Irish for the Weekend

Last Thursday Kathryn, Allie, Erin and I headed out for Dublin, Ireland.
The following were our highs and lows:

Low: RyanAir - It's a budget airline. Poor Allie got charged the equivalent of $100. We were all angry for her.

High: Getting to Dublin safely.

Low: Wandering around Dublin on our first night trying to find somewhere cheap to eat. (Whoever told me that London is the most expensive city in the world... you lied. I don't think you've been to Dublin.)

High: Finding a 1950s American diner to eat at. (Thank you, Dublin, for the best American meal I have had outside the States. Cheeseburgers, fries and an oreo shake = I love Dublin.)

High: Eating at a 1950s American diner in Dublin and looking around at all the red-heads that were in the place. Welcome to Ireland!

Low (but not that low): My first hostel experience. Better than what I thought, but my mom would have had a heart attack if she saw how messy our 12 female room was...

High: A three-hour walking tour of Dublin with a lively tour guide. (He even played on his Irish whistle for us.) We saw the Dublin Castle, Trinity College, Temple Bar... a lot of statues in honor of a lot of really important historical events that I don't remember...

High: The weather was warmer than in London - and no rain. Yes!

Low: GUINNESS BEER! SICK SICK SICK SICK SICK! We went through the Guinness Storehouse, and it was very interesting. We made it to the Tasting Lab, and they gave us a small sample to try. Absolutely disgusting. After this traumatizing event, we made it all the way to the Gravity Bar. We had an awesome view overlooking all of Dublin. Erin and I turned in our tickets to get a complimentary pint of Guinness. (I only did this because I knew my brother Jeremy would think I was boring if I didn't.) Kathryn and Allie got complimentary Diet Cokes. I took one sip, took a picture and then I was done with my pint. Thankfully, we had mentos on hand to ease the harsh aftertaste.

High: History. It's amazing how much there is to learn in such a short amount of time! Three days to learn 12,000 years of history is difficult.

Low: Waking up in the middle of the night because you are sharing a room with 11 other girls from around the world... and they are not quiet.

High: Howth. We woke up on Saturday and took a train to this small village just north of Dublin. Howth is on a small peninsula, and we had a great view of the sea! It was REAL fresh air! (Who knew I would get so excited about that?) We walked out to the lighthouse, and asked a stranger if she could take a picture of the four of us. It turned out that she was from Connecticut and had a son graduate from the journalism school at Iowa State. I have said this over and over... but wowzas! What a small world. We stayed in Howth for most of the afternoon, and it was so much fun to sit on the rocks, dangle our feet and eat jelly sandwiches while looking out on the sea.

High: Valentine's Day. This is an invitation to ice cream at Haagen Dazs. 3 scoops? Yes, please.

Low: The cost of 3 scoops of Haagen Dazs ice cream. (I think I like DQ blizzards better anyways.)

High: Walking around the Temple Bar area - it was full of couples and all the ladies had flowers. (How cute.) There was live music everywhere, and it was a very fun environment to be in on our last night in Dublin.

Low: RyanAir, and the flight back to London.

At the end of the weekend, we were all exhausted, but we learned a lot on our first weekend trip out of London. The lows were never that low, and the highs? They were great. The Irish are such nice people, and Dublin was definitely more relaxed than London. (People were actually wearing sweat pants... Amen to that.)