“We Made It to Galway!” Many of the students cheered as we pulled into the vibrant city. This portion of the trip is always the student’s favorite. They get to experience the funky and hip city, which also has the youngest population in Ireland due to the university. There is also an art festival taking place in the town center, and that brings in street performers and a electric energy to the town folk.
However, I am getting ahead of myself. The day started off with packing the apartments in Killarny and loading the bus with our loved bus driver, Brian. We made a mid-way stop at Bunratty Castle and we experienced a tour of the 15th century structure.
Afterwords, the students had some time to explore the Folk Park, which are reconstructed grounds to represent the town and homes during the 19th century. Finished with the tour, we headed towards our new apartments in Galway.
Upon our arrival, the students were given their keys to their rooms and money to budget for their weeks worth of meals. After everyone settled in and had their dinner, we celebrated John Stone’s birthday with a surprise birthday party. All 19 of the students, and staff, crowded into the living room of one apartment to wait on his arrival. Hopefully he felt the love we have for him on the ILE.
