08/31/2012
Yes, finally this is the day we got to the land after 9 days. We arrived in Galway, Ireland at 8:00 am local time. I had a field lab on Friday, the first day, for my Drawing at Sea class. I woke up at 7:00 am, took a shower and headed to the Union (Ship meeting hall). Everybody was awake that early in the morning. I saw many excited and curious faces on the shipthat were going to explore Ireland within a few hours. Since we had field lab in Galway, we (I and Drawing at Sea, classmates) were first to land. Due to the small Galway port and our huge ship, the MV Explorer parked quite far from the land. Therefore, we took a tender to get to the land. After a few minutes, we entered the tour coach and headed toward Kinvara (a small village outside of town). We had the opportunity to learn the history and culture of Ireland. According to the tour guide, most of the young Irish college students enjoy their weekdays in college, and go back home on the weekend to eat delicious food cooked by mum. He also mentioned that today is the first day the high school students are going back to school after a long summer vacation. I looked around Galway through my window on the coach. It seems green and very clean, though I noticed the road is quit narrow.
After an hour, we stopped at a grocery store to use the ATM. Some of my classmates got cash and bought snacks. I purchased shaving razors and shaving cream. It has been about 10 days since I have shaved my facial hair because my shaving kit was in the bag (which was still missing). We proceeded on our tour. Our tour guide gave us a lot of information about Galway and Ireland on the way to the castles.
We arrived to Fiddaun Castle around 10:45 am after walking about 20 minutes from the FordFamily Farmhouse. We sketched the Castle, took pictures and then moved on to our next destination, which was Kilmacduagh Round Tower. We did the same things, sketched, took pictures and learned about the round tower. After 15 minutesfrom the round tower, we arrived at the Pier Head Restaurant and Bar in Kinvara. All of us were very excited to test Irish food. I ordered breaded breast of chicken with mushroom sauce. It was very delicious; they brought my food with Irish potatoes on the side (it is the culture of Irish restaurants to serve potatoes at every meal). As with others in the group, I enjoyed my food. Next, we went to the Dunguaire castle, Claregalway Friary and Menio castle before we got back to Galway town.
I noticed that Ireland is a land of castles and towers, each filled with history and character dating back to Norman times. We spent the day sketching castle ruins in thebeautiful Irish countryside. At each site, we sketched rugged stone fortifications, towers and ruins utilizing drawing technique learned in class. Drawing on site, I developed the sense of proportion, scale and distance while enjoying the historic landmarks and stunning landscape of county Galway. Over all, it was productive, enjoyable and a great day. I had lots of fun seeing the beautiful countryside of Ireland.
Around 6 pm, the driver dropped us in the town for those who didn’t want to go back to ship. About half of the shipmates went back to ship. I was very curious to see nightlife in Galway but I didn’t have any plan. Basically, I did not have hotel reserved yet. I did not know whether I am going to find one or not. After walking about 30 minutes around the Galway town by myself, I found a park. I saw many Irish young people hanging around the park. I enjoyed taking pictures and observing them. I was trying to find Wi-Fi for my phone to connect the Internet, so that I could call home. I searched around and did not find one. I went to the tourism information center and asked for the public phone to call home. The lady there showed me the direction. I was searching Wi-Fi side near by and luckily I found the Wi-Fi and did not have to go to the phone booth. It was the hostel’s Wi-Fi and I moved to the hostel in order to connect Internet. Luckily, I found my friends on the hostel. I hung out and chatted with them, and decided to stay in the same hostel. Till 9 pm I was with them visiting around and taking pictures. After a while I got lost –visiting Galway town myself I found another group of friends and I joined them. I went to their hostel. There were lots of Semester At Sea people there. I met Anna there, and she was chatting with a man. He was drinking beer and giving suggestion to young people. I introduced myself to him, however I do not remember his name now. I told him that I live in Pittsburgh, PA in USA but was born in Nepal. He replied to me with “Namesta”: he know how to greet in Nepali. Additionally, he talked about the geography and culture of Nepal. He explained to my American friends that they are not real “American”. “Real Americans were the Red Indians.” He talked about US history and tried to explain how white people took over from Native Americans and stole their land.
After a few minutes, Anna told him that she saw him with guitar. Anna asked him to singsongs for us. He was very nice; He brought his guitar and started singing songs. We enjoyed his songs. I asked him the permission to record him singing and he replied, “Of course ya---doo.” Later, we thanked him for the songs.
Next, other SAS people joined us and we left for a bar; to drink and dance and have fun. Wewent to the bar, I drink little bit and enjoyed people drinking and dancing. This was the first time I entered the bar. Since drinking age in Ireland isonly 18, all SAS kids got into the bar. It was fun night. I cannot write all here……….
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