I have to start this blog by saying that dreams really do come true as I quite literally met a woman who played the fiddle in an Irish band just as Ed Sheeran sang about in his hit single Galway Girl. We were so fortunate during our time in Galway to have our days be filled with mostly sun and good weather. My family did not visit at the same time we were there, and they were met with pouring rain and roaring winds. However, I told them, and my supervisor who is from Galway agreed, that they had the more authentic experience because of their weather.
Having my family come and visit and being able to show them around to all the beautiful parts of the city I know and love was an incredible experience. My sister and I enjoyed taking pictures in all the touristy photo places around the city. I felt like I could take more pictures now since I was being super touristy with my family instead of being “a local” when here for work. We went to Temple Bar, St. Stephen’s Green, Trinity College, the Umbrellas, and Grafton Street all in one swoop for a nice introduction to the heart of Dublin.
Although I couldn’t spend all my time with my family because of work and our overnight trip to Galway, we ironically did many of the same things. We went to different sheep farms on different days (another repeat of them having rain and us having sun), we went to the Kings Head which has been open in Galway for over 800 years (them for lunch and us for a fun night out), and we enjoyed lots of ice cream (but never together ironically). It was so fun to come together after the weekend on Sunday and compare photos and stories.
The Cliffs of Moher was a place I had been excited about seeing in Ireland since before the trip started. I will be the first to admit that I didn’t know tons about Ireland before coming here, and it has been so cool to learn throughout all of my experiences while also getting to see places like the Cliffs that are world renowned.
The hardest part is always saying goodbye. I am so glad my family was able to come and visit and explore Ireland. They even took a trip down the east coast to Waterford where there is a beautiful path called the Waterford Greenway which luckily, they finally had sunny weather for. I would love to check that out at some point while I am here. My parents made a point of walking me to the bus and waving goodbye (my mom going as far as to chase the bus after me like in a movie) which let me get this picture saying goodbye. As Winnie the Pooh says “How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard,” and I know saying goodbye to Dublin and Ireland will feel like that too.