Ireland Adventure, March 18 & 19

I'm separating my weekend into a few different parts because it is so stinkin long. I will definitely understand if no one reads all of this - it was just kinda fun to go back and remember, or at least try to remember. Also, I put all 200 pictures on Snapfish so you should look!

But wow, what a long, exciting, crazy and fun weekend – well I guess extended weekend would be more like it. The next 5 posts are the days I spent in Ireland - I uploaded them backwards so it'd be easier to read. So just read the next 5 posts, more or less, it'll get really boring if you actually read all of them...

Kelly getting on the plane...outside!


It all started Wednesday. We had a test Wednesday but it was a perfect day so I sat outside and studied, or at least people-watched and got some sun. I have to take advantage of any good weather I can get. But then I had to go sit inside and take my test for a couple hours so of course I hurried through that and sat outside on the balcony. After class I went and bought some boots! They’re pretty trendy and now I’m a real European girl…more or less. Then I pretty much just sat around and waited for midnight. Kelly and I took the midnight bus to Barcelona, and last time I took this bus I pretty much slept the whole time but this time I couldn’t. We both stayed up most of the time but they turn off the lights so I couldn’t read or anything. After our halfway stop at a truck stop I could sleep better, but 3 hours of sleep doesn’t really do it. We finally arrived in Barcelona around 7am and headed into the bus station like zombies. With our first encounter with Spanish sarcasm we got some tickets and took a train to the airport. We were about 2 hours too early to check in (our flight didn’t leave until 1030) so we tried to sleep some but every group of chairs outside of the eating area was taken so I got some coffee and Kelly got some breakfast and we waited, Kelly slept (she can fall asleep anywhere anytime) and I read for an hour or so. Then we finally checked in and went to our gate where we first experienced the Irish! I could listen to those accents all day, its just rough when I need to understand it. But our flight was delayed a little bit so we both slept. We woke up and were planning to get on the flight but it got delayed. Then it got delayed again. We slept, ate and waited. We finally left around 1245. Our passports got stamped and I had my first experience walking out to an airplane to board. I loved it and felt like a famous person. It was also funny because Kelly & I were convinced we could bring only a backpack for 5 days and not have to pay to check another bag, so we also decided to wear tons of layers so we’d have enough clothes. We were probably a pretty funny sight – bundled up zombies in the 70 degree Barcelona airport.

Me in front of River Liffey


So Thursday we finally arrived in the Dublin airport around 3pm (Ireland is an hour earlier than Spain). We had to take a bus into the city which took a good 30mins and find our hostel. Our hostel ended up being pretty sketchy and down a dark alley off one of the main streets (O’Connell). But we were so excited to get there it didn’t even matter. We threw our stuff down and went exploring. We got some information from our hostel and the tourist office to figure out what we had to see and do. We walked around with our jaws dropped. Dublin was a completely different world from San Sebastian, or even Spain. We could understand everything (well mostly) and didn’t have to try to translate what we wanted to say. We ended up getting dinner in the Temple Bar area – we discovered right off the bat that Dublin is a very expensive city. We looked around for 30mins – an hour for a decently priced meal and ended up at some little café. Then we went to a couple pubs and heard some real Irish music. It was so fun! I love Irish music with everyone singing along and cheering and since it was Thursday night – and two nights after St. Patrick’s Day – it wasn’t too crowded. But we made it through travel and staying in the sketchy hostel.

Kelly & I in front of the famous Temple Bar