A couple of weeks ago, Austen, my friend from anatomy class, and his friends Kendall, Katrina, and Briana invited me on the trip they were planning to Dublin. I decided to jump in, because I really didn't know when I would get the opportunity later to go to Ireland, and it was definitely on my list.
When we were planning our RyanAir flights, the website said that there was only one seat left, but one of the group members said that it wasn't true, and we resulted in trying to buy tickets individually. I got mine first, and the others were locked out of the site. Turns out there was only one seat left. Like the website said.
So they bought tickets for different flight times, so we all arrived at Dublin at a different time, but we all managed to make it to our hostel with little to know trouble (except for them telling me to buy a ticket for the wrong bus and giving me directions to go "right right right left" to get to the hostel from the bus stop). We then went out for a night on the town. Now, Glasgow nightlife is fun, but the people of Dublin take it to a different level. We went to the infamous Temple Bar (even though I had never heard of it), and then barhopped for some time thereafter. Alcohol was extremely expensive there no matter where you went, but the dancing and music was really great.
We got back to the hostel really late, something like 2 am, and set an alarm for 9:30 the next morning. We woke up exhausted, but ready to explore Dublin and all it had to offer. We rationed out our shared loaf of bread and jam for breakfast and walked toward the Trinity College, where the Book of Kells and the Long Room Library resided. The Book of Kells is one of the best preserved and oldest book in existence, and the library was a filming site for the Harry Potter movies. It was so wonderful. The room really was long (as the name implied), and every single book was old. It was actually quite impressive just how many books were there. It was quite a remarkable place that can take your breath away.
After Trinity College, we went to a park with lots of birds and a woman who thought I was taking a picture of her but I was instead taking a picture of a gazebo and she was getting belligerent and was saying it was illegal to take pictures of other people and that she wanted to be out of the public eye and almost started yelling at me until I told her that I had deleted the picture. We also went into a really cool and big shopping center, saw the parliament building, saw bullet holes in a column (yes, the columns followed me from CNU to the UK), and a bunch of really cool architecture. We decided to turn in early that night because we had the Cliffs of Moher bus tour early the next morning at 7:30.
Now, this is the point in which I revisit the statement I mentioned earlier about "one of my favorite places". The Cliffs of Moher at their highest point is about 710 feet high, which is about 2/3 the height of the Empire State Building. It faces the Atlantic Ocean, so I got to look homeward for an hour and a half. The wind was really strong, but the sun, which I had not seen for days, was out, and it was incredible. These cliffs were so incredibly unique and breath-taking that I could have spent all day there and been happy. I even got stupid for a little while and hung me feet out over the edge, and while that was cool, it was also terrifying, so I stopped. The cliffs, while the wind is really loud, seemed to have a peaceful quiet that I had not yet found anywhere else, and I don't think I will find that again.
Ireland is a magical place. I'm pretty sure that a leprechaun talked me into buying yet another cliche shot glass, but I'm not really complaining. And the lady at the Cliffs of Moher gift shop gave me a free postcard to top it all off. All in all, this trip was absolutely stunning and probably something I will never ever forget.
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