A LegenDERRY Weekend--Part III

Now, let's see… Where was I… Ah yes! And so we left the Giant's Causeway (so sad), and were on our way to the Old Bushmill's Whiskey Distillery. Unfortunately, I wasn't allowed to take pictures on the tour… But I do have a few to show!

We took a guided tour around the distillery and saw how and where the whiskey is made. My gosh, this place is HUGE. They have more whiskey in storage than I could believe, plus the hundreds of thousands of litres that were being made while we were there! It was great to see all the different elements of the process, I was impressed for sure. So much so that I bought a bottle to bring home!

Our final stop before heading back to the hostels was the Carrick-A-Rede Rope Bridge, a bridge to a little fishing island that is now a lovely tourist attraction.

It was a long walk down to the bridge, up and down a hundred and eighty-comething steps and a bit of slope. It was positively exhausting, but positively deadly (awesome). I still can't believe I crossed this bridge. As someone who is very freaked out by heights, I thought it would be much worse than it was. However, I did it, confidently and excitedly. I wanted to stay on it longer! I felt very safe and secure, and I had a craic time snapping pictures of my friend while trying to walk across and view the scenery.

When we got back to the hostel after a long day of walking and climbing, we had a Derry pub crawl to look forward to!

Beforehand, though, we decided to go out for Mexican food for my friend Jessica's birthday. It was pretty good, but not as good as Chipotle. We headed to the first pub, where we got a free cocktail comprised of something sweet and red. At the second pub, we got nightclub-style dancing all to ourselves, plus sour apple shots, and the third pub provided me with my first-ever shot of Jäger! I also discovered a DELICIOUS new flavored cider called Kopparberg. I especially enjoyed the peach and mixed berry flavors. We also met a couple of really drunk guys, one of whom looked just like Neil Patrick Harris (all the way to the right in the picture). Very entertaining guys. I even got a bit of a taste of Irish karaoke! Not my best karaoke ever, but hey, it's been a while.

One more installment, friends! Until then :)

A LegenDERRY Weekend--Part I

Last weekend I took a trip with the International Students' Society (ISS) up to Northern Ireland, specifically to the city of Londonderry, or as it is better known, Derry. Northern Ireland is a part of the United Kingdom, so it's technically not part of Ireland at all. There's a good mix of Nationalists (pro-Ireland) and Unionists (pro-England), some more radical than others. But either way, the accent is odd and hard to understand, the roads go over rolling hills, it's freezing cold and very windy, and it is an absolutely gorgeous place to visit.

My trip was over the course of three days, and in those three days we did SO MUCH, if I put it all in one blog post, it would take four hours to read. So I will split it all into a series of LegenDERRY posts (hehe wordplay) and I hope you'll keep coming back to read more!

The first day, we got up bright and early to get to the bus for 8:30am. And we drove. We were partnering with Paddywagon tours, so we had a nice comfy bus and a super cool bus driver who shot interesting facts and stories at us now and then. (I highly recommend Paddywagon Tours if you come to Ireland.) We stopped in a city called Monaghan just below the "border" (there's not much of a formal border) to visit a cute little museum and eat lunch. I had met some girls on the way up, and we decided to get some lunch at a lovely little pub across the street from the museum.

The pub was called O'Hara's, and we were the only ones in there when we went. The manager and the waitress were so kind to us. They gave us two plates of seasoned chips with tartar sauce (first time ever trying tartar sauce--LOVED IT) for free (you know how I love free things) and brought everything to us promptly, making small talk with us and all that. It was a really good time, and I'd totally recommend it if you are ever in Monaghan.

We re-boarded the bus and kept on driving until we finally arrived in Derry around 4:00. We had a couple of hours to walk around the city on our own before we had to be back at the hostel for pizza at 6. 

I, of course, took more pictures, but these are some of my favorites. Derry is kind of in a valley, or at least the part we were in, and so there are lots of hills, and the buildings are modified to be on hills. The architecture of the city is very interesting. Especially considering this bottom picture is the city hall, and has always been the city hall, and has never been a church or cathedral, contrary to my initial belief.

We walked around the city centre and poked into some shoppes and boutiques, only to end up in, of course, a Halloween store. Lucky we did though, since there was a Halloween fashion show that night, and I still needed a wig.

The fashion show was an absolute blast. I helped my friends come up with costumes (we helped each other) and they convinced me to buy this AMAZING cave girl wig, which ended up being perfect for my costume. We saw some beautiful outfits by local designers, some of us got to walk the catwalk (myself included--so much fun), and afterwards we went to a pub and had a craic time! I even ran into some people from my home university, how weird is that!!

And that was just Friday. Stay tuned for more to come!

Just Another Day

This week has been very chill in Dublin. I've always had something to do, but it's all been pretty ordinary. Which, in my opinion, is not at all a bad thing.

Earlier in the week, my friend Holly and I found a pub we really like called the Porter House. It was one of the places we went on the pub crawl at the beginning of the semester, but it was very crowded that night and we hadn't spent much time there. But when we went the other day, it was a lovely time. I had the best Amaretto Sour I've ever tasted, and there was a live musician playing some really great music.

Holly and I went around Blackrock and downtown a bit today, just to get out. I haven't been having the best of weeks, since I didn't get into the musical I auditioned for, so I was ready for just a regular day. I started my day having breakfast at 1pm at this adorable restaurant called The Mellow Fig. They have the BEST scones EVER. I got berry tea, an egg, sourdough toast, and bacon, but I didn't like the bacon because it wasn't crispy enough, and a strawberry scone with raspberry jam. Absolutely delicious, and wonderful to just sit and look around, with nowhere to be and no deadlines to meet.

After my meal, I met up with Holly and we perused the Blackrock Market. We were expecting a farmers market, but it was actually more of a flea market; there were several stands with antiques, handmade jewelry and clothing, phone cases, cutting boards, spices, furniture, old coins, on and on. We didn't stay long, but it was interesting to see what it was. I even found a hat I liked ;D

Don't worry, I didn't buy it.

We went downtown and shopped around for a little bit. I fell in love with several things I saw, but Holly was on a mission and I had no money, so I didn't buy anything. We all know it's better this way. But we did see some really good street performers today, including a first for me in Dublin, human statues! They were really good, too!

 Just another day in Dublin. But I like the ordinary days; it allows me to have some time to gather myself and think about things. 

I got a care package from my parents a couple days ago (which made me cry), and it was filled with pictures of home and family, along with snacks that my family knows I love and my favorite TV show, Grey's Anatomy, on DVD, since I don't get any of my shows on Netflix here. I miss home, but I'm loving my time here too, and it was nice to get a little piece of home to enjoy every now and then. 

The homesickness I'm feeling is a strange mix. I don't want to go home... I want to bring home here. I want my family to be experiencing all of this with me. I want my friends to be able to visit me whenever they can. I want to be able to go back and forth between here and Cleveland as often as I need to. It's silly, but it's my reality. I wonder if it will change over time...

Culture Night

Friday, 20 September 2013, was Culture Night in Dublin! Starting at 5pm, several attractions, museums, and interest points were free to the public for ONE NIGHT ONLY!
Honestly, I was super excited. My friend Lucie and I met up to go downtown, planning to meet some other friends there later.
Boy, was it disappointing. 
There was so much I wanted to see, but since a thousand other people wanted to see the same things, the lines were long for EVERYTHING. My friends didn't even get to see Dublinia after waiting in line for a good hour. Though, I will give Culture Night this--I had the best burger and chips that I've had yet here (keep in mind that chips are wide-cut french fries. Fries are chips and chips are crisps. Europe.). It was a pure-Irish-beef burger with ketchup, mayonnaise, grilled onions, and a pepper sauce. Verrryyyy yummmyyyyyy. 
I did also get the chance to visit a couple places that I probably wouldn't normally go, like the Irish Traditional Music Archive, St. Ann's Cathedral, and Dublin Castle. See my pictures below!

These pictures are all from St. Ann's Church downtown. It was our first stop for Culture Night, and it was really beautiful all around! The shelves of bread are all full of bread for the homeless, one of the many ministries the church is involved with for the Dublin community.

Next, we headed to Trinity College. It's a giant campus, right in the middle of the city. I didn't particularly care for the style of architecture I saw around the campus, however I definitely appreciate it all for its beauty and artistry.

We finished up culture night at Dublin Castle, where we got to go inside (which is not typically open) and see the magnificence of how the Royalty lived when the castle was built around 1224. 

We ended the evening at the Hard Rock Café Dublin, which was such a treat! Cocktails were only five Euros, so I decided to splurge a little and get a couple of fruity mixed drinks, rather than my usual pint of Bulmers Cider. 

Overall, I'd say it was a successful evening. I'm excited to go back and see all of the sites I missed, but it will be nice to not deal with such crowds. And don't worry, I'll be sure to keep everyone posted when I do something awesome! Until next time!

One Step Closer to the Beer...

WHAT A WEEKEND. 

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.