Yes, so the accents took some time to get used to, as well as the blatant staring, but also the friendliness of the people; the surrounding of vast green pastures filled with sheep or cattle is new and the lack of ranch dressing in the country has been rough. But I think the weather, more than anything, is still taking its toll on me! It's cold here.. for the most part. Ninety-five percent of the time it is overcast, with the sun shining through maybe a total of 60 minutes a day.. Most of the time it's cold and windy, but sometimes it gets pretty hot! for a few minutes. You just never know what it's going to do and it's definitely one of the things I'm still getting used to. Today, for example, I grabbed by umbrella, rain jacket, sunglasses, and wore flip flops.. Ya just can't know.
Oh but it's so beautiful here. I really can't emphasize it enough. This past weekend, we spent the weekend in Galway and the Aran Islands, and it's hard for me to put in words just how gorgeous the land is.. Galway has a mix of atmospheres: Shop street was filled with small pubs and shops of Irish souvenirs and SWEATERS!(don't feel like explaining this). With Galway Bay just a short walk through there, you have the sand and the waves and the jellyfish right at your fingertips. I spent the night in a hostel for the first time- not like the movie at all! We all agreed it was like a big sleepover! I think the best part of this was when I accidentally walked into the other girls room at 2 in the morning thinking it was ours. Oops. Always make sure your door is closed all the way..
The next day was the Aran Islands (Inishmore), which we took a ferry to. We rented bikes upon our arrival and rode around a big chunk of the island for most of the day. I think this has been my favorite experience so far.. We had beautiful weather and clear skies; we saw horses and donkeys, we climbed rocks and saw dolphins- it was absolutely perfect. Oh.. I can't forget how we ended the evening. The group participated in an intense kereoke singing contest, winning of course, and bonding like no group of people has ever bonded before. All I can do now is pray that those videos will never surface.
The only thing I regret of the weekend was not having enough time in Galway.. It's definitely a place I would like to return to.
Our next trip is to Derry in a couple of weeks. These days we're beginning to adapt our short stories to a screenplay and gearing up to help out with the festival. I'm very excited to start work for the arts festival, to meet more people in this town and learn more about the culture. The people here are absolutely amazing. Besides a snooty, depressed waiter we had on the island and the boys that yell from their cars, everyone is ridiculously friendly. Fun fact- they think Americans are the friendly ones because we always say "have a nice day." But the Irish are genuinely friendly and genuinely concerned if you're having a nice day or not. It seems.
Cheers
"I left my sweater swag back at the B&B."
No comments:
Post a Comment