wind and rain

Classes start tomorrow. We had our orientation today, and it sounds like the classes will be enjoyable. Geology sounds like it will be a breeze, especially because Laura and I both took a geology class last year. The other class I am taking is sociology. We don't actually have a sociology lecture until Thursday, when we will be given a three hour lecture on Irish economics which, if the readings assigned are any indication, will be extremely dull. On the plus side, that professor is only giving the first lecture, and after that the class will be given over to a woman who we have been assured will lecture on "spicier" subjects.

Today we took it easy. The weather was bad and Laura and I were both feeling worn out, so aside from a walk up to the local department store for supplies we just stayed in and watched some Irish television and cooked.

I did, however, find a couple of opportunities on the walk to take some photos. If I could say one thing about Galway, it would be that it is the prettiest place I have ever been. I am excited to see more of the surrounding area on our geology field trips.

Galway

We arrived in Galway yesterday afternoon after a surprisingly stressful train ride here. The scenery was gorgeous, but the train system had a confusing quirk or two. The most troublesome was that if you pay extra, you can reserve a seat on the train, but these reserved seats are not marked in any fashion, save for on the ticket given when you reserve a seat. There is a queue for the train before it arrives, presumably to get good seats, but there is always a chance that someone has already reserved your seat and will kick you out of it as the train is pulling out of the station. Laura and I were fortunate enough to have unreserved seats, but there were 5 or 6 people in our car who ended up sitting on the floor for the majority of the ride. Perhaps it wouldn't be so bad during the week.

So, now we are in Galway with our group. We did not have internet for the first day, but thankfully Connie got us all internet today. The apartment is a little bit shabbier than depicted in the photos, but it is alright. My only real gripes are that in my room only one of the four lights works, and our apartment did not come with any sort of trash bin, though most of the apartments do. On the plus side, we have one and a half baths, which is pleasant, and the location is on the side of an absolutely gorgeous river. Here is a picture of my bed.

And these are some rather impressive ruins that are just on the opposite bank of the river from us. So far as I am aware, there is no path to them, I think they are just on someone's land. They are only a couple fences down from a herd of cows.

And to illustrate again just how beautiful this area is, here is another:

Tonight we went into town to watch the Euro finals. We found a nice hole in the wall type of pub populated nearly entirely by old irish men, and had our first Guinness in Ireland. It was splendid. And Spain came out victorious, which I certainly cannot complain about. There was quite a celebration on the streets. Apparently there is a Spanish tradition when your football team wins to go to the nearest fountain [should one be available] and jump around in it.

We also met a nice fellow by the name of Mel. He grew up in Dublin and has been teaching linguistics at the university in Galway for 7 years. He absolutely talked our ears off, but he was extremely friendly, and he was the first Irish person we have had a good chance to talk to. He was at the pub with three women from Spain who were also very friendly. A couple of them gave us phone numbers and email addresses, so hopefully we will have a chance to meet up with them again.

I am extremely grateful to have the internet again, but it is quite finicky here, and I will leave the rest for later.

Doesn't it ever get dark here?

To be fair, at the time that I am writing this post [around 11 o'clock] it has gotten pretty dark. But it sure did take a while. Around 9:30 Laura and I sat down beside the river to watch the sunset and relax. We were there for about an hour and twenty minutes, and it was just getting dark. For reference, here is a photo taken at about 10:25:


I've never been so far north before. It is an interesting experience, though I am afraid I might grow to hate the 5 am sunrise every morning.

We've arrived

We've made it. We got into Dublin this morning about an hour ahead of schedule at just before 7:00 local time. It was a bit early, but due to the high latitude and altitude, the sun had been up since about 4:30 am, and so had I. We were only able to sneak in a few hours of sleep on the flight, but the view coming in to Dublin was absolutely breathtaking. We came in from the southeast over the ocean, which had a mixture of small rocky cliffs and soft sandy beaches, all of which were surrounded by surprisingly blue and beautiful seawater. We had to make a circle around the airport, as there was a plane on the runway they had told us to land on, but it just gave a chance for us the see the other side of Ireland, beautiful green fields as far as the eye can see. After that we were able to land and taxi in, but there happened to be a plane in our jetway, and we were forced to wait on the tarmac another 30 minutes or so for them to clear out. All in all I got the impression that Dublin airport is not a terribly well run operation.

After landing we were dealt with by the friendliest customs agent I have ever met and made our way into town. Our hostel for the evening is called the Ashfield house. It is a very typical youth hostel, lots of bright colors and young people from other countries. We are sleeping in a 16 bed room tonight. The hostel is, however, in a wonderful location. Our hostel is right in central Dublin, about 1 block from Trinity College and the Temple Bar district on one side, and one block from the River Liffey on the other side. Which is absolutely beautiful.


Once we made it to the hostel we stashed out backpacks and walked around for a bit, looked at some local shops and such. Unfortunately, we were quite exhausted and as soon as we could check-in to our room at 12:30, we did, and zonked out for about 4.5 hours. Now I think it is time to eat, though.

The Trip

We leave the day after tomorrow. I spent today getting together everything I will need and packing. We leave DC Thursday afternoon and land in Dublin early the following morning. We are going to stay there for a day and then take a train to Galway, where our study abroad program will be held at NUIG. The picture to the right is of Galway bay, which promises to be gorgeous.

The program runs until July 26th. After that, our plan is to do a bit of traveling through Ireland, France, Belgium, The Netherlands, and the Czech Republic. We will be spending time in Cork, Paris, Marseille, Brussels, Amsterdam, and Prague over the following 26 days or so, returning to the States on August 20th. Feel free to leave comments if you have been to any of these places and have any suggestions of where to go, what to see, etc. They will be greatly appreciated. We have done some research about the places we are going, but you can only find out so much with guidebooks and the internet.

There is not a whole lot to say right now, as I am still in Norfolk, but I will try to keep you updated on what is going with Laura and me throughout our travels.