I want to like you, Ireland. But you’re making it hard for me to do it.

I am sick. I have been, since arriving in Dublin and was the whole time I was in Galway. Four nights, only slowly getting better. I honestly think it’s Covid, because I am just fatigued, a bit dizzy, had lymph nodes as large as my fist in my neck and a fever. And a bit of nausea as well. It is very lovely, I can tell you.

Because of this, I did not get to see Galway. I was way too exhausted for that. I went through the town a little bit one day, but that was it. Very sad, but what can you do. Instead I stayed in the very cozy living room of the hostel and read a book about how to be a good man (Sam Keen – Fire in the Belly). I have not yet finished it, because I had to leave the hostel before I could. Instead I opted to illegally take photos of the last 50 pages of the book and read them later. The first 200 pages were already insightful enough to keep my mind busy for a few weeks though. The book talked about the shortcomings of men in our time and the virtues they should have. Where some of the destructive behaviour of men (could) come from and how to get rid of them.

When I saw the subtitle of the book „On being a man“ it was a 50/50 chance of it either being really good or some hyper-masculine bullshit. Luckily it was the first option.

This is possibly the greatest gift Galway gave me. Apart from the peaceful landscape at the ocean and on the train ride. I also met a few people. But not too many, since I didn’t have the energy for conversations.

I will leave it at that, because there is not a lot more I can talk about. Except maybe that Galway is a beautiful, cozy city I totally recommend to visit – just don’t visit when you’re sick. Oh and it’s raining all the time.

Thank you for reading!

Go raibh maith agaibh!

-Louis