Life in an Irish Hostel...Part 1

GALWAY IRELAND, November 2005

I’ve been living in the Barnacles Hostel, which is right on the main drag. (Pictures above were taken from my room.) This is nice and convenient – except for the part about the 3 pubs directly below my room’s window. To say the least, it gets pretty noisy at night. Luckily, I have no trouble sleeping through nearly anything. The other night, we heard big band music coming from one pub and the Rolling Stones coming from another pub: sort of a Tommy Dorsey-Mick Jagger mix.

I’ve made friends with a real international group at the hostel. Our dinner discussions end up in a mix of German, French, Spanish and English. One night the table I sat at had people from Germany, Canada, Australia, Spain, France, Switzerland and – of course – the U.S. Dinner discussions are held in a mix of languages. There’s a lot of laughter and looking up of words.

Oddly and somewhat sadly, I've not had a chance to get to know any actual IRISH people…!

I’ve been here going on 6 weeks now. I’m in a room of 8 women…with one bathroom. It’s the college dorm experience I never had - complete with late-night gabfests, lots of laughing and unmentionables hanging in the bathroom.

On Thursday nights a bunch of us go to the Spanish Arch Hotel, which has a live 17 piece Big Band playing. For free. The music is great and so danceable! (What I lack in grace and skill, I make up in enthusiasm.)

I’m sitting in my bed typing this with my comforter over my head so I don’t disturb my roommates. (It’s only 6 am.) Odd, the things you find yourself doing, sometimes, isn’t it?

Living in the city center, you never know what you’ll hear on the weekends. Last Saturday around 3:30 am, I woke up to pounding on the front door of the hostel accompanied by a male voice yelling, “C’mon, let us in! We’re not naked anymore!!!” It’s one of those moments where you’re curious – but don’t really want to know…

Below: Galway side street, my favorite busker, and Quay Street in the late afternoon.