My trip started on a Friday when I met four other girls from my class at the airport. Our class was not meeting to go to Scotland until Sunday but we decided to extend our trip a few days and make an extra stop in Dublin. The tickets were pricey but the second the plane hit the ground I was sure it was all worth it. It was a beautiful flight in and I enjoyed all of my Irish countryside viewing from the plane before landing...I did not get to go to the countryside over the weekend which only gives me a great excuse to go back someday! We had a few adventures through the airport, each one of us getting hit with our own doom! Mine happened when the ATM machine ate my credit card :( It was not so bad thought because I still had my debit card and plenty of Kroners if I needed to exchange them. We got a cab, stuffed our bags in, and struggled to understand what we think we English. We later found accents weren't so thick everywhere, but this cab driver, James, had quite a thick one!
When he pulled up to our hostel I could immediately see it was not a "hostel" like what DIS has spoiled us with. In fact, I think our first reaction when he pulled in front of it was "why did you stop here???" As it turned out it was actually a good hostel with very friendly people and a free pancake breakfast! Because there were 5 of us the only room we could all get in and the room that was cheapest was the 12 bed dorm! AH! That was an experience. I actually did not mind at all at first. But by Sunday it was getting a little smelly, a little strange, and we were ready to get out!
We used our time wisely in Dublin and got a full experience!!! A few of the girls I was with had friends studying in Dublin so it was nice to have them show us around Friday night when we got there. Our hostel was right by the bar from PS I Love You! It had a high entrance fee so we never actually went in, but it was fun to see it!
We also saw some beautiful cathedrals...
The castle...
The Trinity College...
Temple Bar...
We took a fun visit to the Guinness Factory which ended in one of the highest points in Dublin, giving us a beautiful view of the city!
And finally something near and dear to our hearts that's been missing from our lives...
It was interesting being back in an english speaking country. It actually took a couple hours for us to adjust to actually being able to read signs and menus. Sometimes we'd even find ourselves making things more complicated than needed until we remembered that we could actually get around by reading all of the signs. The culture also struck me as a little more American than other European cities I have been in. A large part of this may be due to the english speaking, but I'd also attribute it to the starbucks, subways, TGIFs, and many other US chains that are missing from Copenhagen! The people also may have acted a little more American just in a general attitude and way of carrying themselves. I think this was my first trip completely done on my own! Which was also exciting and a big success...good practice for the long study tour.
After two nights and two days of exploring we said, "See you later, Ireland. Hellooo Glasgow!"
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