Hello to one and all,

The adventures continue! If you’re looking to come to Western Ireland, you cannot leave without visiting the Cliffs of Moher. Corrib Village gave us a free tour a few weekends ago, and the views were some of the most stunning in the world. They filmed a scene from Harry Potter & The Half Blood Prince here, and the scene where Amy Adams gets engaged in Leap Year if you’ve seen it.

A great thing about being located in Ireland is that we’re just a hop, skip, and a jump away from the UK. My three wonderful roommates and I took a weekend trip to Edinburgh, Scotland last weekend. I was feeling under the weather, so I skipped their 12-hour “Hairy Coo” Highlands tour (yes, that’s the name of the company) and ventured out into the city on my own. There is something completely magical about spending the first day in a foreign European city alone. I wandered and found myself at the Palace of Holyroodhouse, located in a park with winding trails at the base of a moderately steep hill. I climbed up a small path to a vantage point where I could see the whole city. From my spot on the hill, the summit (called Arthur’s Seat) didn’t look so far away.

I began to climb, fighting congestion, dizziness and general sick exhaustion, and kept assigning new turn-around points, or else I was sure I would pass out. But the funny thing about climbing a mountain is that once you start, the top looks more and more achievable. Finally, I gave up on self-preservation and knew that I had to make it to the top, no matter how uncomfortable I was. And I made it! I asked a nice-looking young couple to take a picture of me for evidence and then stumbled weakly back down. I count this day among the best of my life. After a much-needed nap and lunch, I met a friend at an outdoor beer garden for delicious pizza and live music. The next day we toured Edinburgh castle and Dean’s Village, went shopping, and enjoyed tapas and more live music. Since each day was so full, we would crash at our Airbnb and watch a British reality show called Naked Attraction, which is so strange that we all felt like we were hallucinating (the contestants have their naked bodies revealed bottom up, and faces are revealed only after a choice is made). On our travels back to Galway, I recalled sitting on the Dublin -> Galway bus just 3 months ago at the start of the program, and I jotted this down in my journal: “This ride reminds me of the first time I took the bus from Dublin to Galway. I was anxious and terrified because I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Now riding through these familiar green fields and place names I look forward to coming home to Galway and The Crane Bar and Lucy and Eoin and shop street and our Corrib village living room and Lidl veggie curry…And thank god the water is to the west, Edinburgh was really disorienting (beautiful! But weird to have water to the northeast).”

And now I believe would be the appropriate moment to dump even more love on Galway, a place I happily call home now. Some recent delights:

• I joined the Dance Society and take contemporary dance classes once a week. I don’t have the opportunity for extracurricular dance at Whitman and it is such a joy getting to move my body in this way again. We’re rehearsing for a show that is scheduled for next week (eek!!). Wish me luck.
• The Galway weekend market and especially the donut man. Every weekend Lombard street is packed with food, art, and produce stalls. My two favorites to visit are the fairy house stall and the eastern European man who sells truly heavenly donuts for 1 euro. They melt in your mouth and make you ascend to a higher donut plane of existence. 

*In the middle of building this list my heart dropped as it occurred to me for the first time that I will eventually have to move out of my cozy, sun-lit room and away from this wonderful city. 

• I love running into my neighbor Eoghan on his smoke breaks outside Apartment L. He calls me “love” and we always have a great exchange about the weather or more recently, his upcoming 22nd birthday during which he informed me that he is going to go home to eat cake and get fat. 
• Another delight is passing older Irish men on the river trail, clad in their walking sweatshirts and caps. I cannot understand a word they say to each other but it’s always very earnest. 
• Sitting in the campus bar on a Monday night with friends and cheesy garlic fries, intermittent singing of old folk tunes and an atmosphere of warmth and relaxation.
• Going to Matt’s sandwiches is one of my favorite Galway experiences. If you go at 11am on a rainy day, there won’t be a line and Matt will be chatting it up with all the customers as he slowly and lovingly crafts each sandwich. Order the Corrib. Matt’s Sandwiches is the most relaxed and happy food establishment I have ever visited, and only a 12 minute walk from Corrib Village!
• I know every word of the pub songs now. I’ve compiled a playlist so you can go to the pubs with me in sound: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/49vtKVnFtayfBECfU5zDfv?si=c5f1619f4ba64109
• The ice cream truck that comes out to Corrib Village when the weather is warm — it’s the softest ice cream I’ve ever had.
• A kid named Aidan on my IFSA program lives below me and practices his fiddle almost constantly. He’s working on a few jigs and reels right now that are the soundtrack to my life in Apartment L44.
• I had a silly exchange with a waiter at Mr. Waffle the other day, where I ordered the “Obama Pancakes” (pancakes with berries and cream), and upon hearing my American accent he shook his head in awe and asked if they do Obama pancakes much better in the states. My next weekend trip will be to Obama’s ancestral Irish village where they have a commemorative Barack Obama gas station and a life-like statue of him.