So, Dublin was fun and vibrant and great, but Galway felt like real Ireland. It's about two hour's bus ride from Dublin and is absolutely worth spending at least three days there. Unfortunately we only had two nights, but we managed to pack in as much as freaking possible, because it's just about the greatest place on earth.
People's favorite thing to ask study abroad students is something along the lines of "what was your favorite city?" and the only sensible answer is, every city. Honestly, every new place I go to is my new favorite place. There are too many levels and dimensions of beauty and wonder and intrigue to really quantify the sites I've seen while in Europe. It's really hard for me to find the words to describe things I really love, but I'll try to do it for dear Galway. It begs my attention, I will not do it justice.
I was inexplicably drawn and attached to Galway. Firstly, it's on the sea, which is absolutely gorgeous. The green, rolling, dewy countryside is seductively nostalgic and watching the sun set over the sea was probably one of the most gorgeous things I've ever seen. Everything felt alive and cohesive and benevolent for a while. God this is horribly cliche.
Galway is a college town and has a really palpable vivacity. We walked across the river for awhile on the college campus, walked up and down the charming cobblestoned streets, wandered in a few squares, and everything felt so warm and inviting and homey. It was an exciting city too, the nightlife was pretty wild. The Irish we ran into really lived up to alcohol stereotypes. And not even the youth scene, we saw middle aged couples getting drunk food at 2am. Brilliant.
Day Two consisted of our daytrip to the Cliffs of Moher and around the region the Irish call the Burren. If you haven't heard of these two, google search that shit asap!! The Cliffs are really one of the most stunning natural wonders in the world. It was nice to enjoy something that wasn't a Renaissance sculpture, fascist architecture, or huge ginormous church. It was simple yet stunning and moving and lovely. I like the idea of something amazing existing without any influence from humans. The Burren is absolutely gorgeous and (nerd alert!) kind of reminded me of the landscape of Rohan from the Lord of the Rings movies... which was filmed in New Zealand... well, whatever. It was picturesque and mountainous and kind of a bumpy bus ride but worth it. We stopped at various castles and this like, sea of rocks, and skirted around the countryside. It was so authentically Irish! I hate my descriptive writing. It was just kind of awesome. OH and we had a boss tour guide who had really cool anecdotes about all the sites we were passing.
If there is one place I want to return to in my life, it's Galway. I got my Claddagh ring and thus am an official Irish lass.
P.S. Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, and brood are in Florence right now and it's taking everything I have not to stake out the city sites tomorrow to find/follow/creep on them, and ask them if I can babysit.
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