Dublin, Ireland

Dublin is an incredible city, and it was the perfect place to start my crazy pre-travel. The minute I landed in the Dublin airport, I knew that I would love the city. All of the staff were so incredibly nice and genuinely interested in helping us find our way around. We got great advice from the employee at the Touristbooth and he gave us perfect directions for getting to our hostel. We spent about 15 extra minutes at the booth just chatting with him and telling him about our trip – he just kept asking questions! Because of that conversation, my new favorite word is “cheers” 🙂

After we got to our hostel, we met up with our other group members and set off on foot to explore the city. I had an awesome time wandering through the little back streets of Dublin. In those two hours, I saw so many musicians playing on the sidewalks and so many people – both tourists and locals alike – dancing all around them. Laughter and fun were the universal components of the night.

The next day (Wednesday, August 14th) was packed with sightseeing. We saw Oscar Wilde’s house and office on Merrion Street and I got a picture in front of his memorial. Then we went on a free walking tour of the city, which was fantastic. Our guide was hilarious and the tour company gave us a discounted lunch after the tour. We went to O’Neills pub with some of the remaining members of our tour (as well as the guide) and had a traditional Irish meal. I had beef and Guinness stew, which was my first official meal since I left Minneapolis. It was delicious and the company of other travelers was excellent.

That night, three of us went on a pub crawl with two of the people we met on the tour. The pub crawl was run by the same company that gave us the free tour – it took us to five separate authentic Irish pubs and we ended at a nightclub on the Liffey river. The pub crawl was the highlight of my trip in Dublin because Iexperienced so many new things. I had my first (and hopefully last) pint of Guinness beer and I saw four amazing Irish bands perform. I also tried traditional Irish cider, Bulmer’s, which was actually quite good (especially in comparison to the Guinness), and I sampled some home-brewed strawberry beer. Ending at the nightclub was great too, because we danced the night away with young adults from all over the world.

The next day (Thursday, August 15th), was our last full day in Dublin. We spent it wandering down O’Connell Street looking in all of the local, high-end shops. I bought some fancy chocolate at a cute Irish chocolate shop and I finally bought an authentic Irish Claddagh ring, which I had been eyeing for a while. Then, it rained. Hard. But, with time running out, we pushed on to the Guinness factory. It took us about an hour to walk to the factory and, by the time we made it, we were soaked. My shoes were wet for the next three days and I had to throw my socks away because they didn’t dry at all. After spending time at the factory, we went back and ate a late dinner at O’Shea’s Restaurant, where we watched Irish dancing and listened to another Irish band. It was the perfect way to wrap up our splendid stay in Ireland.