Over the weekend me and my friends Courtney, Laura and Susie went on a trip to Glendalough, Ireland (a town just south of Dublin) with the Outdoor Pursuits Club (OPC) and the International Society.
On Friday night, between 120 and 140 (mostly International) students filed onto three buses waiting outside our campus. We left around 6:30 then drove, and drove, and drove - stopped at a grocery store (with no public restrooms) so that people could grab some snacks and alcohol for the weekend - then continued to drive until we arrived at our hostel at about 10:30/11 p.m. Our group was so big that we had the whole place to ourselves!! And me and my three girl friends lucked out and got a private room to share between the four of us; bathroom and all!
Exhausted from the bus ride, we decided to call it a night once we got settled. The rest of the group, however, partied until about 3:50 in the morning. At least that's when the hallways got quiet...
The next morning, when we filed in for breakfast I was beyond stoked to see that they had a freshly brewed pot of coffee!! The other food - toast, peanut butter, cereal, and nutella. I poured myself a bowl of cereal, ate with my friends, then we got ready to hike.
The group had the option of going on a hike or going on a bus tour around the city. So sick of buses, and nostalgic for Squaw Peak hikes, it was an easy choice for me. After a little convincing, the three other girls were on board too! I put on my tennis shoes and was immediately in giddy, gym-mode Megan (Kylie, this is a reference for you since you've pointed out how I become weirdly peppy in my sneakers). We packed our lunches - peanut butter, cereal bars, and apples - and were on our way.
When we headed out, we were all a little worried because it didn't stop raining on Friday. But we couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day for a hike! The sun was shining and the grass was so green! I even felt something I didn't think I would experience until I arrived back in Phoenix for the summer -- I was sweating while being outside!
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| Susie, me, Laura, Courtney |
The hike lasted from about 11:30 till 4. We took a ton (too many if you ask me) of breaks so that everyone had the chance to catch up/take in the beautiful scenery. Once we got back to the hostel, we showered and took naps until dinner.
SIDENOTE: Showering in a hostel isn't as easy as it sounds -- even with a private bathroom. The four of us ran back to our room to make sure we'd get some hot water before everyone got back and stole it all. The water, which apparently started off freezing, soon turned scorching hot, didn't have a temperature gauge, and only stayed on for increments of about 10 seconds.
Dinner was a nice effort. A pretty good vegetable soup as the first course, a heap of some sort of ground meat on top of overly cooked soba noodles as the main dish (don't even ask me what was in my veggie option...), and wine for everyone. Not huge fans of the dinners we were just served, Laura and I headed back to the room for something different -- almonds and cereal for me, and a peanut butter sandwich for her. Note the trend in food for the weekend?
That night was the "Valentine's Ball" so we put on dresses and heels, karaoke-ed at the hostel, then went to a pub down the street to dance the night away.
Breakfast made of nutella toast (they were out of peanut butter) was not hitting the spot, so we were thrilled when our group walk around the lake stopped at a place that was serving chicken nuggets and "chips"! Ketchup was an extra 50 cents. Rip off... but so worth it!
Overall, the weekend was a success! (Minus my new aversion to peanut butter sandwiches.) We met a lot of new people who came from literally all over the world. All of my roommates are part of the OPC and five out of the six of us went on the weekend trip, so hopefully we'll all go on more club outings together! When the weather is nice, it is a fabulous way to see the beautiful countryside!
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| My newfound feelings toward peanut butter sandwiches |
:)
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