Things I learned in Dublin...
1.The stereotype about them being drunk all the time... is true.
2.They drive on the "wrong" side of the road.
3.They are usually drunk by 10... in Spain that doesn't happen until 1-2am.
4.The people are SUPER friendly, even when not intoxicated.
5.How NOT to hold up my two fingers (when I signal I want two of something)because, to the British, this is offensive (similar to our middle finger). Two very nice British
brothers shared this w/ Sandy and I.
6.That the names of Guinness the beer and the Guinness Book of World Records are not just coincidence.
7.That Dublin is the most expensive city I have ever been to in my life.
Dublin was a jolly good time...
So, Sandy and I arrived late on Friday, dropped our bags at the hostel and went out to explore the city. It was quite pretty at night, we had no idea where to go but our hostel was located right next to O'Connell Street, which is the main road, and it was across the river from Temple Bar, which is the night life area of Dublin. We wandered around, and bar hopped. It was funny, we were carded every place we went, which was new for us, but being over 18, there was no problem. Later we stopped in the actual Temple Bar in Temple Bar, which was pretty much the best time ever.They were playing sweet music and everyone was dancing. It was like 11 or 12 and everyone in there had quite a few drinks in them already, and these two guys started dancing crazy. The music was just about the perfect combination of classics and rock favorites, so that no matter what song came on, it just seemed to be that everyone knew the words!
So these two were dancing and being really silly and Sandy and I were just watching them, but then this one song,"Hey Mickey" came on. They wanted us to dance with them, and I was like... well, why not and basically I lip-synced while like pushing this tubby guy around based on the lyrics and I got the whole area around us laughing like crazy. There was this one guy who had been dancing a little early taking a break at the table with Sandy, and he was laughing so hard that he took out his wallet, put a 10€ bill on the table and said to Sandy, "Give this to her."
Now, please don't think this was a raunchy dance, because trust me, it was in NO WAY raunchy, literally I was busting out crazy 80's dance moves and looking like a total fool. And I hadn't even been drinking... which once everyone sees the video Sandy took, really won't believe, but it is TRUE!
Anyway, we walked around and ran into tons of drunk Irishmen and women. I really couldn't understand how tossed they all got. I mean it was like 1am, you don't even go out in Madrid until 1am. But alas, they must have started early. Sandy and I were the last people back into our room both nights, and it was only 2am.
The second day we took a bus tour and walked around, it was so freaking cold, I wrapped my head up in my scarf! The highlight of the day was the Guinness Factory, we were shown the step by step process of brewing, and I understand now why it tastes like coffee. We were also given a free pint at the "Gravity Bar" on the very top of the factory looking out over the whole city. However, Sandy and I failed to finish them because, as we discovered, Guinness really isn't our taste. But oh well, it was really interesting, and I got my touristy pic in front of the Guinness sign. The rest of the day we walked round town, I bought a pair of shoes that are adorable, and that were on sale, a bracelet to add to my collection and a pair of matching rings for Alison and I.
We went out again that night, we had dinner at "The Bad Ass Cafe," which was good times, but it was SOOOOOOOOO expensive. We wanted to go eat at an authentic Irish restaurant, but the first ones we went into we discovered that authenticity was even more expensive in an expensive city. It would have been like 40€ for Sandy and I to eat anything decent. So we had fajitas, but it was good times.
We went to a few more bars and met some cool people, we spent the majority of the second night talking to two British brothers from London, who told us about a whole bunch of cool places to go to if we get a chance. We lied and said we were going to London, bc we were pretty sure they would be pissed if we told the truth! But, they didn't seem to hate us, which was a plus, the fact that we are studying in a foreign country that's native language is NOT English, usually scores back the points we lose when they find out we are American. But we have been told that our movies and tv shows are awesome. Funny eh.
But yeah the guys in Dublin were substantially less creepy than those in Madrid. Everyone was just nice, nobody was really creepy, however the city was much dirtier than Madrid and there were many more people, haciendo un pis en la calle, (taking a pee in the street) One guy just did his business right in the street, not even in a corner or against a wall... I am assuming this has to do with their BAC, but whatever, still gross. The five second rule definitely did not apply here.
