first official weekend

#1 the drink I ordered Friday night. I didn't want to be the obnoxious person taking photos, so I opted not to use the flash even though without it the photo doesn't convey the pink juiciness of this deliciously strong cocktail








#2 what we almost convinced ourselves was the Spanish Arch. ha!



















#3 the actual Spanish Arch. really not that much more impressive.







#4... but the seagulls certainly got a kick out of it. my camera doesn't zoom out enough to show that there were seriously at least 30 seagulls lined up, apparently just staring at the arch (that's the River Corrib in the background)








#5 an art installation in the Galway City Museum. this picture really doesn't do it justice, but I thought it was awesome and wanted to share it at least in some way. I can't imagine the amount of time and thought that went into stringing up all of those balls (make perverted jokes as you must)












it's true what they say: most of the Irish students go home on the weekends. As a result, the apartment complex is almost deserted, and it becomes incredibly quiet for being so.

it.is.awesome. being alone in the common room! sleep!

...at least, that was the plan. in actual fact I've spent almost the entire weekend outside of my apartment, and I didn't get to bed until way late last night-- but it was by my own doing.

last night a couple of us watched Superbad (thanks for that, Dad!). all of the high school party scenes put us in the mood for drinkin' (I'm not sure how, since most of them involved puking and/or some character making an ass of his or her self), so we decided to take a cab downtown around 10:30 (splitting the cab fare five ways was worth not walking the 15-20 minutes in the dark, cold, rain).

we selected a pub which I think is my favorite in the city-- classy, but not pretentious, with incredibly awesome architecture and a ridiculously large drink menu. I ordered picture #1, which included about 4 different kinds of alcohol and cost more than I'd care to mention-- definitely a one-time thing. after the pub started closing down around 12:30, we decided to make use of the free-entry passes we'd received to one of the clubs. a word on this: clubs are pretty much never my scene. but I didn't think it fair to condemn them until we'd experienced them, and here was a way to experience for free. my companions felt the same way, so we walked the 1/2- block to Karma.

we stayed for all of 8 minutes. we walked in-- totally under-dressed, and snubbed for being so-- we looked at the sweaty drunk people dancing, and I'm pretty sure we all had a collective flashback to high school and college parties in the US. I decided that it didn't count unless I actually partook in the club experience, so I dragged Emily onto the dance floor, where we swayed to one song. Then I whispered, "I think I'm done. You done?"

she was done. so we walked off the dance floor and out of Karma, and I have officially experienced what will likely be my only excursion into a Galway City nightclub.

we walked back, and I slept until close to 11 this morning. today was gray and rainy-- the perfect day for staying indoors and cooking/reading/generally partaking in indoor activities. so naturally we decided to spend the day outside. emily, jeanette, and I walked downtown with the initial goal of seeing the Spanish Arch. first we wandered through the market that forms every Saturday, and regretted having already eaten lunch because there is some good- looking food there. then we walked down to the water, followed a sign pointing to the "Spanish Arch", and spent ten minutes trying to figure out where the hell it was. I'm too tired to explain how funny this experience it was-- suffice it to say that we almost convinced ourselves that a tiny wall of stones near a row of modern residences was the historic structure which draws tourists from all over the world. then we realized that the real thing was behind us, on the other side of the road. so we walked over there and took the obligatory pictures, but I laughed the whole time because it is hardly an impressive structure (as is made obvious by the picture), and it's hilarious that it's such a big deal.

we were tired of the rain by this point, so we located the Galway City Museum and spent a couple hours there. around 5 o'clock we decided to go in search of a restaurant. we weren't famished yet, so we took our time and basically read every menu in the downtown area, learning in the process that there is some expensive food downtown. we finally settled on a dinky little place with ridiculously cheap burgers (including a veggie burger!), which hit the spot nicely. then we killed time comparison - shopping in the grocery store until about 8:30, when we were going to see a movie. but when we learned that it cost 9 euro (ridiculous!), we decided just to hang out at Emily's and watch her copies of 30Rock.

so that's my weekend so far. the freedom of authorship allows me to write in such a way that makes it sound as if every experience is imbued with wonder and joyful satisfaction. it's really not that flashy, or that blindingly life- affirming. but it is generally good.

and then I remember that I have 90 pages of reading due on Monday, and the only way to access the books is to walk to the library during its ridiculously limited opening hours and sit there with the books because I'm not allowed to check them out.