GALWAY, IRELAND: The First Week

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June-July 2017

THE streets of Galway were a labyrinth, weaving together into a pattern she just couldn't comprehend. It was the wanderer's second day in Ireland, and she, along with her roommate (or, more accurately, housemate), B., were searching for Charlie Byrne's Book Shop. Wandering down new streets and doubling back and walking in circles, the girls simply couldn't seem to find the book shop, and they were running out of time. Turning yet another corner, they spotted a sign with the words "Book Shop" written across it and resigned to give up their search and just go in there. They advanced up the street. Above the words "Book Shop," there suddenly---almost magically---came into view a name: "Charlie Byrne's." They had quite literally stumbled upon their destination!
It seemed to the wanderer that that was just the funny way the universe worked sometimes: When you stop looking for something, you find it.

THE wanderer slowly started to become more familiar with her new surroundings. She wandered and wandered around the NUIG campus and the city center and Galway Bay. She got lost more than once, of course, but always found her way . . . eventually.

MEANTIME, she began her classes at NUIG, taking Gaelic Literature and Culture as well as auditing Irish History (for it seemed quite interesting . . . and also the professor had a lovely Belfast accent). She began learning things she never knew about the history of Ireland, marveling at her ignorance. She began learning about Early Irish mythology, reading stories about legendary warriors like Cú Chulainn and stories in which people die crazy deaths (such as death by cheese) and stories in which the Otherworld---a Neverland of sorts, a land where no one aged, populated by magical beings---played a part (which was every story, really). Storing these stories in a drawer in her mind for future inspiration, she wondered why Irish mythology was not as well known as Greek or Roman or Norse mythology, for she found it just as rich and fascinating. (What other collection of mythology has a story about a great queen dying from being hit by a piece of cheese?!) The wanderer was, in short, over the moon to be learning about Irish stories that would help her in creating her own.






































































Comments

  1. Sarah PenningtonJune 28, 2017 at 10:10 AM

    Lovely pictures! I can't wait to hear the stories behind them!

    ReplyDelete

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