People weren’t lying when they said Galway was one of the best places in Ireland. Galway is absolutely beautiful! We arrived on a great day, it was sunny and warm with no sign of rain. As we were trying to figure out exactly where Niland house was, I remember thinking, “I will be so happy if it’s on this street”. The street was full of people, there were so many little shops, and hanging from the sky were those banner things with the triangles attached (I’m not sure of the proper name). I lucked out and my apartment was on the street!
A little bit of a maze to get to but the apartment itself was really nice. It’s me, Keegan, and two other German foreign exchange students. Neither Keegan nor I knew we would be living with other people so that was definitely an initial shock to both of us. I personally have lucked out and managed to live essentially by myself or had my own room all 4 years of undergrad. I lived with 3 of my teammates my junior year in a townhouse. But, that was no biggie because I had my own room and I was living with people I knew. I have my own room, but this is definitely a uhm… adjustment for me since I’m living with 3 strangers. I know most people have roommates in undergrad so this would have been no big deal. But I didn’t, so at 22 I’m now having this experience. I’m not uncomfortable but I wouldn’t say I’m completely comfortable, if that make sense. Like I stay in my room most of the time because I don’t feel comfortable enough yet to just chill in the living room… it doesn’t feel like home yet. But I know I will get there eventually because the view from my living room is amazing! We have great big bay style windows that overlooks the docks. We also have a balcony that overlooks it to. I need to take advantage of that because I don’t know if I’ll live somewhere with this kind of view again.
Other than me needing to get comfortable with being uncomfortable, I’m enjoying myself! Galway seriously has some of the nicest people you’ll ever meet. Our first night in I met Keegan’s Coach Paul Langan, a couple of his club teammates, and Joe Coughlan. They welcomed us with such open arms! And coming from the U.S where people generally aren’t like that it kind of takes you back at first. Like you start to think, “why are they being so nice?”, “what does this person get out of this/what’s their end game”. But it’s not like that here, no one has an end game or an ulterior motive. People are nice because … well that’s that you’re supposed to be! You’re not supposed to take advantage or only engage with a person because of what they can do for you… I really like that, I really like their energy. One key thing about me is I’m very into energies. And if someone is giving off bad or negative energy, I don’t spend too much time with them because then that can suck up your good energy. Paul Langan and Joe Coughlan have very good energy, I can’t wait to further get to know them and meet my team and just make some friends here in Galway.
