St. Patrick’s Day… Ireland!!!
This past weekend… Thurs-Sunday (March 15-18) I was in Dublin, Ireland for St Patricks day!!! I have to say that it was on of the BEST experiences of this trip.. and of my life! I had an amazing time, and met so many cool people. I met tons of people from just about every European country, and even people from Southern California! I actually had an amazing “it’s a small world” experience when I first got to Dublin and was waiting for the bus stop. I happened to overhear the people behind me talking about San Diego, and it was a close family friend of my dear friend Emili!!! I had met this friend of hers at her party in September, and we talked forever because he is studying in Barcelona right now. So… What are the chances of running into him at the bus stop in Dublin??? I was shocked for a while about that, and thought it was awesome.
But, we flew into Dublin in the later afternoon of Thursday, and stopped for our first pint of Guinness at the first cool pub we saw. Me and Caitlin had an “irish car bomb” only in Ireland baby!!! We checked into our hotel and then just went to some local bars and pubs. Our hotel actually had a huge bar in it, that turned into this big nightclub at night. It was perfect because we didn’t have to wait in the huge line outside, and got to use the clean bathrooms in our rooms!! Everynight we would end up there, if we didn’t hang out there for the majority. The bartender was so nice, and loved Caitlin ☺ Friday we woke up and had amazing full egg/bacon/bean/toast breakfast made at the hotel, delicious. And then we walked around the streets of Ireland, saw the outside of the Castle and Cathedral, and made our way to the Guinness Factory. Of course, my camera battery dies on the way!
The Guinness tour was awesome also! The line was outrageous, but we met some cool friends that were in line behind us, studying in Barcelona also. Caitlin and I were in the factory for hours, reading and touring, and drinking Guinness. The top of the 6 floor factory had a bar with just one huge window, so the view was the entire town of Dublin. We got a free pint at the top, and this is where we met a ton of people from all over the world. Everyone was so friendly and so interested in talking and meeting new people. It was a nice change from the closed off , rude people of San Sebastian. ☺
Saturday was sooooo fun. St Pattys Day!! Me and Caitlin watched the parade from Dame St.. and there were just thousands of people everywhere. We didn’t have the best view, but to be completely honest the parade wasn’t as crazy, or fun as I imagined. It was a little slow… but still wouldn’t have passed up the experience for anything else! Then we went to Temple Bar, which is an area in Dublin just filled with pubs, shops, and restaurants. We pub hopped all day, and definitely went into “the Temple Bar” which was ridiculously crowded, but fun nonetheless. Tons of awesome people were here too. Well we didn’t have a hotel room for Saturday night, because our flight left so early on Sunday, so we just hung out, ate, talked to people, and then ended up at the hotel we stayed at the nights before to get our luggage and hang out 1 last time! 4am, we were off to the airport, and then returned back to the intense weather of San Sebastian!
The past few days have been like 100-120 km/h winds!! I think that’s around 60-80 mph?? But I am not totally sure. The rain is on and off, sometimes pouring. I hope that it stops very very very soon though! Spring break is less than 2 weeks away! Ahhh I am so excited! Tomorrow is my final for my 2nd class of track 3, which means I am starting advanced Spanish next week! Scarrry but I am excited, because my Spanish keeps getting better and better!
Miss and Love everyone, and thanks for still reading about my adventures, only 2 more months until my amazing Ryan gets here, and that means a little over 3 months and Ill be home to see everyone and tell these stories in person. ☺
Awww…. you’re so freakin lucky!!! Ireland is that one place that I want to go to one day. And to be there for St Patty’s Day… I bet that made for such an awesome experience.
I’m glad you’re having a GREAT time and gettin to see all of Europe=)
KRESTA March 27th, 2007