Dublin in a day

When Alex and I got to his apartment in Dublin, we looked around a bit and talked to his roommates. His kitchen seems amazing for a European apartment (I know, because I have watched enough House Hunters International to know what a house should look like anywhere in the world. Oh Suzanne Wong, why did they replace you?)

After we got settled and I changed out of my disgusting travel clothes, we went walking to a building where Alex was going to have to meet people the next day. I stepped into a convenience store and picked up my first Pepsi MAX! of the trip. Of course the minute we were out of reach of shelter, it started pouring.

We continued walking up Camden Road (off of which my hostel for the night was located) until we reached Grafton Street. There we saw our friend the living statue


Not really, but there were a lot of them. There were tons of shops and it was very packed with people who were probably tourists. It seemed a lot like the Champs Elysees or Times Square. It was still really cool though, with cobbled streets.

We found Trinity College, where Alex will be studying and went inside the courtyard. The grass looked like it belonged on a golf course. There were tons of signs forbidding people from walking on it too. The buildings there were all very interesting. We also saw a football (not American) match taking place. It all seemed very intense.

After finding our way back to the apartment (pausing for the guys to check out cellphone plans and buy essentials) I crashed on the couch while everyone else went to their beds.

When Alex woke me up, and after I managed to understand where I was, we went to find my hostel and check-in.


Alex carried my bag upstairs and, after finally undoing the lock to my room, we both were confronted by an Eastern European man in his boxer briefs. Ugh. Needless to say, we did not stick around.

All of the other guys who were awake at Alex's apartment joined us for a night out. The guys wanted to eat in a pub, and we tried one called Smyth's, but they told us their kitchen had closed for the night. We walked a bit down Ranelagh Street and found a hamburger restaurant that served burgers that were literally ten inches high. We ordered our burgers (mine was normal with cheese --royale with cheese?-- whereas Alex, ever the diverse carnivore, ordered a lamb burger) and some fries ("chips") for the table. Those fries were the best things ever.

After barely finishing half of my burger, we left to head back to Smyth's. All the guys were excited to order their first Guinness in Ireland (I was there to take silly pictures of them). We walked in and the guys were just about to order when we noticed a sign that said that the bar only serves over 21s. The first country we go to where it is legal for us 20-year-olds to drink and we get shut out. Oh well. (I personally wasn't too upset.)

Right next door there was a very similar pub that did serve, so the boys ordered Guinnesses and we sat down near a television that was playing --what else?-- football.

We decided to go back to the apartment pretty early. I needed to figure out how to get to the airport the next day to head off to Paris, and everyone was still pretty jet lagged.

I left the apartment and said goodbye to everyone there and went to my hostel for a good (ha!) night's sleep.

This was my first hostel experience. I had seen the room in the light and it had looked relatively clean and neat, so I wasn't too worried about it. When I walked into my room that night, it was dark, and people were sleeping so I didn't want to turn the light on. I figured I could find my way to the bathroom and turn on the light in there to find the stuff I needed and that I could then use my cellphone or ipod as a flashlight in order to get into bed. Once I got into the bathroom though, the lightswitch was no where to be found.

I fumbled for my cellphone in my purse, turned it on and prayed that it wouldn't make some obnoxiously loud chiming noise to wake up the 6 sleeping people in the next room. Once it was on I passed it over the wall looking for the switch. Not there. This went on for a good five minutes before I considered that the switch might be outside the door. It was.

Once I got into bed and padlocked all of my stuff to the bed frame, I tried to get some shut-eye, but unfortunately, as with most European places, this place had no air conditioning. Thus, the windows were open. Thus I could hear all of the people yelling outside as they walked home from the pubs. I woke up about every hour on the hour because I was so worried about over sleeping. I had a taxi set up for 8:45 the next morning from Alex's place.

Of course I woke up around 8:20 and panicked because I was running late. I think I must have been the fastest person ever to check out from that place. I almost ran to meet Alex. I picked up my suitcase at his apartment and, after a sad goodbye (during which the cab driver --who was wearing one of those typically plaid Irish caps--stood awkwardly by), I left for the airport and for Paris.