Maroon Madness

Good Evening All!

It is a rainy day in Galway, just like every day really :) And I am laying on my bed after a long day of work.  I am pooped.  Things have been happening! I now have 3 new roommates, all from the States.  My actual roommate is named Kasey and we get along so well! We both have a love for New Girl and Once Upon a Time, this is going to work out fine :) I got transferred to the other location for work this week, so I've been trying to figure out how to get there and  back.  Long story short, the cafe I work at now is about a 30 min walk from my (temporary) apartment.  While this is very annoying, the walk looks like this for most of the way..


Not even kidding...ocean with a view of cliffs and islands in the distance.

So it is hard to complain about that. Work is going well, I was a bit sad to leave the shop in city centre because I had started to make friends with some people there.  One of my them even invited me to watch the All Ireland Hurling match with her and her friends last weekend! What is Hurling you ask?  No it is not something you compete in after you've had one to many pints.  It is an Irish sport, said to be the fastest sport in the world!  And this year Galway was in the finals! The whole city was decked out in maroon and people were pumped! It was Galway Vs. Kilkenny in a finals rematch (you see, the original finals were 2 weeks ago, but the game ended in a tie, so they had to play the game again).  Unfortunately, Galway was defeated by Kilkenny, I learned that Kilkenny wins almost every year, and everyone is sick of it. Here's a look at Hurling...

Imagine a mix between Lacrosse, Gaelic Football, and some random Basketball rules thrown in.

Since the last blog post, a holiday has come and gone here in Ireland.  A lesser known, very celebrated, definitely non-church holiday.  Yes you guessed it, the day known as Arthur's Day! A day dedicated to celebrating the birth of Guinness beer and the wonderful man, Arthur Guinness who created it.  Basically the town went a little crazy and people started celebrating with breakfast.  Initially the first Arthur's Day (the first Arthur's Day was back in 2009, and it was celebrating the 250th birthday of Guinness) was celebrated with a series of music events.  That's still what happens in Galway, and bands were EVERYWHERE! There was a secret band playing at one of the music pubs that night, a pub called Monroe's.  And I heard it on good authority that Mumford and Sons was going to be the secret band....I'm sure you're thinking "yeah right Lauren"...I know, that's what I was thinking. But I had to go anyway and make sure I wasn't THAT girl. You know, the girl that missed out on the secret Mumford and Sons concert in Galway.

Well, I went with my new friend Emily and we were all pumped up to see who it was. Up until the very last second I thought Mumford and Sons was coming on.  Until this band walked out.

The crowd went wild! People started freaking out! Dancing ensued and cameras started rolling!!!! Emily and I just stared at each other wondering who the heck this band was.  Turns out it was a very famous Scottish band, ironically enough named Texas...This of course had me a little bit giddy as I felt very special to be from the place this band decided to call themselves.  They were very good, and the girl had an amazing voice. But alas, I was let down when it wasn't Mumford and Sons.

Things have been a little crazy lately.  With moving in to a temporary apartment, changing jobs, making friends and really settling into this country.  I feel very at home, and safe in this city.  People are so nice, I may look like a tourist every day, but I don't feel like one.  I have friends :) Real friends...That ask me to dinner and movies, and who want to make dinner with me.  Friends that want to throw me a birthday party and take me to their hometowns.  I feel so blessed.  How did I walk into this adventure?  It was worth every ounce of fear to be here. 

Don't get me wrong, I am still afraid.  But their is an overwhelming peace that overshadows the fear.  This feeling that I will be able to handle whatever it is that gets thrown at me.  God has protected me and guided me through everything, and every doubt I had was worth this feeling of knowing he is near me and taking care of me. 

Ok, for the next song from my Dreamchasing Playlist......This one is from one of my FAVORITE bands, Needtobreathe. I saw them live last March (with Laura!) and they were phenomenal.  This song is called Slumber, and it just plain rocks.  I love the way it starts out kind of quiet, like he's waking you up from a nap, then it just grows and booms into this big loud song.

While I'm walking down the street I like to pretend I'm in this song's music video.  Like it is my personal theme music.  And yes, I always make sure and open my eyes right when he says, "baby open up your eyes". Because he is talking to me...because he is my boyfriend...right? Right.

Ok, that is all for now. I love you all. Thanks for reading! I love getting comments and your encouragement goes a long way. 

Love,
Lauren