“Raining Between the Showers”

It’s a really good thing that I remembered to bring my rain jacket to Ireland this week! At the beginning of the week, we hopped onto a tour bus that took us around the countryside and to the Cliffs of Moher (also known as the “Cliffs of Insanity” where the Princess Bride was filmed!). As we set off from Galway toward the cliffs with a steady drizzle of rain outside, our tour bus driver said that the forecast for today would be “raining between the showers”…But despite all of the rain, I’ve actually had a very nice time being in Ireland the past week :)

I started the week off in Dublin with some friends, where we did the obligatory tour of the Guinness Storehouse :) It was actually a pretty interesting self-led tour that shows everything that goes into a Guinness and the company’s history (and of course at the end of the tour, you get to drink a pint of Guinness at their bar at the top of the factory, overlooking Dublin!) We also spent time walking around Grafton Street (a big shopping street with street performers…when it’s not raining!) and the Temple Bar area (where a lot of Dublin’s best pubs are).

Then we took a bus across the country to Galway and stayed with my friends who are studying at the National University of Ireland, Galway. Throughout the week, we’ve done some shopping, relaxing, and took the tour bus around Galway. I also went to an Irish Step Dancing class here at the university where I learned 3 different steps (I’m on my way to Riverdance!). Also, Obama is quite popular over here so we watched the inauguration at the College Bar with the rest of the student body which is made up of Irish and International students. It was definitely more of a subdued reaction to his speech than I would have seen if I was at school or at home!

Well, I’m leaving Ireland tomorrow and I will take the TGV down to Marseille over the weekend where I’ll meet my host family and begin my classes! I’ll put up some more pictures of rainy Ireland and will hopefully update you once I’m down in Marseille!

A plus tard!
Beth :)