Weekend in Limerick and Arthur's Day

Thursday was Arthur's Day in Ireland. It is the day that Guinness was invented however many years ago. They are trying to make it a national holiday, but it only started last year. I ended up going out to town with some of the girls and we had a great time! People were everywhere and all the pubs and clubs were packed! I couldn't believe how many people were out on a Thursday night. We hopped around between a few pubs and ordered drinks here and there. I never got a Guinness but it was definitely the popular drink that night.

What I found surprising about the night was walking down Shoppe Street and seeing all the broken glass and crap all over the place! People were breaking bottles and glasses against buildings and the cobblestone ground. I was amazed that the Gards (police) weren't out and arresting people. I was glad I wore boots because normally I wear open-toed shoes out. When I got home, I had to pick broken glass out from the bottoms of my shoes. I was pretty happy when the night came to end.

The next day, Caitlyn and I took a bus to Limerick to stay with out friend Tim for the weekend. I haven't seen Tim since spring semester at Plymouth State so I was pretty excited to see my friend. The bus ride was kind of long, about 2.5 hours and we were pretty tired when we got to Limerick. We grabbed a cab and made our way to Cappavilla where he lived with his roommates.

I was pretty jealous of Tim's apartment when I saw it! I like out apartment and all, but his was amazing! Six guys lived there and they each had their own room with a private bathroom. The kitchen and living room was huge and they also had a porch with a great view! Caitlyn and I ended up taking Tim's room and kicked him to the curb haha. The boys had a spare bed in a closet (it was HUGE so don't feel bad for him) so Tim stayed there for the weekend. The first night the guys took us out to The Lodge. It was supposed to be the hot spot on campus where everyone went to drink and dance. WRONG it was dead and had probably 20 people there. We only stayed for about 30 min and bailed and went back to their apartment and went to bed.

King John's Castle

The next morning, Tim took us on a tour of Limerick. He showed us the city, the good parts and bad. We also took a tour of King John's Castle. Walking around the city made me happy that I chose Galway for school. The boys kept scaring us about how the city is called "Stab City" and there are gang fights and people get mugged all the time. We ended up wandering down a shady part of the city on accident and I was amazed at the broken windows and closed shops that lined the streets. Another thing about Limerick was how spread out everything is. We had to take a bus to get to town and a cab to get everywhere else! In Galway everything is within walking distance and I don't have to worry about a bunch of losers jumping me.

The second night turned out to be a great night. The roommates left for Mayo to celebrate a friend's birthday but we stayed behind with Tim and one of his roommates, Mike. We went out to a house party and met their friends from the football team (they have American football). The night was full of silly boys, pink fairy wings, glitter and feathers. I will let you use your imaginations as to what happened, but the men here are extremely comfortable with their sexualities which was a breath of fresh air lol.

We left the house and went back to the boys' apartment and hit the sack. I unfortunately got one of my bursts of energy and ended up not sleeping at all. But that was ok, the night turned out great and I had some good conversations with an Irish man. I can now cross that off my list of things I wanted to accomplish in Ireland. The next morning, Caitlyn and I grabbed a cab back to the bus station and took the bus back to Galway. We were tired the whole way but the thought of my bed waiting for me back home made it better.

Needless to say the weekend was a success and I am glad we went to visit our friend. Although the culture and city were completely different from Galway, it turned out to be a fun weekend away from "home." This weekend we are going to Dublin sat-sun with the program, hopefully that will turn out to be a great time as well! Updates are more to come =]