Entering Fiction

I really need to keep more up to date on this blog because I'm really behind on informing everyone about my life here. My last post was October 15 which was two weeks ago. A lot of memorable moments have taken place in that time. That Thursday night most of the international students were going out to celebrate being in Liverpool for a month. I wasn't going to go out since I had to get up at 4:30 am to leave for Dublin. At the last minute I decided to go out since we were all having such a blast. The night was really great and I got in at about 2:30 in the morning. I couldn't fall asleep and I only got 3o minutes of sleep before getting up for Dublin. At 5:00 all of us met up and took a taxi. On the trip were my friends Emily, Alyssa, Cristina, and Sharon. We got to the airport and went through security which took for ever even though it was 6 in the morning. We made it to our Ryanair flight just in time. The plane seriously looked like it was held together by elmer's glue and when we took off I thought it might actually fall apart. The flight took less than 30 minutes from Liverpool to Dublin and there wasn't even a line for customs. First time in Ireland!!!!

We got a 1 day bus pass once we got out of the airport and we took a bus into the city of Dublin. The first thing we did when we got off the bus was to find an ATM and then get some coffee and breakfast. Once we took care of that we started moving around the city. Some of the sites we saw near O"Connell Street were the Garden of Remembrance, Dublin City Gallery, shopping district, and the Spire. Next we crossed over the river and made our way past Oscar Wilde's house and saw the campus of Trinity College. For lunch we went to the Temple Bar district and ate at a place called From Mexico to Roma which had a lunch special that was phenomenal. The next place we went after our relaxing lunch was St Stephens' Green which was the most beautiful park. We spent a bunch of time there just relaxing and watching the ducks. After that we walked to the Medieval and Cathedral district. We got to see St. Patrick's Church, Christ Church Cathedral, and Dublin Castle. There were so many little reminders of the Chronicles of Narnia. We saw some Turkish Delight and a lamp post that probably came straight out of the wardrobe. At this point we had been walking for the whole day so we decided to take a bush just to see where it would take us. Then we took the bus back into the city to meet up with Angels who took a later flight. We went to the train station and saw the Guinness factory from there. We had a quick meal at the train station and took the train to Cork. Once we got in we had to find our hostel at 12 at night in a city we had never been to. Eventually we figure out where we were and made it to the hostel. The room was so small and amazingly fit 3 bunk beds. We went to bed pretty much right away since we were so tired.

We slept in until like 9:15 and got ready for the day. The hostel beds were actually really comfortable and I got a great night of sleep. When we checked out, we heard about a bunch of things we should do. We walked down to the centre of the city and the sun was shining it was absolutely beautiful. We went to the Old English Market which has been there since the 1600s. It had every specialty shop you could imagine. I had the most amazing croissant and orange juice I've ever had in my life. So good. We walked around the city for a while but by that time it was raining/sprinkling. Then we made our way to the bus station to buy tickets to go to Blarney. When we got there, we looked at our map to see where we wanted to go. We walked up to one side of the castle and saw the dungeons. Then we made our way to the Rock Close which was like walking into Middle Earth from Lord of the Rings. It was absolutely beautiful with all the different types of vegetation and rock formations. After that we walked past the stables and up to Blarney House which is where I planning on living in the future. The last thing we did was climb up the castle. The stairs were narrow and small with only a rope to hold on to but the view from the top was worth it. At the top everyone kisses the Blarney Stone which is suppose to bless you with good speech. To do this you have to lay on your back and hang upside down with the help of a man to kiss the stone. You are seriously looking at the ground while doing this. Kinda scary. Once we got down and out of the castle we took the bus back to Cork. When we arrived back in Cork, we ate at a nice little pizza place and then went to get ice cream. After that we took the bus to the airport and waited for our plane. It was wierd being away from Liverpool for two days. I was definitely ready to get back. We arrived safely home at Aigburth and relaxed for a bit before going to bed.