This past weekend, I had the opportunity to go to Dublin! I was there from Thursday night until Saturday night, and well? Let’s just get right into it.
After a long day of classes on Thursday, I headed out to the airport with Riley and Maggie. All was going well, except the airport was basically out of dinner food and we almost didn’t get to board our flight because we didn’t know we had to have a visa-check prior to going through security for Ryan Air. BUT, we were let on our flight, and off we went!
Surprisingly, Ryan Air wasn’t a terrible airline. We got to Dublin within an hour (15 minutes early!) and the airplane was simple and clean–not dirty and crowded, as I would’ve expected for how cheap our tickets were.
After going through customs in Ireland and being yelled at by airport bus-service employees for trying to cross the street in front of a bus, we made it to our correct airlink and headed to our hostel.
The hostel we stayed in was super nice and quaint. Having never stayed in a hostel before, I was a bit worried about having to share a 6-person room with three random strangers. But it wasn’t so bad. And after I realized that Ireland uses the same charger as the UK, which I’d left at home in Edinburgh, I had the best night’s sleep since I got to Scotland! Welp, the best sleep you can have after realizing you’re not going to be able to charge your phone while in Ireland. But, oh my! That bed!
The bed was way more comfortable than mine in Robertsons Close, and sleeping on a top bunk was pretty fun too (aside from having to make the bed…) I would show you a picture of the room, but the lights were actually never on until we were leaving the second morning. Someone was always sleeping in the room, since we got in late and woke up early the days we were there.
That first morning, we woke up long before sunrise, and headed out to go on a darling bus-tour of Ireland. Our trip was nearly 13 hours (starting at 7:30am), and it was exhausting. But boy, was it worth it! We took a Wild Rovers Bus Tour, and we got to see the Cliffs of Moher, The Burren, and Galway!
We had a bit under two hours to walk around the cliffs, and it was all worth it. Right when we got there, Riley and I realized we were both internet trolls. Essentially, I brought up how I was a tool and had already crafted my instagram caption for the trip–a pun on a Britney Spears classic song “Gimme Gimme More,” since “Moher” sounds just like “More.” Riley immediately let it slip that she too was planning on using the same song as her instagram caption. We are both tools–preplanning our instagram captions. But, hey! At least we separately made this connection, and didn’t both purposely plan to use it on our followers! I guess we just both realized we didn’t want to give the basic captions everyone else had given on their posts of the cliffs, and we non-ironically came up with the same exact stupid pun. So, that was fun!
Our next stop was Burren (I think that’s what it’s called.) It was a field of limestone, and its as basically an adult playground. Walking around it was so scary and, yet, so fun!
After that, we went to Galway! It was pretty cool, but it was so cold that I apparently forgot to take any pictures of the adorable little town. (I also had fish and chips there and hated it. It was my second time ever trying fish and chips in the UK, and it still wasn’t good. Lesson learned, I guess.) I considered buying Claddagh ring (the ring with the heart, hands, and crown), because they’re so cheap there–that area is where the idea was created! But then I remembered that I don’t wear rings, so I wouldn’t be saving myself a ton of money buying one there rather than the US, since I would never even buy one in the US. But, if you do want to buy yourself a nice Claddagh ring, and you find yourself on an all-expense paid trip to Galway, I recommend going behind the Lynch castle-area to buy it, there is a really cute, small store that sells nice ones for 20 euros!
After Galway, we headed back to Dublin. Our next stop was dinner at a little place called The Chameleon, where we had reservations at 8:45! But first, our friend Maggie had to call a recruiter. It was only 8 when we got back, so we went to Starbucks so she could get on the WiFi. But Starbucks didn’t have WiFi!!! So, we went to another American staple (McDonalds) and snuck upstairs, past security (not kidding), and tried to hack their WiFi. But, to no avail! So, we went to Chameleon and had dinner–and Maggie was able to use their WiFi to reach out to her interviewer. (Writing this, I’m realizing I should probably be looking for a summer job. Someone hire me! SOS.)
We had a really cute dinner at The Chameleon, and they even sat us 20 minutes early. It was great.
After dinner, we went out to a four-story bar in Temple Bar and had a beer. It was much fun. But it was all we could handle, so we went back to the hostel to get ready for the next day (in the dark hostel room.)
The next morning, we got to sleep in (until 8:15!!!) We woke up and headed to get breakfast to fuel up for the day. This was our last day, so we carried our weekend bags with us all over Dublin. And, wow. It was exhausting but made the experience more ~authentic~ because we couldn’t go into any super nice areas, so we had to rough it with the locals (Jokes.)
After breakfast, we headed to Guinness. The Guinness Storehouse is totally worth seeing. It was a bit of a walk to get there, and then around the city afterwards, but it was totally awesome. 6 floors of greatness with a circular glass-roomed bar (possibly revolving, although I didn’t notice) called Gravity Bar at the top!
After this, we went to the Guinness store to buy souvenirs and a woman forced upon me a discount card for all of the merchandise I’d be buying in Dublin (Literally only the one thing at the Guinness Store) and I got overwhelmed and tried to pay in cash so she’d stop, but I was stuck with it. Now I have to register this card so they don’t revoke my discount or something. It was stressful. “No” means “no,” lady.
After that grueling experience, we walked to St. Patricks Cathedral.
After that, we went to see the Book of Kells and the Long Room at Trinity College. These should definitely be on your bucket list of things to see, if you ever find yourself in Dublin!
We weren’t allowed to take pictures in the Book of Kells exhibit, but it was really cool. We learned all about the different scribal traditions, even down to what they used to make the ornate drawings on each line in the book! I’m taking Celtic Civilisation, and the Book of Kells been brought up several times in my class, so I was super amped we got to see it.
We were tired and hungry after walking around all of Dublin, so we grabbed another meal at a place called KC Peaches. Their black-board menu said they served breakfast all day, but when I asked to see the breakfast menu, the woman freaked out and acted as if she’d never heard the word ‘breakfast’ in the English/Gaelic speaking country of Ireland, so I gave up and ordered an avocado/chicken sandwich.
Maggie knew of a great ice cream place a few blocks from where we were, so our last stop was Murphy’s Ice Cream. This was the best ice cream I’ve ever had. That’s all I can say. Go try it.
That was the last stop of our trip, and Riley and I headed back to the airport from there. The trip was short and sweet, but we got so much done. Now, I’m back in the homework grind as I procrastinate paper after paper. Next weekend, I’m off to the Isle of Skye! But in the meantime, I’m stuck in the rainy 40 degree weather of Edinburgh.
(Walking back from the library this evening, it was 42 degrees Fahrenheit. I thought I would die. It’s only October. Send help.)
an idiot aBRONd 