Island Life... the Irish Way: 1 Week In

Ireland has been absolutely grand and good craic so far. In American lingo that's great and fun. The past week has been a crazy one. We've been going, going, going since the moment we got here, but it's been amazing regardless. After several travel mishaps: a broken suitcase and a bad experience with security (there was a random pocket knife in my old suitcase that I was unaware of until a security agent searched by bag about 17 times), I arrived at the Shannon airport at 7am on a flight from Boston with 3 of the Union students. Once the group flight arrived 5 hours later, we took a bus to our apartment complex, Gort na Coiribe. I'm living in an apartment in a double with Caroline, also from HWS, as well as our three Irish roommates: Stephanie, Laura, and Jenna. They are all so nice and have been so welcoming to us. We really lucked out. It's very true what they say about the Irish, they are the nicest people. What they didn't say is that, believe it or not, the Irish are more obsessed with snapchat than Americans. I have so many random Irish snapchat friends now but I guess I have to get on their level somehow.

Thursday and Friday were devoted to orientation at NUIG. To be honest, it wasn't very helpful. Actually, it confused most of us even more. The registration process here is much different than in the states. Basically we have two weeks of trial classes that started yesterday. After that, we submit our paperwork. Right now I'm looking at taking Health Psychology and Applied Behavioral Analysis.

Other than that we have been spending all our time exploring the city of Galway. We are about a 15 minute walk to NUIG as well as to the city. We've been doing A LOT of walking. Like a lot. We've got blisters to prove it. On Saturday we went to the Farmer's Market and took a walking tour of the city. Sunday we went to a local pub called The Quays (pronounced keys) where we watched a big hurling match. I still have no idea what hurling is but the atmosphere was a lot of fun. Yesterday after some classes we walked along the bay and of course snapped plenty of pictures like the tourists we are. There's still a lot to get used to like cars driving on the other side of the road. I'm still at the point where I'm seeing dogs and kids driving cars. Weird sight. Also taking some time to get used to showers that only have hot water for like an hour in the morning and having to flip a switch to turn an outlet on.

Most days so far we have just been letting ourselves get lost in the city and seeing all it has to offer. It's a great place with a lot of life. I love the group of people in the program. We've been having the greatest time together hanging out, going to the city, going to pubs, cooking dinner together, and just having a blast. We're all still in vacation mode but hopefully that will switch once classes are in full force. It's only been a week and I already don't ever want to leave. If I'm having this much fun at this point, I can't wait to see what the rest of the semester will bring. I love Ireland!