St. Patrick's Day: Dublin Edition

I woke up on St. Patrick's Day at about the same time as the sun was rising.  Cullen and I began the 4ish hour bus ride to Dublin at 7:30 a.m. and I was about as antsy as a little kid the night before Christmas. Not only was I about to experience the ultimate St. Patrick's Day, I was about to finally be reunited with two of my close friends and future roommates!

Lea, Taylor and I back together again!

As the bus pulled into the city, I couldn't help but gape at the festive people filling the crowded streets.  People weren't just dressed in green... they were in silly hats, glasses and drinking shirts.

Everybody's Irish on March 17th

The trek to the hotel couldn't have seemed longer.  We booked months in advance and could only find a hotel that was about a 30-minute walk from the downtown area. BUT this was the first hotel I've stayed in since being abroad and it was SO nice to have a room with a view, a TV, a shower/towels and a maid. So, minus my initial anxiousness to arrive, the Ballsbridge Inn ended up being great!

By 1 p.m. I found myself in Hard Rock Cafe, drinking with a group of my guy friends.  I know - you can't really get more commercial than Hard Rock, but believe me, we went to our fair share of local pubs throughout the weekend. Eventually the boys and I ventured out onto O'Connell street to see part of what might be the weirdest parade I've ever seen.  Floats ranged anywhere from a talking tennis shoe to giant polar bears.  There was even a man on stilts, covered in fake bird poop, being followed by a pack of Lion King-esque puppet pigeons.

Dave, Cullen and I at Hard Rock

One of many weirdo floats... 

Taylor and I were reunited by 4 p.m. and began happily wandering the Temple Bar district by seven or so.  That night we discovered a fiddle player who could play 'Hotel California' behind his back, found a group of Chapman study abroad kids, and squeezed our way through crowded pubs. (I'm not kidding when I say squeezed. One pub, I think it was The Dubliner, was so crowded that a nice man actually grabbed me around the waist, rotated 180 degrees, then dropped me off on the other side of him so that I could get by.)  Overall, everyone was extremely friendly and overjoyed to be spending the holiday celebrating with strangers.

Temple Bar district on St. Patty's night

The next morning, Taylor and I met up with Lea around lunchtime.  The three of us didn't stop talking the whole 30-minute walk home!  After dropping Lea's stuff in our room, we ventured back into the city, this time with Cullen, and spent the day eating and shopping.  On Sunday, we moved into a hostel - Lea's first! - that was more centralized.  Lea couldn't have had a better 1st-hostel experience; Abigail's was everything we could have asked for and more.  Clean sheets, a private bathroom for our 10-person dorm, friendly staff, a GIANT common area, and a fabulous view of the River Liffey!

Bunkmates!

That night, we met up with Lindsay, my friend from Chapman, and  Anya, Lea's friend from home for sushi! Yamamori emptied my wallet but was totally worth it. This was the first sushi I have had since arriving in Ireland and it was phenomenal! After dinner, we went to some more pubs in the Temple Bar district where we saw live music, Irish dancing, and I experienced my first Irish Car Bomb.  An Irish Car Bomb is when you drop a shot of Baileys into a pint of Guinness and drink it really fast so that it doesn't curdle. Sounds disgusting but tastes like a vanilla milkshake at the end...

Sushi dinner at Yamamori

Lea and Cullen left for the airport at about the times Taylor and I returned from our nights. Sunday morning was a mellow one. Tay and I sipped coffee from a cute stand by the river, while sitting in the sun.  Later, we explored more of the downtown area of Dublin, toured the Guinness Factory, met back up with Lindsay for some mediocre fish and chips, and ended the night sipping Irish coffees at a trendy underground bar.

Overall, Dublin was quite the successful trip.  It's a beautiful, clean city and I highly recommend spending at least a weekend there :)

Cork, Cullen and Kinsale

It has been forever since I've updated my blog. I forgot what school work felt like and was thrown for a loop when I actually had to write a paper - school in Ireland?!

A lot has happened since I've been MIA from the blog world. I saw my first rugby game, became a certified Irish whiskey taster, kissed the Blarney Stone, had my first visitor, and experienced a real Irish St. Patrick's Day (details coming soon... Dublin deserves a blog post of its own).

My trip to Cork was a quick one. We took the bus in on Friday and spent the day at the Jameson Factory, which my friend Laura dubbed "the adult version of Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory."

The factory was cool but our tour guide was French so she was a little hard to understand.  I was one of 8 people chosen to taste an Irish whiskey, a Scotch whiskey and American whiskey.  I have to admit, whiskey doesn't really mesh with my taste buds, but the Jameson was definitely my favorite!

Later that night, after running through the city of Cork to catch our bus, my friends and I attended a Munster rugby game.  The stadium was lame in comparison to the football stadiums of America. It was small and outside and kind of reminded me of going to a high school football game.  The fans were ridiculous though! Everyone was dressed in the Munster colors, waving fans, and shouting for the team. The fans also have very good sportsmanship and get really quiet every time the players, no matter which team, performed a certain play. I say "certain play" because I know nothing about rugby so I am purposely staying as vague as possible...

Munster Rugby!

On Sunday, we made a trip to Blarney Castle so that we could guarantee a little bit of luck for the rest of our trip! I have to admit, it's a little bit of a tourist trap but I would have been totally bummed if I left Ireland without having kissed the stone.  The castle is in ruins, the stairway is steep and the tightest spiral I've ever experienced, and the garden would make a great background for a horror film.  Once we reached the top of the castle, my friends and I took turns doing a backbend to kiss the stone to ensure luck and the "gift of gab" (otherwise known as eloquent speaking).

The next week, my cousin Katie's friend Cullen came to visit because he studied at University of Limerick when he was in college and decided to use me as his excuse to come back to visit.  He and I spent time in the City Centre and I was able to see it with a fresh perspective -- live traditional music at Dolan's Pub, a health food restaurant around the corner, an old fashioned pub called Tom Collins with dividers inside and a great pint of Guinness.... who knew all of these places existed?? I can't forget to mention the wonderful salmon I had when Cullen took me out to dinner.  People think the US has portion control issues? I had a full fish on my plate!! Don't get me wrong - I tried my hardest to finish what was on my plate since I can't remember the last time I had such an elaborate meal - but I have never seen such a large serving of fish!

Me and Cullen

Since we don't have class till 5 p.m. on Mondays, Courtney and I took the opportunity to go on a day trip with Cullen to Kinsale. Kinsale is rivaling Galway for my favorite place in Ireland.  It is a cute, little harbor town and the home of my dream vacation house.

A majority of the houses are situated up on a hill, reminding me a little bit of Laguna or San Clemente.  The day couldn't have been more perfect for us to visit! The views were amazing, the sun was warm, and the clouds were sparse and fluffy.

We made the trek over to Charles Fort, which is an old star fort that was build in the 1600s.  As Court, Cullen and I ventured around the old army fort, we decided that it would be the perfect grounds for a paintball arena... maybe when we're millionaires.

Me and Courtney

Charles Fort

A Week of "Why Not"

Why not dye your hair green? Why not bungee jump off of a crane? Why not compete in a kissing race or a mankini competition? Why not start drinking at noon even though you went out the night before and have a full day of classes? These are the questions that students at University of Limerick asked themselves last week during the campus-wide event: Charity Week.

Someone bungee jumping off of a crane outside of the UL gym.

University campuses all over Ireland conducted their own versions of "Rag Week" the same week that UL had their Charity Week. University of Limerick got a little too crazy at last year's Rag Week so they had to rebrand the event and up security this year.  Colleges all over the country use this week to raise money for a charity by holding different events for the students to participate in.  Teachers don't expect students to show up because most are too hungover to come or have already started drinking for the day. Or both.  The University of Galway was the problem school this year and had the Garda out to arrest students who were too rowdy. I'm not going to lie, I was a little reserved this week as I had a paper due on Wednesday and had more fun watching the events take place than actually participating in them. We were lucky to have sunny, almost warm weather for the week!  People were out in shorts and dresses, dancing outside on their balconies, and playing ball games in the courtyard.  It almost felt like a campus-wide spring break!

"Shave or Dye"

Fighting Alanagh while I waited for class to start and she waited for the pub to start serving

Bull Riding Outside of Stables