Kiss Me, I'm Oirish; Da Leprechaun Mayd Mey Dou It!

Ahoy Mates!

We have just returned from the Irish capital of the world! And here the story goes...

So after a day of classes, and very last minute packing, Anna, Steph, Anninha, Renata, Marcos, and I hopped into a cab to the Leeds Bradford airport. Our little Leeds international group certainly monopolized the waiting area in the airport. Although our flight was delayed by 45 minutes, thank you Ryanair, we arrived in Dublin just before midnight and cabbed to the Kinley hostel. Though almost everyone passed out immediately, David, Laura and I decided to take a picturesque walk through the city before bed.

We awoke early the next morning, before 8 am, ate a light breakfast downstairs in the hostel, and headed out into the city! Our first day, we didn't really have much of an itinerary. We wandered around through Trinity College, caught Anninha and Marcos on the grass in front of a "do not walk on the playing field" sign, saw the National Museum of Dublin, some historic monuments, a good deal of the city, ate a nice lunch at a local bar, and of course, after a long trek, we made it to the Guinness factory. The tour itself was quite nice, very touristy of course, and we received our complementary pint on top of a tower in the Guinness bar overlooking the panoramic city of Dublin. Needless to say, that was my first and only pint of Guinness. It is a very strong, dark, quality beer, and just not for me! Oh, I almost forgot, we saw Paris Hilton and her mom and dad launch her new perfume in some store. There was a HUGE crowd of people, and Steph managed to get a couple snaps, but wow, celebrity culture is insaaaane! I took a nap before heading out onto the town- we went to the most famous bar in Dublin(unintentionally because it looked so nice), The Temple Bar, which was extremely crowded and met 2 young Irish guys, probably the only young ones in the bar. One was named Sean and I couldn't even begin to pronounce the other one's name, I think it was Gaelic of some sort. Anyways they were very nice guys, worked in the army and were going to take us to another good bar. Unfortunately, it was 2am at that point and no one would let us in. The guys were so nice they offered to walk us back to the hostel- on the way we stopped for a 'toilet (no one understands the term restroom over here) break'. After returning 5 minutes later, the guys had disappeared, so we headed back to the hostel and left the night hanging in an unsolved mystery... hmm...

Now, Sunday in Dublin was a different story. I had decided I did not want to wander aimlessly through Dublin, so Anninha, Marcos, Anna, Steph and I opted for the 12 euro bus pass/guided tour through the city. It was definitely well worth it as we got a nice tour, a little seranading from the bus driver over the speaker, and transportation everywhere! Before getting on the bus, we explored Dublin castle which was near the hostel with David and Laura. We never actually went inside but we had fun taking candid shots in the courtyard! On the bus, after taking our initial tour, we stopped off in the middle of the city where there are monuments everywhere! Additionally, in 2003, someone decided to put a HUGE spike in the middle of the city, which I don't quite understand. Anyways, Steph and I saw the Writer's Museum, which I loved- very informative and helpful considering many of the writers we are studying in my Modern Literature class are Irish. We also managed to stroll through Stephen's Green, which remains my absolute favourite spot in the entire city (and one of Joyce's as well). It had a central garden, a bridge, and a pondful of ducks, and it was just so relaxing and beautiful. I am already nostalgic for it. We also went souveneir shopping, and watched a bit of football/soccer, whichever you prefer, at a local bar. THat's about all we accomplished before our late afternoon nap, other than Steph and I falling asleep on the bus on the way back. NOw we decided to go out EARLY that night, after some guy got really drunk and started fighting with some other guy in our hostel room, so we headed to a reallly nice bar, one of the most famous ones, although I forget the name. We got in even though it was 21 and over, had a drink or two before leaving, but it was an absolutely gorgeous, decked out bar! We met up with the other 15 people in Dublin from Leeds at another, less traditional (and disappointing) bar before we all went our separate ways. It didn't take long before we were utmostly exhausted and went to bed.

Our landing on the plane ride back home was soooo scary, but fun, I must admit, although I don't quite think it was a normal landing! But on my trip, no I did not encounter any leprechauns, and yes, the Irish do like their pubs, and I found them surprisingly easier to understand than British people. Oh, and it seems to rain more in Ireland than England!!!!! And to silence those rumours about whether or not the Irish actually celebrate St. Patty's Day- no, they celebrate St. Patricks FOUR Days... yep! I shall definitely have to go back to Cork, Galway, and Limrick, and St. Stephen's Green another day. Oh, and if you're ever in Cork, don't kiss the Blarney Stone, apparently locals take a whizz on it as if it's a big national prank... not so pretty, I know. It was definitely a very fun experience but ultimately, I think it only left me wanting more!