A Sunday on the Bay
Spent my Sunday in the area of Galway called Salthill and jumped off the famous Blackrock diving board
So, in a drastically uncharacteristic move this Sunday, I decided to put on my running shoes and make my way down to the coast in Galway. I started out strong and got about half a mile from my apartment. Unfortunately, its been an embarassing-ly long time since my last run, so I had to stop and walk. Turns out this was a good thing because I realized I was going the wrong way anyway. So, I turned around and made my way down to the coast through some pretty Galway neighborhoods. After about three more wrong turns and corrections, I finally made my way onto the promenade just as my phone started to blast “Caribou Lou” through my headphones. A really picturesque moment to some relevant music, if you ask me. Tech N9ne really captured the beauty of the moment as I gazed out onto the Bay and heard “151 rum, pineapple juice, and Malibu, caribou, get them all numb.”
After I put on some better mood music (Mumford & Sons and Band of Horses cause I am indie and stuff, right?), I sat on a rock and stared out to the sea for a couple minutes and then I realized that my personal reflection was going to have to wait until I ate something (which is pretty much the story of my life). So I made my way to a coffee shop that was poppin with tourists (of which, I no longer am because I technically live there, so I can point out the tourists now) Interesting fact here: brewed coffee isn’t much of a thing in Ireland. All the coffee they make is espresso-based. So I got my Americano and my blueberry muffin and went back to the rocks on which I had contemplated the meaning of life earlier. I hung out there for awhile, took some neat-o iPhone pictures, and people watched before I decided it was time to go meet my friends at the high dive.
As I walked along the promenade there were some small cultural differences that I observed. Almost all of the dogs I saw had no leashes on them. Most dogs were walking freely within a few feet of their owner and this is something I have seen throughout all of Galway. I’m not sure if there’s something in the water here or the dogs are just ridiculously well-trained, but it’s much different from Omaha and Lincoln, where there aren’t nearly as many dogs and where there are, they all have leashes on them.
As I was walking, there was a commotion on the street ahead of me and I realized it was a parade of cars coming toward me that were honking and had people leaning out the windows yelling. At first, I thought it was only one car but as they passed me, I saw young girls hanging out of five or six cars, all waving around the same t-shirts. A couple of the girls held trophies in their hands and I realized it was some sort of team that must have just won a tournament or championship and were now showing it off to the busy promenade. People applauded and yelled congratulations as the girls passed and all I could think of is how cool I would have felt had I done something like that when I won a soccer tournament as a kid. Not sure if this was some type of tradition or this was a one time thing, but either way it was pretty cool to see.
I made my way down to the other end of the promenade where an old boy’s swimming area has been turned into a staple of the city. I have been told multiple times that jumping off the high dive at this swimming spot, the Blackhill diving board, is one of the must-dos when living in Galway. As I walked up, I realized there was some sort of event going on at the swimming area. It was a group of people meeting up for a Tough Mudder 5K. I found out later, from a guy that helped take a video of us diving off the board, that it was actually a training session for the Tough Mudder, not the actual event itself, which honestly surprised me after watching the stuff they did, but I suppose I should have been tipped off by the absence of the mud involved in the Tough Mudder. As I watched, they ran down to the beach where they paired up. One half of the pair stayed on the beach and did a plank while the other half ran into the shallow water and did ten burpees then they ran back and tagged their partner and planked as the other one did the burpees in the water. Needless to say, I felt less accomplished about my run/walk to the promenade that took me longer than I would like to say. Of course, this did not motivate me in the least and I sat and sipped my coffee while I watched this torture unfurl.
Eventually, I ran into Erin at the swimming area and found out Sarah had already jumped off the high dive and was swimming out to a buoy and back for exercise. — This whole exercise thing just keeps getting shoved in my face in Galway and I’m afraid that I have actually given in a little bit, no matter how reluctantly. — So when Sarah returned, we decided to take the jump together and we had the friendly local guy that I mentioned earlier take a video of us as we did it. (That’s us there in the background of this post — I’m in the middle with the reflectively pale legs) He got a shots of me and Erin coming out of the water while Sarah swam out to the buoy again and all I really had to say after the jump is profanities I’d rather not repeat, “SO COLD”, and “I swallowed so much water.” Truthfully, I was only mildly nervous until I actually jumped and my heart felt like it was thrown into my throat and I was looking down at the water. I distinctly remember thinking “oh shit” as I fell and I may have actually yelled it because I spent the rest of the day with a mild salt taste in my mouth, most likely because my mouth was open when I actually hit the water. Being the well-prepared traveller I am, I, of course, brought a towel and a change of clothes with me on this adventure. No, I’m totally kidding. I didn’t bring anything and spent the rest of the day laying in the sun trying to get warm.
All in all, the weather these past three weeks that I have spent in Ireland has been a gift. Lately, it’s nearly impossible to leave any conversation with a local without a comment on how unseasonably amazing this weather has been. I am so happy that I got to spend such a relaxing day enjoying this beautiful place I am calling home for right now. There’s nothing like a sunny day in a beautiful place to remind you of how good you have it and how truly lucky you are. Shout out to my parents for being the best in the world and making this opportunity happen for me. Without you, I wouldn’t be seeing all these amazing sights and I’m still trying to think of a way to thank you for all of this, if there even is one.For right now, a thank you in a blog post will hopefully suffice.
I took some sweet iPhone pics while I contemplated on the rocks…
