I took my first trip this weekend to Ireland! It was too difficult for me to blog from my phone so I thought I'd do one big post on the weekend's adventures!
Friday morning at 7AM I took a cab with two of my friends, Rachael and Sara, to the Sevilla Airport. We thought we'd be prepared so we got there 2 hours early. We were definitely over-prepared, and we sat in a cafe for about and hour and a half until we found out what gate we were at! All went well at security, except for having to throw away a juice box that Virginia packed for me! We had a connecting flight which stopped in Madrid with about a 45 minute layover. We were cutting it close. Once we got off the plane we had about 20 minutes to make it to our gate. The little bus that transported us to the other side of the airport was in no rush and we thought we were going to miss our flight. I had to go outside to the bus driver and tell him that we needed to leave now to catch our flight! After a little more dilly-dallying we finally headed over to departures. When we got out of the bus we had about 10 minutes to make it to our gate, and Madrid is a very big and confusing airport. We SPRINTED to our gate, yes sprinted for a solid 7 minutes with our backpacks and while wearing at least 5 layers of coats. We arrived just on time and completely out of breath, but we made it! Then we sat in the plane for around 30 minutes waiting for some other passengers to arrive.. we were a little mad that we sprinted to wait on the plane!
Anyways, we arrived safely in Dublin and were so excited to be back in an English speaking country. I kept talking to people in Spanish because my brain was still in Spanish mode! We met up with two of our other friends from Sevilla, Becca and Tommy, and a friend of ours studying in Dublin, Ali! We all got on the bus from the airport to head back toward Ali's place, but a few of us decided to hop off the bus and into a taxi to head to the Guinness tour. Me, Becca, Sara and Rachael decided to waste no time and head in for the tour! I am not a huge fan of beer but this was a really cool experience! The building is HUGE and in the center is the world's largest pint glass. We learned all about how Guinness is made, did a little taste testing and then headed up to the Gravity Bar on the top floor for an awesome view of Dublin and a free pint of Guinness!
After the tour we headed to our place to stay! We stayed with another one of our friends who is studying abroad in Dublin, Kayta. After dropping off all of our stuff there Kayta showed us around an we went out for dinner together. We went to a super cute place called Bewley's Cafe. I shared with my friend Becca and we had a pesto type pasta and a goat cheese and veggie pizza! It was delicious! We also splurged and got dessert, Baileys Cheesecake, YUM. After dinner we decided to relax for the night because we had an early day ahead of us!
On Saturday, we woke up super early and had a day trip planned to go to the Cliffs of Moher. We took a tour bus there and stopped at a bunch of neat spots along the way! Our bus driver, Bud, was a great time! He played some Irish music, made some jokes and taught us a lot of Ireland! My favorite part of the day was definitely the Cliffs. They were beautiful! However, Bud was not kidding when he said it would be extremely windy! I almost got knocked down a couple of times! The wind was so strong and the waves crashed against the cliffs so high that it seemed like it was raining! It was a really neat experience. We then got back on the bus, stopped for lunch at an Irish cafe, stopped for a few other sites and then headed back! I guess time doesn't matter in Ireland either, because we were supposed to get back at 7 PM but didn't arrive until around 8:30...
It was our friend Ali's birthday and we planned on going out to dinner to celebrate with her, but instead had to stop at a fast food place where I enjoyed a delicious quesadilla. We got back to Kayta's, showered and got ready to go out for the night to celebrate with Ali. It was a ton of fun to be reunited with some AKPsi friends for the night! We got back and hit the hay because we had an early flight to catch this morning! All transportation went smoothly today. We took a flight from Dublin to Madrid, a bus from Madrid to the train station and a train from Madrid to Sevilla. We are learning all types of transportation systems! We got back safely and I was excited to see Virginia again! I just had some cola cao (hot chocolate) with her and we talked about our weekends!
Other notable things from Ireland: It's a rainy city, kinda gloomy around this time of year, but the grass is still very green and it's a beautiful country! I LOVED the accents! I enjoyed talking to our taxi drivers, waiters and everyone because I loved hearing their adorable accent! Cars drive on the other side of the road in Ireland! I honestly didn't realize this until I got into a taxi and sat in what would be the driver's seat in America. On the roads, they tell you to either "look right" or "look left" so you don't look the wrong way and get hit by a car! Everyone was so nice and polite! I really enjoyed talking to everyone I met in Ireland! SLANCHA is an Irish word for cheers!
Sending Smiles from Sevilla (and sent some from Ireland, Slancha!),
Rebecca
Guinness tour! I definitely could not finish that pint of beer! Good thing my friends were able to help me out! This bar was really cool and the view was amazing! I felt pretty classy being up there, not gonna lie!
Dinner with our friend Kayta at a cute Irish Cafe!
The Cliffs of Moher blew us away!
Beautiful Ireland!
Some food shots from the weekend! Veggie Lasagna with lots of potatoes and cabbage at the Irish Cafe we stopped at on our tour. Bailey's cheesecake from Friday nights dinner!
Dublin is known for its beautiful and bright colored doors! I think Kayta said they are colored because way back in the day Britain wanted Ireland to paint all their doors black, and they revolted by painting them bright colors! Also, this is a picture of the helpful reminders of which way to look on the street!
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