Galway Hookers, Towel Thieves, and Lots of Sheep

This weekend I ventured outside of Dublin to visit Galway and Ennis. It was an important trip since it would be my first time staying in a hostel.

The weekend was off to an interesting start, because it was unusually cold with wind gusts that chilled you to the bone. We made our way to Galway and Ireland stole another little piece of my heart which is something that seems to be happening on a regular basis.

The town was filled with little shops to explore. We made our way to a pub for an early dinner and to find warmth since we were freezing from wandering around in the cold.

For my first hostel experience I stayed at the Kinlay--apparently it is the number one hostel in Ireland. The Kinlay reminded me a lot of my freshman year dorm due to the communal bathrooms. For inexperienced hostel goers, I have a few pieces of advice that I will share sporadically throughout this post. First, bring flip flops for the shower. This fact is so obvious to me now, but when I was packing for the weekend it did not even occur to me.

Later that night, we went on a Pub Crawl, and I strongly recommend going to The Skeff. The pub has many places to explore with multiple bars within the space.

The following morning we headed to Ennis, but not before we made a few stops on the way. We were able to make it to Kylemore Abbey which has beautiful gardens, except we were not able to fully appreciate them due to the rain.

After this stop, we were a bit of a mess and this selfie really illustrates what we were going through at this point.

As you can see we left there a little crazy, completely cold, and a little scared about the weather. Back on the bus, we had a few little scares when the driver was not entirely confident on whether or not the bus would fit over a tiny bridge--this was actually a real concern--fortunately, we made it through and went to the sheep dog show.

The sheep dog man actually helped film a scene for Marley and Me, and he showed us how the dogs are able to gather the sheep. One of my study abroad dreams came true here, when I was able to get a picture taken with a sheep. I do not think the sheep was thrilled about it, but I was ecstatic.

 This is kind of where we reached the point of no return. We were soaked, muddy, frozen, and my friend Monica actually smelled like wet dog from hanging out with the sheep dog--sorry Mon, but it is true. When we arrived at our next hostel we had never been so happy to see bunk beds and our own bathroom in our entire lives. After dinner, I think I may have had a slight moment of craziness, and by slightly I think I may have lost my mind for just a few too many seconds. At the first hostel in Galway I was able to rent a towel, and it was perfect, but when we went to go get towels at the second hostel, we were informed that they were out.

So when I was on my way back to our room and I saw the laundry room, I casually glanced inside. There in the corner were about fifty towels, neatly folded which I took as a sign of cleanliness and I knew I had a choice to make. I looked around to make sure I was by myself, and I snatched a towel and ran back upstairs to our room.

When I got back to our room, I exclaimed "I have a towel" and whipped it around. When the towel unfolded, I came to realization that I did not just steal any towel, I stole half a towel that resembled a rag more than a towel.

I do not recommend stealing towels--or I should say borrowing towels, because I did return it in the morning--so just pack your own towel when you stay at a hostel.

Until tomorrow's adventure,
Hannah