Galway

This weekend I went to Galway. It was AWESOME! Galway is the most Irish part of Ireland. I heard lots of Irish and saw men wearing the Irish hats and jerseys (fishermen sweaters). We left on Friday morning and arrived about lunch time. I went with 3 UD kids and a girl from the University of Kentucky. Another American, Molly, who has lived in Galway for the past 10 years goes to Maynooth and took the bus with us. She showed us some good things to do in Galway and showed us a good place to get lunch. I got lasanga, which was REALLY good, and really filling. We then checked into a hostel that Molly recommended. SleepZone was defintally a great reccommendation. We got a 5 person room with a bathroom to ourselves. This was great because then we could leave our stuff for the rest of the day. We went shoping in the padestrian zone (zona peatonal-Senora Long!). It was fun to walk around with the other tourists and locals. There were a few street performers, which were fun to listen to and talk to. Galway is famous for their street perfomers but I guess the summer months are the most profitable for them.
I got a SWEET coat for 20 euro, about $30, and a great purse for 5 euro. My fashion points went from about 2.5, with my white ski coat to a 9. All that I lacked were boots and skinny jeans, which I refuse to wear through the city. I go for comfort! This coat is very warm. No scarf needed! I can wear this purse everywhere and do not have to worry about leaving it somewhere. It just comes with me.
Don't get any ideas about this picture, (Mom + anybody else) Adam and I are NOT dating and never will.

Then we went to a pub recommended by Molly. I was not really a fan. We left soon after for a club. I am not really a fan of clubs either. I feel like I came to Ireland to do the Irish thing and not the Irish trying to be American thing, because that is what I feel like they are doing. In Galway, the clubs hire people to stand in the streets and recruit people to come to their clubs. Stephanie and I said hello to one and she then proceeded to escort us to her club, the Coyote, where she got us a free shot. It had about 10 people in it so we left soon after. Then we found a pub playing Irish music and is was the BEST! It was a middle aged man's birthday and they were drinking out of a large trophy cup. He was surrounded by a bunch of younger women. For the longest time, I thought that he was the father of someone turning 21. At this bar we met some Irish men who were very excited when I told them that we were going to the Aran Islands the next day, and two American men who were going to University College Dublin for a masters in business. The Americans thought that I was with the party. Look how Irish I am! Though everyone knows as soon as I open my mouth that I am American. We left after about an hour and a half for home. There we found the other two girls but no Adam. This was a problem, but he came home soon after. It took us a long time to get to sleep. It was much like a sleepover, where we all were just silly. It was quite fun. The next day we got up at 8:30 to catch the ferry to Inishmore, one of the Aran Islands. That is an entire other post.
On Sunday, we caught the 8:15 ferry back to Galway. It was wonderful! We watched the sun come up out of the water. The weather all weekend was just beautiful. We got back just in time for 10 mass, which actually was at 10:30. This gave me enough time to check out the Cathedral of Our Lady Assumed into Heaven. It actually was built in the 60's, even though it looks quite old. It has a great plot of land right on the water and all the roads go around it. It is huge! I should have known that it was new because the alter is in the middle of the church, but I just figured that they moved it. The church is doing a novena about sight. Sundays theme was can people change their sight? The Zaccheaus, tax collector, did when he met Jesus, and so can we. He gave away half his possessions and repayed anyone he cheated out of money four times over. The entire time I was there, which was about 2.5 hours because I was early and stayed late, there were old people, and some parents with kids, praying at each of the small alters along the walls of the church. This is an intense parish! I was excited to see it.

During mass, they played Be Not Afraid, which caused me to tear up because of the lines "If you pass through raging waters In the sea, you shall not drown" which made me think of a kid from my church who drowned. They sang this at his funeral.
I still find some parts of mass very strange, such as not holding hands during the Our Father or not doing the sign of peace. For communion, everyone just horded around the Eucharistic Ministers who were put strategically throughout the church. I cannot decide if it was more or less efficient than normal with the filing. It seemed to be more chaotic, but took less time. So far, I have really enjoyed all the sermons. I bought a bracelet with pictures of Jesus and Mary on it and a small New Testament and Psalms book that I can travel with. Outside the church there were at least 3 stands selling little religious trinkets. Another thing that I really liked about this mass was that it was packed, and it is a huge church. People squeezed in where they could. What a great feeling to know that all these people were there to praise Him!

This is getting to be a long post. I think that I will make it a two parter. Stay tuned for the rest of the day and more on Mass.