Eire

All I can say is WOW!!! Ireland is one of the most beautiful and amazing places that I have ever been. I was lucky enough to go over there this past long weekend with two awesome girls, Colleen and Roxana. We flew into Shannon airport and stayed the first night in Limerick. The next morning we made our way by bus over to Dublin. We saw the beautiful countryside and the sheep and cows. It was gorgeous! Once in Dublin, we found a youth hostel and booked our beds for the night. By that time we were famished, so we set out to get some grub!! We found a cute pub and ate the best Lamb Stew and Irish Coffee ever! Yummm! And for dessert: Bailey's Cheesecake. Delicious! We walked around the Temple Bar area and explored the city for a while...and then the rain came! We were soaked when we finally made it back to our hostel. We warmed up with a little bit of Jameson's and headed out on the town! We stopped at a pub that was just down the block from our hostel for a little Pear Cider and a dance to some REAL Irish music. It was SO fun! Afterward, we decided to walk around a little more and we came across a man playing his guitar on the side of the cobblestone road. He said that he would play us anything we wanted, so Colleen and I started singing a song, he recognized it and started playing and singing along.

"Just a small town girl, living in a lonely world. She took the midnight train going anywhere" (I don't know WHY that song popped into our heads!)How cool!

We went dancing in another pub and then headed back to our hostel. The next morning our main goal was COFFEE! =) So, we checked out of our hostel and went to get some breakfast. We got to eat eggs for breakfast!! They don't do that in France, so it was a real treat to have some familiar food in the morning. Afterward, we made our way to the Guinness Storehouse and Factory. It was SO cool! We got to see the history of the legendary beer, how it is made, and of course, a tasting! We walked around Dublin some more to see the city and enjoy the beautiful Irish accent until we were hungry again. We stopped at a burger place and had HUGE gourmet burgers and fries- Irish style! On our way back to our hostel to get our bags, we saw the same man who played the guitar for us the night before! We got a picture with him on the bridge because we were surprised that he remembered us (and our horrible singing) from the night before! How funny!! After picking up our bags from the hostel, we went in search for a taxi. The first one we stumbled upon was available, so we hopped on in. The driver was so, so nice! He even offered us candy and said, "It wouldn't be right for me to be eatin' without offerin' yous any. You want a sweet?" He then went on to explain the Irish ways of helping each other out, and how he is going to take his wife to the States for her birthday! We flew back to Paris on RyanAir. Back to the croissants and foreign language. Back to the French people. Back to school. It was such a great weekend that we didn't want to go back!!! The Irish are SO nice, and they speak ENGLISH! =) It was really wonderful to have a little rest from speaking and thinking in a different way. But when I saw La Tour Eiffel the next day, a little smile came to my face...

CHEERS!