Homesick for Dublin

            We went to Galway this weekend, which a real dumb idea. We got there late Thursday and stayed at a hostel called Snoozels. I felt like an idiot every time we had to tell the cab driver to “take us to Snoozels, please.” Anyway we went out Thursday night and met up with Ellie Wright, whose studying in Galway, at a bar called Front Door. On the walk there we passed a group of about 30 college-aged people walking towards down town. Every girl was dressed like Holly Madison in Peep Show and it was maybe 45 degrees farenheit outside. I don’t care how long you’ve lived in cold weather, nobody can become accustomed to that temperature wearing one yard of fabric.

            The bar was a lot of fun and played really good music. We almost had enough fun just sitting there people watching. One girl made out with three different guys within an hour. Another guy, who I believe was maybe Italian or Spanish, could move his hips better than Shakira – which was highly entertaining when performed by a male. Around 3 we went back to Snoozels and climbed in our red hostel bunks. The next morning we had planned to get up and go to the Aran Islands and spend the night there. I had visions of horseback riding on the beach, hiking, and going to dinner on the water. Instead my vision from the Snoozels window was a monsoon. In hopes that it would pass, we decided to stay in Galway another night and just go to the Islands tomorrow.

            We started the rainy day out with some comfort food, a little Tex-Mex from a restaurant called Jalapenos that was recommended to us by people from Ole Miss that were here last summer. Not exactly Guadalajara in Houston standard, but if they can’t even get Tex-Mex food right in Tuscaloosa, I expected the same halfway around the world.  We took a cab to the movie theater without even looking up times, so when Bad Teacher didn’t start for another four hours, we wandered in to the hotel next door to locate the bar for an afternoon glass of wine.

            This place made Snoozels look like a homeless shelter. Called “The g Hotel,” it was apparently the most posh hotel in Galway and I could clearly see why. A long hot pink carpet lit up a corridor leading to various “tea time” rooms. Each room was decorated completely different, all with a whimsical vibe of bold colors. At the end we found the bar, and made ourselves at home in large oversized velvet chairs. Two glasses of wine later we were looking up rates for one night in this haven, contemplating how much trouble we would be in if we allowed ourselves to be divas and book a night on our credit cards. We decided 270 euros was probably not wisely spent on one night in a hotel, and since we already booked another night at Snoozels we decided against it. We did manage to steal hot pink umbrellas from the foyer before leaving as our souvenier from our imaginary stay at the g.

            When the rain didn’t stop and was expected to continue all weekend, we rebooked ourselves on the first bus out in the morning. There was no sense to continue paying 30 euros a night to let a room key with the word “Snoozels” on it let us into a room to sleep on a bunk bed. Plus it was sunny in Dublin and had apparently warmed up enough to finally not have to wear jackets out. So our Galway experience didn’t go quite as planned, but coming back to Dublin ended up being the best idea we had. We ended up going out with some other people we met Tuesday that work with other interns here. I may have not gotten to stay at the g, but we all went back to quite the Dublin castle and I finally got a good night’s sleep without having to pay 270 euros. After waking up feeling like an Irish princess, I think we may have found our new best friends.

Tea Room at The g