Dublin, Ireland

It was a pretty crazy weekend. Ok, here it goes...

Wednesday
I got into Dublin and suddenly remembering that they "parlez anglais" in this country. It was wonderfully refreshing!

My old roommate Lauren met me at the bus stop from the airport, and greeted me at Trinity College. After browsing Dame Street quickly, we deliberated whether or not we should cough up 7 Euros to see the Book of Kells. We did. Those books are amazingly beautiful. They're some of the oldest Bible prints available, and they are wonderfully crafted. And then we snuck into a few of the college buildings before walking around the rest of the area.
We then toured around Grafton Street (shopping central) and found refuge from the cold in the indoor mall. This is where we stumbled upon, what but my favorite British treat, WAGAMAMA'S!!! We definitely ate there for dinner. Wasabi chocolate fudge cake all the way!

Lauren is a film student in a film program there. And their theme is music videos. So for one of her assignments, she asked me to be her character in the film. So, for about 3 hours in the middle of the evening I stood out in the freezing rain making a complete jackass of myself while dancing relentlessly and shamefully on the streets (and at some clubs) of Dublin. Lots of people stopped and stared. And it was quite apparent that I was on something. The song was Tower of Power's "What is Hip?". I was dressed up in one of the most ridiculous outfits we could conjure up. It was great. And now I have a 1-minute music video of my toolishness. It's pretty priceless, actually.

Lauren and I stayed up all night talking about life and boys, life, and our spiritual paths. We have a lot to do...

Thursday
The first two days were kinda dreary. Rainy, FREEZING!!!!!! It was not a great time to tour around the city, which is small anyways.
So I bumbled to and fro Dublin by myself while she was in classes.
I walked around Dame Street some more and took pictures of interesting buildings and old churches. I think I have some strange fascination with medieval history, because most of the places I was most interested in visiting were from pre-14th century. The newer it was, the less interested I was.
I viewed Christ Church and its 10th century ruins; I meandered over to some not-so-nice looking churches that I quickly turned away from. I hid out from the cold at Dublin Castle where I took a very intriguing tour. It so happens that the original medieval castle is underground and mostly in ruins, and I got to see a small portion of it. I then hid in a nearby French cafe and took some tea.
Lauren and I met up for lunch at Gruel and have a most exquisite meal.
We ate more food than I thought was humanly possible during my stay. Which made me feel like I should dedicate the rest of my life saving starving children in Ethiopia, since we were being SO gluttonous.
I love Lauren, she's a great girl, but when we get together? It's food, food, and food. Food. Everywhere. Can't believe myself right now.
SO MUCH CHOCOLATE!

Anyways, I tried to be courageous and take a gander at Liffey River quickly before hopping about Temple Bar (kind of like a Chelsea in NYC area). Lauren joined up with me later and we took a long brisk walk (to compensate for our indulgences) on the northern side of the city and cruised up O'Connell Street (the Broadway of Dublin) and back home in her super toasty apartment.

Friday
It became beautifully sunny and WARM! I was able to actually walk around without feeling miserable! So, I started the day with a much needed workout at Iveagh Fitness Club. Lovely place, super fancy.
I then went over to Stephen's Green and walked around Grafton Street once again. I went to the Museum of Irish History, where I saw many mummified Irishmen and Viking swords. It was a nice romantic adventure.
I walked across the city to go to the Guinness Storehouse just so I could say I have been there. The area wasn't that great, and the outside of Guinness was massive and inudstrial and a bit sad looking. I don't think I was supposed to walk around without paying, but I somehow managed to snoop all of the floors without paying. The inside was very nice, kind of a warehouse feel. I got to the top floor, Gravity Bar, where I saw a stunning panoramic view of Dublin, with mountains/hills in the distance. The walls were all glass... I then went down a few flights to another bar and grabbed a half pint of Guinness so you all would leave me alone about not trying things out and being all cliché.

A quick note: I went to Ireland to get away from the french, right? Well, I think god or someone was trying really hard to kick me in the face. I only MET french people there!!!!!!! At the Guiness factory, I went into one of the bars to be bombarded by a hoard (yes, a hoard) of French drunkards slaying the french national anthem.

Anywho...Lauren and I decided to go out on my last. We weren't feeling like doing much, but after gorging ourselves on both donners and oversized crèpes, we ended up going out to a club anyways.
Some guy gave us free tickets to a club across town, d two, so we went to see what it was all about.
We just wanted to dance. We drank our tap water (she was a bit sick, so drinking was a no no) and danced our heads off on the dance floor. We just wanted to dance.
And we did dance a bit. I went to get some more tap water, and a few drunk Scotsmen hit on me, and I laughingly shook my head and went on my merry way.

BUT THEN, oh Holy Moses...I get back to Lauren, and this duo of FRENCH GUYS FROM TOULOUSSE (I swear they were at least 30...) got all up in my grille. And I mean it. The shorter, more obnoxious of the two decided to take a liking towards me. I was making it quite clear, I thought, that I wasn't interested. And they didn't really speak English, by the way, so I had to attempt broken French to communicate with them. This guy had the worst dancing skills ever. And some even worse pickup lines. Over and over again, "You French is very good. Is excellent!" and "You are beautiful woman. I mean." Sure, ok.
Lauren didn't even try to help me out. I tried to imply that we were lesbians, but that didn't seem to translate very well.
Basically, I begged Lauren to leave. While we're leaving, Frenchy grabs my face and plunges right in. I am quite literally unable to pry him off. I'm not one to be terribly mean about things like this, but no, that was NOT OK. And it wasn't good, either. In fact, it was kind of really disgusting. Oh god, I needed a toothbrush after that.
Lauren thought it was hilarious. And it was, but BLAH!!!!!

After running away, we literally ran into a group of 3 more french guys! They were Parisian med students who were there with some rugby team. And after talking with them for about an hour or so, walking around with them, we exchanged numbers and emails and parted. As soon as Lauren and I get out of their hostel, though, we ran into 3 MORE french guys!!!!!

Lauren and I were laughing our heads off by the end of the night because of our sheer luck. And to seal the night off soundly, as we were trying to get into her flat, we heard (as if right next to us outside) the loud and slightly raunchy screams and groans of a couple having massive intercourse. I don't think I've laughed that hard in a while.