Hello Hello Hello!
So this past week has been FAST. Monday, Juice and Noah left and I worked at my internship from home. Not too much else happened hahah.
Tuesday I went into the office and worked. Pretty much the same stuff. I worked with some excel sheets and reformatting things. I did some research on bloggers. Many of them are travel bloggers so it is fueling the fire for my desire to travel. That night, Julianne and I went and grabbed a drink around the corner with Raquel’s friend Eoin since I didn’t get to see him on Saturday. He’s from Ireland so he was ecstatic to hear I was traveling to Dublin. He sent me a long email with things we should do while in Dublin. He’s such a great guy!
Wednesday, I woke up pretty sick and in a lot of pain because my tooth was still giving me trouble (STILL IS, BY THE WAY). I dragged myself to class and sat through 3 hours of discussing British Pop. It’s safe to say after 3 hours of class, I was pretty happy to get back home and watch some “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” (I just started watching it and I love it. I highly recommend it if you like goofy shows).
Thursday, I had both my sports classes. We were let out of the first one early, so we did a lot of booking of things for our Dublin Trip. I grabbed some lunch and then we headed to Hyde Park with our class to learn how to play cricket! It was so fun and it was great cause Bill came along with our professor. Towards the end when I was playing the field, it was getting a little boring and cold, but I still can’t believe we are getting cricket for playing around in a park in London. It’s CRAZY.
That night, a number of us went to go see the Hunger Games! I was so excited because I love the books! I’m halfway through the second one. It was so good to see how the book was interpreted. Although the movie was really good, I still liked the book much better. As with all books turned movies, a lot of things were left out of the movie or not explained as well so I’m just going to keep my nose buried in the series.
Friday morning, or should I say Thursday night, (3am), Chelsea and I woke up and got ready to head to the airport to head to Dublin! We left at 4:15 and missed the bus that was supposed to take us to the Coach station. While waiting for the next one, we are pretty sure we saw someone trying to rob a bank. The guy kept looking at the camera and fiddling with the ATMs. We were very pleased when the bus came. We then headed to Stanstead, checked in and waited for our flight!
We boarded the plane and I read for a few moments before I passed out. There was a screaming baby a few seats behind us, but it didn’t stop me from sleeping. I was exhausted!
We arrived in Dublin around 10:45, grabbed our bags, went through customs and then boarded a bus to take us to our hotel. Once we got off, we couldn’t find the hotel for the life of us so we finally just jumped in a cab. It turns out we were literally 3 minutes away. So frustrating, but we made it!
We walked in and we were so happy the hotel was so nice. Paul Hoffmann is the MAN. Sergio (our lovely receptionist who we fell slightly in love with) helped us out and gave us a map and pointed out some cool places we should check out.
After we dropped our stuff in the room, we grabbed some lunch at a pub and then headed to the Guinness Storeroom for a tour! We were there for a few hours learning about the history of the brewery, how its made, and even enjoyed a nice pint in the gravity bar. We also did some shopping in the gift shop because there were just too many beer related things that we just couldn’t live without, obviously.
We then dropped our things back off at the hotel and decided to do some shopping on Grafton Street. It was so nice! There were lots of shops and vendors and my favorite, STREET PERFORMERS. London has really made me appreciate the talent of people who just play in the streets and in the tube stations. They’re so incredibly passionate and I love it.
We grabbed some gelato (NOT AS GOOD AS ITALIAN GELATO!) and headed back to the hotel until it was time for dinner. We ended up watching a movie and then decided we were too tired to move. I took a bath in the luxurious tub (while watching some Irish TV cause there is most definitely a TV in the tub) and then passed out.
Saturday morning, we went to the meeting spot for the tour one of receptionists recommended. We were a little nervous that we wouldn’t be able to find it, but after grabbing some coffee (hot chocolate for me), we boarded the bus that would take us to Glendalough, The Dolmen and Kilkenny.
Glendalough was so cool. There were some ruins and an awesome old cemetery. I love cemeteries, old ones at least. They’re so peaceful and relaxing. I love reading the old tombstones and being a big nerd and imaging the lives of the people who were buried there hundreds of years ago. We got some ice cream at the old monastic settlement, got our stickers and then got back on the bus.
We then went and say the Dolmen. It is a portal tomb from the pagans that, similar to Stonehenge, they can’t figure out how it was built or how it was still standing. We snagged some quick pics and then got back on the bus.
We headed to Kilkenny and saw the Castle, grabbed some lunch and did some shopping in the shops. I’m so excited to have things like jewelry and bags from all over Europe. They are definitely things that I will treasure forever and be able to remind me of the amazing time I had living in Europe.
We then headed back to Dublin. Chelsea and I attempted to sleep but for some reason, our tour guide decided this would be a good time to start blaring some traditional Irish pub music as well as tell some pointless stories. He had been great up until this point, but then I just wanted to punch him square in the face.
We headed back to Grafton Street so see some more performers and do some last minute shopping. There are people of all ages doing so many different things. Playing violin, guitar, magic, juggling knives, spray painting. It’s amazing.
We headed back to the hotel, exhausted again, and relaxed for a bit. We were going to go out to dinner, but once again, the gigantic bed in the hotel room was just too tempting and the Irish TV shows such as “The Cube” , “My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding” and “The Voice UK” were just WAY too good. We opted for some room service instead so we can truly live the high life.
We leave tomorrow morning, and I am actually upset about it! I’m so happy that I’m coming back here when my family comes to visit, because I love it. I love the people and the culture and the area and just everything about it. I think if I was not studying in London, Ireland would most definitely be my next choice.
I don’t have my camera chord so I can’t upload pictures at the moment, but I will do that as soon as I get home tomorrow! As well as some pictures from Juice, Noah and Sam’s visit.
Love you all so much and I am FINALLY up to date, if not ahead of my blogging! I’m so happy I’ve kept with it. This is not only for all of you to keep up with my adventures, but I look forward to being a big cheeseball and reminiscing in the years to come.
Xx
Paige
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