feeling kinda IRISH

So, this is WAY overdue. And I'm currently avoiding homework and studying to write this blog post.. procrastinating? What else is new? But I have to tell all you crazy people out there about Ireland because it was AWESOME!! It was our longest trip so far (four days) and it was filled with all kinds of excitement and delicious food and beautiful things. And did I mention that I'm Irish, too? Yep, it's true! I can't remember how much of my family tree is Irish.. I talked to my Mom about it before, but the exact percentage seems to be escaping me. STILL. It's cool. Getting back to my roots, eh?

Thursday 11.8.2012, Flight + Dublin

We scheduled our flight for later on Thursday so that none of us would have to miss any classes.. look at us being all studious, right? Yeah! So we flew out of Charleroi at about 8pm and we were in Dublin (DUBLIN!!!) by about 9:30. "Such a short flight?" you might be thinking to yourself... no. Time change! Crazy. They were an hour behind Belgium, so that means I was only 5 hours ahead of home! Fun fact. 

We made our way to our hostel - which was huge! - and found out that we were staying in a 12-person room, which was both exciting and terrifying. We didn't stay in our hostel for very long because a) we were STARVING, and b) we wanted to find a fun Irish pub! So we ventured out and wandered around and filled up on some tasty fish and chips and enjoyed the Irish nightlife while looking for the perfect pub. Let me tell you something about Ireland: there's live music EVERYWHERE! On the streets, in every pub.. everywhere you turn. I loved it. In fact the pub that we ended up at, Sweeney's, had TWO live bands - one on the first floor, and one on the second. Yes, I was in love. And I got my first real, Irish Guinness! Hooray!

Sweeney's! Live music upstairs & downstairs! Ahhh... music to my ears. Literally.

Cozy corner booth

After a while, we made our way back to our lovely hostel & to bed.. in our 12-person room. Yes, I slept with my money belt on and my backpack and purse under my pillow.. paranoid, what? Don't judge me. 

Friday 11.9.2012, Dublin

We woke up the next morning to a wonderful & free breakfast (yay!) and rain (boo). So we made our way to see Trinity College & The Book of Kells. Well, Trinity College was perfect and beautiful, and almost reminiscent of an American college campus.. nothing like the city-based school I'm at in Leuven. So it was nice to walk around Trinity, and then we headed to see the Book of Kells, which, I learned, is this super old book that was written by monks all these years ago and it's a collection of the four gospels with some really cool artwork on the cover and throughout the text. Yep. The real kicker for me though was the Trinity Library, which we saw directly after the Book of Kells.. man, would I like to do some studying there. 

Trinity!

The Book of Kells! Not my picture.. no photos allowed, of course. 

Also, no photos allowed in the library. But this is mine.. oops?

Next stop, St. Andrew's church...

And big, gorgeous parks! We walked through a couple ones with wonderful fall leaves - my favorite!

We then started to walk toward the "Medieval" area of town, looking for St. Peter's Cathedral & some castle.. well, we never did find that castle. But we saw the Cathedral! Didn't end up going inside because of the steep entry fee, but the outside was nice enough to look at, so it's okay!

Walking along the River Liffey...

...and making our way toward the Guinness Brewery! Yes! We took a self-guided tour through the brewery/museum and ended up at the "Gravity Bar," a bar on the top floor of the building where museum-goers got their complimentary beer & a wonderful breathtaking view of Dublin. Pretty neat, if you ask me. 

I FINALLY learned what hops are! 

Gravity Bar view

Best roommate!

Walking back to our hostel along the river

We left the brewery & walked back to our hostel to chill out for a bit.. which meant a quick nap for me, of course. Then we set out to find some real Irish food for dinner! We stumbled across a happy little pub with a decently priced menu, Irish fare, and the most wonderful entertainer/karaoke singer. Yes.

Irish Lamb Stew!

Afterwards, Claire, Kelsey, and I went to a pub to meet a friend of Claire's who's studying in Dublin for the semester, but we headed back to the hostel fairly early because we had an early wake-up call the next day...

Saturday 11.10.2012, Galway!

Let me just throw this out there.. I love Galway. I know that's super premature since I haven't even told you all the wonderful things about it yet, but I've just got to say it. I love Galway! Don't get me wrong, Dublin was just lovely, but it was a huge city and I'm not so keen on the big cities. It's just not really my thing. Galway is one of the biggest cities in Ireland, but it's still smaller than my hometown of Carmel, so I felt a lot more comfortable. I was quite the fan. 

We took an early bus from Dublin to Galway and ended up getting there by 10am or so. We went straight to our hostel and got checked in by the sweetest woman who called me "lovey!" Yep, I could get used to it there. We dumped our bags and set out to explore the Saturday market - which was fantastic! Food, vendors, and people everywhere! 

It was great to just explore a bit on our own, and the market was located right in the city center so I headed over there on my own just to walk around a bit and enjoy the AMAZING smoked salmon bagel sandwich I had bought for lunch. Oh my word, yum. I must havelooked like I knew what I was doing because I was asked for directions not once, but THREE times. "Sorry, I don't know where I'm going either!"

Frandz in Galway!

AWESOME street performer.. have you ever seen a harpist on the street before?? Me neither.
And it gets better: she was playing Coldplay. Yeah.

I'M A FAH(E)Y! MeeMaw, I hope you see this!!

Our hostel owner had told us that the city has free tours starting every day at noon. Free, we said? Sold! Granted, it was free.. so it wasn't exactly the best tour ever, but it was nice to see the "touristy" parts of the city. 

The Magic River! Seriously. Throw in a coin, make a wish, and they apparently always come true :)

Walking toward the Galway Cathedral!

Yes, the cathedral really did have a mosaic of John F. Kennedy.
Did you know that he was the first Irish Catholic president? The Irish sure did. 

Stunning stained glass.. always my favorite

The four of us in the Galway harbor!

We split from the tour after a little while to continue exploring. Lincoln wanted to see the Galway History Museum, but Kelsey, Claire & I headed toward the coast to try and catch the sunset! Then it was cloudy.. it was still wonderful to see the ocean again!

We quite literally sprinted across fields to try and see the sunset.. thanks a lot, clouds. 

Beautiful coast

Pier + Lighthouse!

Back toward the city center where we did some shopping! I was the tourist that I'm sure you all imagine me to be and I got a traditional, Irish claddagh ring and a beautiful wool sweater. So happy.

By this point, it was dark.. doesn't this street just look so lively & happy?!

We ate a quick, cheap meal at our hostel and ended up going out later on along with a guy from France that we'd met - hooray for new friends! Claire's boyfriend had been in Galway this past summer so he'd given Claire a list of pubs that were his favorite and that we HAD to go to, so it was nice that we had an idea of where we were off to!

Sunday 11.11.2012, Bus Trip - Cliffs of Moher!

We had signed up to take a bus tour that ended up at the Cliffs of Moher, because there was really no other way that we'd be able to see the iconic and majestic Cliffs - they were two hours from our hostel!

Our trusty transportation for the day

Our first stop was really just along this random coast of some random river.. but it was gorgeous. And everything that you'd think Ireland is supposed to look like: green, lush, and wonderful.

I tried to take pictures of the beautiful countryside while we were driving, but the windows of our bus were tinted a bit blue.. so it just looks like we're underwater. Oops. 

Celtic cross

HUGE cows standing far too close...

We finally made it!!! I can't even describe the Cliffs.. the pictures truly don't do them justice. It was amazing to be there in the presence of something so huge.. really, you can't even wrap your mind around how huge they are. 

So they have this really nice pathway that leads around part of the Cliffs, but it ends at a certain point. Then there's this sign.. seems dangerous, right? But there's a little dirt path that leads around this hazard sign where everyone's walking... when in Rome (Ireland), right?

Literally walking along the edge of the cliffs.. and that's a 400 foot drop of the side, there. 

I LIVE ON THE EDGE. 

Just a bit of perspective...

Typical tourist.. hi!

And that was that!! Back on the bus & back to Galway.. where we took another bus back to Dublin. Where we grabbed some late dinner and headed to bed. Actually, it was more of a nap because we were up at 3:30am to catch our 6:40 plane!! Gross. Oh, the extreme measures we take to not miss any classes.. so dedicated.

Everything went according to plan and we were back in Leuven by noon!

SUCH A WONDERFUL SUCCESSFUL TRIP! I really loved Ireland. It really was our one, really long, planned out trip that we had.. and it was so great! No worries.. I'll be back.