Luck of the Irish

    A few days ago, on Thursday I believe, I was walking down Shop Street (the aptly named main shopping avenue) when I felt a gooey splat on my shoulder. I investigated, only to realize that a bird had dropped it's goodness all over me. I immediately ducked into a pub and removed my shirt and jacket and began washing them vigorously. When a few Irish guys entered the bathroom, I felt compelled to explain to them why I was half naked and doing laundry in their bathroom sink. Upon explanation, one of the men exclaimed "A bird shat on you! Oi! Johnny, look at this, a bird shat on him!" He then turned to me and said, quite excitedly, "In Ireland, that's good luck!" I politely explained to him that in America, it's actually bad luck when anything defecates on you. "Thank god we're not in America then," he responded. As he left, he shot me a smile and instructed me to "Rock on."

    When I emerged from the pub, I met Lissy on the street and we continued on our way as I told her about my forthcoming good fortune. We both agreed that I needed all the luck I could garner, since I was at the very beginning of my search for housing for the next four months. I ended up looking at 3 places that day, none of which ended up working out. The problem was that I am staying for a strange amount of time-- most places rent for short-term (1-2 weeks) or long term (6 months to a year), and four months falls awkwardly in the middle. Over the course of the next three days, I spent hours walking around to potential flats and houses, and pored over classifieds and ads online every night. I was starting to get worried, because Lissy leaves on Tuesday the 7th, and if I didn't get a place by then, I would be homeless. I also wondered where all that good luck had gone. It turns out that one bird was not enough.

   Yesterday, I went out once again in search of a room. I found a great place about a 15 minute walk from the city, and even closer to the cheap grocery stores. It's in a neighborhood called "Sandyvale Lawns," and the other two people in the house were Nora, a 30-something lady, and an electrician who was in Holland at the time. The room was relatively big (a little bigger than a freshman single in the frosh quad) and the house was neatly kept. Nora even seemed sympathetic to my plight, and said she would speak to the owner to let me stay for just four months. I then walked back to the city to grab some lunch, and began eating under a tree. Only a few bites into my sandwich, destiny struck again, this time on my other shoulder and very close to my sandwich. I say "very close to my sandwich", but my sandwich had melted brie, which looks an awful lot like bird goodness, so that little bastard had more than likely nailed my sandwich as well. I was hungry, so I continued eating. I did not, however, possess the foresight to move from under the tree, resulting in another direct bomb on my leg, which exploded with a sickening "plop." At this point I was pretty frustrated. I was homeless and covered in bird poo. I finished my meal and then washed myself off in the bathroom (a different bathroom), and went on my way. As I walked home, though, I realized that I must be doubly lucky, now that two birds had shat on me in one day. In fact, the possibility that the first bird had actually unloaded into my sandwich, which I then ingested, made me virtually unstoppable. As fate would have it, I ended up getting the place with Nora and the electrician, which was confirmed via a phone call later that day. I move in on Tuesday, and will put my address up once I move in.

    In other news, I'm really loving Galway. There's a little town called Salthill that's a 10 minute walk from the city, and the beach there is my favorite spot here. It's constantly raining, so I have to lug a backpack with raingear around all the time, but it's not all bad. The city itself is fantastic, and very lively. I've hit up a few pubs (the Guinness is creamy and delicious) and have made a couple friends, but now that I have a place I'll be able to get more serious about the music scene here. I'll post pictures soon.

Much love to everyone,

Auyon