PS. I Love You

Well, I've talked about it enough in previous entries, but in case anyone didn't know, I was in Ireland this past weekend with Katherine and our friend Jess! And let me tell you... I have never fallen in love with a place the way I fell for Ireland. I wish I had studied there ha. Of course, we were only there from Friday to Sunday, but we managed to see a lot. We flew in to Dublin early in the morning Friday and caught a double decker bus (!!!) to our hostel. Our hostel, by the way, was immaculate. I've never seen a cleaner, cooler looking hostel. Everything was purple, they had murals all over the walls, and the common area was sooo nice. As we were checking in, two Spanish women were trying to communicate with the reception desk but there was a clear language barrier, so we volunteered to translate for them. I've never felt so useful with my Spanish knowledge.




Anyways. First order of business was to get  a cup of coffee to prepare for the day. We found a coffee place that gave us the biggest cup of coffee we've seen since September. We were so used to tiny little shots of espresso with maybe some milk in it, it was such a shock to get a big Central Perk sized cup of coffee. And free water! That's non-existent in Barcelona. We then toured around our side of the river, seeing the buildings and shops, and stopping for lunch at a vegetarian restaurant. After lunch we walked across town to the Guinness factory to do a tour! It was actually really interesting, and the entire museum was shaped like a tall glass of Guinness. We learned how they make Guinness and why its so dark and rich, and how to pour the perfect pint. At the top of the museum was a bar called the Gravity Bar, where you get a free pint and and a chance to see the whole city from above. The entire outer wall was pane glass, and you could literally see all of Dublin and the mountains in the background. It was so beautiful! Plus, sitting enjoying our free Guinness we were faced with the fact that everyone spoke English for the first time. In Spain, no one really understand English, so you can talk about whatever you want, as loud as you want, and not have to worry. This is not the case in an English speaking country. I'll spare you the details, but we seemed to really surprise/entertain a fellow museum go-er. I'll leave it at that, haha.

After the museum, it was starting to get dark (ohhh winter) but we still wanted to see the sights, so we had a nice night tour. We wandered around with our cute little maps and saw as much of the important Dublin sights as we could with the darkness. For the most part, everything was lit up, except the St. Patrick's Catherdral, which was a little disappointing. We still managed to see the Dublin Castle and plenty more. We eventually made it back to the city center, where Temple Bar is. Its a big cluster of real Irish pubs, shops, and restaurants. We did some gift shopping and got dinner at a cute little Irish pub/restaurant. I had Guinness and beef stew, keeping with the theme of the day. As we left the restaurant we ran into some street performers playing some happy Irish tune, and about 30 people were dancing to it in the middle of the road, getting really into it. One little girl actually started step-dancing. It was so cute.

Feeling a little tired, we decided to head back to the hostel to rest a bit, grab a few drinks, and meet some fellow travelers. While we were getting ourselves together in our room we met one of our dorm mates, a nice kid who was also studying in Spain (Salamanca?). He was tired and wanted to sleep, but we convinced him to come out with us. After all, you're only in Ireland once... though I hope I can return as soon as possible. We ended up going to a karaoke pub down the street from the hostel, and Katherine impressed everyone by belting some classic songs (homegirl can sing). We came home to meet one of our other roommates in only the best way possible. Naked. Nice to meet you too sir. And your other naked friend. She seems nice. That's what you get for being in a room with 12 people you don't know.

Saturday was my favorite day... ever. We woke up early to catch a tour bus/van to Wicklow and the surrounding area. Its just outside of the city, and has some amazing Irish landscape. I'm not sure if you've ever seen the movie "PS. I Love You",  but we literally saw the exact spot they filmed when the main characters meet for the first time. The romantic little bridge overlooking the Wicklow mountains and big green fields of heather. It was absolutely incredible. Not the movie part (though that was cool), but the view itself was unbelievable. From one point on the tour, we stopped to see this big black lake (black from peat), with a white sand beach. It was called Guinness lake because it looked like a glass of Guinness. They really love their Guinness there.

We made a few stops for photo op's in similarly beautiful areas before coming to a small town. We stopped to visit a monastery and had time to view not only some of the oldest monastery buildings in Ireland but also the surrounding grounds. We hiked down to a beautiful lake with a waterfall, where I literally ran around like a little kid because I was so excited. It felt so good to be out in the country and out of the city. The air was so fresh and clean, all the leaves were changing, and it had never felt so good to get my boots dirty in mud and grass. I love Barcelona, but being so far from trees and nature was getting to me. It made me realize I could probably never live in a city, at least not for long periods of time. If I did I would need to have a getaway option of mountains and trees handy. There was a small market of local goods and products, and I of course treated myself to a big wool sweater. First of all, I was freezing even in my 8 layers and legitimately needed it. And I just wanted it. They're so comfortable and warm. I love it. The guy knew our tour guide so he gave me a good deal :)

Our last stop was in another small little town. Population 2,000... pub count 10. Hahaha. I love Ireland. We got some lunch and a tour of a weaving factory. It sounds dumb but it was actually pretty cool. Jess learned how a weaving loom works! We would've gotten some fine wool products there but it was sooo expensive. So we played in the gift shop and then just wandered around outside for a while. I could not get over how good it felt to be out of the city.

That night we made nice with the naked man from the night before. He was French (but he looked like a Jonas Brother), studying in Galway, and in Dublin with two friends from home on holiday. We all joked about the girl from the night before and eventually made it downstairs to the common room to meet our other friend from the night before and his buddy that flew in that morning. We all hung out and had some drinks, getting to know each other. Jonas's friend from France had an awesome Robert De Niro impression, despite barely being able to make a full sentence in English. Poor Katherine had a weird allergic reaction to something we ate (I think I poisoned her by making her try Digestives with chocolate and caramel, which I was ecstatic to find in the grocery store because Barca never has them)... but we got her Benedryl and she was ok. We all went out to a pub in Temple Bar and heard some great live music. A guy sits in the back of the bar with a guitar and sings, and everyone just dances and enjoys good company. A nice Irish gent schooled me in dancing, spinning me around about 100 times, dipping me, tossing me around. It was so fun. So DIFFERENT than Barcelona. People in Ireland are genuinely just nice people.

I almost cried at the airport this morning. I am madly in love with Ireland. Everyone is so nice to you, everything is so beautiful. I love the country side, I love the atmosphere of the city. I love that people will dance on the street with strangers, that every pub plays live music (Galway Girl being a very popular song), I love the accents, the culture, the food... everything. I am moving to Ireland at some point in my life. I already miss it. Who wants to come with me?


Only six more weeks in Barcelona. I can't believe how fast it's going by. It makes me sad... but I also think I'm ready to go home. I miss ya, America.

PS. I love you ;)