Becoming a Galway Girl – Journals from Abroad

Fáilte (welcome) to my first post detailing my study abroad experience at the University of Galway!

My departing wish on January 3rd, before we made the 30-minute drive to the airport, was, of all the things, a chicken burrito (and the accompanying avocado sauce). My favorite restaurant had been closed for winter break and reopened the day I was scheduled to leave, so stopping before leaving the country for 4 months was a must. I even ran into one of my best friends while there and was able to say one last goodbye!

Three people standing for a photo: my sister (left), me (center), and my friend (right). My face is partially obscured by my hand. — My sister (left), me (center), and my friend (right), before I left for the airport!

After acquiring the necessary fuel to tackle the 22 hours of travel ahead of me, I finally made it to RDM, with a suitcase barely under the 50 lb. limit, a carry-on full of all of my heavy and bulky items, and a backpack stuffed with school supplies and things to keep me entertained firmly in tow. I bid farewell to my family and spent about 5 minutes going through security (one of the perks of flying out of an airport with 4 gates, I suppose).

a picture of the Seattle-Tacoma airport subway system — The SEA-TAC subway station

A 45 minute flight and three rides on SEA-TAC’s subway/shuttle system later, I made it to the international terminal and met up with the other two Linfield students headed to Ireland with me. Next came the long haul flight: 9 hours from Seattle to LHR, stuck behind a man who fully reclined his chair the second the pilot turned off the seatbelt light and only moved it upright during our in-flight meals (pasta for “dinner” and a breakfast sandwich for “brunch”, though the 8 hour time difference encountered over the course of the flight rendered labeling meals irrelevant).

pasta with tomato sauce in a foil container. A hand holding a wooden spork above the pasta — my in-flight cuisine

A young woman (Katie) wearing a pink KN95 mask and giving a thumbs up. She is wearing a black t-shirt and her hair is in two braids. She is sitting in an airport terminal — Waiting for the flight from London to Shannon

Upon landing in London, the pilot announced that we would have to disembark the plane in a specific order due to the weight distribution of the passengers on the flight. This meant that we had less than an hour to deplane, change terminals, go through security again (only to have LHR security confiscate my scissors), and find our next gate. So, we put some pep in our step and sped through the airport, only to reach the proper terminal to see that our flight to Shannon had been delayed, which meant we could’ve put slightly less pep into our step.

Once in Shannon, we had to go through customs and claim our luggage. The very kind customs employee asked if I was of Welsh descent (I am not, but apparently my name screams Welsh) before stamping my passport, and our taxi driver was very patiently waiting outside for us to collect our luggage before we drove an hour north to Galway. One adventure down the road to the nearby Dunnes (think Target, but Irish) for pillows and adapters and we were all ready to crash.

Further adventuring and acclimation waited until orientation over the next few days. We suited up in our finest walking shoes and raincoats and one leisurely 15 minute stroll and a couple wrong turns later, and we arrived at Áras na Mac Léinn, or the Student Union building. We watched presentations detailing on-campus resources, student events (including orientation events like campus tours, a pub quiz/trivia night in the on-campus bar, board game nights, and a scavenger hunt around Galway), and information about course registration.

a picture of a silver metallic suspension bridge — Part of the walk to campus involves crossing this cool suspension bridge!

a man crouching next to a riverbank feeding swans — Spotted on our walk: a man feeding swans 🙂

a sunset. There is a road cutting across the image and buildings in the background — Sunset as seen from outside my apartment complex.

Students in a bar. The bar has red columns and high arched ceilings — Sult, the on-campus bar. Campus societies will typically use the venue for events or just hang out and chat with friends!

picture of an L-shaped building made of light grey stone with a grass courtyard in front of it — The Quadrangle, one of the oldest buildings at the University. It used to house the entire university, but now it’s mainly an administrative building.

My “week 0” in Ireland ended with some downtown exploration in torrential downpour and a moderate wind advisory, as one does. We wandered Eyre Square and Shop Street in the heart of downtown, walked the Corrib River for a bit, and sought refuge from the rain at the Galway City Museum, which had exhibits on the Irish Civil War, the Aran Islands, Gaelic art and culture in the medieval period, and marine biology in Galway.

picture of a narrow street with buildings lining both sides. In between the buildings are strings of lights. It is raining and the ground is wet — A view of the Shop Street area in downtown Galway.

a white wall with stencil graffiti and a red door. One piece of stencil graffiti is a blue circle with two red hands clasped together with a red flame above them. Below is blue text that reads "reignite world freedom". The other is a circle with a black and white silhouette of the galway cathedral in the background and two black and white hands holding a red heart. Around the art are the words "Claddagh Watch, Heroes of Humanity". The wall also has a bright red door and merges with a dark grey stone arch towards the right of the photo — The Spanish Arch and surrounding architecture. Located right outside the Galway City Museum!

A mustard yellow woven cloth hanging on a salmon pink wall — Part of the Galway City Museum’s Aran Islands exhibit, where they invited local artists to create pieces encapsulating the “vibes” of the Aran Islands.

Text embossed on stone. The top passage, in French, reads "La tradition ne veut pas dire preserver les cendres, mais garder la flamme vivante.- Jean Jaures". The bottom passage is a translation of the top passage and reads "Tradition does not mean preserving ashes, but keeping the flame alight." — The museum has quotes scattered in the doorways around each museum. This one was in the section on Gaelic arts.

Going from having never traveled internationally to staying in a different country for 4 months has certainly come with a learning curve. Irish (or Gaeilge) is a national language along with English, which means that signage is written in both languages, often with Irish being written first. This can make it difficult to navigate at times, as I have had zero exposure to the language, but I’m slowly starting to acclimate. Food is called different things (most notably, chips instead of fries, english muffins are just muffins, potato chips are called crisps or tayto) and cars drive on the opposite side of the road ( and yet the universal phenomenon of drivers neglecting to implement their turn signal persists abroad). Despite these differences, I’m enjoying getting to learn about living in a different country and am having an amazing experience thus far!

With that, I say slán (goodbye) for now!

Katie