Spring Break Shenannigans: Part 2

March 17, 2012

Gabby and I outside RyanAir on our way to Dublin

Maiya and Gabby

Downtown Dublin :)

Dublin St. Patty's Festival street fair

Dublin!

Oh. My. Goodness. That’s all I have to say about today. And yesterday afternoon. We landed in Algeciras around 1:30pm, and were able to make our way from the ferry port to the bus station by talking Spanish (finally! A language I understand!). We successfully bought bus tickets for Seville and had an hour and a half before it was supposed to take off, so Maiya, Gabby and I wandered around Algeciras for a bit. It was super quiet around that time, there were few people out and about (I’m thinking that it may have had to do with siesta). We had falafel wraps for lunch and found a square with a very beautiful mosaic fountain and benches where we enjoyed the sunshine and fed the pigeon from the bread we bought for breakfast. Around 4pm we headed back to the bus station to catch our bus that planned to leave at 4:30pm. At the bus, we were told that the bus in slot 5 was our bus, so we headed that way. The driver told us that our bus was planned for slot 4, which is what it said on the screen schedule. Finally, an older Spanish man tried to explain that we missed our bus. In my mind, I thought “How in the heck did we miss it? It’s four thirty five, we’ve been here for 20 minutes and the bus hasn’t shown up!” Finally I just accepted the fact that our bus wasn’t coming, and Maiya came up to me and reinforced that our bus had come and gone. “Daylight savings time!” How could Spain be on daylight savings and Morocco not be? That completely through the three of us into a tizzy because we had lost an hour in our day and didn’t know if there was going to be another bus to catch to Seville for the night.  Thankfully the other bus company had one leaving at 7pm, so we bought tickets for that ride and waited at the bus station this time. We left on the bus for Seville at 7pm, where Maiya met Sara, a 22 year old Spanish forest ranger who talked with her in Spanish the entire ride. We reached Seville around 9:30pm and Sara got us on the local bus to get to the neighborhood where our couch surfing hosts live (yes, we couch surfed!). She was so helpful, I was really appreciative for her. Two ladies on the bus and the bus driver were also helpful, telling us how long of a ride it was to the neighborhood and the bus driver telling us when to get off. Being in Seville again since high school blew me away- seeing the same buildings and recognizing places was such a great feeling. It took us a good 15 minutes to get to our stop, and then another 10 minutes or so to find number 9 on the residential street where Pierre and Marian, our French hosts, lived. Pierre was the one who buzzed us in. We walked into this apartment plaza and went up two flights to their apartment. Both Pierre and Marian met us at the door, and we had amiable and comfortable conversation until 1am. Pierre made us the most delicious pasta I have had (one that consists of just tomato sauce and garlic) and chamomile tea (I haven’t had good tea in a while, this was GOOD tea). We all took showers and went to bed, getting up the next morning at 7am to make sure that our walk to the bus station went successfully. We walked through Seville to the bus station (a good 20-25 minute walk) and we made it without a fuss. 

In the streets of Dublin

The airport bus came 15 minutes later (8:30am) and we made it to the airport around 9am. Passports checked, through security, and we boarded our RyanAir flight to Dublin! By that time all three of us were super excited! The two and a half hour plane ride seemed to drag on forever. Finally we landed, and we entered the city center of Dublin on a green two-decker bus, where we talked with a graduate student in Galway about hostels and the best way to get around the city.  We got off a few stops in, a few blocks around Merion Square and Trinity College. We found subway sandwiches for lunch and bought some souvenirs at one of the Ireland shops (yes, they have multiple stores for tourists who want all Ireland and St. Patty’s gear). We then walked around this area in Dublin for the rest of the afternoon, finding things to do while we tried to figure out if we’d wait for D’Jeane and Paul to arrive at the hotel room they rented or if we would just get our own room somewhere. We went to some pubs and saw some music (good Irish music at that), went into the National Irish gallery and saw an exhibit based on fairy tales. Walked back to Tandem Bar area and watched performances of Irish bands for two hours and joined in on some of the dancing (that was super fun!) and then tried to find this legend telling event, but that didn’t end up existing. 

Building decoration for St. Patty's Day

Irish music and folk with Leprachaun hats. It was so fun joining in on the dancing :)

Night at the Museum ;)

 By that time it was 8pm and dark so we walked around and looked for somewhere to eat. Ended up being Burger King (meh). It was weird eating fast food when I haven’t in years. It wasn’t the end of the world though. We used skype to try and find a place to stay since getting a hold of D’Jeane or Paul failed miserably. Gabby’s mom gets hotel points so Gabby called her to ask her to get us a room somewhere, since it’s pretty difficult as St. Patty’s day is such a big deal here in Ireland. Then we lost the Wi-fi in Burger King and so looked elsewhere to get access. By then every intoxicated person was in the streets and it was hard for us to stick together- we almost lost Maiya as she got too far ahead of us. We walked into the Barnacles hostel lobby and talked with the guy at the counter for information on hostels and places to go. He kindly called around for us and let us use his Wi-fi in order for Gabby to get a hold of her mom to see the progress on getting us somewhere to stay. After talking with the desk guy about places to go and him giving us discount cards for hostels and lots of flyers, Gabby informed us that her mom booked us a hotel room at the nicest hotel in Dublin: the Sharone Dublin Renaissance Hotel. And she paid for the entire thing (and it’s an expensive hotel). Walking in I felt really uncomfortable and out of place, but the lady at the check in counter was super nice and showed us where to go. Now we are here in the room watching a movie and recuperating from our day of constant walking around Dublin. 

My favorite homeless message

                Honestly, I love Ireland. Even though I’ve been told that Dublin on St. Patty’s day is not the representation of the true Ireland, but it’s been thoroughly great. I am surrounded by people who speak with Irish actions, Irish music, and a beautiful city. I thought of Alexandra all day today. I hope she makes it over here when she’s in England for her study abroad experience. I am definitely bringing Meranda here someday. I definitely plan to come back one day, Ireland is too amazing, too incredible of a place to not come back again.

    Tomorrow we plan on going to the 

day festival for a couple hours and then making our way west toward Galway. I hope I am able to contact Kelsey about staying with her, but if not a hostel will work. It is a 10 euro bus ride one way, so the entire ride will cost around 40 USDs, which is not bad. I also hear Galway and the west coast of Ireland is gorgeous, so we are all looking forward to seeing outside of Dublin.

The end of day 3 of traveling and my first experience in Ireland.