Galway Post 1 (what a boring title)

Ok. I am going to try and recap the past week and a half because lots of fun and exciting things have happened. But that is a lot of time to cover so I'm going to pick select pictures and talk about them so i'll be leaving out a lot of detail but i'll pick the fun ones for you. :P

Ok so the picture above is one of the many Martello towers dotting the Irish coast. We went to a field trip on the Flaggy Shore about 25 minutes from Ballyvaughan with our Irish Studies Professor Gordon D'arcy. Anyway, the english were worried about Napolean attacking through Galway bay so they built these towers around the bay with cannons on the top. If one of the soldiers were to see Napoleans fleet they would set off the cannons. Not, in defense but to warn the next Martello Tower that there was danger. Once the next tower got the message they as well fired cannons and this let the soldiers in the tower in Galway know to alert the army and navy, etc, etc. The fun part about going here, besides listening to Gordon's insane capability to know everything about everything, was that we ot to climb into the tower. You can see the rope dangling down outside the little window. First you climb up that, without slipping on the perfectly smooth outer surface of the tower, then you  had to climb down that same rope inside, so you pull the rope up and drop it down inside. Now you're in the tower. However there is another rope on the other side which you can climb up and then climb the stairs and get to the very top of the tower. Now that seems easy enough. False. It was quite an adventure and a good bonding activity to build trust in each other, give people boosts, help them with insructions and so on. It was awesome. And then of course to get out you climb down the stairs. Climb down the rope. Climb up the first rope to get to the window in the wall, and then down the same rope out from where you first came. It was so fun. I of course got some cut and bruises but it as all worth it. :)
Here is the infamous Gordon. One of our housemates does push ups randomly around the house and everywhere and Gordon saw him doing some and challenged him. And of course, Gordon won. Twice. THis was the second challenge and he one once again. It is because we have a theory that Gordon is God. And its true. :P
This brings me to Galway, the next day. This picture is of the rose window and insane organ inside the Cathedral in Galway. We went here on the first day during our tour, which was one of the best tours I've been on. I'll save the other pictures though for flickr because I don't want to explain all of them. You guys can ask me if their is a picture you wan tot know more about. Anyway, we actually went to mass the next day to hear the organ being played and we were blown away. Its was a beautiful sound. I was really happy we all went.
After the tour we went to the farmers market. THis was one of the most visually aesthetically pleasing stand so I took a picture, not because I actually liked the olives. hahaha. But the farmers' markets here are insane and I will miss them greatly when I go home.

Then we checked into our hostel. This isn't the best picture but I was reading on the window ledge nook while we were all hanging out getting ready for dinner and stuff. and the room was quite crowded with 9 people in it so I was out of the way for a little while. I love that window. I would request that room again just for the window. We had so much fun all staying in one room we wanted to move into one room when we got home.