Let me start this post by stating that RyanAir has a lawsuit coming its way. I've never had so much trouble traveling in my whole life, and I've been on a train in Myanmar that had mice and giant cockroaches crawling all over the floor. I attempted to print out my boarding pass in the morning, and for some reason it would only print off my return flight. When I tried to call in, there was no one available to talk with me. So I went in to my last day of work, unable to deal with the situation anymore. My last day was pretty uneventful. My boss wrote me a very nice letter of recommendation and then gave me a bunch of presents including an owl necklace, rings, a red high-heel charm, and Kate Moss perfume. She also wrapped my presents in an article I had written, which was really sweet.
When I returned home, with less than an hour before I had to leave, that's when I started to panic. The system was still not working. So I had to print off my confirmation number and rush out the door to the Victoria station where we took the Gatwick Express to the worst airport in the world. Once we arrived Elizabeth and I were informed that since we didn't have a printed boarding pass we would have to pay 40 pounds...which is what our roundtrip flight cost. So basically, we were charged double our plane ticket to use the boarding pass.
When we finally bought this new boarding pass we had to check-in. I'm going to go ahead and give this guy the benefit of the doubt and say it was his first day because homeboy could not type. As I watched this man spend about ten minutes to type my first name into the computer, I started to melt down. Finally after he checked both of us in, we booked it to security. Both of us only had our backpacks because RyanAir is psycho about luggage. Of course, they decided to search my bag. I was forced to empty out every single item. The hilarity of the situation and the fact that I WOULD be the person to get searched, kicked in and we just lost it. I laughed for a bit, and when I couldn't take that anymore, I began to cry. Finally, after confiscating my highly dangerous water bottle, I turned to find Elizabeth. She had been chosen for a random passport inspection and immigration check. Basically, we hit the jackpot of unnecessary searches.
We finally ran to the gate and made it just in time. The plane ride was uneventful, though we did decide to throw our trash on the ground like the rebels we are in defiance of RyanAir. After a short flight we arrived in Dublin and took a bus to our hostel. We stayed at Jacobs Inn Hostel, and the room was actually really nice. It felt like a hotel that had been converted into a hostel.
We then went out to O'Doyle's pub. The song "Mr. Brightside" came on and forever became the song of the trip. We all decided to sing it really loudly, but no one else in the pub joined in....their loss. Then we discovered something that changed some lives and altered the course of events for the rest of the trip. Butterscotch schnapps that tasted exactly like cake. This was the first shot I'd ever taken. I only took two, but others didn't quite use the same method.
So the next morning, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, we set out for a free "three-hour tour" (sing in Gulligan's Island voice). Our tour guide's name was Fiona and she was kind of like an Irish Student Ambassador. This was not exactly a positive. So instead of paying full attention, Elizabeth, SBP, Ingrid, and I sang songs from Les Mis. If we had started at the beginning of the tour, I could have gone through the entire show. I also purchased a 2 liter bottle of Coke Zero and proceeded to drink the whole thing.
The problem with this walking tour lay less with the fact that she was super "city-spirited" and more with the fact that Dublin's not a very interesting city. I don't know how to phrase this properly, but it's just not as Irish as I thought it would be. For example, Edinburgh was EXACTLY what I imagined. There were bagpipes, kilts, and clans. But Dublin was just a dirty old city with ugly architecture. I was surprised to see how expensive the alcohol was after hearing about the Irish being big drinkers. Everything was very pricey.
After the walking tour, I went out in search of a Barclays or BNP Bank. I spent over an hour walking across the entire city only to fail. Tired and frustrated I returned home and got pizza.
The entire group then went out on a pub crawl that our morning tour guide had recommended. The first three pubs were boring, and I didn't drink. The last two were really cool though. One had live music and movie and music posters all over the wall. The last one had live IRISH music playing. We convinced them to play a reel, and Elizabeth FINALLY graced us with her Irish dance. We all loved it, but she was disappointed with her performance. Sean Kelly was having a really good time, as it was his big night out. Being in Ireland made his hair redder and his smile wider.
FINALLY we went to the "club." I'm not a big drinker, but I AM a big dancer. I haven't gotten the chance to bust a move in quite a while, so let me just say that things got a little crazy. After a few intense songs, we headed home. Unfortunately, Sean was the only one. We had accidentally left him and halfway home received a text from Sean saying: I don't know what is up. I am the only one. So we headed back, saved Sean, and bought candy and bananas for our sore joints. Even though we saved Sean, he decided to walk on the opposite side of the street from us. Then he tried to bargain with the pizza men from our store to get them to lower the price. Then he found 10 pounds on the street. It really was Sean Kelly's big night out. You go Sean Kelly.
The next morning, Elizabeth, Ingrid, SBP, and I went to the Guiness Factory. I tried my first Guiness and as you can see, was not a big fan. The view from the top was really nice though. It looked out all over Dublin.
We were running very late so we split a cab back to our hostel across town. We met up with the rest of the group and then took a train to the coast of Bray (the beach in Atonement). The water was a tad chilly, but for some reason, I insisted on taking pictures standing in it. This was a practice that Elizabeth didn't enjoy.
Then the smartest guy at the table, Dylan, decided it would be a great idea to hike up a mountain. What he didn't consider was the fact that I was wearing a white dress and flip flops. Regardless, I climbed that mountain and made it to the cross at the top. Dylan was right, the view was beautiful.
After spending some time up there, I daintily climbed back down and my dress didn't have a single spot on it. We had some Beef and Porter House Pie followed by ice-cream. We ran into a mascot of a cow...mascots being my number one phobia. I was startled by it, and then proceeded to cry while every member of our group laughed at me.
After this humiliating incident we headed back to Dublin in the hopes of seeing some Irish dance at the Arlington Hotel. I had some Bailey's Irish Cream in honor of being in Ireland and then sat back to try and enjoy it. Unfortunately, even Dublin's dancers aren't very good. Basically the city was a big let down, but we had a great time just being together.
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