RAG week

So remember before how I mentioned that this week was RAG week? How it's supposed to be a charity thing but pretty much ends up being the biggest shit show known to man? Yeah, it didn't disappoint. Not so much that I was shitty the whole time (I mean, some of the time...) but just the way the student body transformed was wild. I'll do my best to recount some of the crazy things I've seen.

My friends from SLU live in this place called Corrib Village. Corrib is the name of the river that runs through Galway to Galway Bay and then out into the Atlantic. It's a village of pastel colored houses that each contain four Lafarge-esque suites, but with kitchens. It's mostly first year (freshman) Irish students and then international students who range in age from sophomores to 23 year olds. Now in the past this place has been the site of MAJOR damages because not only do the people who live there get crazy, but the friends that they bring into the place make it even crazier. So this year they implemented concentration camp-esque security to keep anyone who isn't a Corrib resident with a Corrib ID out of the complex... and out of the party really. However, yours truly did find a way to circumvent this maximum security to some extent. On Sunday, the 24 hour lockdown surveillance didn't start until 4:30, so I got to Corrib just in the nick of time at 4:15. Drinking commenced shortly after and I got to meet lots of new awesome Irish people. The girls that my SLU friends live with are so sweet and it was nice to meet some Irish girls for a change. I had a great time drinkin in the complex that night, but the loud music and crazy party didn't stop until 4 am... I guess I'm just not hard core enough to drink from 4 to 4. But I've heard some wild stories, like one of the guys across the hall left the plastic cutting board on the burner in order to start a fire so that he could extinguish it with the fire extinguisher. Yeah. I saw the aftermath. Their entire common room was white and some people had written little messages in the white powder. Smelled like shit too. That's going to cost them some major euro-age. I've also heard reports of people being thrown into trees and I met a guy who chugged 500 ml's of vodka to earn a free ride into Galway for RAG week. Yeah. His way of getting around security was to literally hop over a 8 foot fence and haul ass. I don't know how he did it or if he was making it up but homeboy was WRECKED. On Tuesday I was able to get back into Corrib by riding in the trunk of a residents car. Yeah, Mexican style. Long story short, I've seen some things that I never thought I would see. This week has turned a campus into a slopfest of drinking. It was fun, but at some points it was just taken to such an extreme that it really wasn't that fun. Don't get me wrong, ya'll who know me know I enjoy drinking and having a good time... but a whole week is a bit much. Moderation is the key here and no one has seemed to observe it.

On a sober note: I BROKE A WORLD RECORD! Well, me and 905 other people. Ok it's a little difficult to explain, but I was walking to class on Monday and Liz bbmed me to tell me they were all going to "Rock the Boat". Now, I had no idea what they meant but I soon found out that NUIG students were breaking the Guinness World Record for doing it. What it was was over 900 students sitting on the floor in lines in between the person behind you's legs rocking back and forth and side to side for 5 minutes to the song that goes "Rock the boat / don't rock the boat baby / rock the boat / don't tip the boat over!". Yeah. We were dying laughing the whole time, but I gotta be honest I never thought I'd be able to say that I was part of breaking a world record! Pretty cool, eh?

Tonight is the last night of RAG week and I have to be honest, I'm glad it's over. It's a lot of pressure to be drunk that much! But it should be a really fun night as everyone goes all out to end this joyous week of giving, but really drinking, with a bang.

Oh! I'm going to Donegal this weekend! My friend Allie from SLU and I are going. Not really sure what to expect but we're gonna see what the craic is up there in the northern part of Ireland (but not Northern Ireland). It will be my first hostel experience, so I'm sure there will be a few things to remark upon when I get back! It'll be nice to get out of Galway for the weekend. It gets so dead here because the students go home for the weekend, every weekend. They look at us funny when we tell them that the weekends are mostly the only nights we go out and party because we have so much homework during the week. Hopefully it's a nice weekend. Also, a lot of the girls have friends coming for spring break so it'll be a lot of fun showing them around and getting to see a few people I know and also meet a few that I don't! I can't wait for Johnny to come in TWO WEEKS TO THE DAY! It's so fun having people here that you know. I love showing Galway off but at the same time it's so comforting to have a piece of home with you when you're here.

That's all for now. I'm trying not to go MIA on this blogging thing for another month. Don't lose faith in me - check every now and again!

Love you all,

Kel