Saturday, July 21

Saturday, July 21... probably the longest day of my entire life. A group of about 8 of us decided to go to Dublin, Ireland this weekend. We booked a very early flight forgetting about the fact that it meant we would have to find our way to the airport in the middle of the night. I was up all night on Friday finishing homework so that I could go to Dublin without any worries. We met up to go to the bus stop at 2 am. We waited there for about an hour when no buses came so someone called the bus company. They told us several different times that a bus was set to arrive in 2 minutes, 5 minutes, etc. but apparently English minutes are longer than American minutes. Time was closing in on us, we were tired, and we getting to wit's end. So we had to call 2 taxis. We paid around 60 pounds total which is about $80, mind you. I was no too happy about this, but we got er done regardless. We made it to Victoria train station around 3:30am and had to catch an express train to Gatwick Airport. Don't worry, the bus incident was the only tragedy for the rest of the trip. We arrived at Gatwick on time and got checked in quickly and easily without any issues. We ate a quick breakfast at McDonalds (which Europeans LOVE) and boarded the train about 6am. Our plane was set to depart at 6:40am and I was so tired that I just passed out instantly on the plane. I woke up to a service announcement from the plane who said that we had waited so long for take off in Olympic traffic that we were under the required amount of fuel needed to make the trip. This wasn't a pleasant note to wake up to and I nearly had a stroke. Of course, with hundreds of lives on the line, they refuled the plane and sent us on our way. I somehow slept through the entire thing. We didn't leave Gatwick until the time we were supposed to land in Dublin-  8am. We ended up in Dublin at 9:40 am. 

Thankfully, there was a bus that came to the airport and picked up us to take up to the city enter. This same bus also had a hop on/hop off service which would take us around the city and we could "hop on and hop off" at any stop that we wanted to. We "hopped on" the bus and found our hostel. We couldn't check in but we did leave our stuff there while we navigated. We got off at nearly every stop from the bus which was about 20. We got to see the big scenes and landmarks in Dublin. The country itself is GORGEOUS and it's quite possible that I loved it even more than I do London! We went to the Guinness Storehouse to see how Guinness was made. I realized why I don't drink beer but I at least gave it a shot.. gross! We stopped at some huge random mall where I got my authentic Irish caladdagh ring! It might not be the prettiest thing ever but it has a lot of meaning... "Love, friendship, and royalty". After the mall, we returned to the hostel around 5:30 to get settled into our room and freshen up. We then left an hour later to go explore the night life. I found a Hard Rock Cafe but it was hardly anything to even look in to. It didn't have any cool memorabilia like London Hard Rock does. But oh well, another one marked off the list. We decided to eat at a cool American place called Thunder Road Cafe. I was probably partial to it because of the Grease reference (Danny Zuko and Kenickie race at Thunder Road...) but the food was great! We all needed a very legal drink from being up all night and stressing over the bus situation. What better to enjoy than a Strawberry Daiquiri?! Yum!

 

 Hostel

A small taste of the inside of our hostel... 12 beds total.

Guinness

 

We then aimlessly walked around Dublin to scope out some pubs and Irish nightlife. We vowed to have a drink at each up that we went to... so of course we couldn't handle many pubs and still be in our right minds. So we settled down at the Temple Bar where there was an amazing live band. I met several Irish people. Most of the Irish men thought I was an Irish lady on the prowl (due to the way I was wearing my caladdagh ring facing out without realizing) and were quickly disappointed. I did meet an awesome gay man names Charlie who taught me an Irish folk dance. Everyone there was so nice and I hardly got the creepy vibe from anyone. There were all kinds of awesome street performers and random acts everywhere. We were all tired and nearing grouchiness, so we returned to the hostel around 11pm to hit the hay. Our large group was split up into 2 but were each in large 12 bed hostels. Everyone in my hostel was from the US (mainly Chicago and us CCSA students) and they all had awesome stories to tell. 3 of them were backpackers who have been all over the world. This put all kinds of ideas into my head! But I crashed completely from the lack of sleep the previous night knowing I had another long day ahead. 

My meaningful Caladdagh ring!