Galway Weekend! (a.k.a. the longest post ever)

This past weekend, some friends and I decided we would go to Galway for the weekend! We hopped on a bus at 8:25am on Friday morning (after going out Thursday night, of course) and got to Galway at about 11:45 or so. We walked to our hostel, which was in a really good location downtown, checked in, and then walked around the city for a while. Galway is a very quaint place, full of culture- it's the center of trad music in Ireland. We made our way around, checking out various churches, cathedrals, and other sights along the way. Galway Cathedral is incredibly beautiful- it's massive, with so many stained glass windows and different rooms- very impressive. Minus the gift shop... which just seemed a little ridiculous to me.

 The central area of the enormous cross-shaped cathedral.

One of many beautiful stained glass windows, with a gigantic organ below. 

There was actually an organist playing live while we were looking around.

The city is very foggy at all times of the day, and incredibly cold... cut to the bone cold.  The fog is sort of surreal, seeing vague outlines of buildings in the distance, and it can feel a bit claustrophobic at times. It made me glad that Cork isn't constantly quite so misty. Despite the gray fogginess, the city has a lively feel. There are a lot of buskers (street performers) on the main pedestrianized streets, some of which were quite entertaining. And the pubs! We went first to Tig Cóilí, which is renowned for its two live trad sessions per night, every night of the week. It was a charming little pub, and all of us girls got Irish coffees and listened to some trad. Some of us went to dinner and back to the hostel to get ready to go out, and proceeded to go to King's Head. It was a decent place, though it seemed a bit like a tourist trap. We ran into a Gaelic football and rugby team, which was, er, interesting... Let's just say we didn't stick around that pub for too long. After that we went to Front Door, which was a gigantic maze of a bar. We were a bit exhausted after our day, and headed home a little after midnight. 


The hostel we stayed at, Barnacles Quay, was actually pretty nice. It was clean and well equipped, with a nice big kitchen and common room. Paige, Skye, Kaelyn and I stayed in the 12-person room, and Erin, Kelly, and Laura were in a 6-person room. I had the top bunk in the far corner in the picture below.

We only met a few of our roommates, but they were all pretty nice... except when we were woken up by an alarm at 6:30am... there was a 50-something year old man who got up and proceeded to pace around the room, go to the bathroom multiple times, cough a lot, rustle plastic bags loudly, turn on and leave on the lights, and generally wake up and greatly annoy everyone in the room. Also, he was only wearing boxer briefs, and was not under his blanket... very uncomfortable. I wasn't sleeping that well anyway because of the symphony of snoring and coughing of everyone in the room, and the hellish hot temperature. Needless to say, none of us slept well- we figure about 5 hours of light sleeping, which is about what we had all gotten the night before, which led to a very sleepy and silly day. Breakfast was toast, and then we were off to the bus station to get back on a tour bus at 9:45 to go to the CLIFFS OF MOHER!


The tour took us south down through the Burren, which is basically just mountains of solid limestone that's been laboriously cleared in some areas with endless stone walls. It was barren, but beautiful, and we all slept through most of it. The bus ride itself was not too pleasant. the roads are shockingly narrow and bumpy and windy... which led to a constant rocking, swaying, and bouncing. Our bus driver warned us and said he could provide plastic bags to contain any sickness that we may have felt- which we all nearly did.

The Burren- and the Atlantic Ocean off to the left!

We continued our windy way to a small village where all 60 of us filed off the bus to get some lunch at a pub. We went on and arrived at the cliffs. The visitors' center was very unique- it's built right into the side of the hill, and it contained some very nice restrooms with waterfall sinks that we availed of... We were very easily amused because of how overtired we were. We walked up a small hill, unable to see the cliffs yet, and then suddenly, BAM, there they are, in all their incredibly glory. There really aren't any words to describe how beautiful it was. Every direction you turn, the view takes your breath away. We were all breathless and giddy with every step we took. We were so lucky with the weather. It had been foggy and freezing in Galway, but here it was sunny, warm, and not even windy. Here are some pictures, but no camera can capture the phenomenal beauty. 

Yeah... pictures obviously can't do it justice. It was an amazing sight to behold.

We grudgingly left the Cliffs and headed back on our bouncy bus to Galway, but made 2 more stops on the way- a 5,000 year old megalithic tomb, and the Aillwee Cave.  Go here for better pictures than I could get. It was pretty interesting- we went half a kilometer into the cave, and it was a little hairy for claustrophobic me, ducking through small passageways and walking over bridges in the dark... but it was a fun experience, as I'd never been in a cave before.

We climbed back aboard the bus and snoozed our way to Galway. We were all exhausted, but of course wanted to go back out and check out more of the pub and trad music scene. We made ourselves dinner- pasta with carbonara sauce and chicken. While we were cleaning up, we ran into an Australian guy that was staying in our room with us. We were being pretty crazy, doing an assembly line of washing, passing, rinsing, drying, and putting away our dishes, generally having a grand time and laughing a lot. He was a little intimidated, I think, and called us cackling hens, so we proceeded to tease him about not having any friends (even though he did, they came down shortly after). We invited them all out with us, but didn't wind up seeing them until later. As we were pre-gaming in our 12-person room, we started talking to a German guy, Florian (Flo) that was staying there as well. He was a pretty funny guy, and we invited him out with us, and he actually came! Possibly the funniest comments of the night came from him. We were talking about how the Irish girls dress, and he called them "oil tanks in hot pants"... aka fat girls in little clothing. Later, we had a cheers in the pub, and I didn't make eye contact with him- he said that in Germany, if you don't look at a person when you cheers, your children will be gay... needless to say, a very odd but funny guy, and he had us in stitches several times. 

We all headed out up the main street, Quay St., where we were approached by a promoter for a club- Coyotes. Yes, like Coyote Ugly, the movie. He stamped our hands and led us to the club, where we got a free shot, and Paige danced on stage with the performer because he was singing country music. It was pretty lame, though, and not what we were looking for, so we didn't stay long. Next stop was Taaffe's, which is also known for having great sessions. However, the pub is tiny, and was totally packed when we got there. We couldn't even move, so even though the music was good, Skye, Erin, Flo and I decided to go somewhere else, and left Kelly and Paige and Kaelyn (who joined us shortly) and went to Quays, which was right across the way from our hostel. This was a very cool place, with multiple levels and bars and lots of character. I could have spent all night just looking at the random things they had on the walls- including a fencing helmet that served as a lampshade. We were walking around looking for a place to stake out when we see the rugby guys from the night before... We grabbed a few pints and retreated to a balcony on the other side of the bar, assuming they wouldn't even recognize us if they did see us (which they didn't). We hung out there and danced for a while, and when we finished our pints, decided to head the The Crane Bar, also well-known for great trad sessions. 

The five of us (me, Erin, Skye, Flo, and Kaelyn) walk across the river and ask directions from multiple people before finding the pub... but OH was it worth it. We walk in to see a tiny pub with lots of character, and a session going on with eight musicians. There isn't really any place to sit or stand, so we decide to head upstairs when we spot a staircase. We go up to find another full bar and a different session with eleven musicians playing... We stand and listen for a few minutes and grab a table and order a few pints of Guinness. The music is great- exactly what we were looking for. If you search "session in the crane bar" on youtube, you can get a few videos of basically what we saw last night. You just can't sit still or not have a smile on your face when you are watching a session. We all were high off the music and having a great time sitting and talking, when suddenly, right next to us, a guy starts Irish step dancing wearing tap shoes. He goes all out for an entire song. It was so great to watch! When he stopped, we told him that he basically had just made our night. I also started talking to a drummer that was playing with the group, and he's from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, and gave me his band's card so I could find them online. He said they actually have played in VT before, and that I should follow their schedule to see if they're ever in the area. New friends everywhere!

 The upstairs session at The Crane. Amazing music!

 Irish step dancing!!! This guy was great.

We were just sitting listening to the music when three guys sat down at the table next to us. I strike up a conversation with them, and we talk for an hour or so until last call. Kaelyn and Flo leave, and the guys invite us to go with them to a club, Roisin Dubh, or "the rosh" as the called it. We went there, but once again, it was way too packed to be able to have a good time, so we left again and they took us to another place, Massimo. It was slightly less crowded, so we stayed there and talked some more. The guys were all funny and nice, and it turns out one was from New Hampshire! The other two were from Ireland and Ottawa, Canada. It turns out they all had girlfriends, but they promised to friend us on facebook and let us know if they ever come down to Cork... we'll see if that happens!

We left the club and walked back towards our hostel, running into Kelly and Paige on the way. They had quite a crazy night, but that's an entire other story. We went back to our hostel, and in the stairwell, run into the Aussie and his friends. I'm dead tired at this point- 3:30am- so we all go to bed. I get into bed (after passing the old man in his underwear- gross) and I hear the Aussie come in. There's some bumps and shuffling, and I hear him start talking to someone. I turned over in bed to see a random, fully dressed girl, that wasn't staying in our room, lying on his bed. She's obviously wasted, and he tries to wake her up with a "wake up, princess, wake up, pissed b****". I start laughing at him at this point, as does the Irish guy sleeping in the bunk below me. He eventually gives up and just crawls into bed next to her, but not before he asks her to at least tell him her name- to no avail.

Another sleepless night ensues; we all wake up for good at about 8:30 and go eat breakfast and hang out in the kitchen before checking out at half 10. We walked around the city again, seeing the Spanish Arch and heading out to Claddagh Park and the Atlantic Ocean to walk on the sandy, mussel shell covered beach at low tide. While it was foggy as we headed out to the park, and even thicker fog rolled in when we were out there, to the point that we couldn't see a hundred yards away. We saw the swans that Galway are famous for, swimming around and biting each other in Galway Bay. We went and got coffee and pastries to try to warm up (it was FREEZING- the damp cold just doesn't leave you), before getting nachos at a Tex-Mex restaurant and heading to the bus station to catch our bus at 2:05. On the way back, I finally, after spending 10 hours on buses in the past 48 hours, how to prop up my head with my coat and scarf to get comfortable enough to fully pass out without doing the dreadful head bob and snap. 

 Claddagh Park

The Galway swans.

And that brings me pretty much to where I am right now- a bit hungry, and incredibly tired, so please forgive anything in this post that didn't make sense. It took me hours to write, but I'm afraid of how it turned out. Check out my flickr (eventually) for more pictures- I took over 200 just this weekend! But all in all, it was a really fun weekend. I like Galway a lot. It's got a great feel, awesome music scene, interesting history, and gorgeous scenery on the ocean. I still think I like Cork better, though... :)

Quay Street

Hooray, Beer!

No, I haven't drank any Red Stripe here. But I will give you a breakdown of the most common beers on tap in any given pub, with my expertise tasting notes... ha. In no particular order, there's:

A thing of beauty.

Beamish. One word to describe this local Cork beer is DELICIOUS. The actual beer I am referring to is the Beamish stout, the flagship product of Beamish and Crawford Brewing Co., which is now owned by Heineken... It's definitely a very dark beer, has little carbonation, a very creamy and long-lasting head of foam (when poured correctly, but of course it's always poured correctly here. I waited 3 minutes for my pint last night while the bartender was waiting for it to settle properly!). It has a creamy feel and a little smokey taste, and I always get a hint of chocolate... Maybe that's why I like it so!  Definitely my favorite beer that I've had here- yes, even better than...

Guinness. Don't get me wrong, I love a good pint of Guinness- I even picked it to be my first drink in Ireland. Maybe it's psychological, but it tastes different (and better) here than what I've had back home. It has that roasted flavor similar to Beamish, and is creamy as well, bitter and tangy, and of course a gorgeous head of foam.

Murphy's. Much like Beamish, Murphy's is another wonderful stout made here in Cork. It's a bit less tangy than the previous two, and is lighter in flavor as well, with a very thick head and zero carbonation. A very good pint indeed.

Carlsberg. It's more of what the average American would expect when they order a beer- it's clear yellow, more bubbly, not a very intense flavor, sort of medium all around- overall, a very easy-drinking beer. And it's Danish, so I feel connected to my best friend who's studying abroad there!

Bulmer's. Not actually a beer, Bulmer's is hard cider. To those who've had a Wood Chuck, it tastes much like that. It's sweet and bubbly and tasty, a nice alternative to a heavier stout. I've seen in Tesco (the main supermarkets here) that there is actually flavored Bulmer's, which I want to try- both berry and pear.

Budweiser. I'm only including this because it's one of the most common beers on tap in a pub, and that's what I said I was going to do. But I'm not giving tasting notes...

Well, all this talk has made me quite thirsty... it's off to a pub with me! Sláinte!!!

Linguistics

This is a tricky topic to write on. It's tough to encapsulate the Irish accent and slang... but here are a few things that have stood out to me either because of how much they are used, or because it's strange or funny. Some are more obvious and expected, others quite quirky.


adding "so" to the end of sentences
"d"  replaces any "t" or "th" sounds- eg. "they" becomes "dey", "the" is "duh"
"ye" instead of "you"
the sidewalk is the "footpath"
quay is pronounced "key"
apartment is "flat", and roommates are "flatmates"
when saying the time, it's not "eight thirty", it's "half eight"
sort of slur words- don't say all the vowels basically
...but enunciate- say each word clearly
things are grand, not great
when you pause when talking, it's "em" not "um"
people actually say bollocks
chips are french fries, crisps are potato chips
talk very fast...

Maybe this is why I have a hard time doing an Irish accent? These are just the few that I can think of right now. If I realize more, I'll add them to the end of future posts.

Oh, and I had another moment today that made me feel Irish- a girl sought me out and gave me a handout for a program for Irish students to travel to the US next summer...  in my head, I said, "thanks, I plan to!"

Directions

I'm finally feeling better, and went to my first class this week today (Archaeology of Ireland, which is actually very interesting...). I was much sicker than my last post may have made me seem. I had a full-on flu, with all the expected effects. BUT that's (pretty much) done with now, except for a wracking cough that keeps me up at night.

So as I was walking back from class, in the rain, of course, feeling somewhat miserable - sick and like a drowned rat - I'm checking out a situation involving a few Garda when a guy walking the opposite direction catches my eye and says "excuse me". I'm a little surprised because I don't know him, and although Irish people are friendly, they don't typically pick you off the street for a conversation. I stop walking and he heads over to me and asks where a particular shoppe is... I of course have no idea, and tell him so, and that I've only been here a week. He asks if I knew which street we were on (I did!) and he thanked me and went on his merry way.

This may seem pretty unremarkable, but I enjoyed the fact that out of all the many people walking down that street, and the Garda 10 ft away, he picked ME out to ask directions. I take it to mean that I fit in rather well in Ireland. I must have had the slightly grumpy face and determined walk that signifies a native to Cork? Who knows. But I'm taking it to mean that he thought I was Irish and knew the city well enough to give him directions, which I enjoy.

Comments

I just realized that my settings were such that not everyone could comment on my posts- this is now changed- comment away if you want to!

Paying the Price

This is the first night I've been here that I haven't gone out- not for lack of places to go, but because I've fallen sick. I figured an illness was coming, considering not only the fact that I've been up late every night, but that I'm in a totally new environment surrounded by all new people with all new germs! I'm not doing too bad, mostly just very stuffed up and a bit of a cough. I slept in late today, and just stayed in bed watching movies. I've been in contact with my friend Donncha, who has also been sick (I wonder if I got it from him), and he's going to come over tomorrow night. We're going to, as he said, "be miserable together. It'll be like a hospital ward". He's bringing tissues, and is going to "rustle up" some chicken soup... in the microwave. It'll be nice to have some human contact; I've been alone all day, and it's a bummer to think about all my friends out at the pubs right now. I've been with people almost constantly since I've been here, so this feels like some kind of withdrawal!

Last night was one of many new experiences I've had in Ireland- my first pub crawl! We met just down my street and headed to 4 pubs and 1 club all over the city. It was 10 euros, and we got a free shot at each of the pubs we went to- plus a lei, because it was a Hawaii theme that night... I swear, the Irish are absolutely crazy. I made friends with the leaders of the crawl, Tim and Eoin (pronounced like Owen). Both are nice guys, and seeing as they hold the crawls twice a week all semester, I'll probably see them again! Plus, they said they would give me a t-shirt with "Cork City Pub Crawl" written on it. the only drawback of last night is that I completely lost my voice as a result of shouting over music in pubs night after night. Today I sound like a 70 year old chain smoker- lovely. Maybe it's a good thing I've hardly seen anyone!

After I see Donncha tomorrow, who is a native of Cork, I think I'm going to try to put together a post about language and accents here... not a very straightforward topic, so we'll see how it turns out!

First Post!

Sorry for the delay in posting! This is my fifth full day, and so far, it's amazing! The trip over was fine, despite a three hour delay in Burlington for my connecting flight to Newark. I got to Shannon, Ireland, at about 6:45AM local time after a 6 1/2 hour ride over the Atlantic. I took a bus from Shannon to Cork, and made friends with a few other study abroad students that I have since bumped into several times around the city. My apartment is on Beasley St., right off Oliver Plunkett, which is directly in the city centre and part of the main shopping/entertainment/pub area of the city.

I am really loving the city. There's something to do on every street, with countless little pubs and shops. Ireland is living up to it's promise of being incredibly friendly. I've only run into a few people that aren't quite nice to me, even though I'm the dumb American in most circumstances. Socializing is very different here than what I've experienced in the US. I've gone out to pubs every night that I've been here, and each time, it's so easy to make a new (Irish) friend. On my first night, I met a guy named Donncha O'Leary- I still can't pronounce his name properly! We talked for four hours, and made plans last night for him to take me sightseeing on Sunday, winding up in a pub of course. In pubs, you can approach anyone and start talking, especially the guys. I'm not a big fan of most of the Irish girls that I've met so far. They are very materialistic, always dressing to the nines to go out (aka very tight, short, and low cut), with poofed hair and loads of makeup and high, high, heels. The guys are a much more mellow breed, and it's easy to carry a conversation with any of them- as long as their accent isn't too thick!

I've made a lot of friends in the time that I've been here, mostly people that I'm living with. I have two roommates, and they are both from Finland. They're rather sweet and we're getting along well so far. They call me their dictionary, because I'm always giving them English words that they don't know or can't think of. Our apartment is quite nice. I have my own bedroom and bathroom, and we share a fully equipped kitchen and living room. My neighbors across the hall are nice- 4 girls from NYC, Montana, and I forget where else... I've met so many people in the past few days, it's a wonder I remember my own name! The floor above me has an apartment with three guys who are all very nice as well. I've also become friend with two guys from Portugal that are so sweet and nice. On the first floor (which would be the second floor in America- one of the many things that are different here) is Paige, who's from Montana. She and I have been spending the most time together, and we get along really well. There are a lot of girls from Montana here because of an exchange program they have with Cork, and I like them all- very down-to-earth, relaxed and fun girls. I have more friends that live across the river, including a couple of people from UMass Amherst, which will be handy for keeping in touch back in the states.

The UCC campus is absolutely gorgeous. I put a few pictures up on my flickr (www.flickr.com/lswalch) of the campus and the city. I haven't actually registered for classes yet, but I think I'm going to take Irish Folklore, Spoken Irish, Traditional Music, the History of Ireland, and Archaeology in Ireland.
My friends are I are going out tonight (for the 6th night in a row!) on a pub crawl on Washington St. It's been raining today, but I hope it lets up before we go out. I'm having dinner with Paige in her apartment downstairs at 7- pasta leftover from last night, and I'm going to try to take a nap as well in that time. So for now, sláinte!