Lightning strikes every time she moves, and everybody's watching her. But she's looking at you

"Goodbye Dublin" Monday 11.08:14

This is the last part of the Dublin diaries, 5/5. Here's a link to the rest. I was supposed to wake up at 7:30 am, I think. But I woke up due to Ale’s alarm, and I groggily asked if she was going to shower, then I went back to a bit of a slumber, before I turned back to her again “did I just ask you if you were going to shower, or did I dream it?”. She laughed and said I had asked, and she had said no, so I figured I’d go for the shower. Ale had an earlier plane than us, so she had to pack up her stuff and leave quite early. Whereas Marble and I didn’t have to catch the plane until later, so we still had a “day” to roam around the city. It was very bittersweet, and I didn’t want to leave at all. We packed our things, well, mostly, said goodbye to Ale. Then we wandered to Jervis again, because Marble hadn’t spent as much time there as Ale and I. We decided to split up so we could both get whatever we wanted. I went to Boots first. That was my first priority because I wanted to get my hands on some make-up we don’t have available in Norway. So I reckon I spent an hour in there, and I ended up purchasing quite a bit. Next I think I might have gone to New Look because I enjoyed it so much, and I think I just browsed around, trying to see if there was something I missed the last time I was at Jervis. We went to Marks & Spencer and bought ourselves lunch to take with us to the park. Marble wanted to go to a park with loads of animals in it, like a zoo. So we walked, and walked, and walked. But we realized it was maybe a bit too far for our limbs, and we ended up walking across the bridge and ended up standing beside a “Viking ship” car filled with tourists. I think I was taking pictures or summat, and the driver used his megaphone to say “hello”. We shouted it back, whilst the tourist were idly watching our interaction. We yelled that we were from Norway, and we had a lot of banter, the car just standing still waiting for the lights to turn green. It’s one of those things that just made me really enjoy Ireland, that people can just find it in themselves to just do that. We ended up walking to a castle, where we sat at the grounds, enjoying our lunch from M&S. We carried on walking, exploring, when I realized we were getting close to Guinness Storehouse. Ale had initially wanted to go there, but on the day we’d planned it, we were all exhausted. But Marble and I went to see, though we only had 45 minutes to spend there, so we almost ran up all the stairs to get our pints of Guinness and enjoy the view. I said, great, we’re chugging a pint before we have to get back to our hotel and pack all our last bits and head home. I told Marble I could actually feel the pint, after drinking it. And we somewhat clumsily managed to find our way back to the hotel. It was sad, no doubt, because it was the end of our trip. We went to wait for the bus, and I remember the bus trip being a bit subdued, obviously. I can’t actually remember what we did at the airport, other than checking in. But I do remember landing in Stockholm, and our plane was late, so we thought maybe we’d missed our plane home. But that was also delayed, so our running was for naught. I think I called my dad, asked him to come get Marble and I from the airport. By then it was mid-night, I think, and we felt bad for something that wasn’t really our fault, but yeah. Goodbye for now, Dublin. 

I know you couldn’t stand to be here on your own. You, you never last without someone to hold

"Glendalough" Sunday 10.08.14

Last time I posted one of my Dublin diaries, was back in 2014-- the year I went to Dublin. It's been two years, and I still remember Dublin so vividly. I still talk about it like it was yesterday. Anyway, since I've been posting my Indochina diary, I was reminded of the Dublin tales. I wrote this two years ago-- this is the 4/5 post in these diaries. We woke up early to get ready within the time we needed to get on the bus to Glendalough. Initially, we had planned on a proper breakfast, but it ended up being a quick trip to Dunnes Store, where we bought sandwiches and likewise. The night before we typed in the location of the bus stop on the Stay.com app (our savior), and we found that it was close by our location. However, we only knew the street, not how long the street would be, and where the bus stop would be located. Luckily, it was very easy to spot the buses once we turned into the street. We waited patiently for the bus to open for passengers. However, once it opened, it was quickly filled up, so they had to open the bus behind. Most people were good and stood in a proper line, waiting patiently, but then there were the rude ones who just eased their own way by pushing other people away. I sat on a seat by myself, whilst Ale and Marble sat together. I didn’t mind, it was more like my own decision, because I wanted to enjoy some time alone, and I knew I wouldn’t be a good candidate to converse with on the bus. I’m a silent person who enjoys observing, and when you add tiredness on the list of things I am, then I am most certainly quiet (unless I’m overtired, because then I giggle at the most ridiculous things). Mostly it was because I was much too busy with looking at all the sights on the trip, and because I was half-asleep. I am extremely glad we decided to go out of town, because we got to see “Ireland”. Wherever you go in this world, a city cannot represent a country. So, albeit I thought Dublin was a very nice place with a lot of Irish spirit in it, I figured it didn’t represent Ireland. On the bus trip to Glendalough, we drove past typical houses and buildings in Ireland, and we drove past a golf course, which is definitely one of the things that you find a lot in Ireland. The thing about stereotypes is that they’re often built on a truth, except it’s over exaggerated. I’ve always heard that Ireland is green, but I figured it was somewhat over exaggerated. However, when our plane touched Irish land, the first thing I saw was a farm with cows’ right beside the landing areas. Naturally, I was flabbergasted and a bit worried about the health of the cows. Men det var en av de inntrykkene som var med på å lage mitt førstinntrykk av Irland. Once we got closer to our destination, it was just a field of greens and mountains and sheep. It was very green. It did somewhat remind me of Norway, except they’ve got a different vegetation in Ireland due to weather conditions, probably. I was in awe of the nature, and I couldn’t stop smiling at the sights in front of my eyes. Once we got off the bus, we headed into the information center, then the loo’s, because the trip did take an hour and a half, and we did have our brekkie on the bus. We were informed to walk a few meters to get to the information center we needed to be at in order to be informed about mountain hikes. Once we got there, they had shut the doors due to lunch break. Instead of waiting, we just looked at the different routes they had made on this huge map, and we decided to take the Minors hike, or what it was called. Our first stop was the end of a lake, where took a few pictures. I joked about taking a swim, but ah- maybe I jinxed myself, because we all got soaked later that day. We stopped for quite a few times to enjoy the sights and take pictures. I remember walking past a family, where the dad and his two sons (I’m pretty sure they were his) were playing a game of “førstemann”. The dad put his flask on a random spot on the ground, and the two boys sprinted to get the flask first. The loser started complaining, and was very whiny. But the dad said: “C’est la vie”. We all awed, once we heard that, probably for different reasons. I “awed”, because I’d never heard any Italians actually use the phrase. For a second, the scene in front of me brought me to a place far away, to a warmer country with scenes just like those, with little boys running around in lin-clothing kicking a football or summat. We stopped at the “minors’ village” where there were ruins from what used to be a minors village. And that’s where the steep trails of stones started. Marble was at the front, then I, then Ale, who seemed to use a bit longer time walking the trails. It might have something to do with the condition of her health, though I doubt it. I think she was just not feeling too well. Once we had stopped quite a few times, we had a little intervention and told Ale to hurry up, to which I don’t think she was too happy about. On our way up, there were loads of people on their way down, seeing as you could walk the hike in two different directions. And some said hi, others didn’t say anything. The ones who didn’t greet were most likely tourists, who weren’t accustomed to the Irish customs. We had been in Ireland for a few days already, so we were used to greet people. Once we got on the top of the mountain, it started pouring down. It was rain, and then for a minute it was hail. “Is this hail?” I asked (shouted). Since we were on the top of the mountain, there was no place to shield ourselves from the downpour. I put my rucksack on my front, in an attempt to keep it from getting soaked by the rain, which hit my back first. We did take a few pictures, but they were foggy, and not too great in fright that I’d ruin my camera. And my camera did act strange for a bit, which made my blood pressure rise. On the top of the mountain, we started (at least I did) singing and humming to suitable songs for our hike. It was nice and funny because none of us could really hear each other, so we were probably humming different songs. Once we got away from the top of the mountain, the weather was better, and soon we were going down steep steps in the woods, which were made of wood. We almost started hiking another trail, because we were confused about the directions, but we quickly realised our mistake and went back on the other trail. On the way to the information center about the mountain hikes, we spotted a grave yard, which we promised to visit after our mountain hike. So that’s what we did, and I overheard a little girl saying “it’s a bit weird taking pictures in a graveyard, isn’t it?”. I both agree and beg to differ. I quite enjoy graveyards; because there’s a silence and serene feeling you won’t find many places. We only stayed for a short while, because although it was interesting, we were all soaked and hungry. We found shelter at the restaurant at the hotel in Glendalough, where we shared a corner of sofas with an older lady. I started a conversation with this lady, which is probably something I wouldn’t have done in another situation. But I’d been in Dublin for days, and become accustomed to their ways of being. Funnily enough she wasn’t Irish. She was an English midwife travelling through Ireland to visit her sister, I think. We had a chat for a while, before she finished her pie and tea and left us with byes and good lucks. On the way back to Dublin, we were sat with a lot of transfer students or like foreigners who were living and working in Dublin. Or something akin that, I guess. And for a while they started talking about Norway, which I suspect was because they heard us talking. It was funny, listening to their thoughts about Norway. On the trip home, I devoured a sandwich, and shortly after that I fell asleep. Poor Marble was soaking wet and couldn’t fall asleep. Both Ale and I had something to change into, so we were very comfortable. Once we got back, Marble decided she wanted to jog to the hotel, whereas Ale and I walked. When we were passing someone, Ale sneezed very loudly. And as polite as the Dubliners are, a man said “oh, bless you!” to Ale. It was both hilarious and swoon worthy.  Once we got back to the hotel, Marble was having a shower. We all did, actually, after each other. Then we put on some nice and dry clothes to go out to dine in. We couldn’t decide where we wanted to go, so we just wandered the streets and ended up at Gourmet Burger Kitchen. I had an avocado burger with some “Heihei fries”. And oh my god, if that isn’t the best burger I’ve ever tasted, then I don’t know.  Once we dug in, we were all like “oh my god, this is so good”. I guess we might have been quite hungry after our mountain hike and stuff too, but honestly, I’m going back to GBK someday to have another burger, because that was class. After that we went back to the hotel to enjoy an early night. Ale had an early flight on Monday morning, and I figured it would be good to wake up early and enjoy mine and Marble’s last day in Dublin as well. 

I want you here with me like how I pictured it, so I don't have to keep imagining

"Sexy Little Viking" 09.08.14

I promise I've not forgotten about the tales of Dublin. This is the third verse/segment/whatever (here's the first, and here's the second). It's called "Sexy Little Viking", which you'll soon understand why: I didn’t have the best start of my day, seeing as I woke up at 7:00 am. I was knackered, but so wide awake. I did try going back to sleep, but at 8:00 am I had to give up. Instead of sleeping, I figured I’d go shopping. So I woke up and got ready for a day out. And by the time I was done, it was approximately 9:00 am. And that’s when Ale groggily said: “what are you up to?”. I told her my plans, and she told me to give her fifteen minutes for her to get ready so she could tag along. Once she was done, I tapped Marble on her foot: “hey, we’re going shopping for a bit, yeah? Text us when you’re awake”. In which she just answered okay to. Ale and I had breakfast at a bagel café with a quite shady toilet. Breakfast was alright, but then we went on to Jervis shopping center, and I bought myself a purse from F21. Marble came to the mall around 1:00 pm. By the time she arrived, Ale and I were both quite tired from walking. We stayed for a bit longer, before we decided to go to the National Museum of Ireland, which was one of the things we had on our agenda that day. We saw the works of various artists, but it was mostly Jack Butler Yeats I was impressed with. I found myself really liking his work. At the very start of our tour around the European artists’ paintings, I got a text message. For once my phone wasn’t on silent mode. For the lols, I’ll repeat the message here: “Hey how is my sexy little Viking today? Deaglan”. Saturday 9th of August. 3:49 pm. Marble and Ale were walking around by themselves, listening to information about the various paintings through a "phone guide". When I read the message, I spluttered, and I had to reread it just to be sure. Had a little laugh for myself. When I had given my number to Deaglan, I hadn’t actually thought he’d contact me. I figured maybe he was too drunk to remember it, but I should have known that the Irish (most of them) can hold their drinks. When I had collected my thoughts, I went to the girls and showed them the text. And like me, they also spluttered and laughed. My reply consisted of: “Hi I’m good thanks. And hows the a-bit-taller-than-the-average leprechaun?” just to get him back in the same way: using a stereotype. Once we got back to the hotel, we all got ready for a night out. We had a few drinks before we went out as usual. Marble was the bartender, and then Ale got the role when Marble couldn’t because I was curling her hair. She poured me a vodka cranberry, I think. This time we went to Nandos for our supper, and the girls were really happy with their meals, which made me happy. We also shared a bottle of rosé, which went straight to my head. After that, we went to Wheelan’s, which is quite famous for their live music. We were thrilled to see traditional dancing, and it was just so different to Norway. We did stay for quite a bit, and it was nice because the median age at Wheelan’s was much younger than the previous places we had been. After a while though, we decided to move on. We went back to the Globe/Ri Ra, where we all ordered ourselves some pints. Before us in line, stood a guy who was pouring alcohol himself, and I leaned in to ask him if he was a bartender. He said “no, I’m not, but he’s (pointed at a bartender) forcing me to do all the work myself. I should take back my money,” in a jokingly manner. I agreed, and I thought to myself that it was so nice just being able to have banter with completely random people. We met a bunch of South American people. It was funny, because we had just ordered ourselves some pints and sat ourselves down. Ale went to the loo, and then some guy sat down beside me and started chatting to us. Apparently it was his birthday. Not too long after he went away because he’d lost his friends. However, it didn’t take long until he came back with his friends. After chatting to them, we emptied our pints and went to the dance floor where we danced along to tunes we’d never heard before. The difference between the Irish and Norwegians is the amount of alcohol they drink, I think. Because I don’t think I ever saw one drunken Irish person, like the kind of drunk that staggers and shouts gibberish in the streets. On the dance floor the guys were respectful, and didn’t immediately try to grind on you. In Norway, you’d have one going at you in mere seconds. Anyway, the only songs I think I knew was Hideaway by Kieza, which started just as I had been at the loo. So it was nice coming back to the dance floor and dance to a familiar song. I did meet a quite short and sort of balding-man by the bar earlier on the night, who reappeared at the dance floor. I think I made it clear that I wasn’t interested, by hiding behind my friend. We sat down for a bit just to get some water in our systems and chill. After that we left, and I think we might have walked through a somewhat Spanish nightclub which was really shady. The first thing we did was to go to the toilets, and some of the boots were completely dark. Plus there was a middle-aged woman sat by one of the sinks which was filled with hair products. It just gave me the shivers. We left quickly after our visit to the loo. Walking back to the hotel, the rain started pouring. Sadly none of us were carrying an umbrella either. On our way back, we met a guy called Kevin. He was really nice and had a very deep voice. So we got him to sing a tiny bit of Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong. The thing I liked about him was one of the first things he said “we’ll probably never meet again”, but he still wanted to walk with us. Which, you know, I find is a great attitude: like, hey I've just met you, and I'll never see you again, but let's just enjoy each others company for now. We said our goodbyes when we got to our street, and we went back to the hotel. It was a bit earlier than the other nights, seeing as we were planning on a hike on Sunday. But ah, it was good getting into bed after another tiring day. 

Picture my surprise when I had tried to lean in for a kiss, and she just smiled and turned her head down. I asked her "why?" and she replied it was nothing I was doing wrong, it's just what it is. No, classy girls don't kiss in bars like this

“Blue eyes, dark hair, braces & Fionn” 08.08.14

This is the second instalment to my Dublin travels diary. I cannot believe I'm posting this, but ergh. I'm going to look back at this and laugh at myself. You might understand the title from the story, but you might not. It doesn't really matter, because this is for me. The names are all changed. Due to a late night and little sleep as a result of travelling, we slept in. Which means our breakfast at Costa Coffee (first picture) was quite late. I had a really nice ham and cheese Panini. The plan for that day was to get a tour at Trinity College (picture number two-four), which we did after our breakfast. We just missed a tour by a few minutes, so we had to wait for a bit. In that time, we went to explore a bit ourselves, which was a really good idea. I think it gave us a basis for the tour. As we walked around the campus by ourselves, I stopped at a building that I thought was stunning. And I was very intrigued by the decoration. I formed questions about it in my head, which I later got answers to during the tour. Once the tour did start, Ale and Marble were basically walking along with the guide, instead of behind the guide like everyone else. I thought that was quite funny, because when the guide was turning around, probably to tell all the people to hurry along, he saw Marble and Ale straight behind him. It was the first time we actually had the chance to listen to someone Irish. I felt like I spent all of Thursday trying to find anyone Irish, or to differentiate the people who were actually Irish from the tourists and foreigners. So it felt really nice to listen to our guide speak with an Irish accent. Naturally I asked him where he was from, and it turned out that he was from south of Dublin, not far from Wicklow. It was a funny coincidence, I thought. I spent almost the whole tour just staring at him, as I had already seen the buildings from our little wander about before the tour. Hey, it was allowed to look at him, because you know it’s rude not to look at the person speaking. Anyway, he was blonde and had blue eyes. He had a sarcastic humor and was self-deprecating. He was the epitome of an Irish person (stereotype). I thought to myself that I could probably fall in love with him, and marry him and carry his children and live on a farm with cows and horses and whatnot. “I’m especially proud, because I’m going to get married in the chapel on the College grounds,” he said, or something akin to that. My dreams of falling in love and marry an Irishman were shattered. After our informative tour, we went to see the Book of Kells and The Old Library. I think the latter was the most amazing part, and I didn’t leave the place without purchasing a little Trinity College tote bag. After going through the museum on campus, Ale split ways with us because she wasn’t feeling too well. She went back to the hotel whilst we went to Jervis Shopping Centre, which was amazing. I went home with one shopping bag, because the mall was closing at 7:00 pm. On the way home, we went over the Ha’Penny Bridge (picture number five), and we also heard a street singer play All I Want by Kodaline. We didn’t actually recognize the song until we had passed him, but we both squealed in excitement, because we’d finally heard Kodaline somewhere. When we got back to the hotel, we found Ale in bed, looking a bit worse for wear. But we managed to get her in the shower, and we all got ready for a nice meal and a night out on Dame Lane. We had dinner at the hotel restaurant, and it was an absolutely delicious lamb meal. It was exquisite, if I can say so, and I want to repeat that sensation of tasting the lamb multiple times. I had a bottle of Peroni, whilst Marble had a glass of wine. The girls opted for some dessert as well, but I was too full to try eating anything. After that, we went upstairs to our hotel room to do some pre-gaming once again—I mean, we are Norwegian students at heart. Marble was the bartender again, and we got some alcohol in our bodies. When we got to Dame Lane, we were a bit unsure where to go in: where the cool things would happen. In the end we went to this pub filled with people to the brim. I didn’t think the pub looked quite great itself, but there were loads of people, so something must have been pulling people towards the pub. The median age was probably around 28 or something. So the crowd was a lot older than us. However, the first thing we did when we got inside was to go to the toilets. It’s where we met two really nice Irish ladies. The toilets were out of paper, so they gave us some of their paper tissues from their hand bags. “So sorry, there’s not any toilet paper left,” they said, remorseful, like it was their fault. We were smitten by the politeness. Then one of them complimented Ale’s skirt. They were just so nice and it was just so unusual to us. After our visit to the toilets, I ordered two pints of Guinness and one pint of Heineken for us. They went down fairly quickly whilst we were listening to the live music. He was taking requests, and mostly playing songs unknown to us, until he started playing Hallelujah. We were all singing along by then. After we had finished our pints, we decided to move on. But at the door, Ale was stopped by a person who she high fived inside of the pub. His name was Aedan. He had long red hair and a matching beard to go along with it. Whilst Ale was caught up in a conversation with him, Marble and I greeted his pal. Deaglan was his name, and he was dark haired, wore a suit, and looked very Irish. Sounded it as well, might I add. Coincidentally, he was also from the Wicklow-area. He was older than us, probably somewhere around the median age of the crowd, if not older. But Ale was in a conversation and we didn’t want to make her leave the conversation. So we started talking with Deaglan; about Ireland’s history and Vikings because we’re Norwegian, accents, Wicklow, etcetera. I accidentally said “telly” when I was explaining my accent. He stopped me, and exclaimed “telly!” and then basically took the mick out of me for using that word. I’ll remember to not use that when I go back to Ireland. The dress I was wearing was one of those “off the shoulder” dresses, but it kept sliding up. So I kept trying to push it down, and Deaglan jokingly said: “wow, already undressing then?”. I explained the reason to him, because I am a proper lady. Two other men came by, and I think we shook hands with them. “See, we’ve already replaced you,” I said to Deaglan. I don’t actually remember a lot of our conversation, but I think we had great banter. I do also remember that I actually gave him my number. Initially I was a bit hesitant, and I did say: “I never do this”, as I was saying my number. When he dialed my number, it didn’t actually call. He said it went straight to voicemail. So he asked if I’d given him a fake number. Please, as if I could lie about my number with how flabbergasted I was. But I showed him that it was in fact correct number. I just didn’t have any service at the moment. Admittedly we were a bit flirty towards each other, and Marble did say she felt a bit like the fifth wheel. When we were about to leave, Deaglan was suddenly very close to my face. Or maybe it just felt like it. No, yeah, he was really close to my face, because he could almost nudge me with his nose. He said: “I really want to kiss you”. And I said: “oh but I never let strangers kiss me. Maybe on the cheek”. He said alright, didn’t kiss my cheek because he said he didn’t want to do something I didn’t want. I thought that was very nice and respectful of him. Believe it or not, I have had people try to kiss me, and I've turned my head. But whereas those people would usually be offended, Deaglan was still all smiles. He still kept very close, and he had his arm around me. We were about to leave, and so I was going to say my goodbyes. I think we might have shook hands, before I decided to give him a hug. Or at least I’m pretty sure I was the one to initiate a hug. Mid-hug, he lifted me up, then let me down, and then lifted me up again. So we were in an embrace for a bit. After saying goodbye to Aedan, whose hair I touched and admitted to wanting to braid—we went back to Temple Bar to check out the atmosphere. Once again we went to listen to the live music, and though it wasn’t as good as the day before, we sat down to listen. There was a hen party, and Marble was just saying how it would be fun to go congratulate the girl. So I said “yeah, why not?”. A few seconds after, I went to congratulate the bride-to-be, and I told her that she looked very nice. The hen-party requested What’s Up by 4 Non Blondes and it was so good, because finally there was a song we could sing along with. After that we ended up at The Globe, where we danced to a lot of good old ones. Then we went downstairs to Ri Ra, where we raved a bit. I Wanna Dance With Somebody by Whitney Houston was playing, and all the gals were strutting around, singing along. I found a dancing companion, who for some reason reminded me of a backpacker. Maybe it was the vibe. Anyway, we danced for a bit, before we decided to go home. On the way back to the hotel we stopped to buy some chips, and then the girls wandered across the road to check out this club they had been eyeing. There we met the guy with braces and J.P. Fionn. It was really nice listening to them chat, because I am a sucker for an Irish accent. Braces’ accent reminded me of Niall Horan, so naturally I had to ask him where he was from. A bit outside Dublin, he said. North, I think. He invited us to come spend the night at theirs. Said he had two couches, which Ale misunderstood for “cages”. We all had the lols at that. I said my goodbyes to them and left, because I was cold and tired. Figured Ale and Marble could do whatever they wanted. I must admit that I was a bit surprised to see them coming up behind me shortly after. I think we ended up in bed at 3:30 am or something, after we had chugged down a few bottles of water in hope that we wouldn't feel any effects of the alcohol the day after.  

I know I'm not your only. But I'll still be a fool, cause I'm a fool for you

Hiya. It's been two weeks and a day since Marble, Ale and I went to Dublin. I've finally made some time to make a post about it, though time is what I lack the most. Ugh, been looking through what I need to do this school semester, and just life in general. Usually I try to avoid planning months ahead, but I figured since it's been on my mind that I've got a lot to do this year, I'd get a better overview. And my chest feels a bit lighter now, because I can actually see through the fog! Lols, do appreciate some metaphors. Anyway, back to the main point about this post-- I bloody love Dublin. I think I'm going to make a post for each day spent in Dublin. And this is the first day. Thursday: «Departure day» 07.08.14. I went to bed at half one in the morning due to stressing about for a bit. This meant that I got about 5 hours sleep or so because I woke up at 4:30 am. I was walking to the train station in what felt like the middle of the night because it was completely silent everywhere. My luggage sounded like an excavator in the midst of all the silence. When I arrived at the train station, I spotted Marble quickly. We went to purchase our train tickets without much trouble. Once we got to the airport, we managed to get our luggage ready without trouble (which we did the last time we travelled together). We picked up some alcohol (gin, vodka and whiskey) at the duty-free, which was one of the best ideas we had. I personally thought the plane-trip was quite long. Maybe it was because I was tired, but unable to fall asleep. Or maybe it was my wish to be in Ireland as soon as possible. Who knows. When we finally landed, we went straight to the food (Upper Crust) because we were hungry and had to wait for Ale to land as well. As we were eating, we were trying to guess people’s nationalities as we were sat right by the escalator. I didn't partake as much, because I suck at these kind of games. After an hour and a half, we went to the arrivals to wait for Ale's arrival. Once we saw her, we hugged and went straight to the bus, which took us into the city centre. The minute we stepped off of the bus, there was a person who asked if we needed help. By then we had already started walking, but it was nice nevertheless. We found our hotel rather quickly due to a very handy app called Stay.com. I recommend it to everyone who enjoys travelling. Sally tipped Ally and I about the app, and it's one of the best things she's done, probably. We left our luggage at the hotel before we went to Grafton Street and bought ourselves some lunch. We had a little lunch in the crowded Stephen Green’s Park, and it was actually really nice. I can’t quite remember what happened after that, but I suspect that we explored the Stephen Green’s shopping centre (the first picture) for a bit, before we went to the hotel and checked in. We got refreshed before we went to explore more of the city. The supper was eaten at Wagamamas, which we had walked past earlier. I had some Pad Thai (picture number three!). The girls tasted of Sake for the first time, and their facial expressions were priceless. I've actually got a picture of them when they taste it which is quite funny. I got a Singha, which tastes like water compared to Sake. Before this we did a bit of pre-gaming. It was Marble’s take on being a bartender. She served Gin Russians, Vodka Cranberry, and other mixes. We ended up at the famous Temple Bar where we got to listen to a live band play traditional Irish music. It was a lot of fun, and we sat through the whole set. After that we did a bit of a bar hopping. We went through different pubs and listened to the live music, which seems to be at each pub in Ireland. We returned to Harcourt Street (second picture, though this is taken in the early day) late, and I fell asleep at 3:30 am, I think? Or maybe later, even. All I know is that I had a really great first day in Ireland, and it was the best start I could have had, probably.