The Luck of the Irish

Welcome to the land of luck, leprechauns, and a pot of gold at the end of every rainbow. Yupp, last weekend, I went to Ireland!! Ireland has been the one European country that I have wanted to go my entire life. I am Irish, and since I have been Irish Dancing since I was like 10 I was so excited to go. I was so excited for the weekend, and it turned out way better than I could have imagined. I’m going to split this blog up a little since I write so much. Sorry that this is so long!! But I hope you enjoy it.

            Wednesday night, I met up with my friends at 10:00pm to take a bus to the bus station. We got there really early and we went to a café and just hung out in the bus station until 1:30am Thursday morning when our bus left for Madrid. I was able to sleep off and on during the bus ride. Driving to Madrid probably only takes about 4 and a half hours, but the drivers always stop for a half an hour on the way. We got to the Madrid airport at around 7am and I was exhausted. It was probably one of the worst nights sleep I’ve ever gotten in my life, but I was surprisingly alert finding my way through the airport. We got to the right terminal and then slept til 9am on some benches, where I was actually able to sleep soundly. Then we went through security, got our passports stamped (yes!!), and sat at our gate for another few hours. We flew Ryanair, which in my experience leaves on time, but not today. We were supposed to take off at 11:35, but didn’t leave until at least 12:15. There is a time change to Ireland, so even though we landed 2 and a half hours later, we lost an hour too.

first look at ireland <3

        

            I was so excited when I saw Ireland for the first time. It looked so… green. I didn’t realize how much I missed green grass. And it wasn’t raining or cold. We got our passports stamped, got on a double decker bus, and an Irish guy told us what stop to get off at. There was a McDonald’s, a Burger King, and, thank God, a Subway. Everything was written in English. I love this place already!!! Their accents were awesome, but kinda hard to understand. When we got off the bus, we saw the Spire. (Don’t worry, I didn’t know what it was either.) It looks like a huge silver needle. I have no idea what the point of it is (get it, point? Haha).

Anyways, we went to find our hostel called The Bunkhouse. We walked in and I already knew I was going to love it. There were Irish flags everywhere and Tangled was on TV. Angie and I stayed in a 16 co-ed dorm with 8 bunk beds. We met some of our roommates. We shared a room with 2 Brazilian girls, 2 German girls named Sophie and Josie who were really nice and friendly and we helped them with their English homework, a guy from Minnesota who goes to Notre Dame, a guy from Ireland, someone from Austria, someone from Madrid, and a big group of French people. We put our stuff in a big locker-crate thing and went back to the lobby. All of us went to go get lunch. We had cheeseburgers and a cheap place. Then the 3 of our friends who weren’t staying in our hostel went to their couch surfer’s house and Angie and I went to buy groceries so we could save as much money as possible. Plus, I love being Irish, but I zero interest in trying Irish food.

 We all met up in the lobby of the hostel at 7:30 that night. Their couch surfer told them about this Comedy Club, so we decided to go. The act didn’t start til much later, so while we were walking, we stopped outside this movie theater. There was a red carpet and a crowd of people behind these metal gates and a huge banner that read “Dublin Jameson Film Festival.” There were reporters and cameramen everywhere. We got really excited so we asked some people standing around what was going on. Were famous people coming? They said that Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez were coming!! Now don’t get me wrong, I love Hollywood and celebrities, and I was so excited. But the fact that we were in Europe made it even more exciting!! I felt like I was in Los Angeles, standing behind gates looking for celebrities.

But okay, Martin Sheen I saw in this alcoholic movie we had to watch in health class in high school, and I had no clue who Emilio Estevez was. So here is a little celeb info- if you really don’t care, just skip to the next paragraph. People explained to me that he was in the Brat Pack (not helpful) and the coach of the Mighty Ducks (thank God I watched that in my sorority house). Martin Sheen is, obviously, Charlie Sheen’s dad. Emilio Estevez is Charlie’s brother. I know, they have different last names. Well, Martin Sheen’s real name is Ramon Estevez and his dad is Spanish, (his mom is Irish) but he made a stage name of Martin Sheen. He said one of his greatest regrets was that he didn’t keep his father’s last name, although his legal name is still Ramon Estevez. Charlie, who’s real name is Carlos Estevez, took his dad’s last name for a stage name because the two of them were really close. Emilio kept his dad’s real last name, hoping to make a name for himself without people just knowing him as his dad’s son. Emilio and Charlie have 2 other siblings.

martin sheen

emilio estevez

Martin and Emilio were here because they made a movie together and I think it was premiering in this film festival. There were video cameras and I’m pretty sure we made it onto Irish TV. We thought the stars wouldn’t come til late at night and we wouldn’t see them. But soon, up pulled a limo and out walked Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez!! I was sort of confused at first because the movies I’ve seen with them in it were made awhile ago, so they looked older than I thought they would. There were cameras flashing pictures right in front of us, and I looked online and saw photos of them with us in the background!! Plus my one friend Karina who was standing right next to me was in the background of a photo in a Dublin newspaper the next day!

Well after that totally random excitement, we headed for the Comedy Club. It was so nice walking around Dublin at night! It is such a beautiful city. We passed the Liffey River, a Quizno’s, an Urban Outfitters, tons of people carrying Forever 21 bags, and at least 5 Subways. We finally got to the comedy club and discovered that the club charged 10 euros to get in, so we left. Dublin, and Ireland in general, is famous for its pubs, so we wanted to go to one. We finally found one, and we got carded by a policeman outside before we even walked in. It was so weird! Now keep in mind, at the moment I was with Angie and Anna, my 2 sorority sisters. Angie is 21 and Anna will be 22 this summer. I am still 19. He said, “How old are you?” My first thought was, I haven’t done anything illegal!! I am just standing outside of a bar!! Angie responds with “21” and I say “19.” Then he asks to see our ID’s, and we handed him our licenses. Great. I’m going to get arrested. My fabulous Ireland vacation will be spent in an Irish jail. He handed them back, said “Okay,” and walked off. Okay? So we weren’t in trouble?! Awesome! We walked inside the bar and told our other friends what had just happened. Anna told me that the drinking age here was probably 21 but you can get into the pubs at 18. We found out later that this was not true, the drinking age is 18. But I decided to be safe and not drink. We listened to Irish music and walked around the pub. We also tried this nasty sausage or whatever, it was my first and last experience with Irish food. But my mom had told me to try Irish coffee in Ireland, so I went up to the bar and ordered one. While I was waiting for my drink, I saw a sign on the bar that listed the ingredients of an Irish coffee, the first one being whiskey. Well, they didn’t card me, so I tried to look as sophisticated as possible when the bartender handed me the drink and I handed him money. I hate real coffee, but this coffee was awesome!! We relocated to the room with the band and my friends encouraged me to Irish Dance. I have danced in a lot of very strange places, my fellow Weber Irish Dancer friends can vouch for that. We have danced on tiny squares of floor, slippery floors, floors shaped like a capital T, stages with plants, and stages that have literally been in danger of collapsing at any moment. But never have I danced in a crowded Irish pub with about a 2 inch radius in every direction. I decided against any steps that involve high kicks and did a few steps. It felt so awesome to Irish Dance in Ireland!! After the pub, we headed back to the hostel and made plans to meet up tomorrow at 10am.

karina, melissa, and anna at the river

:)

river liffey

temple bar

irish coffee

inside the pub