Two weeks ago today, I landed in Dublin with no idea what to expect for my next four months here. Although it feels like I have been here for way longer than two weeks, I know that the next 3 1/2 months are going to fly by, so I am trying to make the most of my time here. This past weekend, we went on our first trip outside of Dublin! We travelled to the west coast of Ireland into the beautiful town of Galway.
We left UCD at 05:45 Saturday morning and boarded a bus in the city centre to take us to Galway. The bus ride was only about 2.5 hours, and it was pretty smooth sailing. Upon arrival, we went to our hostel and realized we couldn't check in until 15:00 and it was barely even 10:00. We were scheduled to go on a walking tour of the town at 11:00 so we went to a cafe and killed some time with coffee and scones. At 11, we met a lovely old Irish man named Liam who took us on a great walking tour around Galway. We got to see where the original Claddagh rings were made, and the most famous fish&chips restaurant, among many other beautiful sites. After the tour, we all sort of broke apart and went to explore Galway even more on our own. I decided to treat myself to one of the famous Claddagh rings (even though it was quite pricey). That night, most of our group went on a pub crawl, but my friends and I decided to go out to dinner and get brownie sundaes instead, which was the best decision I've made since I've been here. The next morning we got up early, checked out, ate some breakfast and made our way to a bus tour going to Connemara. The tour was 5.5 hours long and made stops at some of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. We also stopped at Kylemore Abbey and got to see a beautiful castle for a few hours. The weather was crazy, between snow showers, rain and hail, it was nice to be in a bus rather than walking around. We got back to UCD last night around 17:30. It was a long weekend, but it was great craic (that means great fun).
Until next time,
Olivia
Until next time,
Olivia