As most people know, the weather in Ireland is less than stellar. Back in ancient times, the Irish used to worship the sun. It was seen so little, they assumed when it did show that it must be a divine gift of holiness. Despite the fact that most Irish are no longer Pagans, when the sun does shine in Galway everyone seems to stop and worship its beauty. A sunny warm day in Galway is unlike anything I have ever seen. Everyone from all walks of life come outside and soak up the sun. Men are shirtless working on their non existent tan despite the fact that it is only 60 degrees and women are out playing with their children in Eyre Square. The best place to go when it is sunny is the Spanish Arch. The Spanish Arch is a 16th century arch that was built to protect merchant ships from looting. The arch was an extension to the 12th century wall that was built by the Normans when the Irish natives were removed from city center during their invasion. Nowadays, college students come to the Spanish Arch sit along the River Corrib and enjoy the weather. One day in April, especially beautiful weather came to Galway and like clockwork the city came alive to celebrate. I had just gotten back from my 23 day long backpacking trip and was enjoying the feeling of my feet planted firmly on the ground and not on one mode of transportation or another. I had dressed up to go visit the Irish Girl Guides, where I did my service learning, to say a goodbye before I left a few weeks later. I was heading to breakfast at Riordans with my boyfriend when I ran into my friend Jill along the way. She told me she was going to jump off Blackrock in Salthill. Blackrock is a place at the end of the Salthill Promenade where there is a diving platform you can jump off which is about 30 feet high. Despite how terrifying it sounded, I had been dying to do it before I left Galway. I told her I would text her if I decided to go thinking I would unfortunately not have enough time to do that before Girl Guides. As I was sitting at breakfast I had to decide: do I jump into freezing cold water from an alarmingly high length and arrive soaking wet to Girl Guides or do I play it safe, keep my hair and makeup intact and look presentable? After a few minutes of hemming and hawing I found myself overwhelmed with a beckoning to jump. Jump even if its stupid. Jump even if you're shivering all the way to Girl Guides. Jump even if you may regret it afterwards, but just jump. The next thing I knew I was in Pennys buying a swimsuit and towel, since I didn't have time to go back to my apartment, and heading to Salthill. The walk was much much longer than I remembered and it felt as if we would never arrive. Once I finally got there I was greeted by my friends who were ready to take the plunge. The water was shallow so we weren't sure if we could jump off the high platform and as we were jumping off the lower platform, an Irish boy jumped right off the top and we knew we had to be next. The platform looked high from a far but once you got up and looked off the edge, the height seemed to double. How was I going to be able to jump? It was too high, I was too scared. But the thing is, everything in life that is truly worth doing is scary, falling in love, getting out of your comfort zone and taking risks all include taking a leap of faith with the hope that something catches you. What if I hadn't studied abroad because I was too afraid of the unknown? How many wonderful experience would I have missed if I had stayed on the platform? It was my turn to jump. Everyone on the platform was counting me off. 3...2...1 and off I went. My heart willed my legs to move fast before my brain could tell them to stop and there I was, flying in the air into the Galway Bay. I was falling for quite some time and screamed louder as I realized I had not hit the water yet and to my relief, I was finally met with freezing cold water. All I could do was smile and laugh. I did it. I didn't think, I just jumped. There is a lot I have to be proud of this semester. All of the things I accomplished, the risks I took and the challenges I met could be encapsulated into that one giant leap into the Galway Bay.
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AuthorI'm Angelisa. I am studying at NUI Galway for the semester and writing about my experience. Archives
June 2017
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