dublin

Okay- so I realize that I am coming home on Wednesday (!!! I cannot believe the semester has gone by so fast!!!) but I am determined to complete my blog before my return home. So here goes, starting with Dublin!

Thursday

Tess, Kelly, Stacey & I take a late flight from Barcelona to Dublin and land around 10pm, along with half of the entire American study abroad crew from throughout Europe. You see, it seems as if we weren’t the only ones with the ingenious plan to visit Ireland the weekend before St. Patty’s Day. So after waiting in the customs line for what seemed like forever, we finally jumped in a cab and were on our way. We got to our hostel after a lovely chat with our cab driver- of all the cities I’ve now been to in Europe, I have found the Dublin cabbies to be the most pleasant and interesting of anywhere else. We ventured out for a little bit, stopping at an authentic Irish Pub or two, but since it was late and we’d had classes that morning, we made a plan for the next day and hit the hay.

Friday

We woke up refreshed on Friday (in our double-bunk hostel bedroom) and after a quick breakfast (it was a really nice hostel) we hit the road. Our first stop was to Trinity College. My first impression of Trinity College was that it was incredible. Though it was cold and windy in the city, the grass and trees on campus were a ridiculously perfect shade of green- so perfect for Ireland of course. Now, the whole time I’m thinking why the heck didn’t I know that I could go to college in Europe?! I pick a nowhere town in Ohio when I could be going to school in the heart of Dublin or the Swiss Alps- what was I thinking?! We then continued to stroll through the city to knock a few more sites off our list. After wandering around by the river and a little shopping we headed back in the direction of our hostel, the Temple Bar District. We wandered around for a little to get a feel for it during the day (and grab some lunch) but we figured that we’d be back when it was a little more festive at night :) Then, in the spirit of St. Patty’s Day, we went to St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Now, the Cathedral was beautiful, but what really impressed me were the park/gardens in the back. Not only was the grass also an immaculate shade of green, but they had every color flower imaginable. We spent quite some time there taking pictures and enjoying all the colors. Then we headed to my favorite “museum” I’ve toured in all of Europe- The Guinness Storehouse & Museum. It was incredible! The entire museum is 7 stories high and not only includes the entire process of making the Guinness, but a “tasting lab”, packing center, marketing & advertising history section, an interactive quiz room, a HUGE giftstore and a gravity bar on the top level (with a complementary glass of Guinness). My favorite part was definitely the marketing and advertising history. It took you through all the different slogans, mascots and commercials that Guinness has EVER had. We spent probably an hour watching old Guinness commercials and laughing at all of the “my goodness, my Guinness” slogans. That night to wrap up our genuine Irish day, we went to a traditional Irish dinner show. We had a DELICIOUS meal of soup or salad, a beef/puff pastry mixture that was amazing and finally some dessert. While we were eating the cutest Irish band played traditional Irish jigs for the crowd (many of which were about the famous Molly Malone, which I will get to later). After the band played (and while we were eating dessert) a group of Irish dancers took the stage. Now don’t get me wrong, they were really good, but I find the whole Irish dance thing to be a bit goofy. After a good half hour forty minutes of Irish dance, another young Irish guy took the stage playing more contemporary songs on his guitar. We stayed and sang along for a bit, but we were wiped out from our long day so we headed back to the hostel which was conveniently next door and passed out.

Saturday

Saturday we woke up bright and early to take a bus tour into the hills outside the city. The Wild Wicklow tour started with a short City tour and then we headed to the coast. We drove through DunLaoghaire Harbour, Dalkey and Killiney, making sure to stop for some quick photo shoots. Our tour guides name was Wild Bill and he was the cutest little old Irish man you will ever meet. He was hilarious and added some spunk to what could have been a long time on a bus. We continued on through the Sally Gap- mountain lakes and boglands- made famous in Braveheart. Wild Bill then told us the story of how PS I Love You was filmed in those hills and he met (and kissed!) Hilary Swank. The wind was SO strong that there were times where I literally was afraid I was going to be blown into the cliffs/lake below me. After taking about a dozen pictures by the lake we boarded the bus once again. We then drove to Glendalough. We started out the stop with a “heart starter” as Wild Bill called it, aka a shot of Jameson Whiskey (made famously in Dublin). He then took us on a tour of a 6^th century settlement/cemetery and a walk up to the Upper Lake. Now it was FREEZING cold outside and none of us were dressed very properly so this led to some crabby, hungry girls by the time we got back to the bus. It was finally lunch time and we stopped at an authentic Irish pub in the hills and enjoyed a delicious traditional Irish meal. After lunch we headed back into the city and hung out in the hostel for awhile before grabbing some dinner and hitting the Temple Bar area. Seeing at is was the Saturday before St. Patty's Day, everyone was dressed up in hilarious green, orange and white costumes. We met up with another group of girls we knew from Barcelona (and MN) and ran into a friend of ours from Miami who is studying abroad in Florence for the semester. Small world. Overall- fun night, though I am not so much a fan of Guinness it was hard to choke down.

Sunday

Because our flight wasn’t until Sunday night, we had a very relaxing day doing what we do best- shopping. We strolled up and down Drafton Street (the main shopping strip in the heart of Dublin). We took pictures with the famous Molly Malone statue at the beginning of the street and sat and people watched for quite some time. After we were all shopped out, we headed back to the hostel, grabbed our luggage and headed for the airport. Our cabbie to the airport was a spunkie, bleach blonde thirty-something Irish women who insisted we were crazy for loving Dublin so much. She was a fan of New York and had a hard time understanding what we liked so much about the city and its people. We told her that she was a prime example- All the people were so incredibly nice and the city is so easy to navigate and figure out that it kind of felt like I knew the place already.

Seville coming soon! Stay tuned! xo Molly