Ireland from Coast to Coast

Dublin, Ireland  (June 12-17^th)

Well, here I am on another Ryan Air flight, leaving Ireland and heading to Germany. Dublin was amazing. It was so nice to have everyone speak English; I can’t even describe it.  Being able to ask a random guy on the street where the bus stop is, ordering food and asking a question about it, asking for directions to the Dublin Castle…. people could understand me and I could understand them.  I didn’t realize how much I’ve missed that! 

Anyway, my first night here was actually a little rough. I came from Sweden, and didn’t book a place to stay. I decided I’d just wing it. So I get off the plane, woo hooo Ireland, and hit up an ATM. I put my card in, and it tells me I have “insufficient funds,” and won’t let me take out any money. I knew Sweden was expensive, but I didn’t realize I’d spent ALL my money!  So I’m alone in Ireland, no place to stay, and all I have in my wallet is 20 Euros, a bunch of leftover Swedish coins, and a debit card with “insufficient funds.” Shizaa.  I took a bus into the city, got off when it looked like a good street, and started wandering and looking for a hostel. I had no idea where I was going, but finally I found a hostel. I went inside, exhausted, so ready to lay down, but nope- they were full. He told me of another hostel to try, so I went there- full again. Next one- no beds left. Fourth hostel- booked.  I started freakin’ out, making all these plans in my head for what to do if I couldn’t get any place to sleep.  I could stay up all night and take a nap in the park tomorrow, or I could go into a hotel lobby and at least I would be warm… your mind automatically starts going into freak out mode. So I went to the Spar, bought an apple, took a deep breath, and kept walking. Finally I did find a place to stay- good old “Budget Accomodations,” 18 Euros for the night. I stayed in an all girls room, with 12 bunk beds of sleeping travelers. The place had free WiFi, so I was excited to get on the internet and call my mom and make plans for the next day. But my laptop was about to die, because I’d used almost all of the battery watching episodes of Grey’s Anatomy on the flight. So I go to plug it in, and the adapter I have is only for Europe, not for the UK, and it doesn’t fit in the outlet. So I have no way to charge my phone, camera, laptop, anything.  Shizaa again. I crawled into bed kind of wondering why I do these things to myself so often, but I knew it would all work out. It always does.

The next day I checked out of the hostel, and went on a free walking tour of the city. We went to Dublin Castle, the Temple Bar, walked the main streets, and were in Trinity College, when I got lost from the group. I was just taking a picture, or maybe a few pictures, and when I turned back around the group was gone! I walked all around and tried to find them, but never did. So I went into the school, and into the library, and even sat down in a classroom and listened to part of a lecture. That afternoon, I explored the city, went to an internet café to call my beautiful mommacita, went to Phoenix Park (very similar to Central Park in NYC), and stopped by the National Museum of Ireland. The inside of the museum was closed, but there were tables that you could sit at within the castle. So I sat for a few hours, and finally spent some much needed time with God. I read my Bible and prayed and listened to worship music, and realized how drained my spiritual life has become lately. You can travel anywhere you want, but nothing in the whole world can fill up the place in your heart for God. When you neglect spending time with Him, you can feel it, from deep within you. Although sometimes it’s hard to face God when you realize you’ve been far from Him, it’s comforting to know that His love for you never changes. Nothing I could ever do could make Him love me any more or any less than He already does. His love is unconditional. That doesn’t mean that I treat Him however I want, and don’t expect Him to get angry. The Lord does get angry. But God is Love, and He cannot disown Himself.  

Wednesday night, Stina arrived in Dublin. It took us forever to meet, because neither of us had credit left on our phones. How do you find each other in a huge city without a phone? Well, good old Carmen pulled through for us again. Stina made it to the city, found a place to get internet access, got ahold of Carmen on the internet, and Carmen called me to tell me where Stina was.  Seriously, she always helps us, even when she’s not with us!  Crazy. But I was waiting by Ha’Penny Bridge for a few hours, before we met up. I heard a story about this homeless guy, begging on the bridge. He had with him a dog and a rabbit, and would always sit on that bridge in the same spot, asking for money. A lot of times, the children would pet the bunny and the parents would give the guy a few coins. One day, a little boy was petting the rabbit, when he stole it and threw the rabbit into the Liffy River! The guy turned around, tied up his dog, and dove into the river to save the rabbit. He saved him, and a bunch of people saw the whole thing, and the guy became kind of a local hero. The story was in the Dublin newspaper, and the city supplied him with a lifetime supply of dog food and carrots. Anyway, I saw that guy on the bridge with his rabbit, and went over and talked to him for a little while. It was really sad, because I could tell that people don’t talk to him very often. He was so surprised when I stood next to him and began to talk. He told me his rabbit’s name is Maxy, and he’s had him for about 8 months. I was hoping to keep talking to him throughout my stay in Dublin, but that was the only time I saw him.

That night, Stina and I “couch surfed” with a guy named Dom. Couch Surfing is a website, which links people in different cities. You create a profile, and you can host travelers who will be in your city, or request to couch surf with someone in a city that you will be traveling through. People offer to let you sleep on their couch for free. You definitely have to be careful, and really read the references that people leave, since you’re just staying in some random person’s house. I’m sure there are some bad stories, but I’ve heard a lot of good ones too. Stina and I had a great experience with Dom and Stephen.  We met up with Dom at a bank, and were a little nervous, until we met him, and could tell right away that he was a good guy. One of their roommates moved out recently, so the room is vacant, and Stina and I actually got our own room, our own keys, and just made ourselves right at home! Both guys were pretty cute, and so nice. They helped us with everything, let us wash our clothes there, gave us blankets, the whole deal! Seriously awesome.

Thursday, Stina and I spent the day in the city. It was rainy and cold, horrible weather. That made it not quite as fun, but we made the best of it. We walked the city, and went to the National Museum of Ireland. But inside, we were actually really bored, so we left after looking around a bit. They had old silver and furniture and things, but it just wasn’t really our style I guess. Thursday night, we watched the Ireland-Spain Euro Cup game in a pub. We got all decked out, wore Ireland headbands and stuff, but Spain creamed ‘em 4-0. Worst team with the best fans. The Irish people were still so fun to watch and listen to. They get so into it!

Friday was my favorite day. We took a bus tour across the whole country, to the Cliffs of Moher. We started in Dublin, on the East coast, and made our way to Galway, to the West coast. We stopped at a few castles and things along the way, but the highlight was definitely the cliffs. They’re one of the “Seven Wonders of Ireland.” On the bus ride, we passed miles and miles of stone walls with green fields. A few hundred years ago, there was a terrible famine in Ireland, and more than half of the population was wiped out. During that time, the Brits helped provide the Irish with food. But they didn’t want to just give them the food for nothing, so they made them work. They built stone walls along the streets, through fields, and through rocks. Many of them are “roads to nowhere,” which divide rock from rock. It was just something for the people to do to earn the food. So that was pretty interesting. And we saw lots of sheep and cattle in the fields, just like you’d imagine it.

The cliffs were absolutely stunning. The drops are huge, right into the sea. Apparently, people go there from all over the world to commit suicide. So when you walk in, there are many signs from a group called “Samaritans,” which give a number to call if you need to talk. Interesting. Our tour guide told us that a lot of people have also been killed on the cliffs because there are such strong winds, they literally get blown off. Kinda scary! But our whole group survived  J

Saturday, I went for a 10 mile run at Bushy Park in Terenure, close to Dom and Stephen’s apartment. Stina and I made breakfast and tea, and then went to a coastal suburb of Dublin, about 40 minutes from the city center. We walked along the coast, and explored the area. There happened to be a group doing Zumba on the pier, and we started watching them. The Zumba instructor saw us watching, and started waving at us and telling us to join the dance! So sure enough, we put our bags down and took off our coats, and started dancing on the pier. Seriously so fun! My first Zumba class- in Ireland. We went back to Dom and Stephen’s apartment for dinner. Dom made us a delicious Italian meal. We had pasta with sundried tomatoes, olives, and tuna, then a salad to “clear the pallet.” We drank some wine and talked for a while, before eating the most delicious dessert of my life! Dom cut a papaya into four pieces, then cut up banana with it, then squeezed lime juice on the fruit, and topped it with vanilla ice cream. My tongue was dancing Zumba when that stuff went in my mouth! 

Dublin Castle

Heck yea He does!!!

finally getting some Word time in  :)

Stina and I in a little Irish castle

West coast of Ireland!

admiring God's creation

OUGHHH!!!  help!!!

Cliffs of Moher, Ireland

stone walls built during the Irish famine

East coast of Ireland

This morning, Stina went back to Austria, and I’m now on my way to Germany. I made a friend on the plane, named Richard.  He gave me some suggestions about things to do in the UK, and we talked for a long while. It’s always fun to see who you’ll meet on the plane ride. Anyway, I’m excited for Germany. Hopefully I will find Gudula (my grandma’s friend who I am staying with) easily at the airport. Next adventure… here we goooo!