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