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  Dublin, Ireland
Monday, October 15, 2007

My what a weekend it has been! My week was pretty boring so I don't really have anything interesting to talk about there. All of my roomates had papers to write so no one really wanted to do much. I just worked a lot and hung out around the house... nothing exciting!

Friday however I left work early and made my way to the airport to head to DUBLIN! I went there by myself but was meeting Valerie, Bridget, Jenna & her BF there. Valerie has a friend from home studying abroad in Dublin so she said I could stay with them there. Traveling is quite a hassel in London because none of the aiports are close to the city. I had to catch a coach that goes to the airport but it took an hour and a half to actually get to the airport! Then I had to wait for the plane and check in and do all that fun stuff and on top of that our plane was late. Thankfully the flight was only under an hour so soon enough I was in Dublin! I got off the plane and headed straight for the bus. The girls I was meeting had told me to take this specific bus to the downtown area and to meet them at a pub called The Porter House at 5

Dublin Airport

. Well since my plane was so late and the bus took FOREVER getting downtown I didn't get down there until about 6:30. I get off the bus and start walking around and of course, I can't find the bar! I headed to a pay phone to try and call Valerie's friend so I could find out where they were. Well after 10 minutes of trying to figure out how to use the pay phone the number I called didn't even work! I started going into shops and asking people if they knew where Porter House was and after the third try someone was finally able to point me in the right direction. I found the bar and walked around about 3 times *it was huge* and couldn't find them anywhere! At this point I was starting to get a little frustrated since it was now 7:30 and I'd been traveling since 12.

The girls had said if anything went wrong to just meet them at Valerie's friends apartment. They had given me the name of the complex and her building/room number. I, however, couldn't find the bus stop again so I ended up just hailing a taxi and trying to find my way there. I eventually got there but, of course!, they had given me the wrong building number. So I had to wander around with this nice girl I met in the laundry room who helped me eventually find the right building. I got into the building by asking some girls through their window what the code was to open the door and headed up to room 55. After lots of knocking and no answering I started to get a bit worried. I had already tried to call them a few times but it kept saying that the number wasn't working

Temple Bar

. So after much wondering around and a newfound sense of panic beginning to build I decided to try the neighbors. Of course she didn't know who lived in that apartment but she did give me some good advice. She suggested I go to the security officer of the complex and see if he had a record of phone numbers for the residents. I tracked the security officer down and thankfully he had the correct phone number for Valerie's friend. I called them and found out they were back at The Porter House but was able to get into her apartment to at least drop all my stuff off. Then I headed out to start my vacation!

We hung out at the bar for a while and then walked around the Temple Bar area. We got to catch a live Irish band playing in one of the pubs which was a nice treat. After eating some late night food we decided to head home and get some rest. Saturday we got up and headed back downtown to see the sights. We went to St. Patrick's Cathedral but unfortunately we weren't able to go in because they were having a graduation ceremony. After that we went to the Jameson Distillery. We did the tour which was actually quite informative and interesting. I know all about the complex process that is making whiskey now! The best part of the tour was the end when you get to go to the bar and have a complimentary glass of Jameson! I was shocked but I actually liked it! Jenna and Bridget and Jenna's boyfriend did a little taste testing thing that was funny. They were threatened with getting kicked out if they didn't choose Jameson as their favorite!

It only seemed natural that after our Jameson tour we would head to the Guinness Storehouse

The Porter House

. It was quite different than the Jameson one. First off it was HUGE and very modern. It was a self-guided tour that had all kinds of interesting things to see. Who would have thought there was so much to learn about Guinness! The building is 7 stories tall and packed with everything there is to know about the famous black brew. The best part about it is the Gravity Bar. The entire 7th floor is a bar with an almost 360 view of Dublin. And free Guinness! What's not to love. I actually chocked down a full Guinness and enjoyed it. I even surprised myself with that one. We stayed up in the bar for a while and just enjoyed the beautiful view of the city. The clouds even parted and the sun came out for us :-)

By then we were all getting pretty tired and grouchy from being on the move all day. We started to hunt for somewhere to eat but everywhere was PACKED because there was a big football game on that everyone was watching in the pubs. We finally found somewhere to sit and enjoyed some tasty pub grub. By the end of dinner we were all exhausted and decided we would just head home and hit the hay. I felt like such a wuss but I just couldn't work up the energy to go out! I do enough of that in London to make up for it I guess! I had to get up early and head to the airport on Sunday so I didn't have much time in the city. I didn't get to see Trinity College which I was bummed about and a couple of other historical places I wanted to see. I would def. want to go out into the countryside if I ever go back to Ireland

My first Irish beer!

. Dublin was really cool and I'm glad I saw it but it reminded me very much of London. Same kind of vibe and same kind of scene. I must say the Irish people though are incredibly friendly and do not seem annoyed by tourists at all! I would like to see more of them but in a different setting. I barely even saw any green land and I was in Ireland!! Very weird.

It was a strange feeling being excited to come "home" when home is London for the time being. I'm glad to be back though. I've gotten so used to being here and everything is so familiar to me now. It looks like it's probably going to be another very chill week here. I have quite a bit of work to do. This weekend we have a seminar thing for our program. There's also a big festival going on in our neighborhood, Bloomsbury, so that should be fun. I'd like to take a day trip on Sunday but I'll have to see what the roomies want to do.

Oh and the last bit of exciting news... I BOOKED MY TRIP TO PARIS THIS WEEK!! I can't even believe it I'm sooooooooooooooooooooooo excited!! Paris is the only place I've wanted to go as badly as London! We are going the weekend of Nov. 10th. We will be there for 3 days/2 nights. This is def. the trip I am looking most forward to!!! :-)

Post your own travel photos for friends and family More Pictures

One of many "Temple Bars"	Yet another pub	The River	Irish Band
St. Patrick's Cathedral	Dancing Queens	St. Patrick's	The park outside of St. Patrick's
The Cathedral	Outside St. Patrick's	Christ Church	The River
Old Jameson Distillery	In the Distillery	The Lucky Mill	Jameson
Giant Vat for Beer!	Outside the famous gates	Hanging out on some Guinness	Aint that the truth!
An almost 100 year old bottle of Guinness	What a beautiful sight!	Gravity Bar	Enjoying my Guinness!
Beautiful.	The Guinness Storehouse Lease	Coolest Bar in Dublin	The Clarence Hotel
Trinity College	The English Channel

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