Easter Weekend in Ireland

Hey Yall! Hope everyone had a great Easter! I headed off to Ireland for the long weekend, heres the details!

Thursday: We caught a 7 am flight (which meant we had to be on a 4:30 train to Pisa!!) and upon arriving in Dublin, took a train straight to Galway.  Galway is an absolutely incredible town.  Its exactly what I was picturing when I thought of Ireland with all the stone walls and green fields! So beautiful! When we got to Galway, we explored the town a little bit and then walked out to a lighthouse.  Then we went to dinner and had traditional Irish food (chicken and mash) and then turned in early after a VERY long day!

Friday: We took a bus and then a ferry to the big island in the chain of Aran Islands. They are so picturesque and just so Irish! We were planning on biking around the island but it was way windy and raining a little bit so we decided to do a bus tour instead.  The bus driver basically just dropped us at different points on the island (which is about 9 miles) so that we could make the most out of the time we had there! First we went up to this old fortress on a cliff called Dun Aonghasa.  We were some of the only people up there and it was such a cool experience! 

After walking around the fortress for a while, we had lunch in a little cafe with a thatched roof. They had  homemade soup and homemade bread.... AND homemade carrot cake, all of which was so so so good! Then the bus picked us back up and took us to the 7 churches.  These are basically ruins of what used to be 7 churches but have now been turned into a cemetery for locals on the island.  It has a beautiful view of the ocean and is surrounded by fields of green! Not a bad place to be burred I guess! 

After seeing the 2 main sights on the island, our driver took us around the rest of the island and showed us various beaches, harbors etc.  All in all it was an absolutely amazing day! When we got back to the hostel, we had planned on going to the pubs that night, but as we were informed, on Good Friday, Ireland turns into a DRY COUNTRY! Of all the countries to do this, seriously? Ireland? Instead we made do with watching a movie with new friends in the hostel and getting a good nights sleep!

Saturday: After sleeping in, we walked around Galway one last time and ran into a cute little farmers market! We tried oysters, amazing homemade bagels and doughnuts, fruit and homemade breads! Everything was about as good as it sounds! Especially the oysters!

That afternoon we took a train to Dublin and got to the city around dinner time.  So far, in all of my traveling this semester I have had really good experiences with hostels. They have all basically been hotels but with bunkbeds! Some have even had bars/ clubs and free breakfasts! Thinking this tradition would continue, we checked into our hostel in Dublin only to find that to our horror it was an absolute pit.  Seriously there were literally holes in the wall! The bathrooms never had toilet paper (I started stealing it from public restrooms around Dublin) and our room had floorboards that could be lifted up. Needless to say, we spent our time in Dublin avoiding our hostel like the plague (in case we could actually catch the plague from it!) but did make some great new Danish friends in it! Saturday night, we went to the pubs in the Temple Bar area with them! This is basically the 6th street of Dublin, and all of the pubs have live music and are a ton of fun! We had Guinness, met some boys on a Stag Party (british bachelor party) and listened to traditional Irish music! It seriously felt out of the movie P.S. I Love You (if anyone has seen it?). 

Sunday (Easter!): After our night at the pubs, we slept in and then went on a walking tour of Dublin. We saw Trinity College (made me miss being on campus at TCU!), old churches, St. Stevens Green, the lego buildings (not actually the name but thats what they look like!) and a lot of other buildings and sites around the city! 

After our tour, we were wandering around St. Steven's Green and ran into our Danish friends from the hostel! We started heading back to the hostel and ran into a street performance by "Tremendous Trevor"! He juggled knives and fire all while riding a unicycle! 

probably my favorite statue ever!

Sunday night we went to the pubs again, and ended the night at Whelans... the pub used in P.S. I Love You.  There was this rap band playing that was actually pretty good... they had a band accompanying their rapping that consisted of a trumpet, drums, saxophone and bass. It was pretty cool! 

Monday: We caught the bus to Wicklow Mountain National Park and spent the day wandering the trails. It is probably one of the most beautiful places I have ever been, everything is about 20 different shades of green! It was drizzling most of the time that we were there, but it just made it seem so much more Irish! 

It was pretty windy!

That evening we went and saw the Hunger Games!! Sadly, this was probably one of the things I was most excited for this weekend! It didn't disappoint (for all of yall who say it was bad, you're wrong!) and was so fun to see in Dublin! Then I had to get back to the hostel so I could sign up for my classes via my iphone! Thankfully all worked out with that as well, and my schedule for next semester is bomb! It definitely makes me a little depressed though seeing all of what I am taking next semester... clinicals here I come! 

We headed back to Florence on an early flight Tuesday morning and I spent the rest of the day resting, catching up on homework and skyping with my parents.  While I was in Ireland, my parents had to put my dog Molly to sleep which was really hard to be away for! When I left for Florence in January, she was completely healthy and went downhill so fast! It feels weird to think she won't be there when I get back! Just another reminder that life goes on while I'm gone (weird right!?).  

Anyway, I'll post the rest of the pictures on facebook soon. Now I'm headed off to the train station to catch a train to Rome and hang out with Megan for the night! CAN'T WAIT TO SEE HER!