A Real Irish Experience

So I've been in Galway for a little over a week, and I absolutely love everything about it. But the 5th of September has stood out  as being my favorite day so far. I sat by the river off of Galway Bay reading my book "In Search of the Craic" for my Irish Music class. It was a beautiful day. A little ways down from me were two guys playing the guitar and singing. I stopped my reading to listen and watch them for a while. I think one of them might have noticed because as I went back to my reading, he came over and asked me if I would like to play something. I told him I didn’t know how to play the guitar and he said how about singing. I was a little nervous about it, but he said he would sing something and I could sing along. We sang Johnny Cash’s song “Hurt” (kind of depressing but it was still a lot of fun). The guy who asked me over, the one who I sang with, his name was Finn. His friend’s name was Billy, and Finn obsessed about how sexy Billy’s hair was and how he wish he could have dark shaggy hair instead of blond, curly Irish hair. An older guy  joined us. His name was Luciello and he was an Italian who had lived in Galway for nine years. They were all drinking beers (mind you this is two in the afternoon), rolling their own cigarettes, and passing along the guitar between them. It was a lot of fun just sitting and chatting and listening to them. Luciello even made up a song about me because it was such an unusually nice day. The song went, “Carla you bring the sun to the Irish skies.” It was wonderful. As we sat they were clearly getting more and more drunk. But it was a good Irish experience. Two homeless guys came up and joined us, drinking a bottle of something from a paper bag. One of them told me how three years ago he was on his way to getting a medical degree but then he started liking beer too much and now lived on the street. Luciello made me take his phone number and said he had an extra room if I was ever in a bad situation. It was a little creepy but I could tell he meant well. Finn, who claimed he was 24 but I thought he looked more like he was 28, was the one who talked to me the most and tried to get my attention every time he played or sang something. He tried playing songs that I knew, or very traditional Irish songs so I could hear what they sounded like. He sang Green Day, Oasis, The Pogues, and even some originals. He said that his favorite subject when he was in school was also English. At one point we were tell jokes and he said, “Knock, knock” and I said, “Who’s there?” and he said, “Will you go out with me?” and I, not knowing what else to do, said, “Will you go out with me who?” and he said, “You” and I said, “That’s not a very funny knock knock joke” and let it drop. Around five o’clock my friend Emily joined us. Luciello was being a bit over the top by this point and singing loud and obnoxious songs. But it was still fun. We found out that Finn had a four-year-old son. First time I’ve ever been asked out by a guy with a child. Around 5:30 the group of guys left to go to a party, to which Emily and I politely declined. It was so much fun sitting with them and getting a real Irish experience, but I felt that going anywhere with them would be a bad idea. I will still remember that great afternoon for the rest of my life, and I also got a sunburn from it.