Days Thirty-Four—Thirty-Seven

Monday, July 27th 2009—Thursday, July 30th, 2009

Unfortunate as it was, Monday marked the beginning of our last week in Galway. Though all of us seemed determined not to mention that fact, impending exams and essays did not let us forget that the end was, indeed, near. It at least had the decency to rain while I was cooped up inside on Monday writing my theatre essay due the next day. Yes, I procrastinated. So did everyone else. And you do too. Don’t judge. Anyway, the day was spent writing my essay, eating Tim Tams, watching iCarly with Val, and eating lots and lots of food.

Tuesday began with grand intentions to begin and finish my essay for the evil music class…and guess how that went. After theatre class, I’m pretty sure I went back to the apartment and watched more TV with Val…though I could have very well gone into town (I don’t remember precisely and Abbie apparently wasn’t keeping track of my every move). When Abbie came home from the computer lab from working on her paper due the next day, one of us somehow came up with the idea that it would be a really good idea to get drunk that night.So off we went to Centra to buy a bottle of vodka. After a snafu where they actually carded Abbie and Val and Val didn’t have her I.D., we went across the street to Topaz where they’re realistic people and don’t ask to see any. So we each made a toast, taking a shot each time. That’s three shots, right? Remember this, it will come back to haunt us. We all decided we were feeling the alcohol really quickly and wondered how ¾ of our bottle was gone already…so decided the smartest idea would be to go buy another bottle.

We all blacked out sometime around 11:00. I later found pictures on my camera I don’t remember taking…as well as video. Facebook messages and statuses appeared that none of us remember posting. (Though the single ladies post by Val was explained by one of the videos we later found). Needless to say, we all spent considerable amount of time with the toilet and were all not feeling very well the next day—Abbie the worst off of us. That was when we made the discovery that the glasses we were using to take shots…were actually double shots. Meaning that we had started by initially taking six shots straight instead of three like we had thought. And how we managed to finish all two bottles…vodka was a bad choice.

Despite that we were all feeling a little queasy, I went to the last movie USAC was showing…a sort of Dublin-esque Blues Brothers except with soul music and less car chases and sunglasses. Afterwards, I became really bitter because it was the first sunny day Galway had had in a while…and I was stuck inside writing my 1500 word paper on sean-nos singing for the evil music class. I pretty much wrote right up until I had said class (the paper was due the next day), went to class, then decided it was a good idea to go out to the Spudhouse (really delicious potatoes) to eat. Then I returned home and, while watching TV, somehow managed to finish my essay.

Thursday was exam day for me in both of my classes. After our theatre final (in which we had to write an essay from the many choices offered to us using the plays we had read as an example), Abbie and I went in to town to document it and enjoy the walk for one last time. It was another gorgeous day and I somehow convinced her to go with me into the cathedral to check it out.

Remember how I have this thing with churches? This one was absolutely breathtaking. Yes, it was only built in the 70s, but it was still gorgeous. As we walked in to the cavernous cathedral, someone was playing the organ. Something about being in a giant church with the rainbow reflections off the stained glass windows, staring up at a crucifix, and listening to pounding organ music in my ears somehow led to the closest thing to a cathartic religious moment as I will ever have.

After my church geekiness, we continued into town and walked all down Shop Street, having lunch at McDonagh’s before walking to the Claddagh, then all the way back up. We stopped into shops so Abbie could souvenir browse (MJ, she got you something good) and then walked back to campus. Since I had about an hour and a half until my music final, we decided it was a good idea to stop at the College Bar and get a Guinness. Then I went off to my music final, which was the most bullshit thing I’ve ever written in my life.

That night, we all went out to Monroe’s. What started as a huge group somehow dwindled even though we were eventually joined by Quigs, Caoilfhionn, and Jason. It was a good night, though a few people definitely got a little too intoxicated a little too fast. I got the Galway Hooker glass I’d been wanting ever since I’d come there. A few of us decided to call it an early night, and after getting burgers and chips, most of them decided to cab it back. But since it was such a beautiful night, I decided to walk home along the canal with Scott. And it really was a great walk…for the first time, I didn’t seem to mind it at all (though that might have been due to me having curry fries). And as well it should have, since it did turn out to be my last walk home from a pub in Galway.