Pubs and Purchases
Every week in Ballyvaughan, there are multiple music events at the village pubs and restaurants, which a lot of the local people attend. Going to those events is definitely the best way to meet the local people. There’s not much to do in the village that’ll gather more people together than traditional Irish music at O’Loclainn’s Whiskey Bar or a DJ at Greene’s Bar. Since the town’s not that populated, you get to know the locals pretty quickly when you hang around town, and they get to know you. The locals in this town have always been extremely welcoming towards us. One of the locals even made me a birthday cake after I mentioned that I was turning 19 on this trip! I’ve found that the local Irish people love getting to know more about the American culture as much as we enjoy learning about Irish culture.
The most interesting thing I have bought on this trip has been an Aran Island sweater. It’s an extremely touristy purchase (barely any of the local people wear Aran sweaters), but they’re so comfortable and warm that wearing them is so worth looking like a foreigner. They’re made from wool that comes straight from sheep on the Aran Islands, which are islands on the western coast of Ireland that are named Inisheer, Inishmore, and Inishmaan. Because of that, you can only wash them by hand–something I’m not looking forward to doing. Buying my sweater (in preparation for another wonderful New England winter, of course) was so worth the long bike ride on Inishmore we had to make to get to the store as well as extra euros that I had to spend for this luxurious item of clothing.
Adjusting to using euros has been pretty simple; we’re really lucky that the conversion rate hasn’t been too much over 1 this summer. However, we still try not to spend too much money, especially those of us who have been here for two months. We try to keep to a budget of less than 200 euros per week. In order to do so, we often cook dinners at home, rather than eating out, and pack our own lunches before we go to the school, rather than ordering lunch at the cafe. Keeping within the budget has been pretty easy to do in Ballyvaughan, even though the only grocery store in town is slightly expensive. I’ve found that I spend a lot more money whenever we travel to a larger city, like Galway or Dublin. This is partially because things are generally more expensive there, but also because there’s more things to do there; there are more events and activities, and those events and activities usually cost money.
