I have been in Irelaaaaaaaaaand!!!
Now you’ll read the story of my Ireland adventure. The 23rd of February two girls of the name Hoda and Lauren went on their trip of their life time. Not because it is so far away but because they are the best travelling couples ever! Our trip started by waking up at the crack of dawn abut 4 am and took the bus from Brighton with other international students (90 % Spanish talking people) and 1 American (Lauren) and one Swedish/Lebanese (Hoda). The trip took us about 12 hours. First we travelled through Wales to Holyhead and that took about 7 hours. From there we took the ferry to Dublin and that took 3 hours. The ferry was really nice, it had a cinema, a gift shop, restaurants. Very nice! We had fish and chips which was really good. Then we arrived finally in Dubliiiiiin! We went straight to the hostel. It was a nice one; about 15 min walk from the city centre. The hostel used to be an old church run by the Magdalene sisters where pregnant girls were sent to work until they had their babies. When their babies where born they were put up for adoption.
Now you’ll read the story of my Ireland adventure. The 23rd of February two girls of the name Hoda and Lauren went on their trip of their life time. Not because it is so far away but because they are the best travelling couples ever! Our trip started by waking up at the crack of dawn abut 4 am and took the bus from Brighton with other international students (90 % Spanish talking people) and 1 American (Lauren) and one Swedish/Lebanese (Hoda). The trip took us about 12 hours. First we travelled through Wales to Holyhead and that took about 7 hours. From there we took the ferry to Dublin and that took 3 hours. The ferry was really nice, it had a cinema, a gift shop, restaurants. Very nice! We had fish and chips which was really good. Then we arrived finally in Dubliiiiiin! We went straight to the hostel. It was a nice one; about 15 min walk from the city centre. The hostel used to be an old church run by the Magdalene sisters where pregnant girls were sent to work until they had their babies. When their babies where born they were put up for adoption.
The hostel
We shared the room with 6 people from Taiwan and Japan. After resting a while we went out with the whole group to Temple Bar in Dublin. It’s not only one bar but an area with shops, bars and restaurants. We walked there for a while before we met Simon (The tour manager). He is sooooo funny! He took us to a bar and bought Guinness for us and told us about his life as a gay guy in Brighton. Lauren and I tried to not act surprised. After a couple of hours he told us that he is not actually gay and he only wanted to see how we would react!! CRAZY! We believed him! I mean he told us about not visiting his family for a long time, about how many gay people there are in Brighton (30%) and all about his boyfriends! And that was only a BIG lie!! Hahaha.. After that we went back to the hostel.
The next day we went on a real tour with a real Irish guide through Dublin. First we had a tour in the city and then took off to the Wicklow Mountains. The city is really nice; there is an old university, cathedrals, many monuments, and a lot of stores. The journey to the mountains was really nice. The view was amazing! There were a lot of sheep and big fields. In the mountains, first we went to Glendalough, an old monastic site. It was gorgeous! It is one of the oldest and most important places in Irish history and in Europe. In its heyday, it was a very important and successful monastery. It is still considered consecrated ground in the Christian religion. Then we went to Avoca, a small village in the mountains, and had homemade soup and bread. Avoca is known for its handweaving, and they sold many beautiful throws and scarves.
The next day we went on a real tour with a real Irish guide through Dublin. First we had a tour in the city and then took off to the Wicklow Mountains. The city is really nice; there is an old university, cathedrals, many monuments, and a lot of stores. The journey to the mountains was really nice. The view was amazing! There were a lot of sheep and big fields. In the mountains, first we went to Glendalough, an old monastic site. It was gorgeous! It is one of the oldest and most important places in Irish history and in Europe. In its heyday, it was a very important and successful monastery. It is still considered consecrated ground in the Christian religion. Then we went to Avoca, a small village in the mountains, and had homemade soup and bread. Avoca is known for its handweaving, and they sold many beautiful throws and scarves.
Avoca On the way back to the hostel, we stopped at Phoenix Park, which is the biggest public park in the world. Only two people live there, the American ambassador and the President of Ireland, who is a woman. The President’s house resembles the White House in America because the same British architect designed them. We had to hurry back to the hostel so that we could change clothes and go watch the England vs. Ireland rugby match with Simon and his three friends, Johan, Terence, and Carlos. There were people everywhere! 80,000 people were going to the stadium to watch the game. A ticket to the game would normally be 50 euros, but if you bought them that day, they would have been more than 1,000 euros.
Outside the stadium
We wanted to go, but exactly afford it, so we decided to watch it in a pub instead. We walked to the stadium to see all of the people and buy scarves to show our support for Ireland, and then we found the least crowded pub we could, which was still really crowded, and we had to stand at the door to watch the match. Some Irish men noticed that Lauren is American, and they started to explain the rules of rugby to her because of course, Americans don’t know anything about anything that’s not American. Somehow, one of the men challenged Lauren to a drinking competition to see who could drink a pint of Guinness the fastest, and Lauren almost won!! After that, Hoda was staaaaarving, so we found a place to grab burgers before heading back out. Then we went to Club 21. In the bathroom, they had makeup and lollipops, and we thought they were free so we started to use everything. When we went to leave, a lady shouted that we had to pay for everything we used!!! We were soooo surprised… but we paid anyway. The club was nice, and they played a little bit of good music. They had a big screen showing music videos and the people in the club, which was cool. That was the end of our second day.
Shopping day
The third day was our shopping day!!!! We started shopping at 10 and didn’t stop until 7! I became addicted to buying nice things and acted like I was rich. Every store had something really nice. It’s the greatest shopping place for girls, maybe even better than London. They had a big street filled with shops, and at the end was a big mall. The mall was soooo nice! It had 3 levels full of really good shops. Before going back to the hostel to pack up, we went to a really exclusive restaurant to have an authentic Irish coffee, which was a great way to end our shopping trip. We got back to the hostel just in time to get on the bus and leave. On the way back, we couldn’t sleep, so we were awake the whole night and had to go to lessons the next day.
The third day was our shopping day!!!! We started shopping at 10 and didn’t stop until 7! I became addicted to buying nice things and acted like I was rich. Every store had something really nice. It’s the greatest shopping place for girls, maybe even better than London. They had a big street filled with shops, and at the end was a big mall. The mall was soooo nice! It had 3 levels full of really good shops. Before going back to the hostel to pack up, we went to a really exclusive restaurant to have an authentic Irish coffee, which was a great way to end our shopping trip. We got back to the hostel just in time to get on the bus and leave. On the way back, we couldn’t sleep, so we were awake the whole night and had to go to lessons the next day.
