August 31st:
After a nine-hour flight cramped in coach with a screaming baby for company, after being exorbitantly charged in London for my baggage, and after an uncomfortable three-hour bus ride from Dublin, I arrived late in the evening at my apartment in Galway, situated in a student housing complex called Gort na Coiribe. I noted with dismay the peeling faux wood, the cracked paint in the bathroom, the half-broken shower doors, and– most of all– a bright red stain on the depressingly drab carpet of my cramped single room. The homesickness hit an all-time high. I blearily went across the street to buy pillows and some yogurt.