy of Science, a class on the problems in Irish history, an English class on 20th century short stories, and possibly Gaelic since Ireland is in fact a bilingual country and there are signs in Gaelic EVERYWHERE. Gaelic will definitely be a challenge but I do feel it will be worth it in the end.
Switching gears a bit, here are just some random thoughts I have thus far of Galway about some things that will take some getting used to:
1) Cars driving on the opposite sides of the road- crossing the street is rather difficult when you expect cars to be coming from one direction but suddenly they come from the other direction
2) The vocabulary- even simple differences such as “To-Go” being referred to as “Take-Away” has thrown me off the first few times I heard it. The accents are a serious challenge but I’m slowly beginning to understand people without having to ask them to repeat themselves.
3) The lack of urgency- everyone always hears about how Europeans are much more laid back and take the time to enjoy themselves as well as the company of others. A few years ago when I went to France I noticed it but never got used to it and after only a week here I’m still not even close to used to it. When we go out to dinner here we have to wait quite a long time to get our check and even though we are all enjoying the atmospheres of the restaurants and pubs here, we are all still Americans who are used to much faster service. I love the fact no one here seems rushed to be anywhere and eventually I will follow suit (hopefully it will be long before I go back to the hustle and bustle of America).
That’s all I can think of for now! I hope everyone enjoyed their Labor Day weekends!
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