The morning came to take the bus that had confused me for months. When I arrived at the bus station there was a girl waiting who (whom?) I recognized from the hostel. She actually recognized me from the Vagabonds hostel in Belfast. She was from Australia on her summer break after studying abroad in England. We had a great chat and then sat together on the bus. Which, by the way, I paid for my ticket with cash on the bus and it took me where I wanted to go. Relief.
I checked into the hostel in Galway and was very pleased. The rooms were nice, the beds were solid, there were curtains on the bunks and night lights with power points in each bunk- even with USB ports! In Ireland they use the Euro for money and British power sockets. There was even a bottom bunk available! I couldn’t believe my luck. Soon a Lithuanian woman came in and told me that the other girls in the room were from New York and California. These Americans are all over the place! I went to sort out my tours for Galway and there were just too many that I wanted to do. I went ahead and booked my flex day for next week to be here in Galway so that I could see the Cliffs of Moher, the Aran Islands AND go to the Abbey that’s on a poster of Ireland that I’ve had on various walls where I’ve lived for the last 10 years! I didn’t think this place would be accessible!
A couple of hours later the girl from California came back and I was pleased to see that she looked close to my age. Most hostelers are in their 20’s or old men. Her name is Meredith and she’s from Fort Bragg. I freaked out a little bit. I’ve never met someone who’s from the place where I grew up spending my summers and where my dad now lives, much less meeting them in Ireland! I knew I liked her right away. Joanna had pointed out that she finds that when she meets Americans or Canadians she knows right away if they’re good or if they’re creepy, but it’s harder to asses that the more different people are culturally. I hadn’t noticed that before, but I liked this American. She invited me to come to dinner with the other roommates (they had become friends the day before) and I decided to be social and join them!
Here is the main shopping street in Galway. It’s better in person.
My first night in the Republic of Ireland and I was trying to choose between veggie risotto (Italian) an Indian style veggie plate or the best of Ireland cold plate. I know it was under cold plates, but I was surprised when it arrived and the corn beef was cold! The whole plate was delicious. 
Loretta from Lithuania and the girl from Buffalo NY went back to the hostel while Meredith and I went on the hostel guided pub crawl. There is a pub crawl at most hostels I go to, but after waking up with the sun and the other people who pack their bags and leave early in the morning and touring all day I have a hard time staying up until the pub crawls begin (usually at 10 or 11pm). This one started with a free beer at 9:15. I was sold. Meredith was reluctant, but I promised her I would leave early with her so neither of us would have to walk back alone at night. It was so nice to have a buddy. I know these things are meant to be mixers but Meredith and I had a great time keeping to ourselves. It was so nice to have a buddy and I would have had a fraction of the fun without her.
At the first stop were were delighted to find these gadgets under the bar- a hook for your purse or coat, a power socket AND a USB port! These Irish know how to party!
We met a man who was there on vacation from Dublin. I came back from the bathroom to hear him in the middle of telling Meredith a Trump joke! He told me I was very welcome in this country but it was too loud to secure a welcome for Meredith 😉
At the second place, Colorado continued to follow me!
There was some nice music playing, but we were encouraged to go all the way to the back. We walked through double doors to the back bar where house music boomed. We looked at each other and I asked if she minded returning to the front bar. We were on the same page. We sat in this cute little booth
enjoyed the music and judged all the 20 year olds.
I posted videos of the music on Facebook. The best was when this guy played a song from the Goodwill Hunting soundtrack. 
We stayed at the last bar (the band is up on that balcony) for 2 songs and then stopped for some perfect pizza by the slice on our way home.
Friends!