Reunited Roommates, Castles, Cliffs, Sheep, Vegetable Soup, Brown Bread & a Ghoul-way Halloween!

Let’s take a trip through time back to my first real trip in Europe this semester.  To do so we need to rewind to October 28^th when I took a few buses and a plane and one bus more and finally made it to Galway, Ireland! Ireland was a trip that I knew I wanted to do before I even left for Europe. Last time I was here I wasn’t able to go to Ireland and I had heard wonderful things about how beautiful it was. Also adding to the motivation was the fact that my wonderful roommate Julia and some other Stonehill friends would be spending the semester there. So Ireland was the first trip I looked into doing and I reserved my longest weekend (we had Friday, Monday, and Tuesday off thanks to a national holiday) to make the journey.

So upon arriving in Ireland with ZERO traveling issues (can you believe it?!) Julia and Jess picked me up at the Galway bus station and brought me to their home at Gort Na Coirbe (their residence hall/apartment area). Julia and I had dinner and had quality roommate catch up time. Saturday morning I got a nice little tour of Galway city, got to see NUI Galway where all of the Stonehill abroaders are taking their classes, and had lunch in a nice little Irish pub (with incredible vegetable soup and brown bread – just a heads up, this is going to become a trend in my meals here).

 windy day in Galway Bay

 Julia & I at Galway Bay

 Shop Street in Galway City

Also on Saturday night, other wonderful Stonehill friends, Tara and Amy who are studying in Denmark were kicking off their two week long travel break with a stop in Ireland! It was so nice to be able to see them because unfortunately a trip to Denmark did not work out for the semester. So, on Sunday morning, early and not so bright because it was a little cloudy/rainy (per usual when you’re in Ireland) Amy, Tara, Julia, and I all hopped on a bus tour to see some of Ireland and go to the Cliffs of Moher!







 Dunguaire Castle

 Amy, Tara, and I at the Portal Tomb

 foggy day at the Cliffs of Moher

 Amy & I at the Cliffs

 S & J: Cliffs of Moher Version

 the end of a wonderful day at the Cliffs of Moher!

Although it was a bit of a foggy day at the Cliffs it was still a wonderful day and I’m really happy I got to spend it in such great company! Also, not depicted in the pictures above is our stop for lunch at a cute little Irish pub where we sat by the fire and had delicious vegetable soup and brown bread (I told you you’d hear this again but really, it was so good).

Monday was Halloween and since our Galway friends had class on Tuesday, Tara, Amy, and I set out on our own for another bus tour, this time of Connemara and Kylemore Abbey. This morning when we left it was raining kind of bad so we were a little nervous about our tour but we lucked out and when we arrived at Kylemore Abbey we had wonderful weather.

 Kylemore Abbey

The Gardens at Kylemore Abbey

 Leaving Kylemore Abbey with our new Irish sheep wool sweaters in hand!

Sheep literally everywhere in the countryside

Following this day of touring the Ireland countryside, we returned to Galway City. As I mentioned, Monday was Halloween which, little did the three of us know, is like a HUGE deal in Galway. Obviously, due to packing restrictions for our travels, none of us brought Halloween costumes. However, lucky for us, our wonderful friends Julia and Jess went out and got us Halloween costumes while we were gone and we enjoyed a night of celebrating a Ghoulway Halloween! Unfortunately after that, my Galway weekend had to end and I had to leave for the bus station at about 3:30 am to catch my 8 am flight back home so that was a bit sleepless. Nonetheless, I had an absolutely wonderful weekend in Galway. It was so nice to be able to see so many Stonehill friends and hear about how wonderful their own experiences were. But also, my trip to Ireland reaffirmed for me that I made the right choice by coming to Granada. Although I had the most wonderful time, part of me missed Granada which for me was a good sign. Also, just being able to share my experiences and how much I love Granada told me that I made the absolute right choice and that I was having the study abroad experience that I wanted. As always, I am so grateful for how blessed I am to be able to travel the world and even more so for having some truly wonderful friends!

xoxo – S