Today my calves are finally trying to die. All of the walking the past couple days has made them so sore and they want to cramp when I walk but I just keep pushing through since it's either sink or swim really. I'm hoping in the next couple days they'll be fine. Anyway, got up for the opening lecture that was at 9:45 AM. She talked on Ireland after Tara. Tara is kind of an ancient center for the kings of Ireland. It holds great significance for Irish history and is a huge archaeological site. There has been a lot of argument about a road being constructed through it going to Belfast that really only saves about 15 minutes. She went on to talk about being Irish and who says what makes a person Irish...so on and so forth. Alright lecture, too early in the morning for me haha After that I sat outside with some girls at the gym and enjoyed the sunshine...with SPF 100 this time!! :-p The weather was quite funny today...we were walking and the sun was shining. All of a sudden rain just starts sprinkling all around. So weird. It'll do that, just randomly lets down several drops here and there no matter what the sun is doing. After that we grabbed Subway in the food court for lunch and just hung out. My archaeology class was at 2. My professor is adorable. He's an actual archaeologist with a special interest in landscapes and how they affect the population. I haven't met the other man helping because he said he was either on a dig or surfing :-p. Luckily on 2 books were required for the class, one of which is hard to get so we'll be getting photocopied pages. The other book is written by one of the instructors and is about The Burren where we'll be going and the Aran Islands. The lecture was pretty much an overview of the various stone ages and tools found that belong to each one. I think I was just sleepy today from staying up too late last night...I nodded off once. Tomorrow should be interesting because he's bringing in artifacts for us to examine so I'm excited! After class I went back to the apartment for a long nap.
I discovered that the first pub we went to last night is actually really famous and is one of the oldest run pubs by one family...since 1894 I believe. It's name is Tigh Neachtain (Neachtain House). During the Irish War of Independence it was machine gunned by the English for displaying its name in Irish. After carbon dating the wood beams, the pub was dated back to the 1470s. Before the Neachtain family owned it, the Tribal Kirwan family lived in it. On down the line, the most interesting piece of historical information to me was one of the famous Jacobites, Robert Martin, lived there and hosted Bonnie Prince Charles on his secret visit to Ireland in 1752. It's so awesome to think I was standing in such an old and significant piece of Galway's history having a Guinness and didn't even know it.
Tonight, CEA planned an excursion to Trad on the Prom in Salthill. It was an incredible night of traditional Irish music and dance. I am in awe at the talent of these people and jealous of how music is such a rich and tremendous part of their culture. The dancers were phenomenal, I couldn't believe how fast someone's feet could move!! I'd be falling all over the place. These dancers were actually world champions, so the best of the best. I also got to see the Irish pipes, uillean pipes (pronounced "el-in"), or "elbow" pipes. They were beautiful and I think I like them better than the Scottish version. We were exposed to different dances, reels, and jigs. I absolutely loved it. They also had Ireland's top male vocalist perform "Danny Boy," "You Raise Me Up," and another I can't remember the title of. Gave me the shivers! I love how much passion these people put into their music...you can really feel it. This was definitely a worthwhile show to see.
Not really sure what I'll do tomorrow...my room really needs to get in order! I haven't fully unpacked yet, which definitely needs to be done! Anyway, I'm off to bed so I'll be rested up for tomorrow's adventures!
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