We were pretty much (...ok, completely) left to our own devices after getting our room assignments, so I unpacked a bit (not that I really had too much to unpack) then made a short walk to Dunnes Stores to get sheets. We were conveniently provided with a comforter and pillow. Dunnes Stores is a rather large chain that essentially has a a bunch of different departments, except each is segregated into its own little store. But you get everything from groceries to, well, bedding. Wandered further down Headford Rd which leads towards the City Centre and Eyre Square, the main social hub of Galway. That's about 20 minutes away, and NUI, Galway is about 25 minutes from Menlo.
The weather itself was not as bad as I was concerned it might be; there was some snow on the ground, though mostly just a lot of ice. It was somewhat overcast, and a little breeze blowing, but manageable, certainly. The night was relatively quiet. Wandered about some more (just near Dunnes, not near Eyre Square) with Jaime, got a bite to eat, and called it an early night; just read for a while.
Up early the next day for a lovely jaunt through the cold over to campus for the first time. If I wasn't awake before I left the apartment it only took one step outside to fix that! Another overcast day; such a change from Dublin. I had been getting my hopes up that it wasn't as dramatically cloudy over here as people made it out to be. We had a morning-full of orientation speeches from NUI Galway. Fun fact: there are over 500 international students here for the semester. After a few of us roamed campus until we found somewhere to eat, then made our way to the quadrangle (a main area of campus) with some help from my internal navigation system for a tour that was supposed to start at half-two. In typical Irish-fashion I'm beginning to find, the guides each arrived independently closer to quarter past three (someone from a nearby office assured us they were coming, I wasn't just waiting around optimistically). The tour was one of the more pointless things I'd done all day, but the lad was cheery and funny so it was fine. Not exactly like I had anywhere better to be.
(Bigger version here if you're really ambitious: http://astro.nuigalway.ie/images/NUIGalwayCampusMapLarge.jpg)
I branched off on the way back from campus to check out Eyre Square and do some investigating about a little American Football; I had been give a few leads on places to try. Eyre Square is a nifty little place. Other than Hotel Meyrick, a neat Victorian building right at the base of the square, most everything had a surprisingly modern look to it. The first place, Fagan's, was below the hotel, but they weren't picking up ESPN America due to some glitch. The bartender took my name down though and promised to call if she got it playing again. I was pleasantly surprised when I actually did get a call from her three hours later apologizing that they weren't able to get the channel up. I moved on to another place, was directed to Fox's, and from there to Kennedy's. Success! Not only did they pick up the proper channel, but they were going to be open late that night and the bartender said he'd be glad to put it on for me. I need to find out a bit more about this, but it seems that most pubs actually close around half twelve because you have to have a license to sell alcohol after that, and most younger folk go to clubs later anyway.
After dinner I headed across the courtyard to find the guy I knew was interested in the National Championship, and found a bit of a party going on. I hung around with everyone for a while until they were ready to go out, then the fifteen of us made the twenty minute hike to town. We moved around between a few pubs and ended up at The Quays Pub which had a nifty layout spreading up and down several floors and half-floors, with traditional wood paneling and fireplaces scattered around, and a band playing that was above and catty-corner to the actual bar. Unfortunately the place was teeming with Americans, and even the band was playing Brown Eyed Girl and Sweet Home Alabama (ugh, Alabama... Hook 'em!). Most of the group got sleepy and went home, but we swung over to Kennedy's to watch the kickoff. Good start, Texas! I saw that we got up by 6... then the bartender started closing down. We more or less just went back after that. I checked the halftime score when I got back, and I wouldn't know who won but dear father gave it away today when I caught a subtle downtown today when he asked if I watched the game. Thanks.
Today was the first really cold day in my opinion. I'm pretty sure there were a couple of times that the fog was actually freezing and blowing about. Either that or the snow here is just really icy. It's been thickly overcast all day (unlike the previous two where the sun had come out in the afternoons) and there's supposed to be horribly weather coming in this weekend. I fulfilled a few more obligations about getting myself settled in, found a quicker route (by ten minutes!) back to the apartment, though it cuts through a field that looks like it could be soggy pretty frequently if it weren't frozen, and mostly have been hanging out in the apartment getting to know two of the other four house-mates (one's not in yet). Bethany also is here for the year, goes to Washington State. She's nice, though a little quite. Siobhan is from Donegal (up north) and quite nice. We've gotten along well so far. The other one gets in this weekend... if the roads aren't closed, which seems a popular prediction round here. The weather's also supposed to get worse for the next ten days before easing off. But everyone reassures me it's never this cold here, so I by the time the regular weather rolls around I'll think it's pretty balmy!
No comments:
Post a Comment