Full frontal male nudity and ice cream cones... Welcome to Dublin!!

I'm trying to catch up on my blogging since, I have been internetless for a few days now. Not gonna lie, it's been ROUGH. No Internet and no cell phone. Not a good combination.

So from Galway to Dublin is roughly a four hour drive by coach. So instead of driving directly to Dublin and allowing us the entire day to explore the biggest city in Ireland (80% of the country lives there) we had to stop at every little place along the way. I may sound bitter (partly because I am) but I hate group travel I'm discovering. Anyways...

Our first stop was William Butler Yaets' grave. Riveting right? Haha Well the gift shop place had great soup and brown bread which had become my staple in Europe. Everywhere we go I know I can count on the soup to pull me through my starvation. The interesting thing about Ireland and their graves is the face that they are so ornate! They are HUGE and all granite and marble. It's quite crazy because the people who are still alive in relation to that person keeps up the grave. There are fresh plants planted and weeds taken out. Very different from the graveyards in America. Actually kinda creepy in my opinion.

After that little stop off we went to this huge estate of Lissadell Estate. I know what you're thinking who/what/where is that? My point exactly. For those who have seen Hearst Castle, this tour and mansion seems to be a smaller, less impressive version of that. Not much more to say about it but the tour guide was really well dressed and I was craving water the entire time.

Then we did the final leg of our trip. Off to Dublin!

We arrive in Dublin around 6:30pm and show up to yet another hostel. Lucky us!! This one looked a little better than the one in Galway, but given anything, it's still a hostel. It's down this little street leading to the Temple Bar district of Dublin which is where all the major pubs and clubs are. In an effort to not clog up the lobby with 25 Americans and their luggage, we all waited outside in the little alleyway. So remember... there are about 20 girls just standing outside right up the way from the major pub area.

Four guys who are already "pissed" (drunk) stumble on up the alleyway and the one who had a shirt that read (no joke) "F*CK moderation. Let's get drunk!" (classy right?) said to all of us "So is this a lesbian show?" Wowwww.... Well he proceeds to be a little crude and just plain drunk which gets more and more funny. Making comments about "Hillary Bush" and "Starbucks!!" and then we hear one of his friends who has walked down the street a block or so start going "wooooo!!!" and of course we all turn our heads and look, and sure enough, the kids has unbuttoned his pants, dropped everything to his knees and lifted his shirt above his shoulders. Full frontal male nudity... WELCOME TO DUBLIN!

Then we get our room assignments. Unlike the hostel in Galway where we had four person rooms and one 12 person room, this time we were all in six person rooms. The room wasn't much bigger and there was only one bathroom, but at least the shower was a billion times better.

Well the first night Kate and I decide to walk around and try to find food and maybe find new friends. However, since we got there so late, and by the time we'd dropped our stuff off at the hostel and then changed and got ready to go out after being on a bus all day, it was already late. So we walked around everywhere and tried to get food, but the nightlife scene was well underway and the kitchens were closing. We finally found a place and had some good food and then went walking around Dublin.

After walking all throughout the Temple Bar pubs and not liking what we saw, we made the hike over to Grafton street which is where more pubs and shops should be. We forgot how late it was and how everything but pubs would be closed. We found a lot of pubs over there, but every single one of them had too many old, balding men. No thanks. So we hike it back to the Temple Bar area and try our luck again down there. Nothing. So about ready to give up, Kate and I get an ice cream cone and sit on the street curb and just people watch. What happened next we're still laughing about...

Well we're just sitting there licking our cones, minding our own business and all of a sudden about five or six Scottish boys come up to us and say that our cones look so good. So we told them where we got them and so they got one too. If our "accents" didn't give it away enough, they asked where we were from and we told them California and they were all excited and wanted to hangout. So they asked if we knew any good pubs, we said no, we kept talking and then decided to walk around with them because they were all hilarious. Well we ended up finding this little place called Pal Joey and it had an American music night with two girls singing everything from Kelly Clarkson to Evanescence. It was really funny. Eventually there were about ten of their friends in the pub with us and we were just hanging out until two of them (slightly drunk) started to sing "Save Tonight" after the two girls had finished their set. Kate and I thought that looked fun and so we decided to join them and we were all BELTING "Saaaaave tonight!" without any music or even in the right key. It was hilarious. It has become our song of the trip.

After that we went back to the hostel, got some sleep and started day two in Dublin...

Checklist for the ever so fortunate hostel dweller...

1. A lack of desire to ever look completely ready
2. Ear plugs
3. Lysol
4. Patience
5. Eye mask
6. Shower shoes
7. Breakfast food
8. Loads of sanity

I type all of those to explain this... While trying to get ready with five other people to one bathroom and a couple people who won't change in the room because lord knows I'm going to stare, gawk and wonder what anatomy they may have that I don't, Kate and I had to get up earlier to make sure we showered and had time to get hair dried and straightened in time for breakfast. Well we did the shower thing just fine, but while trying to straighten our hair, the entire second floors circuits go out. So at this point half of my head is straight, the other half just really isn't. Not ok. So I throw on my SD hat and call it a day. I could tell I wasn't going to love Dublin that much because bad mornings usually equal bad days. Another horrible thing about a hostel is the fact that their "free breakfast" is just toast. Toast!? What a scrumitious breakfast! We I grab a couple pieces of plain bread, some butter and call it a morning. Good thing I brought some energy bars to munch on.

The day was going to be mostly to ourselves, but we first went and saw a writer's museum and then to Trinity College to see the Book of Kells. It's the oldest manuscript of the Bible. It was interesting, but too many people in the exhibit. The college itself looked awesome and I wish I could have see more of the college instead of just the gift shop and the outside of the buildings.

Then it was off to the reason why we wanted to go to Dublin. The Guinness Factory at St. James Gate Brewery. It was SO MUCH FUN! But, it leads me to this blog's travel tip. Always have a map, or know where you're going when you plan to walk somewhere. Seems brainless right? Well we thought we could just walk in the direction we thought the smokestacks and factory was... but about 45 minutes later, we decided to hop on the tram and have it take us there. Once we were inside, it was SO COOL!!

I thought it would just be a couple rooms that said random facts about Guinness, but I was so wrong! It was AWESOME! I learned all about hops, wheat and barely and how water makes a difference in beer. Also, we learned about Aurthur Guinness himself and how he came up with the recipe and everything around it. It was awesome. Then at the end of the tour you went to the "Gravity Bar" which had a 360 degree view of Dublin. SO AWESOME! Probably one of the best parts of the trip.

Then it was off to our first group dinner. It was at an Irish Dinner Show Party. I have never been to something quite like this. The food was great, the entertainment was cool, but I was SO TIRED from all the walking and late nights, that I was wanting to just crawl into bed. What the show was was a group of people playing traditional Irish music and telling us the history and the differences between instruments and showing us river dance and teaching a few how to do it. It was funny, and so good. Then we walked back to our hostel and pretty much called it a night. Kate and I were exhausted, and had a long day ahead of us.

The next morning we left for Belfast which is in Northern Ireland. I showed my stupid American side when I asked if Northern Ireland was different than just Ireland. And for those like me who don't know, yes they are different. So we changed our money from Euros to Pounds and kept driving up the island to Belfast.

We've been in Belfast for two days, but I'm tired and don't want to type about it yet. But if you're bored, you should do some research on crime and battles here in Belfast. This is why I hate it here pretty much. Yikes! Put it this way... the Catholics live on one side of a huge wall and the Protestants live on the other and they used to bomb each other.... as recently as 3 years ago... bleh!!

Current Cravings: Olive garden's soup salad and breadsticks, and taco bell double decker tacos.

Do you want a cuddly blanket and ranch dressing?

So I officially LOVE Ireland. I could totally (and plan to) come back here. Especially Galway which is the last city we were in. Talk about a college town! Though I don't know if there was a college near by. Ha

So we arrive and the bus parks down the street from our hostel (that's right, I stayed in a hostel). Well the bus driver, Jerry, parks on a busy street, 25 Americans pile out, pick up our luggage from under the coach and then drag it across the street and down the road to the hostel. All the while we're gaining more and more attention, stares and blocking traffic. Awesome right? Well then we arrive at Barnacles. Our lovely abode for the night.

Noelle doesn't belong in a hostel. I spent three years in Nease Hall and would gladly trade in last night for a room in Nease again. Any day!! Let me first describe the room.

Kate and I walk in and see two sets of poor looking bunkbeds with pillow cases with stains (yes, weird stains) on them. First of all... bunk beds? Seriously. Ok moving on... then we check out the bathroom. Well the shower floor is the entire floor. As in there is no raised barrier for the water, there is just a drain in the middle of the floor. Awesome! And then you can sit on the toilet and wash your hands at the same time if you'd like because the toilet and bathroom could pretty much be the same hole and you wouldn't notice a difference. Then moving on to a shower. So I had been up for a while, been in a bus and just wanted a shower... well... you know those rest stop bathrooms where you have to push the faucet button over and over to get water to come out? And it never seems to warm up? Yeah... welcome to the Galway Barnacles hostel's poor excuse for a shower. I pushed it twice and was like "You've GOT to be KIDDING me!!??" Kate got a good laugh about that one... jerk. :oP

Once we got over the fact we were gonna be greasy we decided to go out and get some dinner and take in the local charm.

We ate at this amazing pizza place called Fat Freddy's Bistro. I think they have a website if you wanna check it out. They had AMAZING thin crust, but the pepperoni was small circles of Canadian bacon. Odd, but yummy. Well our first bummer we're not in America for food moment came when Kate asked for ranch dressing. The poor waitress looked SO confused. She was like "Is that like barbecue?" haha sadly we were like "No, it's ok. thanks!" haha Oh man... Who know ranch dressing was such an American thing.

Then Kate, Amy, Melanie and I decided we were going to go hang out at the river bank with all the young locals. Ha! Talk about a drunk fest!! It's against the law to hang an open container in public, but it's not heavily enforced until nighttime. Well the police, or Garda, went around last night and was telling hundreds (no joke) hundreds of people to clear out and if they were caught with an open container the garda dumped it out on the street. You'd think the Irish kids were losing a parent when their precious Guinness was being dumped out. haha

Then Kate and I decided we wanted to stay out later and so we left Amy and Mel at the hostel and we kept walking around the streets and looking at all the pubs. Wow!! So interesting and fabulous! It reminded me of downtown SLO during a Friday night. People we just waiting outside to get into certain pubs and just laughing and having a great time. I could totally study abroad there. LOVED it! As Kate and I were walking around we met a drunk, homeless man who asked if we wanted a cuddly blanket. Excuse me? haha So we were like "What?" And he proceeded to tell us that he makes a great cuddly blanket and that he has "a legend between his legs of you know what I mean". BAH HAHAHAHAH!!!!! Kate and I then saw three random young Irish guys walking by was like "Hey Mike! We found you!" The guy looked so confused and we were like "Just go with it!" haha and we walked with them for about ten minutes until we split ways. It was hilarious. So fun! haha

So that was the end of our night, but one of our roommates in the hostel and another girl on the trip didn't come back until almost 5am and we asked 'em in the morning where they had been and they replied "mr. frenchman's house" oooohhhh wowwww!! HAHA Well all didn't prove fun and games because of the girls lost everything in her wallet. No more wallet, 80 euros, CA ID, and all credit/debit cards. SUCKS!!

So far the lost wallet count is up to TWO, but one was found luckily.

With all this moving around everynight, it'll be nice to be in Dublin for two nights. We got here today after a really long drive from coast to coast, but it's beautiful here and I'm addicted to reading my book. Yes, me, Noelle Seybert is actually LOVING a book. It's The Kiterunner. I really recommend it! The movie AND the book! But with all the moving, it's hard to stay organized and packed well, so here's my travel tip: PACKING CUBES SAVE LIVES! I hadn't heard of them before I was going to go on this trip, but they are FABULOUS! They are found at any traveling store and seriously, I won't travel without them now. Look 'em up. They are GREAT!!

Current Cravings: Olive Garden's endless soup, salad and breadsticks and almost a Jamba Juice Pomegranate Paradise with daily vitamin... And ICE! This country doesn't believe in ice... odd

When jetlag hits you head on in Galway...

Rumor has it that jetlag gradually sets in and then hits you really hard on the third day. Well let me tell you, it has smacked me in the face today. I'm exhausted, but still loving Ireland.

Update since last night...

Kate and I were not able to sleep because we had slept so much on the airplanes and took two random naps before dinner so we went exploring Lahinch (pronounced La-Hench). It was a small and sleepy town, but we walked into a dimly lit pub named "P. Frawleys" and watched the soccer game with one other patron and the bar owner, Mr. Frawley. Well we find out the other patron is from Houston, so we start talking to him and then he tells us that the bar owner is Mr. Frawley himself and he's in his late eighties and this bar has been in the family since the 18 hundreds. CRAZY! So Kate and I take a picture with him and continue to hang out in the pub. Eventually more and more locals come around and so we started talking to them about what we were doing in Ireland and where we were going. This is when the Irish became really friendly to us. They were telling us all the "must sees" in Dublin and Paris and where to avoid. It was awesome.

Well Kate and I were out until almost 1am because our bodies were used to California time and we had had so much sleep and so then by the time 730am Ireland time rolled around, we wanted to scream from sleep deprivation. Well then we walked down to breakfast and had a "traditional Irish breakfast". Travel tip: Keep an open mind about food and don't be shocked when it's completely NOT what you thought. We ordered eggs and bacon with corn flake cereal. Well... the cereal was good, if you added a spoonful of sugar to accommodate our American tongues and then the eggs were really jiggly and WAY yellow and then the bacon was seriously a couple slabs of ham. It all tasted great, but I definitely was skeptical at first.

Then we were off to Galway, but we were talking the scenic route. First we stopped at this random small town where there was a video about somewhere in Ireland (accents make it hard to understand sometimes) and then a cemetery next store. So of course a bunch of American kids with digital cameras in hand invade the cemetery. First of all, they give me the creeps in the states, the ones here are even worse. Though their headstones are really pretty and made up of marble and granite, I think they bury like ten people in the same family on top of each other. No thanks.

We stopped at Coole Park where Lady Gregory lived and died. It was beautiful, but a mixture of no food, no sleep and people who wouldn't shut up on the bus made it a little hard to care completely about what was going on around me.

Then we went to William Butler Yeats' house, which was closed, so we looked at the outside of the tower. He built this HUGE tower for his wife... Man I need to find me an Irish poet who will do that for me! haha

Something I have noticed about Ireland's countryside is that there are miles and miles of these walls made up of stone. They are very castle looking and I don't see the point in many of them. They are really interesting and intricate though. Kinda cool.

We're now in Galway, Ireland and it's a big city. Reminds me of parts of San Francisco. It's not NYC huge, but it's not small either. There are a lot of people walking around and a ridiculous amount of pubs. So weird to me, but it's normal here. There are also a lot of places to place sporting bets. I have soo more of those places in my few days in Ireland than my entire time in the states. Granted, I've never been to Vegas, but honestly, does there need to be THAT many bookie places in one city? Wow!

The best were staying here in Galway is a hostel. It reminds me of Nease... old Nease. There are four people in one room that is smaller than an Old Nease room which includes a bathroom. It's going to be interesting. But honestly, I'm gonna grab dinner after this and then do some exploring and then hit the hay. I wanna be up and alive in Dublin.

My current cravings... Red Mango, Brown bread from the caf and Jaron's mom's lasagna.

Never travel without a neck pillow...

So Katelyn and my travels started at 11:27am PST Tuesday morning and coming to an end at 8:50am Ireland time Wednesday morning. It was a long day filled with airports, sitting by strangers and luckily, a lot of sleep. Katelyn and I stayed up the entire night Monday night so we could sleep throughout both the plane rides on Tuesday. It worked, thank goodness. We both slept a majority of the trip, however the fact we traveled for so long was exhausting itself.

We flew into Shannon Ireland Wednesday morning and then drove to a smaller town called Ennis and walked around their for a while. Katelyn and I were definitely the most awake in the group because no one else could sleep on the plane. Leading to my first piece of travel advice. Always travel with a neck pillow! I bought one in Philidelphia and it was DEFINITELY a life saver. After hanging out in Ennis for a while, we drove about an hour (it seemed) to The Cliffs of Moher. Absolutely BEAUTIFUL, but we were really too tired to truely get anything out of their beauty. We could both start feeling our bodies start to catch up with the fact that it was only 4am PST.

Ireland is eight hours ahead of California, and so it's a rough transition, but it's not going to be that bad. We're done for the day and just finished dinner. We found some quaint little resturant and had baked pataoes because we're too tired to have anything else sound good.

I'm already craving Jamba Juice and Red Mango. This trip might be a rough one what it comes to food. I am also craving good pasta. I wonder if I'll ever endulge this craving...?

We're now in this town called Lahinch, Ireland and it's SMALL! It reminds me of a small midwest town. Surprising the people aren't that nice. They aren't mean mean, but the aren't saying "hi" and yeah... maybe we're just tired.

We have an early morning and we're heading to Galway Ireland. Hopefully it's a bigger town than the one we're currently in.

We're staying at a B&B that totally photoshopped their Internet picture. It's kind of funny how NOT the pictures this place is. It reminds me of Old Nease... yeah it's great! haha

Well Katelyn is sitting behind me wondering why I'm so addicted to this Internet, I'm sure. :o) So I am off for now.... until next time!

CHEERS!

Noelle and Kate are traveling through Europe!!

Hey everyone!! I haven't written in this thing for a really long time. However, I finally have something worth documenting and sharing with everyone. Katelyn Emery and I are traveling through Europe for THREE WEEKS with the Literature, Journalism and Modern Languages (LJML) Department at Point Loma Nazarene University (PLNU). 

We will be flying into The Republic of Ireland's Shannon Airport, traveling through Ireland and into Scotland, through Scotland and into Northern England and then through England and a day in Paris and back to London and flying out of London's Gatwick Airport three weeks later. 

Here's the itinerary:

Day One Tuesday May 13th: Leave San Diego and start a really long journey to Ireland

Day Two Wednesday May 14th: Lahinch, Ireland

Day Three Thursday May 15th: Galway, Ireland

Day Four Friday May 16th: Dublin, Ireland

Day Five Saturday May 17th: Dublin, Ireland

Day Six Sunday May 18th: Belfast, Ireland

Day Seven Monday May 19th: Belfast, Ireland

Day Eight Tuesday May 20th: Oban, Scotland

Day Nine Wednesday May 21st: Inverness, Scotland

Day Ten Thursday May 22nd: Edinburgh, Scotland

Day Eleven Friday May 23rd: Edinburgh, Scotland

Day Twelve Saturday May 24th: Edinburgh, Scotland

Day Thirteen Sunday May 25th: Stratford-Upon-Avon, England

Day Fourteen Monday May 26th: Stratford-Upon-Avon, England

Day Fifteen Tuesday May 27th: Oxford, England

Day Sixteen Wednesday May 28th: Oxford, England

Day Seventeen Thursday May 29th: London, England

Day Eighteen Friday May 30th: London, England

Day Nineteen Saturday May 31st: London, England

Day Twenty Sunday June 1st: Paris, France (Day-Trip via chunnel)

Day Twenty-One Monday June 2nd: London, England

Day Twenty-Two Tuesday June 3rd: London, England to San Diego, California

Every few days I'm going to try and find an Internet café can update everyone on the fun and adventures we've had overseas. Check checking this for more updates!!

If you'd like a postcard from me and/or Katelyn, email your summer address to Noelle@JimSeybert.com and we'll try to get one in the mail for you!