Let me start by telling you how I found myself in Dublin. In the 8th grade I was in Jazz band, a complete loser with no friends. Somewhere in the room I found a girl that seem to be as lonely as I was. The rest is history and Anna and I have been friends ever since. She is one of the only people that has been consistent, and we both put in the effort to keep in touch. For those of you who haven't read my earlier posts, she was the reason I even found my way to Estonia. A month or so before the ISEP deadline she came home from college and we met up at our local mall. "You should really study abroad through ISEP," she said. My automatic answer was no. I was perfectly content with school and work day in and day out, there was no need in jumping out of my comfort zone. Long story short, we both spent six agonizing weeks waiting to see if we were accepted into the program.
When discussing our stay in Europe we would passingly say that we should meet up. I didn't think much about it and chalked it up to the coffee from Barnes and Noble messing with our heads. I don't know if I ever believed it but before I knew it, I was buying plane tickets and hostel accommodations . So, I hope you enjoy hearing about my trip to Ireland.
Transportation:
When booking, the cheapest airline was Ryan air. Overall I had a good experience with them. I think any stress I had was self imposed. My flatmate let me use her suitcase since all I needed was a cabin bag. Somehow it got stuck in my head that I was really going to go out and my green dress and brown boots was crucial. The whole time I was worried if my bag would be the appropriate weight and size. The flight to Dublin was longer than I expected. I don't know why I though it would be an hour flight but it was a two and a half hour flight. When I arrived, the airport was design that you basically had to go to customs, collect your bags and leave. I knew Anna's plane would land with the 15 minutes so I hopped in line and hoped that it was slow enough for us to meet. I finally got connected with the airport's Wi-Fi when Anna sent me a message saying that she just got her passport stamped and she was at baggage claim. Fear shot through me because I never seen Anna go through customs and I thought for a moment that we were at two different airports. After a few questions and getting my passport stamped, I rushed to baggage claim to search for her. It didn't take long for me to find her and I was at ease. Everything was okay.
On the way back, Anna talked me into buying souvenirs, three for 20 euros. It seemed like a good deal until I couldn't get my bag to fit in the baggage check. Luckily after 20 minutes or so, I arranged everything in my bag well enough that it wouldn't cause a problem.
For the remainder of our trip we took buses, trains, trams and a taxi. The Tram easily became to our favorite form of transportation and the bus was the worst. The bus station didn't have maps or anything that clearly relayed the potential destinations. So we had to travel by the seat of our pants and get off at what sounded good. Our feet was the most used form of transportation. I didn't bring any good walking shoes so my feet were hurting majority of the time. For the most part, maneuvering around the city wasn't too bad. We had the classic "tourist" look going on but it was okay because we were not alone.
Accommodation:
I think the Accommodation area was the most humorous part of our trip. When we first got in town, we got off at the wrong stop so we had to walk back a little ways. We walked on the main strip until when seen some blue lights. Anna asked did I want to walk by the lights so we turned left on the street. Well we walked passed the lights and made a right because we thought we should head in that direction. Fast forward an hour and we still haven't found our hostel. By this time I am getting a little nervous because its dark and we didn't know where we were going. We found ourselves back at the blue lights. This time we looked forward and seen 5 signs with the word "Generator." The hostel was right in front of us the whole time and we totally missed it. I don't have to tell you how silly we felt.
So we go in and the place looks exactly like the pictures. The place seemed to scream "Youth." We check in and we realized that they had us in two different rooms. So me being the person that I am, I asked was there any way to put us in the same room. They were very helpful and put us in the same room on the second floor. The room held 8 beds and we shared the room with six other people (men and women). It reminded me of a dorm room. You share the room with other people and the bathrooms were communal
*Funny Story Break*
The first night we was there Anna said she was going to a shower. Well I decided I was going to take mines in the morning because I was tired. We discussed the shower thing for a moment or two and Anna still wanted to take her shower then. So she got out of her towel and bed clothes and other essentials. She took a shower and by the time that she got bad I was tucked away in bed. So around 5:30 in the morning, and I had to go to the bathroom. I went out to the hall and I seen a door that had boxers on them. I wasn't very comfortable going through that door even though it was the only door on the whole floor. I would have went to the handicapped bathroom but it was locked. So I walked up to the third floor and there was a worker. I think he could tell I was confused because he asked if I need something. Standing in my pajamas, I said "I am just trying to find the bathroom." He got on his radio to confirm the location and he said "The women showers and toilets are on the first floor and the men showers and toilets are on the second floor."
I chuckled a little bit thinking about how funny it would be if Anna went into the guy's bathroom. Later in the morning I asked her about where she took her showers. She then told me about somehow there were only guys in the shower and when she got out, there were some guys snickering. You guessed right. Anna took a shower in the Men's Bathroom
The layout of the hostel was meant for young adults, but there were older and teenagers there as well. I think I was more annoyed by the immature kids that we running around than anything. Good there we were only there for four nights and the kids were there for just a night. On a few of the evenings we would sit in the lounge and listen to the live music. I cannot tell a lie, I was checking out all of the cute guys, but I was too shy to talk to anyone. I really enjoyed the overall atmosphere of the hostel and I would stay there again. In case any of you plan on going to Dublin, it is called the "Generator"
http://generatorhostels.com/en/destinations/dublin/
So here are a few pictures.
This was us when we met at the airport. I was so relieved that we both made it safely
Something creative we seen while walking
I will be posting about the culture and food next, so stay with me!
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