Prior to Rome...

For those of you who don't already know, I have been travelling with my friends Maia Fiala and Carrie Machacek, who also are my roommates in Roma. We left for Rome a few days early so we could check out Dublin, Ireland for about three days. The flight over wasn't bad at all, it's only took 6.5 hours because of a good wind or something...so we got into Dublin at about 7am their time. We were dying to check into our hostel so we could get some sleep. Unfortunately we were under the false impression that we could check in any time, 24 hours. but were promptly informed that check-in wasn't until two. luckily, they let us store our big pieces of luggage, but we continued to haul arround our (very) heavy backpacks because we didn't want to leave things like our computers in the luggage room.

so we walked around for a while, checking things out and pointing out places we wanted to visit when we had more energy. finally, it was 2 so we checked in to the hostel and took a verrryy long nap. we woke up about 8pm and went out for dinner at the only place we could find that was still serving food (and hadn't turned into a full-fledged pub for the night). it was a little boistrous, to say the least. but we had a good time and i had my first pint of Guinness for the trip.

the next couple of days we saw all the sights: Trinity College, St. Patrick's, Temple Bar district, etc. We actually hopped on this great little tour bus that wasn't expensive at all for students (only 12.50 euro) where you can get on and off wherever you like on one of their 27 stops in a 24 hour period (that's how long your ticket lasts). our favorite stop though, was the Guinness Storehouse. it's a giant self-guided tour about how guinness is made, it's history, all the cool advertising, etc. and all the time you are working your way up to the top floor where you get a free pint of Guinness (and a fabulous 360 degree view of Dublin)!! All in all, we pretty much loved Dublin, and I wish we could have stayed longer. Below are a few pics from the trip:







The first is our traditional irish meal of shepherd's pie and lamb stew-SO GOOD!
The second is me at Trinity College, looking very Catholic.
Third is me playing in the barley used to make Guinness.
Fourth is me missing you at the Guinness Storehouse.
Fifth is me with a Guinness moustache, and yes, it's also on my nose haha.