Galway get-a-way!

So this past weekend Erin, Jen, Alyssa, Amanda and I went to Galway (Katie stayed home because she's going there with her mom and she needs to do her paper).  Galway was AWESOME!  The cliffs of Moher were beautiful!  This is dorky but if any of you are familiar with Harry Potter, the scene with Dumbledor on the rock in the Half Blood Prince....well it was filmed there!

I'll start from the beginning, friday I don't work and Erin and I went out on thursday night to the Comet and had a few pints...So we just hung out all day and packed then headed down to the bus station to meet up with the other girls.  Got on a bus that serious took forrrrever to get there, I think it was like a 4 hour ride and it rained pretty much the whole time!

We get there and one of the first things we notice is how attractive all the men are! :) ha we all looked at each other and said we're going to have a good time in Galway!  So we took a taxi to our hostel and we were going to go out but some of us stayed in.  By some of us I mean myself, Alyssa and Amanda stayed in, Erin (the trooper of the group) and Jen went out!  We stayed in a hostel that was 2 to a room, so Erin and I shared one.  It was entertaining having her come in at 3am after a few pints trying to whisper...haha

We had to get up early to catch our bus tour, luckily they picked us up right from the hostel.  Our tour guide was quite the character, Chalky Bocky and a few other things he would say to describe something...haha it was fun!  We would get out during the tour at unique spots, one was a fairy fort.  This was/is believed to have fairies in it and to be careful when entering...Amanda was not so careful, ha she must have aggitated the fairy, she fell and hurt her knee pretty bad!  I have some cool photos of this but I'm at work so I'll have to put them up later.

We also stopped at a church that had High Crosses, which was sweet since I've learned about those in some of my history classes.  Some have been there since around 1200ad!

We also saw the old burial sites of some "tribes" as the tour guide put it.  I've learned about those too, they were pretty cool to see.

Actually our tour guide talked pretty much the whole time and gave us a big long history lesson, I was in heaven with that!

The tour guide suggested we not eat at the Cliffs of Moher but at this pub he knows of on the way, so we ate at the pub. Lets just say they had the best Beef and Guinness Stew ever!!!  I really need to learn how to make it, it was delicious.  Jen and I shared one and we did work on it, Finished it and satisfied!

The next stop were the Cliffs.  This was just amazing, the pictures will not do it justice.  They are one of the big things I thought of when I think about Ireland and it was amazing to be able to see it!  It started to rain on us though and by rain I mean POUR, or as a local would say it was Pissing out! ha.  We all huddled under the 2 umbrellas we had, and at that time I was soooo thankful that my rain jacket (which I have kind of been self-conscious about) was long! It saved my legs from get soaked like everyone else's.  Finally it stopped just long enough for us to walk up another trail on the site and Jen and I (we were each other's buddies in our buddy system that day) went outside the barrier...mum everyone was doing it...ha but I was the only one who stepped close to the edge to get a sweet picture. I'll put that one up for sure!

After about an hour and half we get back on the bus and he drives us along the coast, which was neat, we saw dolphines, didn't know they liked cold water like that!  The tour guide also kept telling us about cowsheep, not cows, and not sheep but cowsheep.  He kept imitating them haha he'd say they'd sound like moo-bahhh!  Haha so he said he'd show us some, we all were waiting anxiously for one then we came across a bunch of them, well much to our surprise they're not cowsheep. Ha they were alpacas or llamas!  Silly tour guide!

So we head back to the hostel after that, which the tour guide was so nice that he dropped us off at the hostel again!

The girls and I quickly got ready to go out on the town!  We got glammed up lookin all pretty like! :)  We ate at this little Italian place because it was the only thing that was serving food.  Then we hit the pubs...lets just say Galway has no idea what a fire-code is! These places were packed literally shoulder to shoulder!  Once again I found a cute guy, I approached him since he wouldn't come to me and when I started talking to him he said he was surprised that I came up to him.  I told him well I think you're cute and you weren't coming to me so I figured I should come say hi! :) ha I'm gaining A LOT more self-confidence from these Irish-nonaggressive-men!  But Galway men were different than Dublin men.  Galway men were much more like Americans, and after experiencing both pretty much back to back I think I prefer approaching them as opposed to them approaching me because that way I can choose who I talk to and who I don't!  That night was a lot of fun, these girls and I have a great time here, we are making some awesome memories and I think I'm making some pretty good friends in these girls!

The next day we had to check out at 10am so we get up and pack up and grab some breakfast at the hostel.  We sat around the table telling each other what we remember from the night before...those in my opinion are almost better times than the actual night!

We went into the city because Erin wanted to buy a Claddagh ring and they originated from galway so she wanted one from there.  Some of the girls also wanted a Galway hurling Jersey, I wanted a Kilkenny one....and I got it!  Ha so we decided that when we get back to Fort Collins we are all going to go to a sport bar and wear them...Irish Drinking Team in Foco!  I'll have to put up a picture of the Jersey.

We got back on the looong bus ride and what happened after that I don't think I could describe honestly.  Lets just say that was the most interesting bus ride I've EVER had in my life, and we all thought we were getting Punk'd.

We hurried home because the World Cup Final was on and we wanted to watch it, so Katie staked out a table for us at the local pub, The Comet, which I didn't think she was going to so THANK YOU KATIE!  I was rooting for Spain to win, which most in the pub were too, and if you all didn't watch it, it was a good game!  SPAIN WON!!!!!  I am going to try to find a place here where I can get a spain jersey as well!  That would be soo cool.  We are so lucky that we're over here during the World Cup, even though Ireland wasn't in it they all still get into like we get into the Super Bowl.

Found a sign on the patio of this pub that says The Comet is Twinned with The Eagle Bar in Golden Colorado...WHAT!?!?  So we're going to have to go find the The Eagle Bar in Colorado to see what this is all about, I thought it was pretty neat though!

Met another guy there too, ha, so we all just sat around enjoying our pints and had a good time!

Today at work is well just another normal day, my bosses aren't here and neither is my co-intern...she doesn't come back from her weekend vaca until this afternoon so they said she didn't have to come in.  But tonight after work I need to go to Penny's (local department store thats cheap but cute stuff) to get another wallet, mine BROKE!  Sucks, it's because it couldn't handle all the coinage they use over here, so hopefully I can find a cheap one.  And possibly in the process find a spain jersey...maybe...:)

Other than that not much has happened since the morning started.  This weekend is Cambridge, England with Katie...I'm excited, Rob, the guy that came out here a few weeks ago is letting us stay with him, and he said he'd give us a tour of the RAF (royal air force) base that he is on, so I'm super excited for that!  So I'll leave you all saying I'll try to put up pictures tonight if the internet isn't super slow again!