Allow me to start at the beginning. Last night, a group on campus called ESN (Erasmus Student Network) planned an event called the Pub Crawl. Basically, everyone went downtown and we went to four different pubs, with the final stop being a night club. I had the evening free, so I figured, why not! I'll totally go!
Unfortunately, I do not have any pictures from this event. So I guess I'll just have to tell you ALL ABOUT IT (as if I wasn't already going to anyway). We began at a pub called BadBob's, which was a pretty decently sized pub right in the middle of TempleBar district, a brick pedestrian street lined up and down with bars, restaurants, cafes, and night clubs. We spent a while at BadBob's, but I was okay with it since the guy doing the LIVE music was really good. He took several American pop songs and acoustic-ized them to work a chill bar atmosphere. This pub was where I had my first ever sip of the one and only Guinness beer. It was not good. But I'm not a beer drinker anyway.
Next stop was a place called Mezz. This was a dinky, hole-in-the-wall kind of bar, but we did end up finding a seat, and many of my friends got a good deal on tequila shots. I didn't have any money for the weekend, so unfortunately I could not buy my own drinks. But we all still agreed we probably would not go back to Mezz.
Our third pub was my favorite, called Turk's Head. The inside of the bar was gorgeous; there was a lot of mosaic tile work and modern metal structures, countered by the Frank Sinatra music that was playing as we walked in. Here, my dear friends all donated a Euro to my cause and bought me a 4 Euro pint of Bulmers, a hard cider. My first "pint" in a legitimate "pub!" And boy, was it delicious.
Our final stop before the night club was a bar called Porterhouse. It had a rustic kind of feel to it, as most of the detailing was wood. It reminded me of a cabin out in the Rocky Mountains somewhere. By this point in the evening, we were all pretty tired, so we did not spend much time at Porterhouse. We left after about ten minutes to go home, but I would go back there; it seemed rather cozy.
My friends and I agreed that the Pub Crawl was a total success, and we are so happy to have off-campus places to go hang out and grab a pint.
After a rather long night, I woke up this morning for another ESN-organized trip. Today, we were headed to Howth. I had just found out about the trip during the Pub Crawl, so I hadn't signed up prior. But luckily for me, there was room on the bus for me. Yay!
This place... I can't even describe it in words. It was simply breathtaking. I was nearly moved to tears more than once just by the sheer beauty of nature in a way that I've never seen it before. I really cannot say anything more, so I will leave it to my pictures to do the talking.
I did so much hard walking on those hills today. I'm estimating a good 6 or 7 miles, including the 40-minute walk to the bus stop from Blackrock and back home. My feet kill, but that's actually where the title for this entry came from.
I was complaining, of course, about how much uphill walking we were doing, and how tired I was. And one of the ESN guys said to me, "I know how you feel. But look at it this way: every step you take is one step closer to the beer. It's a good motto to live by!"
And I agree. Your motivation can be anything, whether it's a good pint of beer, a smaller pant size, a splurge on a night out, or some ravioli and a nap. And every step you take, no matter how hard taking that next step might be, takes you closer to the beer.
OH EM GEE MACARONS.
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