To the west... Galway

I'm back in Dublin after spending 4 amazing days in Galway, one of the biggest cities on the west coast of Ireland.

We went there originally with the UREKA program to visit some industrial partners, but all of the international students stayed for a few extra days to travel around a bit. The trip was absolutely AMAZING. I met some new people, and got closer to the great friends I have already made.

This was the general idea of the trip: do something education/touristy during the day, eat dinner, pre game, go out, get back at 3, wake up at 8 and start all over again. 4 days in a row. I usually tried to catch up on sleep while on buses and what not, but every once in a while that didn't quite work out and I was exhausted. It's Tuesday, and I think I'm still catching up on sleep. Olivier managed to catch pictures of us sleeping on multiple buses/boats.

On Thursday, we left DCU at 7:15 am (the sleep is already not looking good) and arrived in Limerick (aka Stab City, I read in my book... Emma (program director) asked where in the world I heard that, but everyone confirmed it was true. In Limerick we went on a tour of Analog Devices, one of BDIs industrial partners, where we found out that almost all of our cell phones contain a chip that is made by this company. The amount and the scale they make it on is insane. I had a harder time understanding that stuff just because I hadn't had classes on it, but Luke who is a computer engineering major, loved it. Everyone who works in the lab wears those white suits like out of the movies.



We then headed to Galway where we would be spending the night. We had a few hours to explore town, and I bought myself a Claddaugh ring which apparently originated in Galway. A picture of all of us near the river:


We had a drink and went to dinner at an Italian restaurant. The food was ok but the conversation was great. Really got to know my friends on a more personal level haha.

Our hostel didn't allow alcohol, but of course we couldn't go out without a pre drink. So we sneaked some in, and let the festivities begin. Marieke goes to school in Galway so she led us to her favorite pub/club. Guess what I drank? Yep how'd you know, apple cider!! Pictures of the night are quite funny, here are some examples (more to come in the future on facebook!!):





The picture above is of Jussi making his eyes move in different directions. At one point, I went to the restroom and came back and all of my apple cider was gone. Jussi had drunk it down while I was gone. He of course agreed to buy me another one which I politely declined. So instead, he bought me a tequila shot (which I'm not fond of at all). I took it, but not too happily. The next morning he says he probably shouldn't have taken that last tequila shot. Haha. Ditto.

After some quality dancing to some interesting music, we went to Supermacs which David claims is better than McDonalds. Ruling: nope, sorry David. McDonalds takes the cake. In bed at 3 am, wake up call at 7 am.



More go come on Galway (Aran Islands/Cliffs of Moher). Miss everyone at home!