Unending Shenanigans...DUBLIN take 3!

So my phone died on Friday night, so Stacey ended up setting her alarm (probably the best move), and we woke up at 9:45 for breakfast. It was fifteen minutes till closing, so each of us only got a roll with jam. We then saw Patricio who was on his way out. He was checking out to catch his flight to London. Booooooo! We were sad to see him go, and he was sad to go, too. We all hugged and said goodbye, I think Patricio even got choked up! He said, "Goodbye my American girls!" awww! We all had exchanged email addresses the night before so we planned to stay in touch. It´s funny, in hostels I always meet random people to hang out with, but I never expected to make a friend at a hostel. I could definitely see us keeping in touch with him. So Patricio left ::tear:: and we headed upstairs to get ready for the day. Stacey and I wanted to see some Irish countryside while Melissa decided to just stick around town and shop. So we got dressed and ready and walked towards the bus station, on the way stopping at a convenience store and getting some fresh grilled paninis (I got tuna with sweet corn...soooo good!) and fruit and water. It was actually kind of cold out, cloudy, and not very nice at all. Oh well. And I was tired. Sooooooo tired. Not hungover, just plum tired. I had gotten about 5 hours of shallow sleep that night, and the same the night before. Not good. We got to the train station and ended up waiting 15 minutes for our train to Howth. We had decided to go to Howth because it was close (about 25 minutes by train), and the soccer players the night before recommended it. While waiting we ate our sandwiches and watched the huge Irish pigeons (they´re so big there!) messing around. They´re really fearless, they search for food and are not afraid to walk right up to you...they´re like dogs! Both of the pigeons we saw were gimpy, one was missing a leg (weird, yet intriguin) and the other was missing all but one toe on both of its feet. Strange. I guess these pigeons´fearlessness gets the best of them. We boarded the train, which was really nice and comfortable. I slept for a bit, I was so exhausted. We got into Howth which is a cute, quiet, suburban fishing town right on a lake or ocean or something (not quite good with geography over here). I was in dire need of a pick-me-up so we went to a cute little café right next to the station for a latte, which was ginormous, and Stacey got a slice of carrot cake. It took me awhile to drink that latte due to its size, and also the fact that I rarely drink coffee, so this was quite the challenge. However, it woke me up, and made me feel extremely full. Blech. But I was awake, nonetheless. The café was cute and reminded me of little family-run cafés in Wisconsin. I was a fan. Ireland, for what I´d seen of it, really reminded me of, well home. It´s weird. Dublin reminds me a lot of Chicago, actually, and the train ride to Howth felt like taking the Metra from Chicago to Highland Park. On the ride you see houses with yards, and barbecues, and swing sets, and lawns, and gardens, etc. I hadn´t seen that sort of environment in forever. Henceforth, my time in Ireland really felt like home. When we finally left the café the sun had come out, and it was a gorgeous day! We only had an hour to explore because we needed to be back to meet up with Melissa and go to the rugby game at 4. So we walked along the water and took in the sights of nature, water, and the cute people there. We found a small open field with Daiseys that really sparked my interest so we took pictures of me doing cartwheels there because the whole time we had joked about "Doing cartwheels in the rolling Irish fields". So I did in a little field. It works. Then we walked some more towards the coast where we got a breathtaking view of the green, waterfront hills with cute homes resting atop of them. I can´t really describe it in words without making it sound mundane, but it was gorgeous, and the weather, blue water, and fresh sea air just really made it a remarkable sight. THIS was what I had envisioned Ireland to be. Perfect. We gazed at the view for about fifteen minutes and then rushed back to grab the 2:30 train back to town. We got there just on time with minutes to spare. I loved Howth. I loved Ireland. What a great place. On the ride home I stared out the window at all of the cute neighborhoods...this really did look like the Chicago suburbs! Love it. I could live in Ireland, except for the cold, and the cloudiness. We got back around 3, and it was still cloudy in Dublin. How strange how the weather shifted so drastically for us. We found and intense, multi-leveled souvenir shop where we spent a little too much time. Seriously, Ireland has the best souvenirs. Perhaps because Ireland is infamous for beer and shenanigans, so any tacky souvenir is okay because tackiness reigns. We soon walked back to meet Melissa, we were late due to those damn souvenirs. We met up in the hostel room and decided to just forget about the rugby game. We were kind of tired and would rather just chill out. Melissa showed us a lot of the clothes an accessories she bought, not bad, and pretty cheap. Way to be. We then decided to go check out the Writers Museum. Melissa was very excited about this because she is a creative writing major, Irish, and a huge Irish writer fan. We crossed the river and saw the other side of the bridge...the more touristy side. It reminded me of the State St. area of Chicago, very crowded, very commercial, etc. We stopped in a McDonalds to use the bathroom and I was surprised to see that they sold fresh sandwiches there...you know, just like at Subway. How strange! Ireland just loves their sandwiches. I like it. We then kept on our way and passed a theater that would be doing a performance of Beckett´s Waiting for Godot. How cool would it be to see an authentic, Irish production of one of the most intriguing plays of the 20th century? I´ve always wanted to see that play staged, and what better opportunity. We stopped in, but tickets would be €28! No way, man, not that worth it. I´ve got a student budget to maintain. We soon got to the museum to find that we were a half an hour too late! It was closed! We were so bummed. I really wanted to see it! Sadness. So we walked back, on the way stopping in another souvenir shop where Melissa could make some purchases. They were playing Irish drinking songs there and I was inspired to find a pub that played some Irish drinking music. I was determined...that´s what I wanted most from Ireland...a drunken pub sing-along. We walked back to the hostel, tried to contact Katie about dinner because we planned to get a nice dinner with her and her crew, but no answer. We passed a Quiznos on the way home...a Quiznos! I wished that I had seen that earlier and eaten it for lunch. I miss Quiznos! I had no idea they´d be in Europe because it´s a challenge to find them in the States. Ah well. We got back to the hostel, the weather had become warm and gorgeous and sunny! So it was a great walk. We passed a cool outdoor market and a bunch of people meditating on an island in the middle of the street for "International Falun Dafa Day". Okay. We got back to the hostel and got ready to go out. Well, first Stacey and I took an hour nap which helped to revive me. I went downstairs to check my email and found Peter, the guy from NC State. He had taken a day and night trip to some random Irish town to visit family and was back for a couple more nights in Dublin. He said to grab him before we headed out. Then went back upstairs to finish getting ready. We headed out at around 8:30 for dinner...yeah, we´re used to Spain time. Peter decided to stick around and drink before going out and said that he´d call us (he never did, oh well). We decided to eat an authentic Irish dinner that night, so we headed towards The Vat House, a pub in Temple Bar. We got there at around 9, and they had just closed the kitchen! Damn us for taking out time. What is with us being late for everything? It´s our damn inner Spanish clock, that´s what it is. We walked around looking for some inexpensive Irish food, but it was a lost cause, so we settled on a restaurant across the street from the Vat House that was kind of pricey. But it was our last real meal in Ireland, so we wanted to go all out. The place was nice, good service, small, kind of intimate and fancy. I ordered an Irish coffee and Irish stew which made me really hot the whole time. Irish coffee is pretty good, I´d never had it before. Irish stew, not so good. I mean, it´s not bad, but it´s salty, meaty, and potatoey. Stacey wasn´t a huge fan, either. Melissa´s chicken dish wasn´t too impressive, either. But, the Irish brown bread that came with our soup was TO DIE FOR. That is some awesome bread right there. Made the whole meal worth it. After finishing we decided to head next door to the Vat House and see if they were playing live music. Although they weren´t playing live music, there was a DJ playing Irish drinking songs that sounded live, so it would suffice. I mean, we walked in and there were 30-70 year-old-men singing at the tops of their lungs and dancing their asses off. This was exactly what I had wanted! We all ordered pints. Not only did the DJ play Irish drinking songs, but he also played jigs, classic rock, and showtunes (Sweet Charity, Grease, Abba, etc.)!!!! I was loving this place. Then this weird 30-something drunk Irish guy started pestering us. Trust me, he was pestering us. Because we weren´t dancing with him or flirting back he called me "plain" and Stacey "sensible". And then he asked why all American girls are sensible. And then I just started to ignore him, he asked why and I said because he´s mean. Then he told me that I just needed to understand the Irish way, that the Irish just throw things out and I have to take it with a grain of salt. Um, I don´t take direct insults with a grain of salt, buddy. He kept walking away, dancing, then walking up to us and dancing up on us or singing in our face. I just blatantly ignored him or made Lisa-esque sarcastic comments. I pulled out some coins to see if I had enough to buy another pint, then he walked up and slapped my hand from underneath sending the coins flying all over the place. I gave him the dirtiest look ever and started to show blatant rudeness towards him. Then a friend of his walked up to me and struck up a conversation with me. I was on my second pint. I can´t remember his name, but he was Scottish and I could barely understand a word that he said. I mean, barely. Seriously, I could understand Spanish better than a Scottish accent. It was crazy. The noise in the pub didn´t help. He knew that I couldn´t understand him because I kept having to ask him to repeat himself, and many times he´d just say to forget about it. Our most successful conversations were about how "Man in the Mirror" is both of our favorite Michael Jackson songs and about how we had both read The Da Vinci Code. We also danced, like, partner dancing...jigs and whatnot. All the while Melissa and Stacey had struck up conversations with two Irish cops (not on duty, mind you). Then, the Scottish guy was being dragged out by his friend and he started telling me how he´d never met anybody who he could talk to like he could with me and if I wasn´t going back to Spain he´d ask me out for coffee. Ummm, yeah, we really talked, man. I barely understood a word that he said and we shared a song and book opinion...plus, most of the world´s favorite MJ song is "Man in the Mirror" and have read The Da Vinci Code. So, obviously this guy hadn´t really been out much. Then I started talking to this 50-year-old guy who was also an Irish cop. Turns out his son was talking to Melissa. Then, suddenly, the guy who Stacey was talking to took her scarf, tied it around his head ninja style, and started dancing and singing with it on. An Irish jig came on, he tied the scarf up like a turban, and started doing a terrible, yet hilarious Irish jig. Honestly, I have not laughed so hard in as long as I can remember. I was in pain I was laughing so hard. Then he grabbed Stacey and me and picked us up and danced with us in the air! It was so funny and, well, fun! I loooove it. I had such a fun time, more fun than I´ve had in a long time. I honestly cannot remember the last time I had had so much fun. That´s the thing that made my trip to Ireland amazing: I was consistently having fun! I really didn´t think that it was possible to have so much fun! Then Melissa and I took a shot of Jameson...my first Jameson! I actually kind of like it. Like I said, I´m well on my way to becoming a whiskey drinker, woo woo. Then Stacey went back to talking/dancing with the cop and Melissa continued to talk to hers, while I struck up a conversation with some 30-something Irish folk, a group of two couples. I can´t remember their names but they were super cool and super nice. I talked most of the time with one of the couples, whose names I can´t remember. The guy was really drunk and the wife just laughed at him and rolled her eyes. I like the Irish couple dynamic! Haha. She was drunk, too, but not rowdy. They told me about how they had just been on their honeymoon in Cuba. How cool is that?? I´d love to go there for my honeymoon. Or just in general. We talked about why so many young Americans come to Ireland (I noticed that we were the youngest ones in the bar), and they told me about how they can always recognize a tourist because they drink Guinness. They told me that they don´t even like Guinness and usually just drink ale or vodka tonics. I looked around and noticed that nobody in the pub was really drinking Guinness. How interesting. Then they asked if I was there alone, and I said no and pointed to Stacey and Melissa, and they were both making out with their Irish cops, next to each other, at the same time! Hahahaha, I got a good laugh out of that one. What an image, what great timing, I tell ya. Then they looked at me and asked why I wasn´t joining in; that I had such a pretty face that I could have the "shag of my life" and I shouldn´t waste time talking to them. I told them that I just wanted to make friends, that´s all! I found them ten times more interesting than a drunk man trying to get in my pants, honestly. Then the dude from the other couple started talking to me and danced with me, and it was a good ole friendly silly drunken time. Then, one of their friends walked up to me and said that his girlfriend hated me. She looked pissed. Um, I didn´t mean to be a homewrecker, I was just being friendly! I honestly have no interest in a 30-something drunk man, lady. I kept trying to then separate myself from him because I didn´t want to cause anything cuz she looked ready to burst. Soon the pub started to close down and we headed outside. We talked for a bit outside, that guy kept coming up to me and putting his arm around me and I had had it and said, "Stop messing with your girlfriend´s mind!" She smiled and said, "Thank you, Lisa!" and then she went on this whole rant about how they had dated for 4 years and he still hadn´t proposed. So I ordered him to get down on his knees and pop the question and started telling him how he had an amazing woman right there and he shouldn´t let her go. But he was drunk and kept joking about it, and said that I was right, and then put his arm around both of us. Oy vey. Somehow mentions of some strip club came up, and the woman who initially hated me had decided that we were best friends and grabbed my hand and said, "Come on, Lisa, we´re going to the strip club!". It was right across the river, and it was already about 3 and our flight left from Dublin at 6:35am so we didn´t really have time to go to a strip club. But they kept insisting that it was right across from our hostel and we´d make it in plenty of time. So the woman grabbed my hand and literally dragged me down the rainy road, while the Irish cop walked with us with Stacey, and Melissa and her cop dragged behind. I kept telling them that we couldn´t, that we had to get to our flight, but this woman was relentless and kept nudging me along, insisting that we´d make our flight. We got on the bridge and Melissa, the awesome supreme voice of reason stopped us and said that there was no way we could go to the strip club and that we had to go. We had a long, insistent conversation, but eventually the two couples left until it was just me, the girls, and the two Irish cops on the bridge "saying goodbye". Oh man. So it was me standing there while they made out and stuff, and then we left. Walking back to the hostel we laughed our asses off about the shenanigans that were that night. Then, Stacey pulled out her souvenir: the cop´s belt! He had invited her to a wedding in June in Dublin, and offered to take her all around the city when she returned. Then he gave her his belt in order to ensure that she´d come back! It was a nice belt that his grandma gave him with his initials engraved on the gold buckle! Hahahaha. He´s going to regret that one the next morning. That´s the best souvenir EVER. I love the Irish, they´re a bunch of crazy motherfuckers. Melissa´s cop wasn´t too interested on her coming back, in fact, Melissa was kind of picking on him in a fun way for coming to the pub with his dad. He still wanted to incessantly make-out with her. I guess that that was all that he was looking for. We all decided that the cutest guy of the night was actually the dad, he dressed really nice, was well-built, and had a shnazzy hair-do. Yeah, we were a fan of him. We now call him "Dad". Dad was our favorite. Shenanigans, I tell you, shenanigans. We then walked home, packed up our things, checked out of our hostel after a silly drunken convo with the French receptionist and signing the guest book, ordered a cab, and were off. I was really sad about leaving. This was the first place I´ve visited where I wasn´t ready to leave! There were so many more shenanigans we could have, but unfortunately we had to get back to the Sevilla heat and stress of classes. It was a great last hurrah, great last opportunity to completely let loose and be crazy and stupid before getting back to reality. I came to Ireland with the intention of enjoying the culture of which I am such a huge fan, and I did. Shenanigans. Ireland was complete shenanigans and therefore I loved every second of it. Best vacation ever.