Galway Love

You never really remember everything you loved about a place until you go back. Sure, you miss certain things, but there are always other things that you rediscover and realize how amazing they were.

I was in Galway for a week before moving into Trinity, and it was everything I needed in every single way. I forgot how many of my favorite things are so easily accessible here, and even though my internet access is shaky and as an American I very clearly do not belong here, I have to say, I could get used to this.

First, my absolute favorite thing in the world is to sit in a coffeehouse with a book, a latte, and a baked good, and not be disturbed. I could never do this in Buffalo. All of our coffeehouses are either Starbucks or Tim Hortons, which do not lend themselves to this sort of thing, or Spot, where the clientele is…I don’t know, too artsy and too fast-moving to really let me feel comfortable sitting alone with a book.

But here, there’s a coffeehouse that is my dream café. The coffee is strong, the muffins are amazing, and no one cares if I sit there and read – or pretend to read while listening to the Irish couples next to me discuss how Sally is dealing with going away to school for the first time. (Better this week, thanks.)

My second favorite thing in the world is to walk along some sort of body of water—not go in it, but just walk and listen to the water. There is no water in California, except the trickle they call Castaic River or creek or whatever, and the ocean is an hour away if the traffic isn’t bad.

Here, the entire city is cut in half by the River Corrib, this amazing, rolling river that runs straight into the bay that’s named after the city. The whole city is defined by the water; there used to be lots of fishermen here that sold their wares in Fisherman’s Market, which is now a common gathering place on weekends, the old sailboats here are famous, and people have been pouring into and out of this little port city since the Vikings. I can walk ten minutes in one direction and collect seashells on the bay, or I can walk in another and follow the river all the way to Salmon Weir Bridge, where it’s bordered by stone walls covered in overgrown ivy.

My third favorite thing is to grocery shop. Oh, not the part where you get to the register and realize you’ve spent your life savings, but the part where you wander the aisles, checking out how the carrots look this week, or figuring out what you could make with the mushrooms that are on sale.

Now, I know what you’re thinking. “Katie,” you’re saying, “you grew up in Buffalo, land of Wegmans. California can’t even compare to New York, so how is a tiny backwater city in a tiny country going to do it?”

And you’re right, in a sense. The selection isn’t as good here, no, and I can’t get cantaloupes in December. But what I can do is get blocks of real, vintage Irish cheddar for the American equivalent of $3 a block, whereas at Trader Joe’s, it would cost me twice that, and the cheese would be kind of stale. And though Dove Cream Oil body wash might cost me more for a smaller bottle, and Ben and Jerry’s is about $8 a pint, the fact that I can even get them here has a certain charm to it that makes me happy in a way.

Oh well, too bad I had to leave so soon! Hopefully I'll have the chance to come back often...or I'll find my own things to love about Dublin.