15 hours...

I'm on my 15-hour countdown until I catch my bus to Dublin, where I will then catch my flight back to the States. Don't worry, in the next few days I'm sure I'll be reflecting quite a bit, but not just yet...

Wow, yesterday was quite a day. Classes were supposed to be cancelled because of a church holiday, but I had to sit through 3 hours of archaeology presentations anyway. I guess it wasn't that bad. After, I had made plans to see Tiffany, my friend from back home who is living in Castlebar. Since I had some time, I walked to town for the last time instead of taking the bus. It was cold, but oh well. When I got into town, I walked to some of the places I'm going to miss the most- the Charlie Byrne's bookstore, the library, the Anmesty International coffee shop, up and down Shop Street, in and out of art galleries. I was really trying to make myself realize I would never be here again; to be honest, I don't think my brain "gets" it. Anyway, I met up with Tiffany and her friend Ruth, and we went to La Salsa for a goodbye burrito and some catching up. I haven't seen Tiffany in months, so it was good to just hang out. We decided to walk to Quay Street Restaurant, where Ruth works, so she could pick up her paycheck. The place wasn't actually opened, but of course they'd let her in. We hung out at the bar because her boss wasn't there yet, and while we were waiting, Ruth went behind the bar popped open a bottle of white wine. All of a sudden, it's ladies' night at Quay Street. Haha. Not really, but we had fun. They had to run a few errands, and then their ride offered to drop me off at Gleann Na Ri. It would have been wonderful EXCEPT her car broke down on the way. Now it's ironic, but last night it was just annoying. I hopped out of the car and walked the rest of the way home.

It's been planned for weeks that a bunch of us would go out last night because it was sort of like my "last night" in Galway. Sure, I'm here today, but tonight is dedicated to packing and getting my 2 am bus. When I got home, I had messages like crazy on my Skype, and Ruben told me a few people had stopped by looking for me. Oops. I ran around, telling everyone the plan, stopping occasionally to edit a paper or tell a story. We eventually did make it out last night. The plan was to go places we had never really been, so we started at Taaffe's for traditional music. There were ten or eleven of us, I guess, and we usurped a few tables to play cards on. After a few hilarious games of BS, we moved on to get crepes to eat on the way to Roisin Dubh. Roisin Dubh (pronounced "russian dub") is such an interesting place; I think the weirdest people in Galway go there. We stayed there until it closed, all the while people trailing off as they needed to go. Mike, Nick and I were the last three (apparently four people left while I was getting hit on by some 18-year-old), so I paid for a taxi back home.

I woke up this morning to the typical grey skies of Galway. I have class at 2. I need to print and turn in my papers to the Heritage office before or after that. Since I'll be stuck in my room and the airport for the next 24 hours, I'm sure I'll be posting again at some point.