Land of leprechauns

I’m back from the land of leprechauns and I have lots of stories to share. First, movies can be deceiving. Ireland was a little different than the rolling green hills and jolly pubs in P.S. I love you. That said, it was quite an experience. We arrived early Friday morning in high spirits after little sleep the night before; we were going off pure adrenaline and excitement. We easily found our hostel and a cheap pizza joint down the street. Our first goal of the trip was to see the Irish countryside, so we went on a bus tour to Malahide Castle, the town of Howth and the north coast. It was picturesque. Arriving back to our rooms, we unpacked a little and freshened up for the night’s activities. The three of us ventured down to Temple Bar, cobblestone streets with a variety of restaurants and pubs. We decided on an Italian restaurant, in Ireland. After dinner, we walked through the streets where there was a variety of live bands and dancing. People were everywhere. There was one man dressed completely in gray, with gray painted skin that looked just like a statue. So of course, I thought it was a statue, until I walked by him and he jumped at me. I screamed and ran as fast as my little legs could take me.

            Temple Bar was fun, but a little creepy, we decided to call it an early night and head back to the hostel. Our room had two twin beds, and three of us. We were relieved to see an empty bed when we returned, we changed into our pjs and Mariann told us her creepy experiences at hostels, relieved that we had our own room. Alexandra and I were hostel virgins, and thought we had it pretty good with our own room and bathroom. In the middle of the story, we heard a rattling on the doorknob and in walks our roommate for the night, a middle-aged, greasy man. We attempt a few awkward exchanges; he tells us that he is from Dublin, which seems a little fishy to us. We all lay down in uncomfortable silence. Finally, he excuses himself for the bathroom, and we all pop up from under the covers and ask each other what in the world are we going to do. We make a collective decision to change rooms, and the girls elect me to speak the receptionist. I make up some story about how we were only supposed to have a woman in the room, the receptionist is a sweet, young girl and she immediately finds us a new room. Later we discover that she is from Mississippi, so of course she understands the high-maintenance southern girl thing. Mariann tells the creepy man in the room that we can’t sleep because of traveling all day and don’t want to keep him up so we must switch rooms (lie # 2). He doesn’t respond. Our new room is cozy and roommate free.

            The next morning we wake to the sound of raindrops on the window. We grab a sugary breakfast of waffles and cappuccinos. Hoods up, we begin our tour of the city in the rain. After thirty minutes of this, we give up and sign ourselves up for another bus tour, this one of the city of Dublin. Finding ourselves cozy seats in the back, we are able to see all of Dublin’s treasures in the dryness of a bus and hop off at any of the stops we choose. This made out for a very enjoyable afternoon. After a brief nap, we went to a pub a few doors over for some traditional Irish dancing. However, when we arrived Ireland was playing in a world cup qualifying game (soccer), so the dancing was pushed back to later. I loved watching the game in the midst of the Irish futbol followers, the other girls not so much. We decided to run to the supermarket and grab some chocolate to burn sometime before the dancers performed. Taking a long time to decide what we wanted and then deciding to eat it in our room, I realized that the game had been over for a while and we needed to hurry back. Having the luck of the Irish, by the time we got back the dancing was over. I told the waiter at the pub our story and he told us to follow him. He led us down the stairs to a private party, where we were able to watch the dancers up close. We were amazed at how these girls and guys could leap across the stage and kick their legs in the air like they did. Feeling inspired, we returned upstairs where a DJ was now playing and decided to try out some of the moves on our own. While girls were in high-heels and short dresses, the three of us strutted around in tennis shoes and rain jackets practicing our Irish clog dancing moves to Mama Mia and Journey, until “Single Ladies” came on and Mariann and I performed the entire dance for all of the Irish to see.

            Overall, our trip to Ireland was successful, but very different than what we expected. Told by our professor that the Irish were such nice people, we were surprised when we did not receive any hospitality. The weather wasn’t the best, but we had a great time and have lots of fun memories for the expedition.