Week 20: January 24th

Galway. Back to School.

I had the house to myself for the weekend. My Irish roommates had headed home for the break, and Emma went to Wales. It was really nice to be home alone. I played loud music, and did some cleaning, including Emma's room so she came back to a nicely made bed (what a nice roommate I am). Friday morning, I woke up at 6am to go to Galway to visit a friend. We met at the Education in Ireland training day, and she agreed to show me around Galway for the day! I arrived a little after 11am, half asleep, but excited to be there. We walked around the city, to Eyre Square, and along the water. It started raining so we opted for indoor activities including the museum, and the Cathedral. We had time for lunch, and then she had to head to class, so I explored the University of Galway campus solo, before stopping by a coffee shop for a hot chocolate and some reading before it was time for me to get back on the bus. I got home around 7pm, and had time to make dinner and catch up on the phone with a Canadian friend.

The rest of the weekend was super low key. I finished watching all the seasons of Power, and did lots of research for my big trip in March. I've decided to not do any travelling until our two week break in a few months. I think it's a better use of money to make the most of that one trip, rather than to do lots of little trips where I can't afford to do everything I want to do. In March, I'm going to Brussels, Paris, and Croatia, so I'm counting down the weeks (it seems closer in weeks, rather than days) until that trip!

My first day back to school was horrible because my sleeping schedule has been so backwards this entire break. Getting up for a 9am class was a shock to my system. Save for my day trip to Galway, I hadn't been out of bed before 1pm in weeks. Our longest class of the day was cancelled so most of the day was spent catching up with friends, rather than actually in class. Emma got home late that night, and sent me a Snapchat about how she was so glad she cleaned her room before leaving, silly girl.

We got some general feedback this week regarding exams, but won't have actual results until February 12th, which feels like so long from now. It was nice to get back into the proper school and gym routine this week. Emma had been waiting on a Christmas package that finally came on Tuesday, full of treats we can't get here, so we've been having chocolate with every meal.