Galway has its rainy days, and its gorgeous days. My first written final happened to be on a cold rainy afternoon, over Celtic Mythology, Religion and Folklore. Students were directed into the gym at Kingfisher Sports Center on campus, and assigned a seat. The gym hosted two exams when we had our final, and out of the 850 seats and desks in the room, just over 760 were filled. It was a little crazy finding our spot, especially since they forgot to post seating arrangements for the visiting students . . . I think I conducted myself well on that exam. I know I passed it, which is all that really matters, if I'm being honest. Like I said at the beginning of my adventure: the experience is more important to me than the academics!
Yesterday we took a break and went on a mini-adventure to find Galway's Holy Well. It was about a 40 minute walk from our apartments, a little further out than we usually walk. Credit for this photo goes to one of my close friends up here, not my sister (for once).
This week so far I've finished paper 1 of 2 for my Modern Irish Lit class (one for the James Joyce section, the other for Irish Drama) which are due this Wednesday at 5pm. My last final is Wednesday at 9:30am for my Archaeology class. Then I have 2 and a half weeks or so to enjoy Galway and tap into my inner artist. Do some writing, maybe draw some more, and drink lots of coffee. Looking forward to finishing finals and enjoying the rest of my stay here without school looming in the background.
SCOTLAND
Moving on now (or back, as the case may be). Our third day in Scotland we took a tour up to Loch Ness. I keep meaning to make a bucket list, so when I do cool stuff like this I can check it off, but so it goes. Our driver commented (between his lectures on the historically incorrect Mel Gibson and Braveheart) that even 15 years ago a day-tour out of Edinburgh up to Inverness would have been impossible because of the roads. He proudly told us that all roads and bridges in Scotland are completely free: there are no toll booths. Even so, the day was long. We boarded the bus just after 8am, and didn't return until 8pm that night. I personally was grateful for some of the stops, because we got to hear and experience this:
EVENTUALLY we make it to Loch Ness. Some background info on me really quick: when I was a child, I wanted to be a paleontologist. That was my goal: to dig up dinosaurs and live Jurassic Park. That was going to be my life. If you know my mom, I encourage you to ask her that story sometime. Think I was 3 or 4 or something like that when I was asking her for a dinosaur encyclopedia from the Denver museum instead of a picture book. Yeah. I was a nerd, even then. My point is this: I believe Nessie is, or a descendant of, a plesiosaur, which is simply an aquatic dinosaur. OK?
So, based on this info and knowing that I went with a touring company, I will admit that no, I did not see Nessie, for which I am thankful. I'm thankful because Nessie is smarter than to be spotted by a large group in the middle of the day. However, my brother thinks that he spotted her in one of the pictures my sister took. I posted the photo at the bottom. You'll have to decide for yourself if he saw her - or not!
The ferry we took passed over the deepest part of the loch, which is where Urquhart Castle is located. My mother jokingly asked if this was were Nessie hung out and we told her no, after so many years of pursuit, Nessie is smarter than that.
We made our way back to Edinburgh after that. I fell asleep on the bus. The music and scenery was soothing, and I was tired. No regrets:
NOW, scroll just a bit further to see if you can spot Nessie or not. Like I said, my brother swears he can see her (or him) in this picture. I hope you're lucky enough to spot her!
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♥C
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