I haven't written in a couple days so this is probably going to be one of my longer posts. So Thursday and Friday we had Orientation at NUI Galway which was an experience to say the least. First of all the walk to school itself is breathtaking, secondly campus is HUGE - beautiful but huge. Never before have I appreciated so much my tiny campus at home. Thursday was all about the social side of campus and Galway with talks by a handful of different students and staff as well as talks from the police and an immigration officer. Now if you're anything like me a talk from a police officer is a scary sounding thing but both the Sargent and the officer joked around and we super friendly and approachable. Instead of getting a "Don't do anything or we'll arrest you" kind of talk we got a "Galway is a party, enjoy it.. but be safe" kind of talk. They also encouraged us to talk to officers around us - for causal chats and jokes not just for problems! Not at all the rigid cold officers we were used to. Friday was all about the academic side of things with talks on how to register and from most of the major departments on the classes being offered to international students. I'm going to skip over how little my home school prepared me for this because none of you want to read a whiny blog so I'll just give you some pictures of campus and the walk there instead.
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| The walk to school |
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| Not a bad view from the Student Center huh? |
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| Hanging out in the campus bar (but not drinking) in between academic sessions |
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| Welcome to the day of PowerPoint presentations |
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| The Quadrangle |
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| Martin Ryan Building.. that's one big turtle! |
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| Cool sculpture |
Wednesday night the Student Union of NUIG had a karaoke night for all the international students. I have never wanted to do karaoke in my life but when we got there free pints were offered for singing so Lauren, Caitlin, and I got up and sang All Star by Smash Mouth and greatly enjoyed having a beer on the school!
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| School bar |
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| Free pint!!! |
We got a campus tour on Friday which was so overwhelming that I just wanted to hop on a plane and fly home right then.. but I got over that. What wasn't fun was that the tour guide walked us all the way to the other side of campus (doesn't sound far but it is) and the was like "Yep, I'm done. See ya!" and we had no idea where we were or how to get home so we just kind of followed other people. We could see the Cathedral so we knew in general what direction we needed to go in but we also spotted the ruins of some building on our way (that happened to have ivy in the shape of a heart) so we made a tiny detour to check it out. It looked really cool but we didn't stay long cause it was littered with broken beer bottles, just long enough to take a couple pictures.
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| Even ivy loves Ireland! |
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| Someone come bail me out? Anybody? Hahaha |
The walk back was very scenic but also pretty and we did eventually find our way home.
Today (Saturday) has probably been my favorite day thus far since getting to Galway. On Saturdays and Sundays there is a market in the city and it is filled with all sorts of amazing homemade goodies like breads, cheeses, teas, honeys, and soaps as well as food stands, a fresh fruit and veggie stand, meats, and fish. Accompanying all of that were several stands for handmade items like jewelry, paintings, scarves, socks, slippers and countless other goodies. However, above all the other things my favorite part of the market would have to be the doughnut man. These homemade doughnuts were probably the best thing I have ever tasted and without a doubt will have to be my weekly treat to myself.
After dropping off our obtained goodies at the apartment Marie and I decided to go on a walk by the water. Words fail me trying to describe it so I will just share pictures of the beauty instead.
And it is with these beautiful pictures of Galway Bay that I leave you today.
Until next time,
Sarah
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