Toora Loora Toora Loo

This past weekend I ventured to Ireland and had an AMAZING time. Just as I expected I would. The night we got there was super chill and we just went to the local grocery store and got dinner. OK, real serious for a second, why is Europe so full of Gluten Free food and so well educated? I am able to eat and find things with little to no trouble here. Seriously everywhere I go they know and understand. It's fantastic. We just hung Thursday night enjoying some time to relax and just breathe. The next morning we set off on 'a bit of a hike' towards the train station. I didn't expect the walk to take 20 minutes but we were walking along the coast and it was nice and sunny out so I didn't mind too much. Then we took the Dart into Dublin, which is the commuter train for the suburbs. Then we explored. I just picked a spot and got off leading my friends and I where ever our feet took us. The first major place we explored was the Temple Bar district and it was super cool. During the day there are artsy things and cute shops. Then we got lunch at the place called KC Peaches and it was cheap and delicious. After feeding our extremely hungry stomachs we went to explore Dublin Castle. It is gorgeous. Not only is the Norman castle huge but it also has some culture that comes from modern times. Attached to the old stone is bright buildings that make any heart smile. There are some beautiful gardens you can play in and explore. From the gardens I heard an Irish man singing some old Irish songs which made my Irish eyes smile. :) Off the gardens is the Chester Beatty Library. It's cool and has some really old books. Finally we decided to try to find a place to shop. It only took a few minutes to find a market area and then we just kept wandering finding all of these adorable stores. Including the Disney store. As the majority of us would be going to Disneyland Paris in a little under two months we were so happy to be in there. Then we wandered our way back towards the train to get back to our hotel. As we were headed back it started raining really hard and the wind got super intense. It was a struggle to walk into the wind towards our hotel.

Our hotel was so cute and amazing. The staff was super friendly and helpful with anything we needed. The Bram Stoker is seriously my favorite hotel ever. It's not the Plaza but they are super duper helpful. We got bored and they were totally willing to help us find things to do that wouldn't involve enduring the insane winds again. We slept in a little bit Saturday morning to catch up on what little sleep we get all year long but still started out at a good time. We went back into Dublin and explored north of the River Liffey and saw the Spire (I don't really know what to tell you about that other than it's a really tall metal pointy thing in the middle of a road) and shopped. We found a shoppers heaven in that area and had so much fun just trying on outfit after outfit. Then we went to find my must see - St. Patrick's Cathedral. The rain had come back to life and was making the 12 ish minute walk cold and wet. However, the church was so pretty, well the outside was - I didn't want to force my friends to pay to go in with me. 

Saturday was one of my friends that I was travelling with birthday. So we went to go see the Dublin night life. Unfortunately some illness decided that Saturday was the night to make me sick but I fought it and decided it wouldn't me back the whole night from fun. We went to this place called The Church which is an old church that was converted into a bar and club. Arthur Guinness was baptized or married there or something. I didn't pay too much attention to that - the place was gorgeous. Then we headed back over the the Temple Bar area to go dancing. We had a blast and got back to our hotel around 2:30 and were passed out by 3am. That was probably too late seeing as we have an early flight; however, as one of our professors said we can sleep when we get back to America. While checking out the staff told us they would genuinely miss us and to come back soon. I am definitely considering it if I have money. 

Finally we made it back to the manor, cold, tired, hungry, and slightly rained on. I napped for hours and then had dinner and was back in bed. The Harlaxton Plague has been going around but I think my illness is a little worse than what everyone else has had but I am drinking a LOT of tea and sleeping a lot so hopefully I'm well before Thursday when I take off for the south of France!!!! 

Time to study for my first British studies exam and decipher how British identity has changed... It sounds like fun right??

Bise Bise