Dublin and the Last of London

Again, let me apologize for how behind I am on this! Okay, so my 7th week is complete in London, and I am currently sitting in a hotel room in Paris, France. I am going to catch you up on my long weekend I had in Dublin from the 8th-11th. It was such a great time! I'm in love with Ireland!

So I'm going to do this by day so that it's less confusing.

Wednesday the 7th
Okay, so this was before our trip to Dublin, but I have to write about it. Wednesday night, we went to see Matilda the Musical, and it was beyond fabulous!! It was over the top, but in a great way. Unbelievably talented children who danced, sang and acted better than any adult I've ever seen in a big show. Also, the set was super colorful, with large block letters as the decoration. The whole time I was smiling or laughing, and just absorbing every moment of it. The lights were also great, at one point the whole place looked like a disco ball, and then at the end, there were laser beams that covered the stage and the audience and was just soo cool! I really think Wicked and this are tied as my favorites ever. And at the end, we got to give them a standing ovation! I know that must seem like a strange thing to say, but in England, standing ovations aren't a thing that happens. Even if the show is great, no one stands! It's very frustrating because I want to show the actors how well they did. But at this one everyone stood and screamed and it was perfect! Best way to end my London theatre experience. We got back from the show at about 10:30, which will explain why we didn't want to wake up at 3:30 am the next morning, haha.

Thursday the 8th

Left the flat at 4:30 am by taxi to catch a bus from the Victoria Coach station to the Stansted Airport. Landed in Dublin at about 9:40, waited in the airport for the other girls to arrive. Total there were 6 of us girls from the London group, but we didn't book our flights at the same time. When everyone was together, we took a bus to the city center where we walked to our hostel, Jacob's Inn. The hostel was actually really nice, reception was helpful, there was breakfast included, and there was a safe you could rent to put electronics or passports in. There was also a self serving kitchen, so you could cook or store food in the fridge as long as it was labeled.

So after we settled into the hostel, we went in search for food, which helped improve the zombie state I was in prior to it. Then, we wandered around Dublin, which is very easy to get around. It's a pretty small city, especially in comparison to London, and seemed cozier somehow. That night we ate dinner in the hostel with groceries we had bought, and then hung out in our room for a bit. There were two girls in our room that we met, one woman named Laura, who was 30, and one Irish girl our age, named Grania (guessing on the spelling). It was fun talking to them. Grania was there with her friends, who all came into our room and talked for a while. I loved their accents! They told us about the culture a bit, and we discussed accents for a while, which was funny. At one point, their group of friends was all talking amongst themselves, and my group was talking and I just observed. Different backgrounds, but when together, a bunch of chatty 20/21 year old girls!

That night we went out for drinks at a pub down the street, called O'Sheas. I took one sip of a Guinness just so I could say I did, but didn't like it at all. Sorry for any beer lovers reading this, I'm sure it is great, but I just don't like it. I also tried Jameson whiskey, nope. We left kind of early that night because the level of exhaustion was ridiculous. As I was going to bed, I figured out that I had been up for 20 hours that day.

Friday the 9th

We woke up, ate breakfast and went on a free walking tour of Dublin offered by the hostel. Our tour guide was named Amanda, and she was so much fun. Super animated and friendly, also very honest. She told us the history of the places we went, but also about the culture and the differences between the U.S and Ireland. She had spent a summer in America through a program so she could compare them fairly. She mostly discussed the way Irish people kept their feelings pent up. It was interesting. She is currently finishing up her masters in Psychology, so she also talked about how behind Ireland is for mental health services, but that they are trying to catch up now. Our tour was supposed to take about 2 hours, but actually went from 10:30 to 2:15, so much longer. But it was worth it, and a great way to see the whole city. Plus, you can't beat free!

After our tour, Rachel went to see the Guiness Storehouse, while the rest of us decided to go wander some more. We walked through St. Steven's Park, then went to this indoor shopping mall that housed the biggest indoor clock, haha. After that we went back to the Dublin Castle, and then to St. Patrick's park. At St. Patrick's, there was a playground and we all regressed a little. After that, we sat in the park and talked for a while, waiting for Rachel. But, it turns out, one of the cell phones didn't have minutes left, so Rachel couldn't get ahold of us. We ended up finding a payphone to call her, and she had gone back to the hostel.

After we were all together again, Rachel, Jenna and I went to get 3 Euro pizza down the street and then came back to make a plan for the night. We went out again that night, but to a bigger pub called O'Neills. This place was so big, two stories and packed with people. We found a place to sit, miraculously. Rachel wasn't feeling well so I stayed downstairs with her, while most of the others went upstairs. That night, one of our new roommates, Anna came with us. She was this adorable Brazilian girl who was so nice. She was very decent at English, but kept apologizing for it all night. She had fun that night with us so that was good. Both her, Jenna and Kelsey had Strawberry beer that night, which was good! It tasted like a jolly rancher, haha.

We left O'Neills after about an hour because a huge group from a pub crawl came in and took up all the existing space. We wandered around the area called Temple Bar to find another place. It was Friday night, so I expected it to be busy, but goodness, there was a lot of people! The group went into one bar, and I followed, but after pushing through way too many people, decided I didn't want to do that, and went back outside. There I found Lizzie and Rachel, and we started back to the hostel. Jenna and Alyssa joined us.

Saturday the 10th

We woke up semi-early to start our adventure that day. We departed from a hotel in town at 10 am on a bus tour called the Wild Wicklow Tours. The tour was an all day event, from 10-5. Our bus driver's name was Steven, and he was funny as well. Very sarcastic, making fun of everyone, but knowledgeable, so that was good. We made a lot of stops on our way to Glendalough, which is where we stopped for lunch and to walk around a monastery in the woods. One picture stop was by the water, which was beautiful, and a couple were in the Wicklow National Park. The Wicklow National Park is the park that is in P.S I Love You, and Steven recited the scene that it was in. I loved it!! After that, we stopped to see a waterfall, which was breathtaking, with the Irish hills in the background. I was motion-sick by this point, but the tour was worth that hour or so of illness.

Our stop in Glendalough helped me feel better. Rachel and I ate at a pub there, I got vegetable soup that was really good, and she ordered a turkey dinner from the buffet. The food was great. After that, we drove a little further to a monastery and tower that was hidden in the woods. We had an hour and a half to venture around the area, and I took soo many pictures. Ireland is beyond beautiful, it's unreal at certain points. Even with my fairly decent camera, I couldn't capture the nature. We took a walkway to the lower and upper lakes, and then the green road back to the monastery.

This great town was our last stop on the tour, but I loved it. When we got back to Dublin, Rachel, Jenna and I went down the road to a pub for fish and chips. I think it may have been the best fish and chips I've had on this trip, plus it was great to sit and listen to the Irish accents everywhere. It never got old.

That night we stayed in, having to get up at 3:30 the next morning to head to the airport. We wandered around the hostel, and decided to sit in a lounge that was on our floor. It had couches, a pool table and a television. We were sitting there for a bit when company joined us. These two women walked in, carrying a bottle of wine, with no glasses. They sat down and acknowledged the fact that they were drinking their wine "classily". It was funny. And just as they were apologizing about that to us, a guy walked in with three glasses for them. These three were friends, the women named Katie and Martina and the guy named Gavin. Katie is from the U.S, Chicago, and the other two were Irish. We sat and talked to them for about an hour and then a game of pool was started with Kelsey, Charlotte, Lizzie and Gavin. It was fun to just hang out and talk to our "new friends".

Sadly, we couldn't stay long, we had to go to bed in order to wake up so incredibly early.

Sunday the 11th

Safe flight back to London, got back to our flat at about 10, went grocery shopping, and returned all before 12. Felt weird to be that productive on a Sunday. Then on to paper writing, both our finals were due the next Friday. Nothing else too exciting happened that day.

7th Week

In all honesty, not too much excitement occured during the last week in London. A lot of time was spent researching and writing papers, as well as figuring out shipping a box home and packing. For our last two Andrew classes, we went to Tate Britain to see an exhibit on Monday, and then to the Canary Wharf on Tuesday, it is the financial district in London. A lot of modern and postmodern buildings because that was the topic of the week. For Natania's class, we talked about Mrs. Dalloway and wrapped everything up. Our last night in London, Friday, we had an ACM dinner at a wine bar down the street, called the Troubador. It was a lot of fun! We got free food, which is always a good thing, as well as good conversations. At one point, music was started and everyone danced, including Andrew and Natania (our professors), Neil (Natania's husband), and Fabio (our building manager). It was super funny! After that mini dance party, Andrew even sang us some songs, in Spanish and English! He was actually a pretty good singer. As we were leaving, I hugged Natania and she said to keep in touch, so I told her I would send her postcards from Florence. I really enjoyed meeting her and her husband, Neil, they are just really kind and fun. I also shook Andrew's hand and thanked him. I will miss them all. So that was basically the end of our time in London, England. I know I will go back one day, it was a good city to live in for a while.