Dublin. A city full of cobblestone streets, beautiful bridges, endless pints of Guinness and a whole lot of people. Attempting to conquer all of these elements in less than 48 hours was probably a little too ambitious but if it meant seeing one of my best friends then anything felt possible.
I had been looking forward to my weekend trip for months. It was the first time I would be seeing a friend from back home since I started my adventure, it was the first time I was staying in a hostel and the first time I would be traveling outside of County Cork. So with the perfect combination of anxiety and excitement I boarded the bus to start my short but unforgettable adventure (only after I went to the wrong bus stop and proceeded to panic and run around like a chicken with my head cut off for about 30 minutes… oops).
When I arrived in Dublin I was greeted with clear skies and a gorgeous sunset. I was probably smiling so big that I looked bat shit crazy roaming the streets looking for my friend but in all honesty none of it mattered. After a warm reunion and a phone call to mom I was settled into my hostel. If anyone is staying in Dublin I would definitely suggest the Kinlay House. It is in a great location and very clean. I was sharing my room with 4 friends that did not speak to me once and claimed the room as their own as they had their stuff scattered all through out the room. I only interacted with them at night when one of them proceeded to cough up their lung every 30 minutes waking everyone up. Above my bunk was an incredibly sweet girl named Natasha who was from Germany and about to start med school. We didn’t hang out much but none the less I am thankful for our short and sweet interactions. There is something so refreshing about meeting other young people exploring the world on their own. They seem to understand the importance of a warm smile and a friendly greeting.
My friend and I started our adventure by going to Temple Bar and getting Irish wasted. It was great. We were talking so fast and about so much that our conversation only paused when were approached by usually creepy men, who were intrigued by us “exotic Americans”. We were invited to house parties, bachelor parties and pretty much had to escape every male that approached us. It was so fun that we stayed out until 3am ignoring our early morning wake up call to explore the city. The next morning we went to breakfast and made our plan for the day. We would do a walking tour, go to the Guinness Storehouse and then hit all the other tourist destinations we desired.
The problem with this plan was A- Our Guinness tour was an hour earlier than we originally thought (oops) and B- and unbeknownst to us, the Guinness Storehouse is at least a few hour long adventure. We went on the walking tour for all of 15 minutes of the 3 hour tour and proceeded to spend at least 4 hours at the Storehouse (and every second was well worth it). Unfortunately during all the fun we managed to forget to eat, so by the time we were enjoying our pint of Guinness in the gravity bar we were more or less drunk.
As we stumbled back into the city ready to the dive into some sweet potato fries and cheeseburgers we couldn’t help but notice we were completely exhausted. After devouring some food all of our priorities seemed to disappear and our thoughts were consumed by naps. So naturally we headed back to the hostel for a quick snooze and before we knew it, it was 6pm and we had only seen the Guinness Storehouse, Dublin Castle and a burger joint. After realizing our epic fail we proceeded to make up for as much sight seeing as possible. We went to Trinity College, O’Connell Street, St Stephens Green, Grafton Street and by this time it was 9 pm. Now our priorities were focused on food and pubs. So once again we spent all night downing pints of Guinness, escaping creepy men and talking so much that I had practically lost my voice.
The next morning Claudia needed to be up at 6 to catch her flight to London and I needed to catch my bus back into Cork City. After another short nap filled with the never-ending noise of one of my roommates coughing up her lung, it was time for me to catch the bus once again. I woke up early and went straight to a Starbucks. After a much needed caffeine boost, I headed back to Trinity College to do some last minute solo exploring and before I knew it I was sitting half awake on the bus headed back to Cork.
Our adventure was filled with so much fun and laughter that even despite the fact we didn’t even see very much of Dublin, I still had one of the best weekends of my life. I am so thankful to have such amazing friends to share such amazing experiences with.
The Luck of the Irish 