It's sunny, but as an Irishman said, "Thats not a sun! Its a shiny ice ball!" In other words, I can't remember the last time it was this cold when there was green grass.
(Feeding birds. My favorite hobby...)
Our hostel had three, huge, single paned windows and no heat. Luckily, Lauren, my cousin (visiting from France,) and I were the only ones in the room so we borrowed the giant comforters from the other beds and were toasty warm.
The wifi in Ireland is worse than anywhere I've ever been; its worse than Central America, and our barn wifi is even better than here. Everywhere you go offers wifi, but you either have to pay for it or it cuts out every few minutes or just won't connect. Of all the places we have visited in Ireland, I think the buses have the best connections. Every time one drives by our devices connect to them, but a minute later they drive away. Luckily, there are a ton of them.
All of the travelers we meet here are so dependent on wifi. Even while hanging out, everyone is on their phone. They give you 1/4 their attention and the person online 3/4. It's ridiculous, annoying, and rude. This has made me vow to never be on my phone/online while around people. People are too valuable to ignore while you're with them. Then again, sometimes making friends with people you will never see again seems pointless.
Ireland is so similar to America, yet so different from other places I have traveled. Not only is the landscape and culture different, the mentality of the travelers is different. Here, most people are studying abroad and are only in Ireland for a few days or a weekend from other European countries, so they have no advice on where to go or stay, whereas in Central America, people were there to backpack; they had traveled everywhere (or were starting to) and you could always find good places to visit from word of mouth.
And Europeans are so well dressed. If you go out at night, everyone is dressed like they're going to weddings. My nicest outfit doesn't come close. People are here to experience the city; the food, the music, the night life. Not so much to climb mountains and live cheaply.
Definitely different than what i am used to, but Dublin is a beautiful city as far as cities go. It's hard for me to adjust to city life from the country, the cold, the price, and the craziness all at once, but Dublin is so beautiful.
A river runs through it with several walking and driving bridges and random structures and statues decorating the streets. The buildings have archaic but ornate façades that prove to be a sharp but flattering contrast with the modern glass fronted buildings. While the dark stone is often streaked and weather worn, it remains distinguished and representative of a bygone era that is accentuated by the cobblestone alleys and bustling streets.
From above, the city is even more beautiful. Church steeples rise above the buildings poking the sky, and cathedrals proudly show their distinct stone bodies, taking the attention away from all the surrounding stone structures.
The weather in Dublin can never make up its mind; one minute it's sunny and warm, the next it's pouring, windy rain, and the next your breath is freezing and being outside is not a feasible option.
Every day, it rains, then gets sunny, then rains... But the people pop out their umbrellas and go on without a thought, making their way across the rain-soaked stones.
Besides just seeing the city and taking pictures, Friday we visited the Guinness (black Irish beer) storehouse.
I wasn't especially interested in how the beer was made, but once we got inside, it was pretty neat to see the step-by-step process of making beer, from the barley field, to the brewery, to the consumer, and an intense history.
At the end we got a "free" pint of the black stuff to try - we poured it ourselves after a short lesson on how to perfectly pour it to get just enough foam on the top.
That's a skill I will never need to use again, because Guiness is absolutely disgusting and a few sips was more than enough for me.
Later we went to dinner with a few students studying in England, and we spent some time looking for traditional Irish music, but were disappointed to learn that weekends are reserved for American pop music and nightclubs with people on street corners advertising lap dances. We spent the night hanging out in the hostel instead.
Saturday we visited Gaol prison. The prison is one of the most popular prisons in Ireland (the world?) known for the facilities and the fewest escapes.
Only 12 escapes in almost 140 years. It was a dark and sad tour, learning about criminals and how they were dealt with, but a valuable learning experience anyway.
After the prison Lauren and I caught the bus to Derry in Northern Ireland. After a four hour drive through sheep-dotted country side and seriously scattered rain showers, we walked through the town looking for a hostel. A nice old gentleman with a thick accent pointed us in the right direction, and we were lucky enough to have no idea where we were going when it started pouring rain for the hundreth time today.
We asked for directions a few more times, and after being turned away by an overbooked hostel we were welcomed into one for 20 pounds ($35ish. Kill me now.) looking like drowned rats. I love traveling. :)
