Missed Meeting My Soulmate?

I feel like I missed out on meeting my soul mate on our trip to Berlin.

Luckily, the trip to the airport was far less stressful than the one to Tours and far less obnoxious than the 10 hour wait in the Shannon airport. A friend and I were waiting for our other friends to get through security when we spotted him.

Security had to go through his bag, and that was when I knew. He unzipped his bag, and you wouldn't believe how organized he was. I am talking about everything folded uniformly and perfectly. He literally flipped the stuff out then flipped everything back in. It was amazing. Then I noticed what he was wearing - a hoodie under a leather jacket. Then he did the emo-boy hairflip. The sad thing, I realize, is that I noticed how neat he was first.

Unfortunately my carry on to get home consists of a bag full of glass - 14 Guinness glasses, 2 Jameson glasses, 1 mug. I am bringing a friend's glass home, too, so no, it's not all mine - and a bag with my computer, camera, and a couple books to read on the plane. It won't be nearly as organized. Although, my friend and I decided to wrap all the glass in clothes, so at least the checked bags won't be overflowing with clothing.

"Dreaming of the Hills of Donegal"

Dublin was an excellent introduction to Ireland. My friends and I got to do all the fun touristy (and not-so-touristy) stuff in Dublin.

We walked around Trinity College Dublin, which is where a lot of famous literary men went to school, including Jonathon Swift (Gulliver's Travels and famous excrement poems), Oscar Wilde (The Picture of Dorian Grey), and Samuel Beckett (Waiting for Godot).

We went to the Irish writers museum, which was really interesting. At the time, I was reading James Joyce's The Dubliners  and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Joyce is a very well-known Irish writer - Ulysses, Finnegan's Wake.

We also went to Kilmainham Jail, which is where a lot of the major political prisoners from the 1916 uprising were held (and many were executed here, too). It was interesting to hear more about the history of the Republic of Ireland.

What I am going to miss the most about Dublin, though, is the dark pubs with live Irish music. A couple of my favorite songs that several different bands played are Molly Malone and City of Chicago, which doesn't sound Irish, but it's about the people who immigrated to Chicago during the famine.




My friends and I celebrated my 21st birthday in the only way it should be celebrated - in an Irish fashion, of course. We toured the Guinness storehouse, which was funny because we saw where the water Guinness uses is from just a few days earlier (in Wicklow). Then we toured the Jameson Distillery (and I got to do the whiskey tasting - it's official Jameson is better than Scotch and Jack Daniels).

Dublin was so fun. I really enjoyed this city. And I will have to search for a dark pub with live music in America.

A Beautiful Start to the Emerald Isle

A couple friends and I decided to spend some time in Ireland. Lindsey and I flew out a few days before Mona, and the two of us were spending time in Dublin.

We had literally just checked into our hostel and decided to have lunch by the river. I was eating my sandwich when I hear this splash and look up.

Lindsey was covered in bird crap. Literally everywhere - on the apple she was eating, in her hair, on her coat, on the backpack. We both thought we were going to vomit. So we wiped it up with some tissue and went to McDonald's to wash it out. It was incredibly disturbing, and the smell was atrocious. Needless to say, I did not want that sandwich. I bought McFlurries because it was just that kind of day.

Then, we get back to the hostel and tell the woman at the front desk. She says, oh, you should buy a lottery ticket because that's supposed to be lucky.

We didn't feel very lucky, though. 

Lindsey and I did a day trip to Wicklow, where P.S. I Love You (which is a terrible movie) and Braveheart (which I have never seen) were filmed. 

It was beautiful. Everything was just amazing. And, we saw the river that Guinness gets its water supply from. 

A guy owns a private lake - affectionately nicknamed the Guinness Lake because it looks like a pint of Guinness.

I ♥ Belfast

After the political tour on my third day in Belfast, Lindsey and I decided to get rush tickets to The Sound of Music, which was at the Royal Opera House. We were able to get tickets, and oh, how I love a good musical.

The woman who played Maria had a fantastic voice. All of the children were great, as well. The actor who played Friedrich von Trapp was sick, and the company didn't have time to get an understudy. So the manager told us before it started that the children had rehearsed for a couple of hours, and there was going to be just six children instead of seven. In Tim Gunn's vernacular, It was a Make It Work moment. And they did make it work even though some of the choreography was a little off. Anyway, one of the first lines Captain von Trapp has is something like, "I have seven children who need a nanny." And right after he said that, he paused, looked at the audience, and without breaking character, he said, "No, I don't. I have six children." It was quite funny, and the epitome of the show must go on even after someone says something ridiculous. He made up for that mistake when he sang 'Edelweiss.' Oh my god, his voice was amazing.

Anyway, The Sound of Music was lovely. But a girl sitting behind me apparently thought she was part of the musical. She literally sang along with every song. Honestly, I paid money to hear the paid actors to sing. A couple sitting next to me kept letting out frustrated sighs every time she started.

After The Sound of Music, I had the greatest food Ireland has to offer. Champ. We had baked potatoes and split Champ. I'm glad I didn't discover Champ until my last night; otherwise, I would have eaten it for every meal. Champ is a variation of mashed potatoes mixed with scallions and cheese and other wonderful things.

We went to Fibber Magees again that night. Lindsey and I both got Guinness, which is the only beer I've ever tasted and actually liked - it tastes a lot like coffee, surprisingly. And other than a hammered old man relentlessly hitting on Lindsey until we could move away from the bar, it was fun. A more contemporary band played that night. They played an Irish rock song that sounded really familiar, but I couldn't quite place it. And  of course, they played U2's 'One.'

I can't wait to  go back to Ireland in June and read some James Joyce, eat some Champ, and drink some Guinness. Nothing but fond memories and awesome photos from Belfast. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any post cards because it really isn't a tourist attraction, which was a little sad, but I loved the fact that I got to go there before it becomes a commercial and tourist enterprise. Now I'm looking for another excuse to go back to Belfast in the future and to stay in the same hostel.