I'm having so much fun here!!
June 3rd- Went to Portobello Market, which is like an outdoor swap meet. There was good music and great people everywhere. Later on a friend and I went to the Science Museum down the street from our building and saw an IMAX film called "Wild Ocean 3d."
June 4th- Awesome day! Went to Buckingham Palace and saw the Changing of the Guards in the morning/afternoon and walked around a lot. It was my mission to find a Beefeater (the palace soldiers with the awesome bearskin hats) and take a picture with one. Apparently that's a myth because they are guarding the royal family while policemen are guarding them. But after we spotted one we walked over to get some closer pictures of their uniforms when out comes Prince William in a nice car.
June 5th- Ran my first 5k charity race with my happiness professor. Great experience! I need to work on my running skills but it was completely worth it. Got a medal and everything :)
June 6th- Last day in London :( Went to Kensington Palace and saw Princess Diana's Memorial Fountain in Hyde park. A friend and I went to a really nice restaurant (unintentionally) but ended up having a great time!
June 7th- Day 1 of Ireland!! Met Alice Cooper at Heathrow airport before boarding. Nicest guy-- a little ironic that he lives in Arizona but we run into him in London!
Our dorm facilities are 10x better than London's-- I get my own room and fresh towels every day. I feel spoiled.
Temple Bar is a town that's basically Old Town Scottsdale but minus the faux-rich people. Irish bars are a lot of fun-- almost every pub has live music and traditional Irish songs.
June 10th- A group of us decided to go on a 3 day tour to the west coast of Ireland and it is by far my favorite experience so far on this trip. I can't even explain how pretty it is here. I was a little worried after seeing Dublin-- it's not anything impressive. But having a local tour guide show us the most beautiful places in Ireland definitely made up for it.
Oh, and the weather is crazy here. It rains more than Seattle. My favorite thing our tourguide said was, "Sometimes you have 4 seasons in one day, and sometimes you get 4 seasons in one hour."
Totally true.
We stopped in a town called Cong and saw Ashwood Castle. The town is where the movie "The Quiet Man" with John Wayne was filmed and we saw the hotel he stayed in.
Then we went to Kylemore Abbey which is a beautiful castle in the middle of nowhere. We also passed Eirann Island, which is the Irish way to spell my name :)
Also, stayed in my very first hostel. Not as scary as I thought it would be.
June 11th- Went to Claire. BEAUTIFUL. Got to see my new favorite place called the Moher Cliffs. We only got to stay an hour but oh my gosh was it amazing. That night we stayed in Killarney and ate at the Lough Inn restaurant.
June12th- I kissed the Blarney Stone!! My impression of the stone was just a big wall and people run up and kiss it and call it a day. Nope. You climb to the very top of the Blarney Castle, sit down with your back to the wall, and a guy holds you by your waist while you kiss the stone upside down (and there is nothing between you and the long fall you'd have to the ground) lol So much fun!
On the way home we passed the battlefield where 'Braveheart' was filmed as well as 'Saving Private Ryan.'
Today is my last day in Ireland :( It went by WAY too fast... but tomorrow it's off to Scotland!
**A few words/phrases I learned in Ireland**
"Criac" (pronounced 'crack') means 'good times'. I was a little caught off guard when people kept saying 'This is some good criac!' (There is also a beer called the 'Galway Hooker'... so in a pub you have good criac and hookers...)
"Pog Mo Thoin" is heard A LOT... it means 'Kiss my ass'
The way people say the number 3 is pronounced "tree" and when someone has a really thick accent I can't understand a word they're saying.
"Slinte"= 'cheers' when having a drink
Irish people are by far the nicest people in the world. I love them.
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