Ireland!!!

Ok, so I've decided that I absolutely looooove Ireland and that all of us should move there... sound like a plan? Good!

Alright, let me tell you why I love Ireland! 4 of us left on Friday, May 1st for Dublin. This is the first trip that we've flown on, and it was so nice not to have to be on a train for hours on end! The plane ride was about 2 1/2 hours long, so it wasn't bad at all. We arrived in beautiful Ireland and caught a cab to our hostel. Our cab driver was awesome! He was so nice and told us all these things we would need to know while we were there. Once we got to our hostel we checked in, and found out there was a problem with our reservation. They had reserved 4 beds for Friday, and 4 for Sunday, but only 1 bed for Saturday night. They didn't have any extra beds because it was the Bank Holiday Weekend as well as the Rugby semi-finals. So we had to go find another hostel that was around the corner. We stayed at Paddy's Palace for the first night, then stayed at another hostel called Isaac's the other 2 nights.

After the hostel debacle, we went and grabbed some dinner, then headed out to a pub called Arlington's. It was fun. It was full of middle-aged people that thought they could dance, and it was hilarious watching some of them. After that we went to the Famous Temple Bar for a little bit. After a creepster talked to us, we decided to head back to the hostel because we had to get up early.

Saturday we were up and out of our hostel by 820am. Weird, right? That's daaaaang early for me, but we had a bus to catch! We went on a scenic bus tour of the Irish country, including Wicklow National Park, as well as Glendalough. Everything was absolutely gorgeous and green! We saw a few places where they filmed Braveheart, as well as the exact spot where they filmed P.S. I Love You!! It was awesome! I love Ireland and everything about it! Our bus driver was funny and kept us entertained all day. We had an absolute blast!
We got back to our hostel around 5pm that evening, grabbed some dinner, and headed out to the Temple Bar again. Of course we met some authentic Irish people. I could listen to them talk all day long. Their words are so different! I love it!

Sunday we slept in a little bit, then Kara, Lydz, and I walked by the Christ Church Cathedral and took some pictures. Absolutely huge and beautiful. Then we walked to St. Peter's Cathedral and St. Peter's Square and hung out on the square for a while. Then Lydz and I headed to the Guinness Brewery! We went on the tour, which was actually really cool, and we both learned how to "pour the perfect pint!" Yes, I am now a perfect pint pourer! :) Of course, neither of us like Guinness because it's so heavy, that we each took about 3 sips of our "complimentary" pint, and went on our merry ways. The brewery was huge, and we were walking around there for probably close to 2 hours. There was so much to see. It was cool learning how they make the beer and what they put in it. And did you know that Mr. Guinness signed a 9,000 year lease for the property when he first started his business? He sure had confidence in his company...
After the brewery we got ready and went out to an Authentic Irish restaurant, highly recommended by our cab driver. It was called Gallagher's Boxty House. A boxty is a typical Irish dish. It's like a pancake/crepe made out of potatoes, and they fill it with different things. Mine had this amazing sauce and ham, and it was what I like to call "delicious in my mouth." I was salivating it was so good! haha. After dinner we headed out for Lydz's birthday bonanza! I'll spare you all the details, but let's just say she had an amazing 21st birthday!

Then Sunday we woke up, and had to head to the airport to get back to Murcia :( We were all really sad to leave, because we all loved it so much. I want to go back again someday, and hopefully go to some of the smaller towns. I love Ireland!

Other than Ireland, nothing much is going on. I'm starting to crack down on my schoolwork and am cranking out papers left and right. I have to write two 15-page papers in Spanish in place of taking a final for 2 different classes, so that's occupying a lot of my time. Believe it or not, school will be done here in about a month- my last final is June 16. I've got a lot of work to do between now and then, but I'll be just fine. Don't worry though, I am NOT letting school take over my life! I'm still finding plenty of time to have fun while I'm in Spain! :)

Well, I should stop avoiding these papers. I'll update again soon if something exciting happens!

Oh, I'll be adding my pics to Picassa soon so you can check them out!