Edinburgh and our first day in Dublin!

Hello from Dublin!

Today 5-23 we have arrived in Dublin after a crazy two night stay in Edinburgh. The day after I wrote my first post we woke up and had breakfast at the hostel. The night's sleep was less than stellar because I am a little home sick.. but I know this trip will be a fun experience. After checking out of the Hostel we went to the Sir Walter Scott Monument, which is the tallest monument dedicated to a writer. We had an awesome view of the city; it is an older city and it was absolutely beautiful. We took a ton of good pictures with great scenery. After we climbed all 287 stairs up and down it was time for lunch, so we have paninis with some chips and a drink. We immediately went into the Edinburgh Castle which was phenomenal. We learned much about the history of the city and the castle. We walked through six gates to get into the main part of the castle. The crown jewels were the most exciting part. Seeing such ancient and historic pieces of history was amazing. We spend hours looking around the castle and took a 30min tour with our tour guide Frank. He explained that not all Scottish people get drunk, eat Haggis, and fight.. We also saw the prison in which many Americans were held during the Revolutionary War, which was my second favorite part of the castle. After we left the castle we stopped at a Whiskey shop where Nick, Dan, and Jed bought some 30cl bottles of different kinds of whiskey. We then darted off to the beautiful Prince's street gardens that was filled with tons of people and goth's smoking cigs. The park was beautiful as well, the landscaping was great and the relaxation was much needed. I passed out for a good half hour under the sun along with nick, while Jed and Dan played catch with a stick to entertain themselves. After we woke up we went to purchase some souvenirs and notebooks for journaling. We had dinner arrangements with Gavin's family at the same bar we were at the previous night when I had posted. We had a few pints with the family and waited for Gavin to get off work. He met us at the bar and we left not soon after to return to his flat. Around midnight we finally were able to teach Gavin and his flatmate's Beer Pong.. a game that they had never played or even heard of. We could not tell if they enjoyed the game or not, but it was an experience for all of us. They lager of choice in Scotland was Tennents.. it was not very good haha. Gavin had arranged for us to attend a Drum and Bass concert which was actually really cool.. it consisted of mostly club music and rap. The bass was so loud I gagged because of the vibrations running through the floor and walls. I did not do much drinking since I had no been feeling well from the morning, but I did enjoy the time. The concert was held in the University of Edinburgh Union, which was nothing like the union at the U of I. It had bars inside with a huge dance floor area. We left the Union at the end of the concert which was 3am and walked home with a bunch of drunks.. Dan, Jed, Me, Nick, Will, Ross, and Gavin. We were all pretty exhausted so we immediately got ready for bed an crashed hard. Sleep here is hard to come by because of how loud it is everywhere and the constant movement of travelers.

We woke up in the morning around 10am and showered/packed our things. We headed out and left a note for Gavin thanking him for all his accommodations. We were recommended by Gavin's dad to hit up a place up the street for a hot breakfast but we decided to skip due to time constraints. I ended up with a triple chocolate muffin and water, which was delicious. We hailed a taxi not soon after and took off for the airport. Everything went smoothly at the airport, but Jed insisted I take a picture of him in the security line check drinking water... You can't take pictures in the line, so we were hassled for a few but played it off like we never took a picture (muahahaha) Our flight was delayed about an hour because a flight attendant on the flight before fell ill and it took time for the ambulance to show up. Once on the plane it was only a 40min flight into Dublin and a 45min bus ride into the heart of the city. We checked into our hostel, made our beds and explored the hostel. In the common room we ran into 4 kids from Naperville and found out they had graduated from U of I this year as well. We talked for a bit and we made plans to go out to the pub's tonight with them. We are staying in a 6 bed room with two other's, one who is french for sure and the other we did not see. We left the hostel and looked for food.. we found Quizno's (boring) and it was terrible compared to home. After consuming that crap we explored the city and St. Patrick's cathedral. The church was absolutely amazing.. the park surrounding it was so scenic, but the inside of the cathedral was closed since we arrived after 5. We hope to go back and view the inside since it is such a historic part of Ireland. We continued to walk around the city and ended up here at the Internet Cafe to write our blogs. So far the trip has been so surreal and I have enjoyed seeing many different people. One thing I do hate is being stared at everywhere I go because I am so tall.. many stares and many giggles... oh well... I will try to add more detail but I left my journal in the hostel because I did not plan on stopping at a cafe. Hopefully tonight we will have a good time and a good night sleep with our roommates. Tomorrow we hope to see the Guinness Factory and the Jameson Distillery. We may make a trip down south to kiss the Blarney Stone if time permits.

I miss everyone at home!

Until next time!

Cheers!