Spring Break: Tuesday

Spring Break:
Our morning started early on Tuesday. We actually never really went to sleep the night before because we were all up at 1:45 packing and showering and such in order to catch our 3:20am bus from Ascoli Piceno to Rome (Termini). The bus ride is three hours long, so that was three more hours of sleep that we had (if you count jostling around, as a bus speeds through mountains and around cliffs, sleep…). We arrived in Rome early and sat in a café until we could catch our next bus that would bring us to Ciampino airport. That bus ride was another hour…which translates to another hour of jostled sleep, but it works.
We arrived at the airport with time to spare so we thought we would get some food. The only option was a sandwich from one of the carts in the airport. I bought a sandwich that I though looked decent…haha yeah about that….This thing was NASTY! The prosciutto in it was literally brownish black. Needless to say, my nourishment for that morning consisted of chocolate.
We checked in and after a few issues (some of my friends decided that they would register as EU citizens….) we got in line for security, right behind an entire Italian school that was flying to London. So after waiting like and hour, and getting cut in line by EVERYONE, I made it to the front of the line. I was taking off my boots to pass through security and as I glanced down to fix my sock I saw a stash of butter knives sitting next to the front of the security line…SCKETCHY!! Haha my friends and I were like…uuhhh…..what????
After security we wanted real snacks. We didn’t find any, but I did manage to somehow spend € 10 on a pack of gum and some chocolate eggs…oops. I was glad that I bought those eggs though because our plane was delayed by a half an hour and those eggs kept me going until I could sleep on the plane. Talk about being over tired!
I tried to sleep on the plane but it just wasn’t working out. Those Ryan Air flights are so cramped (and scary because the whole time you are speeding up and slowing down and going up and dropping in the air…not really sleep friendly). I did end up meeting a woman who grew up in Dublin and she was able to tell me all the good places to go and see while I was there. She also warned me to NEVER take an Air Coach bus because they are super expensive and they take longer than the usual public transportation. Can I just say, I feel like I am a public transportation guru now after figuring out public transportation in five different countries.
We arrived in the center of Dublin literally five minutes after the St. Patrick’s Day parade ended. Good timing. Thank you Ryan Air. It’s actually a little funny. Ryan Air’s big claim to fame is that they are NEVER late. The one time they ARE late, it’s the only time I need to be on time to see something amazing.
Nine out of the sixteen girls in the program traveled to Dublin, but we were all staying in different hotels. My roommate Christine and I booked a hotel together so we said bye to the other girls and went on our way. We thought that we knew the general direction of our hotel so we set out on our way. About five minutes into our trek (and I say trek because it literally was because we both had massive backpacks filled with enough clothing for a week) we realized that we had no idea where we were going. We stopped and asked a police officer which direction we should head in. He pointed us in the right direction and told us that it would be about a 15 min. walk. After walking for what seemed like forever, we stopped another officer to ask directions again. He told us we had to walk towards St. Stephen’s Green for about 15-20 mins. We sighed and continued on our way through the center of Dublin. Did I mention that there were massive crowds of people EVERYWHERE?! So after another 15 mins, we asked another officer when we reached St. Stephen’s Green. They said we had to walk for another 10-15 mins to our hotel…..SUCH A LONG WALK!!!!
When we finally got to the hotel all I wanted to do was get that stupid backpack off of me! I was so exhausted from lack of sleep and from hiking through Dublin for the afternoon. Christine had made plans to meet up with her friend who is studying in Dublin for the semester so we both took showers and headed back out again….25 mins of walking later, we met up with her friend and looked for a place to grab a bite to eat. We ended up in this really cool three story bar/restaurant. When it came time to order our food, I wanted to go really traditional with my choice. I decided on a Steak and Guinness pie…SOOO GOOD! Did I mention that I drank my first Guinness with it?
After dinner we walked through Temple Bar in Dublin and, of course, Christine and I found a place that served nutella crepes…It’s like we have a sixth sense for these things I swear…Anyway, durante nostro passeggiato we came across three of our friends that we traveled with.
We ended up walking around with them and during our walk we were stopped by three Irish guys. They seemed fun and we were going to walk around with them until one of us noticed something fishy….they were all bleeding. When we realized what was on their shirts we asked them if they had been in a fight. They denied it and said that they had run into a dumpster…Needless to say, we left them and went on our way…We didn’t want any sketchy bloody boys hanging out with us.
We ended up heading to the Porterhouse Pub in Ireland. Apparently that was the place to be on St. Patty’s Day night. Naturally we met some Italians there and we just hung out and had fun. They played Galway girl in the pub and ALL I could think about was P.S. I Love You!
When we got tired, we decided to call it a night. Christine and I made the trek back to our hotel and went to sleep. I was up for a straight 41 hours.