Since this will be my final blog post I’d like to talk about my favorite memories and experiences from my time in Galway and what life was like after returning home.
I am extremely grateful for my time abroad. It was such a wonderful learning experience and the only thing I would change about it is that I would have liked to stay in Galway until May, as it was originally planned. My favorite part about being in Ireland was that I had to take care of myself, and be truly independently, for the first time in my life. I have always been an independent person, so I really enjoyed making my own decisions about what to eat, when to do my laundry, how to spend my money, where to go, etc. This was the first time that I didn’t have a parent watching my every move. While I am on my own at SU, my family is only an hour away, so they don’t miss that much 😉. I think every student who studies abroad learns a lot about themselves as an individual because when you are abroad you spend a lot of time with yourself, uninterrupted by the distractions of life at home. The most valuable experience I had during my time in Ireland was the weekend I spent in Connemara learning Gaelic from people who speak the language every day. As I said in previous blogs, I took a beginners Gaelic course at NUIG to learn a bit of Ireland’s native language. Students in this course were able to take a trip to an area of Connemara where Gaelic is everyone’s first language. There I stayed with a host family and got to see how their house was run and the types of customs and traditions that were important to them. This weekend trip was where I learned the most about Irish culture. I saw traditional Irish song and dance performances and attended Gaelic classes taught by native speakers as well. My trip to Connemara was extremely educational in a multitude of ways and I am very glad I had the opportunity to go on that trip. After returning home to the US I didn’t feel too different. I definitely feel that I have grown as an individual, but I didn’t experience any major personality changes. I miss Galway immensely, especially since I had to leave in such a hurry and didn’t get to have a proper goodbye. The most irritating part about returning home is that you have to tell each and every relative about everything you saw and did during your time abroad, as well as go through your hundreds of pictures multiple times. However, you can’t complain about having to retell your story because studying abroad is such a unique opportunity and your loved ones only want to show you their support. Choosing to study abroad for a semester was one of the best decisions I have made in my life and I highly encourage any student thinking about studying in Galway to do so. If anyone ever has any questions about Galway or doing a GO Long please do not hesitate to reach out to me!
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This week I would like to give some advice about planning side trips and the best places to visit in Ireland. I would highly recommend deciding where you want to go the most before you even leave for your semester abroad. Four months may seem like a long time, but the weeks pass by very quickly and if you are not prepared you may run out of time to travel.
Personally, I knew of a few places I wanted to visit in Ireland, but I had not thought about traveling around other European countries at all. The luxury of studying abroad in Europe is that you can book cheap flights from your host country to other European countries (a two to three hour plane ride was usually around 30 to 60 euro). However, planning trips outside your host country requires a lot of thought and these trips need to be planned well in advance. This is where my friends and I ran into problems. At the beginning of the semester everyone needs time to get adjusted to their new surroundings and the new culture/way of life, so no one usually travels during the first few weeks of their study abroad experience. Looking back, I think that students should spend the first few weeks of their semester abroad traveling around their host country while simultaneously planning their trips outside their host country. This is something that I failed to do. I did not spend enough time really thinking about what places I wanted to see outside of Ireland, and by the time my friends and I realized that we needed to start planning those trips, we only had about six weeks left in our semester. Six weeks may sound like a lot of time, but it really is not when you are responsible for planning your own trip and have to coordinate schedules with other people. If I had not left Ireland early due to the Coronavirus then I probably would have only had time for one or two more side trips during my remaining time. If I had started planning earlier in the semester then I could have made it to four or five different places in Europe. So, my recommendation would be to figure out the places you want to visit while abroad before you even leave, and upon arrival start planning your side trips immediately to allow yourself enough time to make the appropriate arrangements, get the best flight prices, and coordinate schedules with friends. I saw some incredible places in Ireland during my semester such as the Cliffs of Moher, Connemara, and Dublin. I would recommend that everyone studying abroad in Ireland see the Cliffs of Moher, they are breathtaking. For citygoers and history buffs I would recommend Dublin because it is a much larger city than Galway and contains many more historical sites and museums. For those who prefer the country I would recommend visiting the Connemara region because it has incredible views and spectacular places to hike. Below are a few pictures from the Cliffs of Moher, Dublin and Connemara. This week I’d like to offer some advice on how to make friends during your semester abroad. I was a little nervous about making friends when I first arrived in Galway because I really only knew one other student from SU. During orientation it seemed like everyone already had a group of friends. However, after careful observation I soon learned that there were a few large universities that had sent groups of 20 or more students to study in Galway altogether. Once I realized this I was less anxious and noticed many other students who were only talking to one other person or who were standing by themselves.
Orientation is a great time to make friends. I approached students who were standing by themselves and introduced myself. Keep in mind that everyone is uncomfortable, and everyone is feeling alone during the first few days at a new school in a new country. I met a close friend of mine during orientation. She was doing a home-stay (living off campus), so I probably would have never met her if I hadn’t approached her during orientation. NUIG also held socials for the international students during orientation. These events were held at the campus bar and involved music, games, and food. It was a great opportunity to socialize with the other international students. In my opinion, studying abroad is all about breaking our of your comfort zone and trying new things. So, if you are someone who doesn’t like to socialize or start conversations then I suggest just going to events, even if you are alone, there is always the possibility that someone will start a conversation with you. Another tip I will offer is to get contact information from the people that you interact with. Studying abroad is much different than being at your home university in the sense that not everyone knows each other, and it is harder to make connections. For example, at a social event one night I met another international student and we talked a little bit and before she left I got her phone number in case she ever wanted to hang out with me. We never ended up hanging out, but she did end up being in one of my classes and it was really nice to be able to text her whenever I missed a class and ask what I missed. At SU it is typical that you have a connection with at least one other person in each of your classes, but abroad that is rarely true. That’s why I recommend getting anyone and everyone’s contact info when you are socializing. Making friends can be intimidating and scary, but it is one of the most beneficial and rewarding things that you can do abroad. My friends and I did everything together in Galway. It nice to have other people to travel with, to cook with, go shopping with, etc. Anyone can make friends; you just have to get out of your comfort zone sometimes and try something new. Below are some pictures of my friends and I exploring different places around Ireland. As wonderful as Galway City is, sometimes you want to explore other places in the surrounding area. I would recommend taking a walk to Salthill when you get the urge to go on a little adventure. Salthill is a small town about a mile and half east of Galway City. Salthill is located right on Galway Bay, so you smell the saltiness from the ocean when you’re walking through it. The town has a promenade (similar to a boardwalk) that runs the whole length of Salthill and provides a great view of the bay and the mountains in the distance. The promenade is about three miles long, so it makes for a great walk on a clear day.
Salthill has other things to offer besides the promenade, like the Galway Aquarium. The aquarium is a great place to visit and it only costs 10 euros for students making it a great rainy day activity to do with your friends. The aquarium is two stories and has a diverse selection of marine life. If you visit the aquarium at the right time you may be able to join the touch pool tour where you will get to hold crabs, starfish, and sea cucumbers as well as touch koi and other tropical fish. Another site to visit in Salthill is O’Connor’s Famous Pub. This is one of the locations that Ed Sheeran’s music video for his song “Galway Girl” was shot at. Besides being the site of a famous music video, O’Connor’s is special because it is totally different than any other pub I went to in Galway. This pub has some wild décor. The ceiling is full of fishing nets and seashells, there is a wall of old lamps, a corner for old road signs, random taxidermy, strange lighting, etc. But the weird décor of O’Connor’s creates a very welcoming atmosphere. It is so different than any pub in Galway City which is why I highly recommend visiting it if you are ever in Salthill. Another thing that Salthill is famous for is its diving board located at the end of the promenade. The diving board is approximately 25-30 feet high and leads directly into the waves of Galway Bay. Some people jump off the diving board for fun, but it is common among international NUIG students to jump off the diving board before leaving Ireland. I am not a fan of heights or plunging into freezing cold water, so I passed on this tradition, but I know a few girls who did jump off the diving board before returning home and they said that they were glad they had a chance to do it, but they were never so cold in their lives. Salthill is definitely a hidden gem in County Galway, and it is somewhere you must visit during your semester at NUIG. I have included a few pictures below so you can get a sense of what Salthill is really like the pictures include: the promenade, the aquarium, the diving board, and O’Connor’s. Housing at NUIG is something that I think is really helpful to understand before you study abroad there. To start, housing is not called housing in Ireland. It is called your accommodation, which can be confusing at first because in America accommodation means something completely different. On the NUIG campus there are two student residences. One residence is called Corrib Village. Corrib is a bit older and outdated than the other student residence, Goldcrest Village. However, both residences are nice places to live. Corrib Village consists of about 30 different two story buildings. Each building has four apartments and each apartment usually has two double rooms, or a double room and two single rooms. Goldcrest consists of eight 5-story buildings. Each story has two apartments and each apartment has six single rooms. In Corrib and Goldcrest everyone in the apartment shares a kitchen space. Goldcrest gets extra points though because every room has its own private bathroom, whereas in Corrib everyone in an apartment shares a bathroom.
Each on-campus residence is protected by a series of gates and turnstiles. The gates open and close at specific times each day, so if you come home after the gates close you have to use your residence card to get through the gate. Upon arrival you will receive an ID card that you use to swipe into your building, apartment, and your individual bedroom. This means that it is very easy to lock yourself out of your room! All doors shut behind you quickly, so if you leave your card in your room when your leaving for class then you get locked out of your building, apartment, and room all at once. Don’t panic though, there is always a security guard on duty in Goldcrest and Corrib Village and s/he will be able to let you back into your building and apartment. Corrib and Goldcrest are located at the very north end of campus. This means that if you have a class on south campus (most classes are located on south campus) it will take you quite a while to walk to class. I always left my room a good 20 minutes before my class started and I usually got to class about three to five minutes early. The reception area for Goldcrest and Corrib Village is located on the ground floor of Goldcrest Village. Reception is a resource for students who are having issues with their roommates, it is where students go to make payments, and to pickup their mail. There is also a common space located in Corrib Village. This space is a building where events are held for students, such as yoga and bingo. There is also a small convenience store located in the common space which can come in very handy when you need a tomato but don’t have time to go all the way to the grocery store. There is also a laundry room located in the common space. Another laundry room is located in Goldcrest Village. Laundry is not included in the housing cost like it is at Susquehanna, so I recommend budgeting enough money to do laundry each week or so. Overall living on-campus was a really positive experience for me. Goldcrest provided me with lots of resources to have a successful semester at NUIG and I am thankful that I got to spend my time living there! [Below is the sunset from my bedroom window :) ] For this week’s blog I will be talking about what the public transportation was like in Galway and around Ireland. I found the bus to be the easiest and most efficient form of transportation in Galway. However, the bus did not start out as an easy form of transportation. I am from a small rural town in Pennsylvania and have never had to use public transportation by myself before so figuring out the bus system in Galway was a bit of a struggle. So, now that I understand the bus system I hope my tips can help anyone else who is traveling in Galway.
To start off, there are two main public bus companies that run locally in Galway and to surrounding towns, these companies are Bus Éireann and City Direct. I highly recommend using Bus Éireann because they offer many more routes than City Direct. Once you pick a bus company you should download the app “Real Time Ireland.” This app shows where each bus stop is located on a map, the times a bus will arrive at each stop to pick up, and all the stops located on each different bus route. This app is a great place to begin if you don’t have a clue where to go to get on the bus or where it will be taking you. Each bus route is identified by a different number beginning with 401. For NUIG students it is very common to take the 404 bus route. The 404 will pick up at the on-campus residences and take students directly into the city center. It also stops at Westside Shopping Center (a popular place for students to get groceries) and the Galway Cathedral. The bus stops are all marked on the road with a red “Bus Éireann” sign. These large signs make it hard to be standing at the wrong place to catch the bus. If you don’t have access to the Internet on your phone, there are bus timetables available on the Bus Éireann website that you can look at beforehand to know at which time your bus is coming. These timetables are also located at most bus stops. You can pay for the bus in two ways. One way being cash. If you are only visiting Galway for a short period of time then I recommend paying in cash. The bus fare is usually only 2 euro, maybe a little more depending on how far you’re going. Upon boarding the bus, the bus driver will tell you the cost of your ticket and you pay him or her before sitting down. The other way of paying for the bus is by purchasing a Leap card. Leap cards are purchased at the student union on the NUIG campus and cost 10 euro. Once you have your Leap card you can then load euros onto the card, so you don’t have to carry cash with you when boarding the bus. All you have to do is place your Leap card on the card reader near the bus driver’s station and s/he will deduct the proper amount from your card. The Leap card is tailored for students and allows you to get discounts at many local pharmacies and shops. The other way of getting around Galway is by taxi. Taxis are very common in Galway and it is not hard to find an open one when you need it. However, I would recommend taking the bus over a taxi when possible because taxis are much more expensive than the bus. To go to places outside of Galway, the bus is the most common form of transportation. There is a bus station located a block from Eyre Square and there you can catch a bus to almost any city or town in Ireland. Most bus companies allow individuals to book tickets online and at the door. P.S. – I apologize for my lack of pictures in this blog and most likely in upcoming blogs as well. Not living in Galway makes if difficult to find pictures that will best represent the content in my blog :( This week I would like to give you all a quick update on my life and my semester in Galway as well as provide a few ways to cope with stress. To start off, I am no longer in Galway. I have returned home to Pennsylvania because this was the safest option considering that the coronavirus situation is constantly changing. The moving home process began when I was woken up at 1am on Thursday by a phone call from my mom. She was panicked because President Trump had just issued a travel ban which seemed as though it included the UK and Ireland, so she wanted me to book a flight home immediately. Looking back, with a little more clarification from the government and less panic from my family I could have avoided booking a last minute flight because the ban did not include the UK and Ireland, but of course that’s not the way things happened. Anyway, very early Thursday morning I booked a flight home for Friday morning at 9:40 am. This meant that I barely had one day to pack up my whole life, say goodbye to friends and Galway, email all my professors about my upcoming absences, and move out of my accommodation. If that isn’t overwhelming I don’t know what is. Getting back to sleep after booking my flight was difficult because I was feeling extremely stressed. A few ways I like to deal with stress are by walking away/taking a break from the thing that is causing my stress and by talking to friends about my stress. So, at 2:30 am this is exactly what I did. I turned on my favorite Netflix show and started texting all my friends from Galway who were going through the same situation as I was. It was very helpful to talk to people who understood my situation. My friends were able to offer me advice and I was able to help them make decisions about leaving Galway and going home as well. I eventually got to sleep but had to wake up early the next morning to start packing up my belongings. Packing all my clothes, shoes, souvenirs, etc. took considerably longer than I had anticipated which unfortunately left me less time to enjoy Galway one last time with my friends. That night we went to dinner at a restaurant called McSwiggan’s. Having dinner with my friends was a huge stress reliever because we were able to share our thoughts and feelings about leaving Galway and what it would be like to finish classes from home (my friends and I at dinner pictured below). After saying goodbye to my friends, I headed home to hopefully get some sleep before I left to catch my bus to the airport at 2:45am. Traveling alone was something that was new to me as well. I had never been through the airport alone because I was lucky enough to fly to Ireland with a friend from SU. I had some anxiety about navigating the airport at such an uncertain and crazy time to travel, but I knew that I could do it. I got lost and confused a time or two throughout my journey, but I always found someone who worked at the airport and they were very willing to help me find my way. I landed in Philadelphia Friday at 1:30pm and headed home from there. I am currently in a self-quarantine/social distancing position because you can be a carrier for coronavirus and not show any symptoms. Currently on day six of my self-quarantine and I haven’t gone crazy yet 😉. I am just working on some assignments and final essays for my NUIG classes. Galway was a wonderful place to study abroad and I will miss it dearly, but I am happy to be home now because I know it was the right/safe decision to make.
Before going abroad, I had it in my head that I would have so much more free time than I typically have during a normal semester at Susquehanna. I definitely have more free time abroad, but I didn’t think I would have to use my time management skills in Ireland as much as I currently do.
Time management is something that I consider myself to be very good at. During my SU semesters I always have a daily routine that includes homework time, class time, meal time, and me time. My semester at NUIG has changed what my daily routine looks like drastically. I am in class for significantly less hours per day at NUIG than at SU. This reduced my allotted “class time” in my daily routine. I also spend much less time doing homework at NUIG because my course load is much lighter. Class and homework time used to take up about 70% of my day, but at NUIG they only take up about 40%. This means that I have more time to focus on myself during my semester abroad. Now just because I have more time to myself doesn’t mean that I spend it doing nothing. Taking care of yourself properly takes considerably more time abroad than it would at home. Cooking and grocery shopping eats up a large portion of my free time at NUIG. These are two things that I would have never budgeted time for in my day at Susquehanna. You also have to remember to take care of your health when abroad. This means getting regular exercise, making doctors appointments when feeling ill, and acquiring the appropriate medicine if you become ill. These may seem like simple tasks but there is a lot more to scheduling doctors appointments and getting treated when abroad. At home its easy to pick up the phone and make a doctors appointment because you’ve probably had the same doctor for years, same health insurance, and your medications most likely get sent to the same pharmacy every time you need one. However, when you are abroad it is important to remember that it is going to take more time to do these simple tasks. If you need to see a doctor it is your responsibility to find one on your own that is willing to work with your insurance from home or the temporary insurance you have while abroad. You have to get yourself to this appointment and to the pharmacy if needed. Theses are all things that you should budget time for or research in advance. It’s important to remember that while hopefully you have people at home supporting you, those people are thousands of miles away and it your responsibility, and yours alone, to take care of you. My advice would be to budget your free time carefully. Make sure you are eating properly, staying healthy, both physically and mentally. Make sure you are attending classes and doing your assignments because it is easy to forget that you’re still a student when abroad. It may take a couple weeks to find the right balance of work time and free time, but once you do you’ll be sure to have a happy and successful semester. This past weekend I signed up to go on a hike to the Connemara region of Ireland. However, the hike was cancelled because the mountain was too muddy to walk up. My friends and I had been looking forward to the hike and refused to sit inside the rest of the day just because our plans were ruined. We decided to walk to Menlo Castle which can be seen across the river from the path that runs by the NUIG sports fields, but to walk there you have to go around the river about four miles.
So, we started our journey and ended up walking on very narrow, very country roads. In our four mile journey there were about three cars that passed us on the road. The hike was uphill, so we were able to see the terrain and landscape of Galway. From the NUIG campus and even Galway city one would assume that the entire area is quite flat; there aren’t many hills in the city or its suburbs. However, when we reached the top of the hill in Menlo we were able to see over the city, campus, and beyond. At this point I realized that there are large mountains and valleys very close to the university. I could also see lakes and ponds that I never knew were there before. It was really interesting to see all of the geographical features that I didn’t know the Galway area had. It is crazy to think that I have been here for two months and have never noticed them before. (I didn’t get any pictures from the hill because it was pouring rain…as always 😉). We finally reached the road that led to Menlo Castle, but there was a gate and a private property sign standing in our way. None of us knew what to do. Luckily a local man came by and we asked him how to get to the castle. He directed us down the path that had the private property sign posted and he told us to pick some garlic on the way? Well this was something new to me. I’d never been anywhere were there was wild garlic to pick. Another unexpected aspect of the Irish landscape. My friends and I attempted to pick the garlic, but the bulbs were too big to pull out by hand and none of us had any other way of getting them out. Oh, well. We continued down the path and came to a clearing where we finally saw Menlo castle…300 yards away. Defeated, we trudged back down the path again and were back where we started. We now saw the correct path to get to the castle but there were about 20 cows blocking the way. Mud pits and leafy trees one minute and an open field of cows the next…this is truly the Irish landscape. At this point there was no stopping us from getting to that castle, so we slowly inched our way towards the random cows, and they did not care about us one little bit. Once past the cows we were at Menlo Castle. I then realized that the Irish landscape had surprised me once again by hiding away a grand castle in the middle of a cow pasture…wild stuff. The castle ruins were very neat to explore (see my pictures below). I guess the moral of this blog post is to always take advantage of your host location because even by walking a mile or so up the road you can learn so much more about your city and it’s history/landscape. This week I would like to tell you all about my favorite restaurants and pubs around Galway. Galway isn’t a huge city, but it still has a lot to offer. Hopefully my recommendations will help any potential Galway visitors find some nice places to eat and relax. I like to consider myself an adventurous eater. I don’t shy away from anything without trying it first. So, when I first came to Ireland I was really excited to try some traditional Irish dishes. I tried my first Irish dish, shepherd’s pie, at Finnegan’s (pictured below). I highly recommend Finnegan’s to anyone looking to try traditional Irish food because they have it all and are not too expensive. My meal was around 8.50 euro, which is fairly cheap compared to some other places. Finnegan’s is located about one block into the city after you cross the bridge from the NUIG campus. Another restaurant I would recommend for traditional Irish food is Riordan’s. Riordan’s is a smaller establishment than Finnegan’s and is located further into the city, but it has the same quality of food for about the same price. If you’re looking for more traditional “bar food” I would recommend the King’s Head located on Shop Street. The King’s Head has the European essentials such as fish and chips, but it also has the American essentials like burgers and fries. It is a little more expensive than Finnegan’s and Riordan’s but affordable for a college student. My last restaurant recommendation is The Cellar Bar. This restaurant/pub is located right off of Eyre Square. The Cellar Bar has food that would be considered “home style cooking.” They serve dishes like chicken and rice, and broccoli pasta, meals that your mom or grandparents would serve you on a cold day. This restaurant is also not too expensive; it is affordable for a college student. Now, what I’m sure you have all been waiting for…my pub recommendations! If you’re looking for live music I would suggest going to either The Quays or An Púcán. The Quays is huge and always has a live band playing at night. The only thing that I don’t like about this pub is that it is always very very crowded. An Púcán is usually less crowded than The Quays, but on most nights it has a 21 and older restriction. I’m only 20 so I have to go to this pub on slower nights when there’s no age restriction (usually during the week). If you’re looking for more of a social venue where the main focus isn’t a band then I would recommend either the Front Door or Busker Browne’s. These pubs are right across the street from one another and are very popular with the NUIG students. Both of these pubs are multiple stories, but they still get really crowded on the weekends. My last recommendation is Sult which is the on campus pub (pictured last). Sult is located right next to the Student Union on campus and is great for a night when you don’t want to walk all the way into the city. Sult also hosts many events like Karaoke night, Bingo, and open mic.
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