from my trip to Dublin, I thought I’d post a brief blog about it. Yeah, I admit, It’s friggin Ireland. What did I expect? Pretty much how it turned out to be. (Sorry it took so long to post – but between hangover hell, exploration, work, and then sleeping it all off on the weekend – this was the first chance I got.)

Last Friday, I hopped a jet plane through Ryan Air to Dublin. Grand and lovely. The trip there is short – about an hour and a half, and I must say that for the cheap fare, Ryan air is much like traveling in a cattle car. No checked bags, no extra stuff – just bring what you can carry on – and your person. Oh, and don’t expect drinks, peanuts, or a padded seat. What you see (essentially a fancy folding chair bolted to the inside of the plane) is what you get. Yes, folks, I have flown southwest – and compared to Ryan Air, southwest is LUXURY at its finest.

The flight was super full – no, really, I don’t need that eye you just hit with your elbow while trying to stuff your bag into an already too full overhead compartment anyhow – I have another – it is after all, why God gave me 2…. but it was fine. I think all the passengers kind of knew we were in this together.

Arriving in Dublin, we were promptly hurded off the plane, where I got a nice phone call from Paul and Tony – hey – we’re here at the airport – where you at? I hadn’t expected to be met – Paul had brought the car up (thanks much! It was soo sweet of you guys!) – and after a brief stint thru customs, we were on our way. Yes, folks, at this point, I was still sober.

We headed to the eBay office (where I dropped off my backpack) had a coffee, and then I was off to go shopping in the Blanchardstown mall (which is about 3 blocks away.) I know, I know, I’m pathetic. BUT… I could go shopping – and even found clothes that were cute AND fit – almost immediately. I think I love Dublin!! After that, I had lunch at the worlds busiest kfc (maybe not – but the line was out the door and standing in the pouring rain at this point) and then headed back to the office – new clothes and several english language fiction books in hand.

From there, we popped by Tony’s apartment (I had made arrangements to borrow his spare room in return for groceries and some cash) dumped off my stuff and were off. It was Camille’s going away party – and it was at the local pub – the BELL. It’s about 5 pm. Somewhere around midnight (I’d say I had had at least 5 rum & coke by now) , the party from the PUB moved over to Tony’s – with a stop off at the liquor store for a case of Beer, a bottle of Vodka, a bottle of Rum -( hallo?!?), and a bottle of diet coke (for mixing for me of course). On went the music, over came the neighbor (who was having his birthday party – thereby merging the two) and out came the drinking hats. Let’s just say that if I didn’t know your name by this point, i probabaly still don’t know it unless i’ve seen you sense. Some people left around 2am; others left around 4 am – and around 6:30 am (still drinking with those that were there) I looked up and went hey – where is everyone? Then it dawned on me that it was light outside – and I might want to get some sleep – after all, site seeing with Paul was set to take place in a couple hours.

About an hour later, I heard some rustling around in the front of the apartment. Padding into the kitchen, I poked Tony and told him to wake up off the sofa and go to bed – now that Sara had left (she was the noise maker and earlier she had passed out in his room – and then got up to go drive someone to the airport). I got some water, and went back to bed.

I woke up around noon, with a hangover, an ill stomach, and absolutely parched. It was at that point I realized I was still pretty buzzed. Paul showed up around 1 PM or so, and by this time Tony was up and we were both kind of sitting there going “ugh my head” and/or “ugh my stomach”. It was great. Ahh yeah, the sign of a great party – right?

Anyhow, we didn’t wind up site seeing – we wound up back at the pub for lunch and watching a football (soccer for y’all amerikans) match. The guys started in on the beer – and I, nauseous at the smell of the alcohol, stuck with the generic coke. Exhausted by 8pm, we headed back to Tony’s where I promptly fell asleep on the couch.

Sunday dawned sunny and cool – and we hung out waiting on Paul – to see if he was actually going to try the site seeing thing again. He wound up working – so T and I headed into Dublin – where we ventured into Trinity college and saw the book of kells. When the museum closed at 4:30, it was raining, and we decided to go grab some food – at (yep, you guessed it) a pub in the Temple Bar district. The food was really great, and we had a fun chat. After that, we decided to wander around a bit and hopped in and out of a few pubs in the area – including the Foggy Dew – where we heard some lovely ska/reggae stuff.

Monday Tony went to work, and after I got moving, I headed to Dublin myself. I saw Dublin Castle, St Patrick’s Cathedral and the Christ Church Cathedral. We had planned on meeting up, but those plans fell through – in favor of meeting Paul and Anna at the Bell for dinner.

Tuesday – I went shopping. Everyone had basically hit me up Monday for things they wanted from Dublin, so I picked up what I could and then got it posted off for them. I wrote several postcards and then went ahead and packed. For Dinner, we picked up some food and went over to Jean and Helene’s to babysit Charlotte (what a sweet kid!) while they were out to their classes. I was glad to be sober (and not still feeling too ill to enjoy myself).

My flight left at 6am on Wednesday – which meant a 4 am taxi to the airport. I had stayed up all night hanging out; and by the time I got on the plane, I was pretty much ready for a nap – even with the packed cattle mentality of Ryan Air.

Yep, that’s Dublin – in 5 days, I saw the inside of more pubs than I think I ever have before. Drinking – well – let’s just say I don’t remember drinking that long nor that much since I was in college – although.. there was that night at the Bird not too long ago….

As far as could I live there – yeah, I could. I wouldn’t need to drink so much (ok let’s be truthful – everyone I saw there pretty much wanted to go out to the pub because that’s the main social point culturally) because I’d be able to do other stuff. The prices for buying stuff is cheaper (clothes/ food/etc) than berlin – but the rents are crazy high. So, in the end, it’s about 6’s. The bright side? they do speak english – or some resemblance there of (hello? you understood me first try!?!) – and are very friendly warm people (compared to some of the receptions of the culture where I currently am.) That just means more applications to that area – in hopes of finding a job – now that the US economy is tanking.

** Sorry no pictures yet – I’m still working on uploading the pictures from Prague, Hornburg, Goslar and everywhere else. These will be posted soon – including some of the drunk ass party pics when I get a chance.**