Providing updates during the week isn’t really that interesting. It’s like my regular life, except strangers sleep close by that might steal my things. So here’s your typical day.
6:30am: Wake up. I’m still an early riser, even with the time change. I try to be quiet when I get up even though chances are the people I’m staying with arrived in a drunken clatter at 3am. What can I say, I’m not petty.
7:00am-8:00am: While I let my roommates sleep, I go downstairs and check my e-mail, mess around on the internet, and have breakfast. This hostel has free tea, toast, and jam in the morning. I purchased peanut butter, so I have a piece of toast with peanut butter and a piece of toast with jam, along with some tea. I drink the tea with my pinky out and mutter British things under my breath.
8:00am-9:00am: I toss on some clothes (I feel it’s a reasonable hour to make a little noise), and make my way to a local cafe. I pick a different one each day, never having done the same one twice. There are enough to sustain me for the week that look palatable to my cafe-judging tastes. In order to qualify, there needs to be seating, have some people in it (preferably one or two by themselves), not be TOO busy, and maintain an “independent coffee shop” atmosphere. Important note: I steal a little packet of butter.
I spend an hour sipping on a coffee, reading my book (which happens to be Middlesex right now), writing, looking through my notes, or planning my next travel stops.
9:00am-10:00am: General wandering time. Sometimes longer, sometimes shorter. Yesterday I wandered around the Cathedral. Monday I went to the Galway Museum. It has really old swords and bowls and stuff in it.
Today I walked down to Salthill, which has all the nice hotels, the aquarium, and beaches. There was this guy playing fetch with his little dog, but the dog would just run after the stick, pick it up and run with it for about 3 steps, then drop it and run back. Luckily, the entire beach is stockpiled with sticks so his owner had no problem just picking up another one. Still seems like a bad habit to get start.
10:00am: It’s after check-out time, meaning the shower is most available. So I take a shower and prepare for the day.
10:15am-12:00pm: Work
12:00-12:30pm: Brunch. Since I eat a small breakfast, I go with brunch instead of lunch (again because the kitchen is most available). I bought groceries at Tesco, so I scrambled some eggs today in red and orange peppers with toast. Follow-up on important note: I use the stolen butter packet to grease the pan.
12:30-4:00pm: Work
4:00-5:00pm: Wander around again, if it’s nice out (“lunch time” in NY). Yesterday, I went over to NUI at Galway and self-toured that a bit.
5:00pm: Dinner. I made an avocado, hummus, and cheese sandwich with greek yogurt and crumbled granola and dried cranberries (the latter two I bought at Evergreen Health Store, which is awesome). In doing so, I kind of outed myself as an odd hostel guest, which is predominantly kids making pasta and pizza, grilling meaty things, etc. But whatever, I need to maintain some form of consistency.
5:30pm-9:00pm: Work
9:00pm-11:30pm: Whatever I feel like. I’ll wander through Shop Street and listen to some Irish music, grab a Gilato, go grocery shopping, or grow my beard. Yesterday, I actually worked more (wrote a blog.. hadn’t updated that in a while). Today, I went to The Skeff, grabbed a pint, and watched the Liverpool vs. Sunderland match.