Galway

9/19 

Today, in between my two classes, I met my cousin Mae in the town center for lunch. Mae is my grandmother's first cousin who lives in Australia. I first met her when I was around 6 years old when she came to visit us in New York. My mom and I were reunited with her in 2011 when we were all in Ireland at the same time. As luck would have it, Mae was home visiting for the first time since 2011 just in time for me to arrive. She is extraordinary. Mae seems to have knowledge about pretty much everything. Any questions we have about our ancestors, Mae is our go to. The fact that she was coming to Galway for two days while I was here is a "God wink" in my eyes. I had a fabulous time having lunch and catching up with her. 

9/20 

On Wednesdays, my day is jam packed with classes. By the time 6 o'clock comes I am wrecked. I decided today to go to the Catholic Societies meeting and I'm sure glad I did. At the beginning of the meeting, I began talking to a girl from Illinois, Shea. She goes to Boston College and is doing the semester here as well. We really hit it off. The meeting was an introduction to the club and an election for this years members. The Chaplain for NUIG sat next to me and we started chatting. He just started 2 months ago and was extremely welcoming. All the officers that ran expressed their love for Catholicism and how they wanted to get involved & enjoy ourselves through our faith. That is right up my alley. After the meeting, we gathered in the Chapel for pizza and got to know one another. The evening ended with prayer and Confession. My faith is a very important part of my life and it was amazing to meet people who feel the same as I do here. This gave me the opportunity to meet new people and grow closer to my faith through just one meeting. 

9/21 

Our friend Kelly came to visit us today. It was nice to see her and spend the afternoon together. That night we went to story telling with our ISA group at a near by restaurant. The man told two lengthy stories that were quite comical. 

9/22 

Today was really amazing. My cousin Caroline gave Bridget and I a voucher for Afternoon Tea at Ashford Castle. The castle is a world renown five star castle. Bridget and I got all dressed up for our day out. We were able to tour the grounds beforehand, which were absolutely breathe taking. The employees at the castle were beyond accommodating. They drove us into the castle and gave us an umbrella to walk around with. We felt like royalty at our Afternoon Tea. They gave us Tea, little finger sandwiches, pastries, and scones. It was all delicious. We didn't want to leave. The hotel requested a driver drive us to our bus back to Galway. We felt like princesses.  

9/23 

This was one of the first days that we really didn't have anything to do and luckily the weather was not the best. We took today to organize our stuff and clean. It was nice to have a day to relax. 

9/24 

I started my morning by going to Mass at Galway Cathedral. Bridget and I then got coffee and sat by the water. After that, we watched the Ladies All-Ireland. Unfortunately, the County Mayo team fell short again. The weather was beautiful and we took advantage of the amazing view of Galway Bay. We ended the day with some dinner and dessert. The restaurant we went to was very similar to Chipotle in the US, which is one of our favorites.

 

9/25 

I started off the day with some much needed errands of laundry and food shopping. After, I went to lunch with the girl Shea that I met at Catholic Societies. It was nice to talk to someone that came from the US and was in the same boat I was. I had two classes after that. I went to evening mass and sat by the water. The night ended with dinner with our housemates.