Here this is the last entry about fall break!

Early on Thursday morning we got up and headed to the airport. The airport was about an hour outside of Paris so we had a lot of traveling to do. In the end we had to take the metro, airport shuttle, airplane, and a bus to galway. We left at 6am from the hostel and arrived in Galway at about 3:30pm. Long day! The plane ride was only about 1.5 hours. The airport was an experience. I flew on Ryanair which is a very cheap and common airline in Europe. They have lots of deals where you can get flights at prices as low as 5 or 10 euro (so basically you just get no extras on the flight). We waited in line and checked in-where they weighed our carry on bags. Since we weren't checking any bags I had to pack all 10 days in a carry on-that was tough! I was worried it would weigh too much but luckily it didn't. Also, Ryanair doesn't have assigned seats so you can get in line for boarding whenever you want. It is basically a free-for-all! As soon as they start boarding everyone runs for a spot in line. After the airline we took a bus to Galway (on the west coast on Ireland). Generally it should be about 3.5 hours or a bit less but, to make a long story short, ours was more than 4. We were so happy to finally get off the bus and arrive in Galway.

A few interesting things I noticed right away. They drive on the other side of the road in Ireland! And the sirens are the same as in the US (in the rest of Europe they are different). The bus ride to Galway was gorgeous and I was very excited to be in Europe! Also it was nice to be in an English speaking country for a few days. It was so nice to just be able to talk to people, ask for directions, know what you are ordering on a menu (that was tough in paris) etc.

We arrived at the bus station and asked someone how to get to our hostel. The guy was very helpful gave us a map and gave us some general tips about where to go and what to do in Galway. He was around our age so it was nice to get some ideas of stuff we might like to do! We found out hostel easily because Galway is a pretty small town. At the hostel we were supposed to be in a 10 person room but guess what? We were upgraded again for some reason to a twin room! We didn't get our own bathroom but still pretty lucky that it happened again. Thursday we went out to eat in Galway and just walked around a bit. The town was so cute and really pretty. Everyone there was so nice too. Luckily Galway wasn't any colder than Paris, if it was I would have froze!I definitely didn't prepare well for the cold weather and was forced to buy gloves and a scarf in my travels. Just to give you an idea Italy is close to 70 during the day and gets down to high 50's at night. When our plane landed in Dublin it was 42 degrees! I think the difference in temperature made it seem particularly cold!

So the next morning we woke up and walked around Galway for a bit doing some souvenir shopping. We then bought tickets to go on an all day tour to areas around Galway. The bus stopped at a bunch of places and we got the chance to get off, walk around, and take pictures. The tour left at 10 and returned around 5:30 so we stopped at a lot of places. We saw 2 different castles, the countryside around Galway, stopped for lunch, and our longest stop was at the Cliffs of Moher. Ireland is REALLY green and somehow all of the days we were there it was perfect weather. Ireland rains ALL the time so it was shocking the weather was so good. The cliffs were unbelievable. Everyone I talked to who had been to Ireland said you have to go to them. They are sheer cliffs that go down 700ish feet. They just drop off out of nowhere. They were really pretty. The tour guide was great too. And I have to say it was awesome listening to an irish accent.

After we got back we went to dinner and got fish and chips which is very typical of Galway (Galway is on the ocean). It was delicious. After dinner we went out for Halloween which was awesome because most of Europe doesn't celebrate it!

Saturday we got up and went out for a 'full Irish breakfast" One of my friends travels to Ireland every year to visit family told me I had to get one when I was there. It was really good! It was 2 sausages, 2 bacon, a fried egg, toast, something called pudding, coffee/tea, orange juice, potatoes, and a grilled tomato. It was different but good! Then we finished up our last bit of souvenir shopping and walked around Galway a bit more before taking a bus back to Dublin. Luckily this time it was just about 3 hours. We found out hostel pretty easily and this time we were not upgraded but we only had to spend 1 night in the 10 person room and it wasn't so bad.

We went out to eat and then walked around Dublin at night. Food was really expensive there unfortunately. After walked around and checking out the city we went to bed. The next morning we got up and went on a tour of Dublin. We went on these "hop on hop off" buses. They stop at a ton of different places of interest and you can get off and on at whichever stops you want. The buses come every 10 minutes so you never have to wait that long for a new bus to pick you up. Since we didn't have that long we walked around a lot of places but didn't go in any that cost money. We saw St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin Castle, Christ Church, and a bunch of other places. We went into the Guinness Storehouse which is a HUGE tourist attraction. It is a 7 floor building that tells you all about how they make Guinness Beer which is really popular in Ireland. At the top there is a full view of Dublin which was really pretty. It was very cool to see. It is a self guided tour but they organize it in a great way so you know what to check out next. After that we headed back on the bus to the airport for our flight back to Florence. We got back to our apartment around 1:30am.

Overall I had a great break! I couldn't believe all the traveling and everything went smoothly and even the weather was perfect. I hope I get a chance to visit Ireland and Paris again someday! Well I hope everyone enjoys all the pictures!