Travel Week Begins

It's time to catch up on a whole week of blogging. Hopefully I should be done by today and then the regular posts will resume. You may be asking why I stopped the blog for a whole week? Two words: Travel Week. Now that we have been on the program for three weeks (three weeks? Is that it? It feels like months since I was a freshman or in Gilbert.) we have hit the halfway point and were given almost a spring break. Itineraries had to be confirmed with Brett before Saturday, but the sky was the limit. People went to Rome, Paris, Switzerland, and stayed in London. This trip is expensive enough and I wasn't ready to blow a bunch of money to speed through another major city. Instead I went to Ireland for three days with Ben, Sarah, Chelsea, Kamilla, Jessa, Tracy, and Justyne. Even though I am not in love with Irish culture, it was still a fun destination and much cheaper than heading over to the continent.

May 26th

The plane ride to Ireland took no time at all. Around an hour, so we were traveling to the airport and waiting at the airport for much longer than the actual flight. We left right after class. The Gatwick Airport is much smaller than Heathrow. It is even more of a mall feeling to it though. I need to get over the fact that airports are just like malls. It surprises me every time.

I'm in Ireland! The Dublin Airport is huge, but empty. Not quite sure why they need so much space. We were the only people in Non-EU customs. The security guard was extremely rude though. We were quick and pleasant, but he just wanted nothing to do with us. Same with the bus driver. He wouldn't let Ben get on the bus. We think it was because they had switched the route numbers without posting it yet. The guy was rude though. What the heck Ireland?

Our hostel wasn't too hard to find and it was really nice. I didn't think it would be. We took out the whole room for seven girls so it came out to about thirty four euros per person for the two nights. Not bad.

Our view from the window. Fourth floor!

After we settled in we decided to roam about the city. It's a pretty nice place.

Two thumbs up for this statue. The picture on the right is the needle. It just stands in the middle of Dublin. I thought it was dumb at first and had no idea why it was there. I still don't know any symbolism or history behind it, but it is an excellent mark to figure out where you are in the city.

One of the guys at Abigail's Hostel suggested we eat at The Celt. It was a little off the beaten path and more traditional Irish than for tourists. I think we were the only Americans there. The food was excellent. I tried Bangers and Mash and highly suggest it. Ben said the bread they served was the best they ever had and Kamilla loved the beef stew. Well done Irish pubs!

The rest are just cool pictures from our walk around town. We made it all the way to St. Patrick's Cathedral and then turned around. We went a different way back and almost got lost. A middle aged man approached us though and counseled we take a second street down to the river since the one we were on had some "exotic characters." lol Thank you random Irish man.