Cheers

Time for a long-winded entry about an incredible trip. Saturday morning, a group of 10 API kids headed toward the Sevilla airport to hop a plane to Ireland for the weekend. We flew into Dublin airport and got a bus to Galway (on the west coast of Ireland) because we had heard good things about the city and about the fairly close excursions outside of the city. We got to see a lot of green countryside along with way and of course, a ton of cows and horses. Once the bus dropped us off in Galway, we asked about Merlin Park, the area where our bed and breakfast was. We walked about a mile to the B and B, which was so perfect! It was run by a middle-age cute Irish couple and was so homey and fun--we all agreed that Ireland feels like Christmas all year round. At this point, we were so hungry and the husband of the couple that ran the B and B was sweet enough to drive us to a place for dinner. His wife also had connections with the tour agency that takes trips out to the Cliffs of Moher so she arranged for the bus driver to "collect" us in the morning outside the front door. Anyway, we had a really nice Irish dinner and then went upstairs because the second floor of the place was a bar. We sat around and chatted for a while, Loni tried a Guinness and watched all the people dancing. There must have been some event going on or something because everyone was dressed up nicely and they served us a bunch of appetizers for free. Oh well, we might have crashed a party without even realizing it.

Sunday morning, we woke up to the second "b" of the b & b, a grand Irish breakfast (tomato, pudding, fried egg, sausage, bacon, toast and jam, coffee, and tea). It was wonderful since in Spain, we´re accustomed to getting on piece of toast and jam for breakfast every morning. After breakfast, we checked out and got our bus to the cliffs. On the way, we stopped in a small town called Doolen where we ate lunch at O´Connor´s pub. I took so many photos once we climbed up the cliffs because it was just too beautiful to even be captured with a camera, I wasn´t satisfied with any one picture. After spending about an hour exploring, we reluctantly headed back to the bus. We went to see a Dolmen tomb basically in the middle of nowhere (it was from 3000BC and archeaologists have found that about 33 people have been buried there. The most impressive part about this stop was the vastness of the area, surrounded on all sides by limestone and grass. Then, we visited the caves of burren and we got to walk through and see stalagtites/mites, and the bones of a bear who had hibernated there thousands of years ago. Really neat! Our last stop before returning to Galway was at a castle on a lake which was probably one of the most picturesque views I´ve seen so far on this trip.

Back in Galway, we met up with Lauren (who had been in Dublin the night before) and checked into our hostel. Then we set off to explore the city. We walked through the city center, met some American girls studying there who suggested some fun bars for us to go to, and then went to a pub to try Guinness. I knew that being in Ireland I would have to try it and as I suspected, I did not like it in the least. But I was glad to have tried it once. Then, we went to get some dinner at another local place (I had beef lasagna which was delicious and some others had the typical Irish Guinness and lamb stew which was also really good). Later on in the night, we met back up with Kristen and Katie at Murphy´s Bar and happened to run into Cory and Dave (two guys from our API group) there as well. We knew they were in Ireland but didn´t have a clue they were in Galway at that point. What a small world that they should find us in a specific bar in the middle of the city. From there, we went to this other local pub that had been recommended to us for its traditional Irish music. After finding it, we went up to the top floor where a bunch of adorable old Irish men were playing instruments and singing. Every once in a while, a guy named Craig (who apparently is a regular at this particular bar) would tap his glass and ask someone to sing. So all the locals took turns singing Irish tunes. The guys playing the instruments talked to us a little bit about their lives in Ireland and of course had lots of questions for us about the states. It was soo cool not to be in a touristy bar and to just be surrounded by Galway locals. Our group met the aforementioned Craig and another guy named Shamos there and so after the bar closed, they took us to a dance place. But in Ireland they don´t dance like they do back home. They just move their bodies and jump a lot to the beat of the music but everyone basically dances by themselves...there is not grinding or anything of the sort. We had the best time, so much fun!!

On Monday, Kathi, Loni, Jonathan, and I woke up early to catch the bus to Dublin. The rest stayed back in Galway. We caught the bus at 9:30 am and we didn´t get to Dublin until about 2:30 --little did we know, we took the bus that happens to go on all the backroads and stop in every little town. At one point, the cutest old man got on and sat next to me--he was wearing the typical Irish hat, a wooden cane, and really thick glasses. He was so friendly and wanted to know all about where I´m from and what I was doing in Ireland and Spain. After he got off, a young Irish girl got on and she was telling me that she goes to college outside of Dublin and studies psychology. So we had a fun little chat too. The Irish people are just extremely friendly! I felt so comfortable with them. So as you can see, the long bus ride wasn´t all that bad because I got to meet all kinds of different people.

After we finally arrived in Dublin, (theme of our trip) we ate...I had a cranberry, stuffing, and chicken panini and it was just like thanksgiving on a bun! We explored Dublin a little bit--I actually found it to be a very beautiful and clean city. Apparently, they say that Ireland is the most livable place in the world. It was overcast and really chilly but it didn´t bother us. We met up with Kathi´s friends from her university at home that are working in Dublin and they showed us around the grounds of Dublin castle. Then, we went to a Temple Bar and hung out for a little while at the Turk´s Head (a bar). Later on, we met up with the rest of our group who had come from Galway and went to Fitzsimmons for live music and some drinks. The music was amazing, I think I knew and could sing along to just about every song. And again, we all danced with the Irish, Croatians, and I´m sure people from all other reaches of the globe. And then I got back to Sevilla around 12 pm and got to the university in time for my 1 pm class with time to spare!