Ireland has stolen my heart

"How's the craic?"

Ah Ireland. I know I rave about every place I've been going to lately, but Ireland was literally perfect. It was the perfect weekend, the perfect country, with the most perfect people, and food and drinks and I think I should just live in Ireland forever and ever!! Now onto the details about the weekend!

First stop on our trip for the weekend was Dublin. Jess, Kathy, Claudia, Mike, and Ryan was the group for the weekend and I actually ended up planning most of the trip for all of us. Ryan has family in Ireland so he was staying with us in Dublin for the first day and then going to stay with his family the rest of the time. It was so strange to be in a country where everyone spoke English, I kind of forgot what it was like to be able to understand everything that was going on around me.

After we dropped all our stuff off at the hostel and snagged a quick lunch, we headed over to the Guinness Store House Factory for a tour of the brewery. I was sooo excited for this part of the trip and I loved the whole tour! The best part of the tour was the Guinness Sky Bar at the end of it. You got a glass of Guinness on tap at the Sky Bar and no joke it was THE best Guinness I have ever had in my life!!! The view from the Sky Bar was pretty spectacular as well.

Later after the tour we grabbed dinner and then headed out to the Temple Bar district. Temple Bar district was exactly what I pictured Irish Bars to be like; live music, loud crazy Irish lads, and lots and lots of beer. I was loving the whole atmosphere, it actually made me kind of homesick because the bars we went to reminded me of some of my favorite places back home! We enjoyed the night right by drinking Guinness and dancing to the live music (side note, I think I died and went to heaven when Galway Girl started playing)!

 

Next day we all woke up and got ready for a free walking tour provided by our Hostel. As we were walking down to the lobby of the Hostel I see a guy who looks oddly familiar... It was Elliot Mamet!! I went on a cruise with him Senior Year of High School and hadn't seen him since then! It was seriously the craziest coincidence running into him at a Hostel in Dublin, I mean come on!?! It rained the entire time on the walking tour, which kind of sucked but we all stuck it out and had a good time. After we went back to the Hostel to plan our day trip to the Cliffs of Moher the next day. We planned it out so that we would stay in Galway (the last stop on the tour before going back to Dublin) so we could stay with Ryan and his family in Gort that night!! YAY! 

We got up super early the next morning and hopped on the bus for one of the best days of my life! To start off the most amazing day ever we got a traditional Irish breakfast, that was delicious and it was at a rest stop restaurant. I loved our drive through the Irish country-side, everything was so green and looked so beautiful. Right when we got to the drop off point for the Cliffs of Moher it started to rain, but after we walked inside the information center to use the restrooms the rain had cleared. 

 I'm not kidding when I say this, the Cliffs of Moher is by far the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in my entire life!! I could not get over how naturally wonderful this body of land was. It honestly looked like we were on the set of some kind of movie. It seemed so surreal to be in a spot that I have seen in pictures and on film for so many years. To actually be walking around the Cliffs and just taking in all of it's beauty was my favorite part about our trip to Ireland so far. 

The next stop on the bus trip was to the Burren Region of the Cliffs of Moher. This is a part of the Cliffs of Moher where there is just a mass of natural limestone. It's doesn't sound that great, but it was just as epic as the Cliffs! The limestone was so interesting and gave a really cool texture to the rock. All of us took some time to take some pretty awesome photos. Honestly we were running around on some kind of high of being around such beautiful scenery. 

The next stop on the bus tour was to Galway. Now I have some weird obsession with Galway that is definitely because of how much I love the movie P.S. I Love You. Now if you have never seen the movie I highly recommend it; I watch it at least twice a year and it never gets old. Galway had a cute little market area that we went to and I bought Rachel a Claddagh ring there. The Claddagh ring actually originates from Galway so I thought it would be the perfect gift for her!!! (best sister award for sure)!

Ryan's uncle came and picked us up from Galway and drove us to his place in Gort. Gort was a typical small Irish town. It was so nice to be staying in a house for a change instead of a hostel. Later that night we went out with Ryan's cousins friends to the bars in Galway. This was such a strange experience. When most people think of going out in Ireland I don't think Jersey Shore is the first thought that comes into their minds. But, at the pre-game I swear it felt like we stepped into a Jersey Shore like club (all the girls were dressed in the tiniest outfits with so much make-up on and the guys were all in tight muscle shirts). Anyways once we got to Galway Claudia and I went off to meet up with Kristen O'Machel! She was student teaching in Ireland for the semester and we both happened to be in Galway the same night!! 

 

It was so awesome to see Kristen and the bar we met up with her at was exactly what I wanted out of Ireland. The night ended on a weird note at SuperMac's, but regardless it was still an experience that I don't imagine having again for quite awhile. Going back to Dublin the next day was kind of bittersweet. The weekend was coming to an end and I wasn't ready to leave Ireland yet. I had become so attached to the country and didn't want to go back to Budapest. Ireland is the one place that I have wanted to go to since I was a little girl. There's just something so completely captivating of this nation that I can't seem to get over.

I am already planning on returning to Ireland in the near future. I cannot believe that I almost didn't come here while studying abroad, thank god for Jess and Kathy!! Until next time... Szia!!