Ireland.

First and foremost you HAVE to listen (not necessarily watch) to this while reading this post:

And once it's over and you're still reading, you can play this one:

Day One

Okay, so you know those people you see at the airport at check in, with their suitcases open while they're cramming things into every inch of their carryon? And then weighing it multiple times to see how much further they have to go? That was Erin & I this morning. I accidentally paid for a 15 kilogram bag instead of a 20 kilogram. Great. And it weighed 20 on the dot so it would have been perfect, but no. I ended up wearing a sweater, jacket, carrying my sweatshirt, wearing Erin's boots, and almost wore my sweatpants over my jeans (luckily, that didn't happen). Erin was wearing her sweatshirt, jacket and carrying her other jacket. We threw away all of our shampoo & conditioner and stuffed our backpacks to the brim. It was finally the correct weight and we were slowly getting through security and of course they decide to go through all of Erin's stuff. Perrrrfect. Then we were those people sprinting through the airport (because the screen said 'Final Call') with all of our layers on. We were a hot mess. Once we got to the gate, they hadn't even started boarding. Naturally. I think I passed out on the plane. That humming of the plane can put me to sleep almost every time.

We got to Dublin, took the bus into town, found our hostel, left our bags (check-in was at 2) and had our first Irish breakfast down the road. First impressions: not impressed. I don't know what it was we thought we were going to see in Dublin, but we were really let down. We had imagined Ireland as super green, mountainous, stone everywhere- but Dublin was just another city. So what did we do? We hopped on a train to Don Laoghaire (pronounced dun leary. doesn't look like that, I know). In the movie P.S. I Love You they mentioned it and since it was only a 30 minute ride, we decided to check it out. However, once we got there, we found it was a little harbor town with nothing there. Beautiful, but we walked around and then decided to go back to Dublin and not waste our precious time in Ireland. 

Dublin is famous for the Guinness Storehouse. This is where we headed once we got back into the city. It takes you on a step by step self tour through the brewing process. At the end, you are in the Gravity Bar where you have a 360degree view of the city and a complementary pint of Guinness. Personally, I find the stuff disgusting. But the views were awesome, and the tour was pretty interesting!! 

We then walked to St. Patrick's Cathedral and then through the Temple Bar area. There is indeed a National Leprechaun Museum in Dublin, but unfortunatly it was closed :( Sad day. Headed back to the hostel to check-in and we had the nicest room! No bunk beds - actual beds with duvet covers!! I was in heaven! So spacious and so clean. If anyone ever goes to Dublin - stay at The Townhouse/Globetrotters. They're the best. After we unpacked a bit, we went out in search of food. We settled on Subway. Trying to save that moolah. 

At our hostel they had a table with tons of brochures. So we looked at some of them and found a tour that would take us to the west coast and down to see the Cliffs of Moher for only 35Euros! We booked it that night and went to bed early to rest up for our next day's big adventure :)

Day Two

We woke up early, got ready and went to meet our group. We took the coach (nicer bus system) to Galway, which is on the opposite coast line. It took a little over 2 hours! Our tour guide told us later that Ireland is about the size of Maine. Crazy. The drive was so pretty! As soon as we were out of Dublin, it was exactly what we expected to see! So green, hilly, the picturesque stone houses and so so beautiful!! Erin & I kept saying 'This is what I expected.' Once in Galway we switched to our tour bus and started driving to the family's farm (it was a family ran tour company). We drove along the coastline and through some small villages which was all absolutely beautiful!! We got to their farm and were able to see their baby lambs and calf before going on a walk. SO CUTE!

friends :)

Our guide led us up the mountain behind their farm telling us about the history of the area. The area is called the Burren Mountains (burren means 'rocky place' in Gaelic) because these mountains are basically a lot of rock. Well the tops of them at least. It was so neat and humbling to be sitting at the top of the mountain in the sun and looking out at the valley that led to Galway Bay. Beauty. God is good.

It was a great and beautiful hike. Headed back down to the farm and talked to the tour guide's dad- aka his farm. Cutest Irish man in a sweater. I wish I had taken a picture. Then we had homemade apple pie (the momma made it) with real cream - Y.U.M. 

We loaded back into the bus and then drove through a town called Lisdoonvarna which is where a big matchmaking festival takes place every September. So if you're single and wanna be hooked up with an Irish man - go here in September. We stopped in a town called Doolin for lunch which is home of traditional Irish music, although we didn't even hear any. It's right on the coast line where you can see the Aran Islands (which Erin loved) and Galway City across from Galway Bay. 

After lunch we drove to the Cliffs of Moher (pronounced mow-er). This place is unreal. 668 feet straight down. I'm confident when I say it was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. By the way, the weather was absolutely gorgeous! Ireland is rainy and cloudy most of the time, and our tour guide, Michael, kept telling us how lucky we were because days like this don't come around too often. I'm so thankful we were able to see the cliffs when it was sunny! 

Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad;
let the sea resound, and all that is in it;
let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them.
Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy;
they will sing before the Lord.
-Ps.96:11-13

Amazing. Back in the bus, headed towards Galway City. We stopped a few times for photo ops. One of the stops was at a castle built in 1525. It was called Dunguaire (dun means 'fort' and guarie is the person it was built for. so it means Fort of Guaire). Very cool. 

We arrived back in Galway after another pretty scenic drive and had a little over an hour to kill before the coach left for Dublin. We walked around and had tex-mex for dinner. Duh. I really liked Galway! It was a lot smaller and cuter than Dublin and right on the water- always a plus! I tried to stay awake for as long as I could on the bus, but eventually fell asleep. When we got back to Dublin, we were exhausted and went back to the hostel to go to bed! Such a great day!! We felt like we actually saw Ireland, not just another city. And we learned about the history of Ireland which I think is really cool. :) I love that kind of stuff. Oh and when we got back to our hostel, there had been a leak in our room, so we were upgraded to our own private room! Like a hotel room! But going from 8 girls sharing a bathroom to 2 is quite the luxury!! We had nice beds and it was just so great :)

Day Three

If I didn't convince you to stay at the hostel we stayed at, let me tell you about their breakfast. You don't just get cereal and toast here. You get a full Irish breakfast! What does that consist of you ask?? I'll tell you. Cereal, juice, coffee or tea, fruit, toast, baked beans, tomatoes, fried egg, sausage, ham and hash browns!!! FO FREE! So good!!! I love breakfast, so this was the JAM.

For our last day in Dublin/Ireland we wanted to go to the Wicklow Mountains (outside of Dublin) where they filmed some scenes of P.S. I Love You. But we planned it too late, so there were no more buses going out there after 10. A nice lady who worked at our hostel told us about this town called Howth about 30 minutes away that we should visit. So we did. We took the DART (the train) to this quaint little fishing town. We really loved it there! We got coffee in this little market and walked around exploring. In the harbor we actually saw real life seals!! So cool!! They weren't very cute though. 

It was kind of cloudy and cold, but we didn't let it hold us down. There was a hike you could go on around the island (actually a peninsula) or half of it or whatever you wanted to do. We walked for SO LONG! It was a lot bigger than we thought. But the weather cleared up, and it was a beautiful hike! 

We finally got back to town, had lunch, explored the market from that morning, and then it got cold again so we got back on the train to Dublin. We went to a souvenir store and Erin stocked up haha! We went back to our hostel to rest for a bit. We wanted to go to the Temple Bar area which is famous in Dublin. So we grabbed dinner and headed first to a bar called Whelan's. This is more of a local bar and we found out about it because it was also in P.S. I Love You. Can you tell we like that movie? Great place to people watch. We found out it is where upcoming local musicians come to play. Once the door to the stage area opened we went in there and watched some tank wasted people dancing (sad, but funny). Some might be better described as just rocking. Then a lot more people started to dance too. I liked it because it wasn't booty dancing or gross, everyone was just dancing to the music. Like the kind of dancing you do in front of the mirror by yourself. It was cool. But by 12 the musicians hadn't even started setting up, so we decided to go to the Temple Bar to check it out. It was the most packed place ever. Ridiculous, but cool to see. We tried to find a place with traditional music, but no luck :( So we headed back to the hostel and went to bed. 

Day Four

Got up, had another amazing full Irish breakfast (yum.), showered, packed, checked out and took the bus to the airport. 

This trip was so much fun!! I really really enjoyed getting to travel to such different places and get to experience their cultures! Erin & I had so much fun. We laughed basically the whole trip. Minus the times when we were so exhausted and didn't talk at all. Which is good too. It's nice not to have to talk all the time. Good quality. I'm glad we travel so well together! So happy and thankful for this trip!! God is so good!!!

Oh, and PS- MY SISTER IS COMING TODAY!!!!!! I'm so so so so excited!!!! :) :) 

I can not believe I now have less than 2 months until I go home! Where did this semester go?! 49 days and counting...