This past week, after I finally (mostly) recovered from my illness, has been a BLAST! On Friday I went to the British Museum, it was interesting looking around at everything until I got to the mummies. The whole time leading up to the mummies, I couldn’t wait for them. However, after one look at a preserved human in a glass box, I did not feel the same excitement. It took about 5 minutes for me to get out of that museum and away from the scary dead people. I felt like I needed to go pray afterwards…

On Saturday morning at 4 a.m., 19 University of Iowa students got on a train that took us to the airport, where a plane took us to Dublin. Epic.

After 15 minutes of being in Dublin, we found ourselves at McDonald’s. We acted like moths act when they see a light bulb in the dark. The moment we saw that beautiful golden arch, we all gravitated in that direction without anyone saying a word. I guess even Dublin can’t stop us from being American. We did manage to buy double-decker tour bus tickets first. When we were done eating, we headed for a bus. The bus took us deeper into Dublin, where we decided to join a walking tour. After not even 10 minutes on the walking tour, we quit. Why? Because there was a church that was turned into a pub, and we were once again easily distracted. I’m convinced college kids would probably do just about anything for booze or McDonald’s… this trip proved it.

The name of the pub was called Church. Creative, huh? It had an organ, stained glass windows, the 10 commandments posted on the walls, etc. I always thought that the Irish were pretty religious, and I didn’t understand how they would allow a church to be turned into a bar. Then it occurred to me that although the Irish are fond of God, they ADORE drinking. It all started to make sense.

After a pint at Church, (never thought I’d speak those words), we headed to the Jameson distillery. As I was buying my ticket for the tour, the cashier asked me where I was from. I said Wisconsin, he said “Go Pack.” I just kind of laughed and smiled and he went on to tell me that he was a Packers fan, but born and raised in Dublin. I asked him if it was just because we won the Super Bowl, but he claimed he’d been a fan since he was first introduced to American football when he was 13. Maybe that was 1996, or 1997, I think we won the Super Bowl both of those years too… Anyway. The point of this story is that he told me that since I was a Packers fan he would tell me a little secret, he said I should definitely volunteer for anything the tour guide asks. So I did. At the end of the tour I got 3 shots of whiskey. One was Jack Daniels, one was some Irish whiskey, and one of course was Jameson. I had to sip the Jameson, then the Jack, then the Jameson, then the Irish, then the Jameson, and tell everybody which one was the smoothest. Obviously Jameson won. Then I got a certificate (along with the other 7 people who volunteered) that says that I’m a “Qualified Irish Whiskey Taster.” I hate whiskey, but I pretended it was the best alcohol I ever tasted in order to not be embarrassed.

After warming our stomachs with some whiskey, it was time for some Guinness. We went to the Guinness brewery and it was amazing. There were 7 floors and each floor had something interesting to see. At the top floor, we got our free glass of Guinness. Everyone always says that Guinness in Dublin is a million times better than any other Guinness you’ll ever have. That’s not a myth, it is a fact. In order to get our glass of Guinness, we had to hand the bartender the bottom of our ticket stub. The receipt that we got when we paid for our ticket looks just like the bottom of our ticket stub, so we sinned and each had 2 free glasses instead of one.

After plenty of booze it was time for some grub. We went to eat at a pub, and then headed to our hostel. We stayed at Jacob’s Inn. It was the cleanest, nicest hostel, I’ve ever seen. Mind you, I’ve only seen 2 hostels, Jacob’s Inn included, but it was really nice. We picked up some alcohol and had a little party in our hostel to prepare ourselves for the night ahead of us. After we were all drunk enough, we headed to Temple Bar. Temple Bar is not a bar, it’s an area of Dublin that is known for its crazy night life. What a crazy night it was. I went to several pubs where live music was playing, I was being a groupie, some musician gave me his tambourine, and I played with that tambourine all night. I made so many friends because of my tambourine, probably mostly because people were fascinated by the drunk American girl who was way too amused by a half-broken tambourine. Regardless, it was the highlight of my night. (Don’t worry, the tambourine made it back to London).

When all the live music was over we needed to eat and got some pizza. I think it may have been the best pizza I’ve ever had, then again I was playing with a tambourine so I think anything could have made me happy at that point. After the pizza, we headed to Copper’s (I think that’s what it’s called?), which is a famous club in Dublin. It played a lot of American classics including The Boss, Mellencamp, and Michael Jackson. I obviously tambourined (yes, I know that’s not a word) along to every song, making even more friends. People wanted to take my tambourine and take pictures with it. I let them. I should have started charging for pictures.

We rolled back into our hostel at maybe 6 or 7 a.m. and I think I was asleep the moment I saw my bed. At 11, we checked out of Jacob’s Inn and headed to Trinity’s campus. It was pretty. I liked it. If you took all of the University of Iowa’s students and plopped them on Trinity’s campus it would be destroyed in minutes. I don’t know how a campus can stay that clean and beautiful.

I became mildly depressed on the plane home. I did not want to leave Dublin. Everyone there was so friendly, so much fun, I loved the live music, and the yummy Guinness helped too. I also realized that I only had 12 days of work, 4 days of exploring, and 3 days of class left here. The whole time I’ve been here I’ve been thinking about how great it will be when I get home, but now I don’t want to leave. This trip so far has had a lot of highs and lows. The lows usually make me homesick, feel lonely and foreign, and make me realize I’m not as happy as I thought I’d be here. However, when I realized what little time I had left, I unexpectedly was really upset about it. Even though this trip is not what I expected, and in some ways, not what I had hoped for, it has been an amazing experience. I feel like I’m finally starting to fit in and make a life for myself here and now I only have 2 and a half weeks left. There are still so many things that I want to see and do, and I only have 4 days to do them!

I also am starting to talk like a British person, not on purpose. Not because of the accent, just the phrases they use are finally rubbing off on me after a month and a half. Today I said cheers instead of thank you, and it was really awkward for me. I also used the term rubbish bag instead of trash bag (but that’s because no one understands me when I say trash bag), I told someone that my supervisor was lovely, and instead of saying that I’ll figure something out, I said I’d sort it. I won’t even get started on how much I annoy myself when the world “brilliant” slips out… I also am starting to get confused when writing. I never know how anything is spelled anymore because there is no “z” in the alphabet here, and so I’m easily stumped by a world such as realize… it kills me.

Speaking of which, I just realized/realised that it is time for me to start my homework. I have so much stupid homework this week. How am I going to fit it in between all of my sightseeing, work, and partying?!