Per the request of Ms. Lakmini, Im starting a blog about my travels and such so everyone can read about them. - I suck at keeping blogs updated, so bear with me.
In case you don't already know by now, Im spending my summer (six weeks) in Galway, Ireland, studying International and Comparative Human Rights Law at the National University with New England School of Law.
I arrived in Galway, Ireland via bus from Shannon Airport on Friday morning. When I got into town, I was a little overwhelmed with jet-lag and all my luggage, so I grabbed a taxi to take me to Corrib Village, where Ill be living for the next six weeks. Thankfully, the witty guys at the desk let me check into my apartment early. (I arrived around 11am and check in wasn't until 4)
Both fortunately and unfortunately, my apartment is the furthest away from reception (but its the closest to the university) so after I registered, I had to walk all my stuff to my apartment. Luckily, I arrived to find that Im living on the first floor- so I didn't have to lug all my stuff up the stairs. My room is the most unfortunate in the apartment- let me explain. The room isn't that bad but- I have the smallest room and I have to share a bathroom. (two of the rooms get their own bathroom and the room that shares my bathroom is a double.) Fortunately though, my heater is actually working :) I cant complain much in general, because the apartment and my room are way better and roomier than my accommodations in my flat in London. (with the exception of the tiny shower... eeekkk!)
I was quite pleased to find that there is adequate pots and pans to actually cook in the apartment. (whereas in london, my flat had nothing I could actually put in the oven, just stovetop pots)
After I arrived and inspected the apartment, I unpacked and showered. (After 24 hours in transit, showering and brushing my teeth was a priority over sleep) Then I grabbed the shuttle into town so I could grab something to eat and a sim card to call home. I ended up finding a mall with a carphone warehouse, so the sim car was relatively easy to obtain. After that I called home to let the parents know I'd arrived and then hit a Spar (a convenience store chain here) and grabbed a sandwich, a pack of biscuits (cookies :P) and stuff to make tea. I ate the sandwich for lunch/dinner in Eyre Square. Then I headed to the pickup for the shuttle so I could finally crash. The shuttle pickup was right next to the tourist info center, so I ran in and grabbed a bunch of stuff to look at later.
While I was waiting to be picked up, several groups of Italian students kept stopping to ask for help with what I think was an info scavenger hunt for their program. (Apparently I looked like I knew what was going on...meanwhile Im jet-lagged and clueless) So. A few of them I could help get the answers they were looking for i.e. what does yummy mean and when is St. Patrick's Day. Unfortunately, for the other two groups I don't know much Gaelic or who the current Prime Minister is.
When I finally got back to the apartment, I thought I'd try to take a nap because my internet wasn't working (no surprise there- our internet is quite bad here, but apparently its better on campus- I hope it is) As I was attempting to sleep, I heard two of my flatmate arrive. - When I got up later, I met Colleen, who Im sharing a bathroom with, and Monica. Monica is from Manitoba and Colleen is from California. We hung out while trying to get our internet connections to work and got to know each other a bit. We also planned a trip into town the next morning to visit the Saturday market.
Saturday morning, our other flatmate, Kimberly from Seattle, arrived. Colleen, Monica and I walked to town and let Kimberly get settled in.
The walk to town was really nice and not too bad. (its apparently two miles, but didn't seem like it) I forgot the map, but we found our way. - The walk was quite nice. We took the trail along the Corrib River. :D The market was kind of interesting. Its a street market where you can get organic food and handmade stuff, amoung other things. After I bought a bunch of random stuff (buy now, plan the meals later) we headed to a Dunnes store, which sells groceries. The groceries at the store were quite a bit less expensive. Colleen and Monica stocked up and I grabbed a few more things. I also stopped into the Amnesty International Fair Trade Shop. (I didn't want to keep the other two waiting so I grabbed another reusable bag for my groceries because I had already filled my other one) I though it was really cute- it says "Plastic bags are rubbish". On the way to the grocery store I also spotted a tattoo shop..... Monica noticed me checking out the sign :P I think Ive decided Im going to inquire about getting one and if I don't spend too much during my trip, Ill get some Irish Ink before I leave.
After we were finished getting some groceries, we headed in the direction of the shuttle pick up. We stopped into the tourist center to ask about car rentals and places we should visit. (I had the bright idea of renting a car one day to go see stuff because the bus system to certain areas is dodgy at best) Unfortunately when I got back and did more research I discovered that the minimum age for car rental in Galway is 23- Damn that whole age thing. So, we're going to have to wait and see if anyone else is adventurous enough to get behind the wheel/ pay the money it costs to rent an automatic car which is considerably more than a manual.
When we got back to the apartment, we unloaded all of our groceries. Somehow we ended up with five or six things of bread. It was kind of funny. We decided we are going to do communal dinners to try to save money, etc- So last night, I made chicken, asparagus and we had some tomato and onion bread that I bought at the market. It was pretty good considering I had to figure out the proper temperature in Celsius and how to actually turn the oven on (theres a switch on the wall- go figure :P)
The four of us had dinner and then talked a bit. We also watched the US/UK world cup match while we tried to get some reading for class done. Let me tell you- the model code for professional ethics is a ridiculous read. Heres the gist of what we've gotten so far- don't have sex with your client, don't help your client commit a crime, get written informed consent for everything and your client can terminate the relationship at any time.
Later- we figured out how to turn the heat on. Despite being June we've discovered it actually is quite chilly here. Also- its light out until after ten and the sun comes up super early- This fact is not helping us adapt to Irish time. eh- prolonged jet lag.
I spent most of the evening doing reading for class... or .... avoiding reading for class..... :P
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