May 12-16: Ireland

On the morning of May 12, Lee and I woke up in our 12 person room and waited for our turn in the shower. I had to turn the water off mid hair-wash to avoid it overflowing due to slow drainage. We enjoyed our wonderful breakfast buffet and Lee’s friend from Granada, TK, arrived just as we were ready to head out for the day.

We decided to start out our Ireland adventure with a free walking tour of Dublin. Already a little late we started heading towards where the tour began. Along the way we stopped to ask for directions, just to make sure we were going the right way- a woman pointed us in a direction that was a little backward, but we decided to trust her; we were mistaken. After quickly realizing that we were going towards the wrong building we hurried back across the river and finally found the tour. We were about 10 minutes late, but they were just getting started. Our tour guide was an Irish student studying at Trinity college (which we saw on the tour) and was very informative. The tour was definitely long, but I felt like I saw the entire city. Afterwards, our tour guide got us in to see the book of Kells and the famous Long Room for free (free entry for students of Trinity and their ‘friends’, but costs money for tourists). The Long Room was truly remarkable.
For lunch that afternoon we had to do the only thing you really have to do when visiting Ireland- go to a pub. I, of course, ordered meat and potatoes, as well as experienced my first Guiness in the homeland. Lee had a little trouble finishing his; luckily TK was quick to help. After lunch it was time for siesta. I decided to pull the trigger on my quickly approaching four days alone and booked a trip to Scotland. Lee and I also talked to Lisa Weitzman on video chat, who was now home- we had been with her in Granada just two days before. It was a very weird feeling to know that so many people I had been abroad with for so long were now back living normal life at home while I had many adventures remaining.

That night we decided to go on our own pub crawl through Temple Bar- a few other guys from the hostel joined us. It was great. The best word to describe the atmosphere is ‘jolly’. The pubs were exactly as you would imagine Irish pubs: people packed together drinking their pints, slamming them on tables, live music everywhere with people standing up, bodies swaying on the creaky wooden floor. Just watching was fun. After hopping around a couple pubs we grabbed a staple Kebab and headed back to the hostel for the night.

The next day started off with the same incredible breakfast. We then headed to the Chester Beatty Library. I will never forget that name because I have never seen a building with so many signs stating its name- I think I count 29 either on the outside of building or on the street directly adjacent to the building. Chester Beatty had a large collection of ancient religious artifacts from various religions, as well as old books and details of the beginnings of book creation.

After spending a few hours in the library it only made sense to go to one place: the Guiness factory. Not only did I learn about how Guiness is brewed, I learned about the incredible history of the company and its growth throughout the past few centuries. Most importantly, I learned the proper way to pour a Guiness and received my Guiness-pouring certification diploma. The factory-museum was quite fun and we spent about four hours there. Obviously siesta-ing was the late afternoon, pre-dinner activity. That night Lee, TK and I headed to Q bar for the night. Coincidentally we bumped into a couple girls from Lee and TK’s Granada program there- small world yet again.

On May 14 we decided that we had a feel of Dublin and wanted to escape the city to do something adventurous. Per recommendation of our hostel companions we boarded a train to a small town about 45 minutes outside of Dublin. Unfortunately the weather was not great and it was raining almost the entire day; we still decided to hike around the cliffs on the East side of the country. We hiked for hours through grass and mud and rain along the side of the cliffs. The view was truly spectacular and would have been even better had there not been fog. Eventually we made it to our destination- a light house at the end of the peninsula. Unfortunately we were not permitted to enter. We then hiked back a different way and ended up walked through a small Irish town where we stopped in a local café for lunch- the cake was amazing (TK tried all three kinds). Another hour of walked led us back to the train where we headed back to Dublin and back to the hostel.

As Lee and I were checking out we received from hostility from a hostel worker- apparently we had overstayed our welcome. We quickly gathered our things, said goodbye to TK, and boarded our train to Rathmore.

Overall: Dublin was awesome. Like many other cities, I was very surprised at how small it is. The Irish also know how to make fun of their city. In the middle of O’Connell Street is a very tall structure, built purely for artistic purposes, known formally as the Spire of Dublin. Its enormous cost and worthless use just makes Dubliners laugh. Nicknames for it now include: the stiffey by the Liffey and the Erection near the intersection. Usually locals just say to foreigners, “look how happy Dublin is to see you”.

That evening Joan, our host for the next couple of days (Lee’s aunt’s cousin or something like that) picked us up from the train and took us to her farm house in the country. She immediately reminded me of Mrs. Doubtfire and the events over the next few days only confirmed that impression. The town was very small, consisting of one road with about a dozen shops lined up, six of them pubs. Along with helping take care of their hundreds of cattle (both milk and beef), and couple horses, Joan served as the town babysitter. Each day she had between 2 and 7 kids at her house throughout the day and basically seemed like their mother.

After picking up pizza from the ‘main drag’ Lee and I met Joan’s son, Kevin, and his fiancé Noel. They took us out for the night. Every person in the local pub knew each other; it felt like I jumped into a small-town movie. We were known as the Americans visiting by everyone in the town. I also found it surprisingly difficult to communicate with people here. Obviously the Irish accent was noticeable in Dublin, but it was nothing like in the country. While Lee and I were sitting talking to Noel Kevin went to get drinks and was talking to the bar tender. Not able to understand what they were saying Lee asked Noel what language they were speaking. She looks at him with a confused appearance and bluntly says, “English”. Lee and I both started laughing. I really had to pay attention and focus to have some conversations, especially with the older men.

The next morning Joan made Lee and I breakfast: ham, bacon, “pudding” (I’m still not really sure what it is) and eggs. We hung out around the house most of the morning with Joan and two kids at her house. One kid was a three year old devil-child; she was quite violent with me and Lee as we tried to play with her and used words that I did not know until I was ten- all of which had four letters. The other kid, her little brother, was nine months old. I know my aunts, uncles, grandparents and parents will show me pictures of myself when I say this, but this was the fattest baby I have ever seen. It looked like his arms, cheeks and thighs were about to burst. He ran around in a wheeled standing thing and would power through the living room like a linebacker, or as they said in Ireland, like a Rugby player. I think he was already bigger than the three year old.

That afternoon we also walked around their farm. Seeing all of the land and all of the cows and knowing that this family owned them was a very cool feeling. One of their horses had just had a baby, as well, which was very cute. Lee’s aunt’s brother came and visited that day and, if possible, he was even more difficult to understand. Lee and I were sitting in the kitchen with him and Joan’s husband and they were having a conversation, apparently having no difficulty at all understanding each other. Every so often they would stop and look at us, apparently having asked us a question. Usually Lee or I would understand what they were saying the third or fourth time they said it.

That afternoon Joan took Lee and I on a driving trip to see the country. It was remarkable. We went on a hike up to a waterfall with incredibly scenic views and drove up to a couple lookout points. It is true that the grass in Ireland is a different shade of green. I immediately thought that I might need to retract my opinion of Salzburg as being the most beautiful place in the world. In addition to the scenery, we went to a couple famous old houses and castles in the Cork area.

Dinner that night was enormous. Joan cooked for us and Lee and I were stuffed…and then the rest of the family came home with dinner. After feeding myself and being on a budget for so long it was great to have an enormous home-cooked meal, but I felt as though I couldn’t move after.

Of course, that night Kevin and Noel were kind enough to drag me and Lee out to the pubs with them again. We played pool and hung out with their friends in three or four of the different pubs. As the night was winding down Kevin got Lee another drink, a Heinekin which Lee decided he did not want. About five minutes before Kevin had given a long speech about how he could no longer drink Guiness or Heinekin and only drank Budweiser now. However, upon hearing that Lee would not drink his beer his Irish nature kicked in preventing him from letting a good pint go to waste. He picked up the drink and sucked down 2/3 of the pint in one breath. I can’t even call it a sip or a drink- it look like he had done a shot, but instead had drunk 2/3 of a pint. Mine and Lee’s mouths must have dropped because he paused for a brief second, chuckled, and told us how that was nothing- that him and his friends used to line up five or six pints each and down them all as fast as they could- about 20-30 seconds! He then took the last ‘sip’ and we left the pub, Lee and I still in utter amazement.

The next morning we packed up (Joan had been so gracious as to do my laundry for me) and headed off. We stopped at Billy’s farm and met his father. Their farm was even larger than Joan’s and required much more maintenance. Again, the view and land was just incredible. We then continued on to Cork where we met Valerie, Lee’s aunt’s friend, in a mall. We said goodbye to Joan and thanked her for her incredible hospitality. On to Kinsale.

That evening Valerie drove us around Kinsale. If anything could compete with the beauty that I had just witnessed in the country it would be this magnificent coastal town. We learned more about the history of the area and walked around the town. Valerie and her family lived in a beautiful house on the top of a mountain that was once a farm house- her husband ran a pottery business from there.

That evening we went out with the family and a friend to a pub on the water before dinner. I found it very funny that this was a normal family activity. That night we had another amazing home cooked meal and headed off to bed. The next morning Valerie drove Lee and I into Cork. I boarded my bus to the airport and Lee boarded his train. It was now time to embark on an adventure by my self for the first time.

Overall: Just like stereotype dictates, it rained a lot in Ireland. However, the daily rain (not for the whole day, but definitely every day) created the lushest green rolling hills I have ever witnessed. It looked like someone took a brush and painted them bright green, leaving little areas for rivers and streams with rocky banks thrown in. It was a great experience to be taken around by locals; I felt like I gained an understanding of what Irish culture and everyday life truly consists of.