Day 23: July 1, 2013 Irish Countryside, P.S. I Love You, Braveheart, and Back to London

Today was amazing! We woke up at 8:00, got ready, then packed up all our stuff and headed out. We grabbed breakfast at the corner French bakery which was yummy. We were meeting George our busdriver and our bus in front of the Gresham Hotel. We had to wait for a while so we just chilled, took pictures. An old guy walking down the street decided he wanted to be in our picture so we took one with him as well.

We got on the bus, picked up a few people on the way. He was playing Irish music and would pipe in with cool facts about the city and history. Our first stop was at the beach DunLaoghaire Harbour and shoreline. We got out and took a million pictures, walked and climbed on the rocks, picked seashells, just breathed in the ocean air.

We got back on the bus and drove through Dalkey and Killiney, home to the rich and famous such as Bono and Enya, or Daniel Day Lewis. We then drove a little more and stopped at Avoca Handweavers for a ittle pit stop. We got hot chocolate and Kasee and I shared a chocolate eclair. We tried to use the ATM but it wasn't working. We took pictures of the beautiful flowers everywhere then got back on the bus. 

We drove up through the hills and beautiful countryside. We drove past Braveheart was filmed and saw the village and everything which was way cool. Then we carried on to the bridge from P.S. I Love You where Hilary Swank first meets Gerard and says, "I'm lost" it was so cute! We took a million pictures and everyone else on the tour with us (mostly old people and families) were getting impatient and honked at us haha it was just so amazing! I really hoped Gerard or at least some Irish fellow would walk by but nope... *sigh* 

We drove by this lake where they filmed the Vikings show on the History Channel. It was so beautiful. It's owned by the Guinness family so they are a little loaded. 

We continued down to the a little city where we had lunch at a hotel pub. I had mashed potatoes and some bread which was actually really good. We then drove to Glendalough, a 6th Century Monastic Settlement. It was really cool because they had a big tower surrounded by a graveyard. We listened to George talk about the history and then we walked down past these beautiful lakes, hiked up to this tiny waterfall that was a little anticlimactic, then walked back, got ice cream, and got back on the bus. 

George was doing a whiskey tasting and we were all like uh nope I'm good thanks though! I slept a lot of the way back to Dublin. We got back around 6:00. We met everyone back at the hostel and left for the airport around 7:00. I didn't have any troubles with my bag in security this time! This did however grope me - they claim it was a random search but I claim BS, they just hate me and recognized me. I kept saying that if I had to go through the same ordeal as before, I was going to throw a fit and probably be sent to an Irish prison wearing my leprechaun hat. They didn't post our gate number until 9:00 so we walked around and found something to eat - Burgerking - gross! We went to the gate and chilled for a bit then got on the plane. I sat next to Jess and we chatted the whole time and looked at pictures, the flight went by very fast. We got on the train then the tubes were closed so we got on a night bus. We finally got back to the flat around 3:00. I showered real quick then unpacked and went to bed. I love Ireland! Hope everyone is doing well. Love you! 

Day 24: July 2, 2013 - Late Night and a Lazy Day

We had a very late night last night, I didn't go to sleep until like 3:30. My roommates have class at 9:00, however they didn't wake up until 9:17 haha I woke up at 9:45, brushed my teeth and out some shoes on, then went to class. I was going to talk to my family because the time difference between London and Hawaii is 13 hours so it would've worked out perfectly to talk to them during class but they apparently had a "long" day haha they have no idea what a "long" day is... Just kidding. Kinda. I worked on my blog and journal during class. We had the group meeting which was kind of pointless because we had really nothing to talk about. I went upstairs and read my stuff for Nate's class then started working on my pictures. I went to class. We talked a lot about gender roles. I went upstairs and just chilled, watched more Parent Trap, uploaded my pictures. I went to Waitrose with Shelby, Jess, and Camille. I truly hate lugging all things heavy up those million stairs. I unpacked my groceries and then just chilled. I FaceTimed Aunt Tam for a while which was really fun! It was good to catch up with her. I then went downstairs and did laundry. I needed to do homework but I just didn't want to so I watched more Parent Trap and chatted with people that came down to do laundry. We all hung out in the study room for a while. Sam, Kasee, and I ran upstairs and grabbed something to eat real fast. I tried a cheese ravioli frozen meal which was actually really good, I was satisfied. We are all just hanging out, blogging, facebooking, I'm pretty sure no one is getting any homework done, oh well. Hope everyone is having a great week and my family is getting super tan while I remain pasty... *sigh* love you! Night!

Day 22: June 30, 2013 St. Patrick's, the Ocean, and Pub Crawling!

Today was really fun! We woke up around 9:00, got ready, then met most everyone to go to breakfast. We ended up at McDonald's which is gross but oh well. I got some pancakes, a smoothie, and a chocolate muffin. We then walked across the bridge and went to a touristy shop called Carroll's that was really nice. We decided to come back because we didn't want to carry around our bags. We walked through the city and down to St. Patrick's Cathedral which was really cool.

We got lots of pictures then headed back to the hostel to pick up the boys who had slept in. We stopped at Carroll's on the way and did all of our shopping because we were heading back anyways. I got a leprechaun hat with a beard - oh yes I did! Woot!

We met everyone back at the hostel and then headed to the Writer's Museum.

A few of us didn't want to pay the money so we left to find something to eat. I finally got my first subway sandwich! Yahoo! We walked around trying to find a place for everyone else to eat and ended up at this diner. I just ate my sandwich haha I apparently struggle though because I looked down and mayo had fallen on my camera so I had to clean that up. We then just walked around. We went to this store called Pennies (the Irish version of Primark, I'm pretty positive they are sister stores) and I found some ties to get freaking missionaries off my back. We then decided we wanted to walk to the ocean haha the river leads to the ocean so we just walked along the river. The was a huge, random rain storm that got us all soaked but it was fun. We kept walking but it never took us to the ocean so we just turned around haha

We got back to the hostel, said we were meeting at 6:30 at the pizza place down the street, then my room all fell asleep. I woke up at 6:33 and we hurried downstairs. We couldn't find anyone. We passed Lora and Camille and they told us that everyone was across the river already pub hopping. Sam and I were very annoyed haha but it was just a misunderstanding. We walked around and looked for them for a while. We ended up grabbing some pizza at Papa John's because Cassidy and I were starving then we just headed back to meet up with Shelby and Jess for dessert. We went to Eddie Rocket's for shakes again and when we were walking to our table, we found everyone! Haha it was all just a misunderstanding and I was just glad we found them. I got another chocolate brownie shake and we stayed and talked for a while. We went back to the hostel and tried to book this bus tour that would take us to the countryside, where P.S. I Love You was filmed and Braveheart. The online booking was closed so we called them and the guy was really nice! He said he had exactly six seats left of the bus which was perfect because there were six of us going. We got it all booked. I was nervous about the money, it was €25 but when I talked to my mom, she brought up how I'll probably never have the opportunity again and make the memories so I did it. The guy on the phone said that in case we went out tonight and got drunk and didn't make it, if we could call him that would be great but then he was like but don't do that because you're going to have a great time tomorrow (imagine all of this in an amazing Irish accent) haha so we were all excited about that. A few of us (Sam, Kasee, Brandon, Shelby, Cassidy, and I) decided we were in Ireland and didn't want to waste the night in the hostel so we went pub crawling. The first one we went to, there were security guards checking our IDs. I showed one of them mine and he asked (again in an Irish accent) do you have any drugs on ya? I said no... Then he said well do you want some? Haha I was like um ya no I'm good thanks. Shelby forgot her ID so we weren't going to stay and leave her outside but the security guards were going to let her in but just give her a little grief first. They pushed us all inside then were like you have to give me a kiss on the cheek before we let you in but she showed her her ring and said I'm engaged and they were like ugh ok fine haha we stayed there for a while but we wanted actual Irish traditional music. So we walked around and found a sign saying traditional Irish music... So we went in and the guy was amazing! He played like the longest song on the fiddle and banjo with a lot of improv but it was amazing! There was a guy at the bar completely drunk trying to keep rhythm with the music but was completely failing. We left that bar and went to the famous Temple Bar Pub. The music there was mostly like oldie stuff with a few Mumford and Irish stuff. It was way fun! The guy next to me in the doorway was also very drunk and kept slamming his hand on the door. We just knew that when he wakes up tomorrow morning he is going to be like what the heck happened to my hand?! There was a scary lady that looked like Ursula that was also very drunk that kept tipping her cup and I was very nervous I was going to get her drink spilt on me. We headed to a few other pubs, we ended with one guy playing cotton-eyed joe which made me happy haha it was just so fun being part of the night life. I really wanted to order a water but I knew they probably couldn't hear me and would've given me some weird drink instead so I just didn't haha it was so fun though! I'm very glad we went out and did it.

We got home around 11:30, got ready for bed, then I watched the Parent Trap while falling asleep. I hope everyone has a great day! Good luck to my family who is driving to Vegas. Love you!

Day 21: June 29, 2013 Airport Troubles and Irish Pubs!

Today was alright but ended great. After a hard night not getting enough sleep, I woke up around 10:00 and showered, got ready. I ran down to Starbucks and got a vanilla bean. We met everyone downstairs at 11:30. We got on the tube and went to kings cross station. Then we bought tickets and it actually turned out nice - we thought they were going to be £26 but if we got in groups of 4, we got them for £13! We got on the train and I slept. Then we got to the airport and checked in. Security is what was freaking ridiculous. I forgot about a plastic bag so they had a fit over that. I was wearing my rain boots which they made me take off. After I went through the security, my bag went on the other side and I was like uh what the heck?! Apparently they had to look through it so I had to wait for like 15 minutes for the freaking guy to get to me. Then he pulled out everything of my bag - my toiletries, my pills, my clothes, I'm really surprised he didn't put my underwear on my head, it would've probably be less embarrassing. I was so pissed. Turns out all the fuss was over my Chapstick - apparently they consider that a liquid... Dick!!! Jena and I booked it to the gate, bypassing all this food which sucked because we were starving. Ugh it was just a big ordeal, I've never had a worse experience at an airport before. We got on the plane and I slept the whole time. We got off and got on a bus that took us to our hostel. Our hostel is actually really nice. I am rooming with Jess, Shelby, Sam, Tayler, and Cassidy T and I have the bottom bunk. We got all settled then headed right across the street/alley to this pub. They just had some fun music playing. We ordered dinner - I got this penne pasta which was pretty good. Then a really cute Irish fellow sang with his guitar. Super cute! It was so fun, we just chilled there until like 9:30 and listened to music. We tried a few virgin drinks, Jena got a Shirley temple and the waiters were like uh what's a Shirley temple? Haha we wanted dessert so we went to this little diner called Eddie Rockets - pretty sure he's the brother of Johnny Rockets. I got a chocolate brownie shake which was really good. We stayed there for a few hours just talking and having a good time. We went back to the hostel and got ready for bed. I love Ireland and I haven't even really seen Ireland... Haha just like a corner of the city. But I love it! Night!