I Promise I Will Refrain From Explicitly Referencing That God-Awful "Galway Girl" Song in This Post, Unlike Others

In booking my trip to Ireland to study the art of Irish memoirs and Irish politics, I was delighted to find out that one destination on the list of class-sanctioned excursions was to the beautiful town of Galway. Of course, as an American, my sole connection to the city of Galway came from a certain musical composition created from a certain English musician (fellow-ginger, one of the only redeeming qualities about him) that seems to talk about everything about stereotypical Irish culture. So, it was to my utter lack of surprise that I totally walked into The Song That Should Not Be Named as a cultural reference in our introduction to the O'Connell's Bar in downtown Galway. A classic Irish pub with an outstanding scene in the backyard beer garden, the bar has a sad history of being eternally connected to that song for being the main location of filming for the events featured in the lyrics. (At least it featured beloved Irish Oscar-nominated actress Saoirse Ronan, which brings out two-thumbs-up from me for her universal likability.)

O'Connell's Bar has much charm in its interior and exterior features. Perhaps my favorite moment in the history of the O'Connell's Bar was when Ed Sheeran was hilariously punched in the face!

Walking around the city center of Galway was enough to grant me an impression that this was a special place for some special people to call home. Galway as a place is purely aesthetic in nature for good times and good people, which is one of the best things one can say about any locality. With Eyre Square, Shop Street, the Long Walk (when I was walking the Long Walk, I was not aware that I was walking along a well-known walking location worldwide), and the beautiful Galway Bay, the general idea of Galway on its face is enough to become a strong tourist destination and apparently for stag and hen parties as well. When the sun sets and people finish off their day either hard at work or relaxing on vacay, the city of Galway arguably wakes up from its slumber and becomes a town-wide party. Every bar, every restaurant, and pretty much every other public place open for fun times and fun refreshments becomes a monster feeding off the desires and longing that all people inevitably search for, and the city itself has built its reputation off of this phenomenon and is all the better for it.

But in the meantime, the city itself has had an illustrious history, as had the rest of the Irish cities I have been privileged to visit on this trip. Lynch's Castle on Galway's main drag had a pretty dark if inimitable history itself, and while I don't remember the specifics, it will be a pretty dark if inimitable history regardless if the building has seen a father willfully hang his son (I really hope I got that story correct in the facts -- I was sidetracked at one point while listening to a busker give her best impression of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit"). On a more gleeful note, the connection to the United States was yet another reason as to why I am so glad to call myself an American; the speech from President John F. Kennedy in Eyre Square seemed to uplift the Republic of Ireland amid economic strife and ongoing religious tensions that would define the island of Ireland for the next few decades. The fact that his speech happened mere months before his untimely assassination only further serves to give Kennedy a sense of permanence and nationwide respect if he didn't already have it as the first Irish Catholic president of the United States. The strong relations between Kennedy and Ireland have served as a template for future presidents to emulate when furthering the strong relations between the United States and Ireland since then, influencing Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama, among others.

In remembrance of John F. Kennedy's fiery speech at Eyre Square in 1963, the speech itself has established a necessity for strong ties between Ireland and the United States for presidents to follow and take notes on.

While my second day in Galway was unfortunately uneventful for various, don't-need-to-explain reasons, the men and I still had a fun night over incredible wood-fired pizza and a couple of pints at a chic bar called Busker Browne's (not pictured), which was a simple but effective means of exploring what Galway has to offer. Whether you engage in a lonely walk to the Long Walk bordering the Galway Bay, a pint at one of the many bars in the city center, or fine dining, the city of Galway offers a little bit of something for everyone, and I am glad I had the privilege to partake in said activities.

The explicit reference to John F. Kennedy offered a nuanced perspective on how to engage with international relations as Americans -- we can use struggling nations not simply as a ploy to make the United States look like strong allies willing to help out friendly nations, but to create mutual relationships in which any countries involved with the United States in bilateral or multilateral relations can all benefit through negotiations, agreements, and active engagement. For a man who centered around the idea of a Camelot era with a bright vision for the future merged with both charisma and youth that seems foreign to American leadership today, the template for foreign policy shifted with Kennedy's simple visit to a struggling economy in Galway in 1963 to an America guided by liberal internationalism and the essence of maintaining strong international alliances. Indeed, we saw as much in Angela's Ashes, in which many of the Irish citizens who voiced their political positions to clarity explicitly voiced their support for Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was seen as an aiding hand for Irish health and well-being. May future Americans of all sorts take note of these contexts to craft a more accepting, inclusive, and loving world for future generations to endure.

When you come to two diverging paths, you can certainly take the least traveled, but in Galway's city center, any route can surely lead to a good time.

The Galway Bay and the Long Walk. I thought I was going for simply a cathartic walk on Friday night, but I also managed to snap some beautiful views as well.