The Week...

This week has been a blast.  On Monday, we wandered around the city and welcomed the nice weather for the next few weeks with 50's and no rain!  We saw Mrs. Affleck at the National, which while interesting, did not do anything for me in the end.  We had the opportunity this week to climb to the top of the Monument and St. Pauls Cathedral which was awesome!  It was like 1000 combined steps but we had super good views of the city.  And on Friday, I left for Ireland and this is what I am going to talk about coming up.

Ireland

Friday

We took a 7am plane from Heathrow on BMI and it was a great ride with really nice seats and all.  Once we got there, we took a double decker to our hostel and tried to check in but it was obviously too early.  So with this, we went on an adventure.  We got passes for a bus and took a sightseeing tour of the city to all the main points.  We ended at the Guinness factory and since we were really early, we toured the neighborhood.  Eventually we took our tour which was AMAZING!  Guinness has 4 main ingredients-Hops, Barley, Water, and Yeast and its burnt hops that give it the toasted flavor it has.  We got a free pint at the top of the place, which has a 360 degree view of the city and was breathtaking.  After this, we went to a pub for some food and I continued the Guinness tradition with Guinness stew and a pint along with it.  After we finally made it back to our hostel and checked in to an 18 person room.  Boy was that interesting, but at the same time, kind of cool.  Later that night we found ourselves going to Temple Bar, which is the big bare district and immediately you could tell almost everyone was drunk and all the pubs were jammed with people.  There was street performers as well, throwing fire, pretending to be a statue, and playing some good irish music.  We ended up stopping and getting some Irish whiskey to sip on while we listened to a guy play.  While walking, we saw the Garda, which is the police, take down a drunk guy and watched it fight them.  It was really funny as they used their batons and everything.  Oh what fun!  After, we managed to get back to the hostel and here comes day 2.

Saturday

On Saturday, we woke up, ate a good breakfast and went on a tour of the Wicklow Mountains.  The countryside was amazing, so green and full of life.  The streams and rivers were equally wonderfully, with water so clear I thought I could drink it.  This took up the majority of our day and we visited Avoca, Glendalough, and thwe Wicklow Gap.  We ended up back at Trinity College and wandered around and eventually made it back to our hostel.  We chilled for awhile and went out to dinner at a pub and I once again got a Guinness, which I think is my new favorite beer.  We wandered Temple Bar again and eventually came back and I tried sleeping but it was to not avail.  I got up at 4am and got on a bus to the airport to fly back to London, knowing I have to come back someday...

As for what I learned... Here is the List...

1. The Irish are the nicest people ever, nicer than the English even.  They help you with everything you could need and they come up to you when they think your in distress.  Super awesome!

2. Don't mess with the Garda.  Plain and Simple.

3. The crosswalks are awesome-they make a little drum beat when its time to cross and beep at you when its time not to.

4. If you can, stay for a long time, trust me, it's worth every minute of it.

5. Going to Ireland made me think a lot about my family and all that and made me realize how I miss them but also how to live.  The Irish enjoy life to the fullest it seems and I think i need to start having this mentality to try and get every last bit out of my short and precious years on this earth.

With this, Cheers! I am off to Stratford Upon Avon for 2 days with class!