June 22-NUI Galway

I'm officially an NUIG student! I went this morning and registered for my classes and got my ID and everything. My student ID card is actually in Irish, which is pretty awesome. I also now have access to NUI's wireless network, so I will hopefully be better about updating. We got a quick tour around campus from Elaine, a grad student working with the summer session program. She's from Sligo and moved to Galway for her undergrad six years ago. Here in Ireland, you can get a sort of General Studies degree, in which you pick specializations. Elaine did her undergraduate studies in English, Political Science, and Sociology, which would be pretty difficult to do in the States. She gave us some great suggestions of places to eat in and around Galway, so I'd say we've made a very valuable acquaintance. After we were all set up at the university, we headed into town to get lunch at Kelly's, a pub that Elaine had recommended. People keep asking me what traditional Irish foods I've been eating, and I'm still trying to figure out what exactly traditional Irish food is. Most pubs here serve everything from sandwiches to soups to burgers, and of course, there's a couple famous fish and chips places here in Galway. Ireland's not really known as a food culture; rather, it's characterized by its conversation. Risking accusations of stereotyping, I'd say that Ireland's culture is best found in its pubs. Not for the drinking, but for the general mood of fun and the constant chatter--the Irish are very good storytellers. I think someone once remarked about the aftermath of battles saying, "The winners write the history books, and the losers write the songs." Definitely in Irish history there has been a long narrative of oppression, and it wouldn't be hard to say that this contributed to Ireland's rich literary and musical culture. If you're interested, check out some Irish poetry from the 19th and 20th century, where many poets wrote love poems to girls named Kathleen or Rosaleen. There's a tradition of Ireland being portrayed as a woman, and many of these apparent love poems are actually political poems offering loyalty to the country.
Anyway, returning from that tangent, I had some time after lunch to explore Galway on my own, so I headed down to the Spanish Arch, where I had lounged with a few friends the day before. My purpose today was to see what I could find closer to the bay. I found an interesting monument honoring about eight men lost at sea during a particular storm, much like the one found on Inishmore. I also found a row of brightly colored houses, which may or may not be the old site of Claddagh. This is where the ring of the same name was invented, though the original village is long gone. There are tons of stores selling the claddagh ring up and down Shop Street. For those who don't know, the claddagh ring is comprised of two hands holding a heart with a crown about the heart. It symbolizes friendship (the hands), loyalty (the crown), and love (the heart). I hung out around the pier for a while, but it was pretty overcast (the first cloudy day since I've been here!), so I wandered around Shop Street for awhile. I say Shop Street to mean the actual street and anything connected to it; for the most part, I'm wandering around without a clue where I am. I actually found a school that taught in Irish while I was trying to get into the pier, so I've been pretty fortunate in my meandering so far. There's a lot of cool stores in town, as well as a few bookshops, which no true bibliophile can resist. I eventually made it back to my homestay in hopes to get a good night's sleep before starting classes tomorrow.