Walking Tour

I felt like I was prowling through the jungle with all those plants.

The bread is ALWAYS fancy and good. I like that. Also, raw salmon.

Today I went into town to see what the coffee scene was like in Ireland. Turns out it's a big deal here, they have like 3 coffeeshops on every major street. I chose this one, the Jungle Cafe, just because it looked really cool. And it was. I had this sandwich, it was like, uncooked salmon on fancy bread with cream cheese, pesto, and dill. And lettus stuff. I couldn't finish both halves, it was too much for my taste buds. 
 
 
 




Then I went into the town square and saw a free walking tour starting in 10 minutes. I thought "hey! I can walk!" And joined in. As it turns out, no one else did, so it was just me and the tour guide, Carl. Just Carly and Carl walking around Galway talking history. I guess he studied the history as his major and does tours for tips only in the day time then charges for pub crawl tours at night. He was a nice fellow, he just took me through the part of town I already showed pictures of but explained the history further, there's a lot of blood and gore in Ireland's history. Actually, for you Game of Thrones fans, Galway was the inspiration for "The Red Wedding," but in case anyone hasn't seen it I won't spoil anything. Very cool though. Afterwards he had time to kill before his pub crawl so we had a pint and he explained some Irish slang to me. Lots of fun, I'm feeling like I'm up to speed on some words. Not that I could remember them right this minute. He also probably taught me to say "My name is Carly" in Gaelic at least 10 times and if you asked me to say it now I don't think I could. But don't tell Carl that.

 



This was the only place on the tour NOT already pictured, the Spanish Arch. It was a strong wall to protect the city, and then the location of a fish market. Now it is part of the walking tour.

Bus Blunder

 

I decided to walk to town today. Here's a little snapshot of the walk there.

I stopped along the way to admire and play my uke.

 

 

 

Galway City!

I found the really authentic part of town, which frankly I'm not sure how I missed before because it is awesome and people are playing music and there are pubs everywhere, it's rad. I also thought I had finally mastered the bus system, there are two that come back toward my house, the 402 and 409. So, today I felt confident enough to get on the 402 without asking anyone to be sure. Whoops... Turns out there are TWO 402's. Like, they couldn't possibly choose any other number. So, I went all the way through the bus route and the driver said "that was the last stop... Where are you trying to go?" And I said "Well, it would appear I'm on the wrong bus. I need to get to GMIT." A round of applause for the bus driver who brought me back into town today (when he wasn't headed to town) and told me what bus to get on. The Irish are good people.

All this on a Thursday before college starts... I can't imagine weekends during the schoolyear!
 

"Brownes Doorway" preserved from a merchant's home built in the early 17th century. It's right in the town square.

First Night Out

So, yesterday was the first night I actually went into Galway City. First off, here is what my apartment looks like as you leave. I live above this laundry mat, and mom said I should show a picture on here because it's "romantic." Mine is the fourth one down. FACT: I hear I get a deal in there. Which is great news as I don't have a washer in the apartment.

I didn't do anything crazy exciting in town, just found dinner then headed home before it was dark. BUT, I did have myself my first authentic Irish microbrew, which was called "The Little Fawn." Believe it or not I finished the whole thing AND my fish and chips.

My Apartment!

 



My room and new duvet.

I'm finally all set up in my room, after going to town to buy some essentials yesterday I was only missing a blanket and pillow, and when I went to turn in some signed paperwork the housing manager, John, told me he had a display that had never been used that I was welcome to have for the year. Side note, there are pretty much no comforters here. In like, any store. What they use are called "duvets" (Pronounced like doo-vay). They are pretty much a white mattress pad looking thing with stuffing inside, and then you put this huge sheet that wraps around on it (that's what you choose to make different styles), and if it needs to be washed you can take off that sheet and not wash the whole giant thing. So, I am now the proud owner of a duvet. I can dig it.

We've got an upstairs!

Kitchen <3

Already furnished! Wew!

What could this room be?

The Journey

The trip here was crazy. First off, the Irish airline I flew with, Aer Lingus, was just wonderful. There were three lanes of seats and I was in the center, until a gentleman asked me if I would like to switch to his window seat so he could sit by his son. Needless to say I was happy to oblige. With this turn of events I was placed next to Jason, who was ALSO traveling with a ukulele, and on his way to his own awesome adventure. He is taking a break from his job in Chicago and headed to London to take part in a sail boat race where he will travel from London all the way to Rio de Janeiro after just learning to sail for four weeks. Which is rad. As it turns out, he's got a blog for his journey as well, and you can check it out at fromlondontorio.tumblr.com.

There touch screens at each seat with movies, TV shows, games, music and more all for the ride. We found out very quickly that you could play the games with other people on the plane, and competed in plenty. I sank his battleship, he beat me in tetris, I like to think after it all we came pretty close to being even (I might have been behind by just a little).




Jason and I on the near 8 hour flight.

 
When we landed we hugged goodbye and I went to find my luggage and a bus to Galway. I quickly remembered I have never taken a bus, let alone a bus in a foreign country. I probably talked to 15 people pointing me in different directions until I found an actual bus driver who was heading to Galway in a half an hour. I bought a ticket for £18 and was on my way. Spoiler alert: This is when it got real. I teared up a little bit. It was something about being on the left side of the road instead of the right. It wasn't sad, just a happy, excited, nervous, "this is really happening" moment. I'm writing this on the bus (since I have around 4 hours before I arrive in Galway), and Ireland is already outrageous. All of the buildings are beautiful and old and authentic, and I'm barely even away from the airport.  

I can't wait to see my home for the next few months...I'll keep ya posted ;)



My first glimpses of Ireland (because the sun finally came up)

Leaving Dublin (bus window pics for the win)

 

Today is the day!

    

Well, here goes. I just flew out of Grand Rapids and I'm heading out to Dublin, Ireland. I'm currently killing time in the Chicago airport. I spoke with a nice Korean teen who helped show me the way to the international flights after some breaking down of a language barrier, shout out to him for helping me find my way here in record time, also the 4 other people I asked where to go before that. There's a train inside this airport to get you to terminals. Who knew? I have found that I can't even go through security for another 4 hours, so I guess the record time thing wasn't all that necessary. 7 hours is enough to make you feel a little sleepy. So, I'm trying to see if I can update my blog via email, because it says I can, but it's all darn confusing and I'm not even sure this will post. BUT, on the off chance it does, this will be an absolute revelation and I will be able to update this thing no problem. Alright. I'm going to send this. If you can read this and also see pictures of me saying goodbye to my mom and dad, we're golden.   

    

About My Blog

About My Blog...

Hello friends! My name is Carly Plasman, and I am a student at North Central Michigan College in Petoskey, Michigan. This year, I have had the honor of receiving the Joseph W. McCarthy-William McCullough M.D. Memorial Scholarship. This is the result of an essay competition put on by the Robert Emmet Society of Petoskey. The society saves money each year to give one student the experience of traveling abroad to study at GMIT, the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology in Galway, Ireland. I am beyond pleased to say that for 2015 that student is me, and I would like to begin this blog by expressing my overwhelming gratitude to the Robert Emmet Society for this once in a lifetime opportunity. I know it will be amazing!

I'm planning on devoting this blog to update my friends and family back home on my experiences in Ireland. The goal is to post at least once every week or two, just showing new things I have done, new people I have met, and new places I have been to. It will be pretty laid back, as this is a casual blog, and I expect to leave with plenty of fun stories! Hopefully I will write a bunch of them down on here so I won't twist them up later ;)

Read on if you are interested! I can't wait to share my adventures with you.

Much love!

- Carly