"In Ireland they know how to love you"

I LOVED IRELAND!! It was definitely the most fun trip I have taken since being here!

So we woke up super early Friday & headed to Victoria Station to catch the Gatwick Express & then take our flight to Belfast. All went well, the plane ride was super short, esp since I slept through most of it! We got to Belfast & waited to be picked up for our black cab tour. This tour, given by a spectacular tour guide, gives the history about the Catholic-Protestant troubles in Belfast. We were first taken to the Catholic side where we saw many murals made there. We also got a glimpse of the wall which separates the Catholics and Protestants. We also went to Bombay street which was rebuilt after it was destroyed. There is a nice memorial area now there. We then traveled to the Protestant side where we got a better view of the wall, which goes on for a while and is covered in paintings and graffiti. It is quite a sight to see. Very similar to the Berlin Wall. We then saw murals on that side, mostly all within this park square area. The history is so interesting, especially since some of the things happened pretty recently. It was such an interesting eye-opening tour!!!

After the tour, we decided to go to the Crown Pub, suggested by our tour guide for having the best Irish stew. It is also owned by a Catholic-Protestant couple. It was such a cute pub. We got to sit in an enclosed booth they call a snug & the Irish stew was super good! Some of us also had Belfast Ale which was like super strong! After our nice lunch, we headed to the bus station to depart for Dublin!!

After a very nice bus ride, most of which I slept through, we arrived in Dublin!!!! We headed to our hostel & very surprisingly we were upgraded to the hotel next door! score!! I also had a lovely triple room with Katelyn & Kinsey...very nice! After getting situated a bit, we went to the Abbey Theatre to see if we could get tickets for that night's performance of Lay Me Down Softly. They only had three tickets left, so Kinsey, Katelyn & I got them. We then all explored Dublin a bit together, taking pictures of statues & pretty Christmas lights, including a fab Christmas tree which changes colors!! We also stopped by Carrolls, a tourist gift shop which was fab & I purchased my most favorite purchase in Europe- a super sweet redhead dolls with a hat & pigtails who I named Molly O'Mally. She's my fav!! We were then hungry & headed to a nearby pub for some delicious Irish food. & boy was it delicious!! I got a full Irish breakfast, which had things in it that looked and sounded scary but I tried it all & throughly enjoyed my meal. Katelyn, Kinsey & I then headed off to the show.

It was so delightful!! It was a new work by an Irish playwright with Irish actors which was fab! Two of the main male roles were younger guys who were quite good looking, which is always a plus! After the show, we then waited to them to tell them how much we enjoyed the performance & to well talk to them!! They were quite nice, of course talking to us about American politics, but it was fun to talk to them! We didn't succeed in going out for drinks with them though. Oh well..still nice! We went to bed happy having a most fantastic day!!

The next morning we got up fairly early & traveled to Trinity College to see the Book of Kells. Trinity is a really nice place & the Book of Kells is sooo interesting! After visiting the British Library the week before, I see how awesome & cool super old important books are. It was especially interesting learning how they made the book. Afterwards, I was then going to go on an Irish food tour, which I was super excited for, but after waiting forever for it, Kyle, who was with me, called the company and learned they don't run it anymore! Disappointing!!! But we then met up with everyone else & wandered all around Dublin. We went and saw the Dublin Castle, Christchurch Cathedral, St. Patrick's Cathedral, where I frolicked by the fountain & took fun pictures with the plaques of famous writers which they call the Parade of Writers. On the way I made us stop at Queen of Tarts, a super cute pastry shop. I got a delicious chocolate scone! We then headed to St. Stephens Green which is a beautiful park!! There were kids there, who looked about 12, smoking & being hoodlums. They tried to jump in one of our pictures & then I asked they if they wanted pictures. The one was very willing & proudly took a pic with me. Then all his friends came back & the redheaded one walked up to me and said "I'm a ginger." It was so brillant! We then met up with Katelyn, who was off with her friend, at Trinity College and we all headed to the Guinness Factory!

That place is SOOOO much fun!! It was way bigger than I was expecting & we spent hours in there. There was lots of interesting stuff & we had tons of fun taking lots of pictures. We then got to the part where you could pour your own Guinness. They were closing though & the lady was impatient & only let Katelyn in. After she left and we jealously watched Katelyn, Andrew, our new Guinness friend, let all of us pour our own if we wanted. It was super fun, though made me question ever becoming a bartender! haha! He taught us how to make designs in the foam, which I terribly failed at! Still I poured my own & got a sweet certificate! So proud!!

After Guinness we were hoping to make it in time to go on the Literary Pub Crawl we heard about. We grabbed food & made it to the pub, but unfortunately the pub crawl was too full. It actually ended up to be a good thing. On our way back to the hotel, we saw these street performers who were absolutely amazing!! We spent a lot of time watching them and dancing! The fiddler was so talented & cool & we were all in love with beautiful percussionist!! It was so fun! Lots of us got Cds! So glad we saw them!

Back at the hotel we got ready to go out to the pubs. While getting ready, we were quite giddy & hysteria ensued in our room. We had tons of fun before the night even began!!! We finally made it out of the hotel & headed to Doyles pub, which was recommended by Katelyn's friend. At first we just drank by ourselves but desperately tried to meet people. We finally succeeded in getting the attention of one of the many guys who were in the corner. We were then introduced to them all & found out it was one of their birthdays. They were the coolest guys!!! We had lots of fun joining in their birthday celebration for Richard, the birthday boy! They were taking forever to dance though so we all danced together & finally some of the Irish guys joined us. They played some strange music choices, like Ghostbusters, but it was tons of fun!!I love dancing with fun people!!!!! It was such a fantastic night, made better on the walk home where we got yummy food & met another cool Irish guy! The Irish people were just so friendly all weekend! They are always willing to talk to you which is so great!!!!!!!!!

Back at the hotel room, we were quite tired and had a cute cuddle bedtime session! hehe! The next morning we were still pretty tired but we woke up to head to the Writer Museum before we had to leave Dublin!!We got to the museum early and spent some time at a cool memorial fountain/garden next to it. We finally entered the museum which was really interesting. There was lots about Irish playwrights & theatre which I especially found interesting!!! It was a very nice end to our time in Dublin.

We then began our journey of 5 modes of transportation. From our bus ride to Belfast to our bus ride to the airport to our plane back to London from the train back to Victoria Station to the bus ride back to the res hall. During our time at Belfast airport, we played charades which was quite enjoyable. The whole weekend was just tons of fun, no problems or anyways! It was almost too good to be true but we weren't complaining! It was such a fantastic time with some of my greatest friends here!!!!!!!

It was sad that was my last major trip outside of London. Monday was brutal. Katelyn, Ryan & I went to lunch at My Old Dutch & then Katelyn & I were going to work on our scene but wanted to watch a movie & watched Bridget Jones, with Ryan & Kat too!! We finally worked on our scene. I then did some reading to continue to be a bit productive. Tuesday was back to classes, as well as today! But then, after classes, I met up with my mommy, maria, gina, lauren & mrs. cook who are here in London visiting me!!!!! It was SOOO exciting to see them. Tonight we had dinner and I walked them all over, showing them some of the sites. I then made them extra exhausted on top of their jet lag, so I parted with them. I will see them more tomorrow & until Sunday. I am excited to do things with them!! yay!!! I am sure I will then updated on the adventures I do with them!!