February 4-6 (Dublin, Ireland)

Feb. 4

The ten-day was exhausting! I am shocked by the amount of stuff I saw/did these past 9 nine days. I will start in Dublin and work my way through to Amsterdam (chronologically for those of you who are still trying to figure out my writing strategy).

First time I have seen this in Europe!

We left the Montarina on February 4, taking a bus to the airport at 6 in the morning then flying out of Milan. Apparently getting to the airport two hours early is not expected in Europe… We got to our hostel in Dublin late Saturday afternoon and checked in. The hostel (Ashfield House) was so small we had to take turns bringing our stuff in. Deciding not to spend more time in the hostel than we had to, we left to get a late lunch at a very cool, multi-floor Irish pub. We happened to be in Dublin during a rugby tournament weekend and watched Italy vs. France while eating lunch. Unfortunately, Ireland ended up losing the next day, but we enjoyed watching the games with such rowdy fans!

Ashfield House

After exploring the town of Dublin for a while, we went to meet up with everyone at one group’s apartment. After everyone had caught up (being apart for more than a couple hours brings an astonishing amount of stories), we left for the Temple Bar area (the most popular bar strip in Dublin). We decided to brave the crowds and went in Temple Bar itself (the most popular bar in Dublin). We pushed our way to the front of the crowd, right in front of the band that was playing. This was easily one of my favorite nights yet in Europe. The two-person band was unbelievably talented and played mostly American, recognizable songs that everyone was singing along to.

Temple Bar area

Feb. 5

After enjoying a free breakfast at our hostel, we made our way to the free walking tour (free is a key word for us these days). We happened to run into our tour guide on the way to the meeting spot (which proved to be in a very different direction than we were heading, so I’m glad we ran into him!). We learned a lot about Ireland and Dublin’s history, saw the original structure of the Dublin castle, and learned that the people of Dublin love Obama (mostly because he is not Bush).

Castle

In front of the castle with Kelly and Whit

We took a quick break from our tour to grab lunch (the most amazing Kabob sandwhich I have ever had) then back out in the cold we went. We saw Trinity College, the Trinity library, the Chester Beatty library, the parliament building, and lots and lots of horse-drawn carriages!

Parliament building

Sunday afternoon, we went to tour the Guinness Factory. It was really interesting to learn all about how the beer was made, why it is different than other beers, and we got to try some! Our beer tasting was in the “gravity bar,” which was a bar on top of the factory with huge windows instead of walls that looked out over all of Dublin.

Gravity Bar

After some more exploring of Dublin on our own (shopping, listening to street music and wandering), we went to watch the Super Bowl at one of the only bars that was open on a Sunday night. This was a terrible experience. The waitress clearly did not want to be working and did not like Americans. After searching our purses (still not sure why), making us move tables, and forcing us to buy drinks or leave, we decided the Super Bowl was not worth it and left. During all this commotion, Whitney had left to walk one of our friends home and said she would be back in 15 minutes. An hour later, when everyone was trying to head out, she still wasn’t back. Naturally, I thought the worst and was panicking. A few girls stayed behind with me to wait for her, and during this time, one girl accidentally knocked over the glass she had been drinking out of. The waitress then officially kicked us out, and as we were walking out, Whitney showed up! (The girl she had walked home had gotten really upset over something, so she had been consoling her). Long story short (but not really), this night was not nearly as fun as the first night in Dublin!

Feb. 6

On Monday, Whitney, Kelly and I went to visit Kilmainham Goal (the old jail in Dublin). Getting there was an adventure on its own. We decided to jump on a bus that looked like it was heading out of the city (the jail was just outside the city)… needless to say, this was not our best decision. We soon realized this was not going to take us to the jail, and we hopped off. Two miles later, and lots of stopping to ask for directions, we found the jail. Quick side note- for those of you who know how bad my direction sense is, you will be happy to know that I have gotten much smarter and my direction sense is better than most on this trip. We got a tour of the jail and heard many different stories about prisoners, the history of the jail and facts about the different parts of the jail.

The jail

After some souvenir shopping (I got some Claddagh earrings and a present for you Dad!), we hopped on a bus (the right one!) and headed off to the airport to catch our plane to London. Stay tuned for the rest of the trip! I have to go eat lunch and head off to our new class (7 chapters due by Wednesday already! The class hasn’t even started!).