Monday-Wednesday: I’m not really sure what happened during these days. There was a steady progression as my bruise got darker, and then I fell into an evil void in which I never left the room except for gym, class, and food, because I was literally bogged down by 4 presentations to prepare for, and 10 essays. I’m not even kidding. Papers left and right because of this whole “no dead week thing”. Right, that goes back to our Egypt trip being cancelled. Because we ended up having school that week, and moving our group field trip to our final week (April 1-5), we don’t actually get a week to prepare for finals and papers and all that. They were just kind of thrown upon us. So, I made a nest in my bed and wrote for 3 days straight, hence my lack of updates. And it was hell. I literally wanted to throw my computer against the wall by Wednesday night, but I refrained, and instead just stopped preparing for my Humanities exam and decided that 9 essays and 4 presentations was enough, and that I could resume work on Sunday after returning from Ireland. It was the sane decision.
Thursday: St. Patrick’s Day! And seriously, what a better plan than actually going to Ireland for the day? Nothing. So that’s exactly what we did. We being Jessica, Andrew, and me. Well, we went to class first, and then booked it to the airport, where we were quite early, consumed sandwiches, bought more for the road, and then hopped onto our plane to Cork, Ireland. We checked into our bed in breakfast (after going through the airport and getting a green stamp on our passports parked “March 17”- kind of awesome), and then proceeded to get ready for the evening. Cork is a college town, and although Ireland makes drinking a nightly habit, we figured it would still be a blast. So, Jessica and I donned our green tights, I also pulled on a green tank top and scarf and was dubbed the “absinthe fairy” by Andrew (not sure if that was a compliment or not…), and then we headed out.
It was insane.
Well, a good kind of insane. We never felt worried or anything of the like, even as people ran around. We did a good deal of bar-hopping, hitting about 8 that night, and of all sorts. The first was quite traditional, with Irish music and dancing and a very, very packed, loud atmosphere, but it was probably the best one that we found. The rest of the evening wasn’t lacking, though, and we enjoyed all of it as we ran through the city (which really isn’t all that big- it was quite easy to navigate on foot), making friends, getting into clubs, dancing, slipping on beer covered stairs an obtaining further bruises (oh yeah, that would be me again…), and all such other great things. It was a fantastic night. And, it wasn’t over. We got back to the B&B, showered ,got into bed, and then I decided it would be a good night to sleep walk for the first time in years.
No. I’m not joking. I woke up in the bathroom, completely disoriented and had no idea where I was. I had somehow managed to lock myself in there, although the doors were clearly unlocked (good job, mind, getting me all confused), and had to be rescued by the owner of the B&B. Let’s just say that I was definitely the subject of everyone’s amusement the next morning. Ah, the joys of a good evening. Actually, it was clearly not from the consumption of, er, liquids, but rather simply sleep walking. What a night to do that, though. I guess I just have to make a name for myself wherever I go…
Friday: After a delicious full Irish breakfast (which his quite similar to full-English), and living through the amusement of all the people working and staying in the B&B as they talked about my night time activities, Jessica, Andrew, and I made our way to the bus station, where we caught a bus to Blarney. There, we were gifted with an absolutely gorgeous, sunny day (no rain in Ireland for us!) and we walked through the small town to the castle. There, we first ran about the grounds, as there was a kind of nature walk with all these picturesque places. Water falls, trees, places to climb into and onto (naturally, being us, we had to climb the trees and trek through the mud to the waterfalls to get good pictures), flowers… it was all so beautiful. Following this, we made our way to the actual castle. 
We climbed up to the top, where we laid on our backs, had our legs held by a guy hired to do so, and then had to lean backwards and finally upside down over the edge of the castle wall in order to kiss the Blarney Stone for the “gift of eloquence.” No joke. I leaned over the wall, which was WAY high and kissed a stone that probably has massive amounts of germs. But it was awesome. After the castle, we descended to the grounds, walked through their “poison garden” (it was full of poisonous plants, although the Irish police confiscated their marijuana plant, which we found amusing), and then found the old dungeon caves. No one was brave enough to really go all the way in, but we crouched and wriggled our way to the deepest depths of them and it was totally worth it. Seriously, these were TINY caves and anyone claustrophobic would probably hate it, but it was awesome. Dropping water, echoes, dim lighting, uneven rocks… it was totally out of a movie and very castle-esque. I loved every moment of it.
After the castle, we walked back to the village, grabbed some lunch, then hopped on the bus back into Cork, where we spent the rest of the beautiful afternoon running around the town and looking at what it had to offer. We saw some cool streets, a cathedral, and finally decided to hit up the B&B for a quick nap before dinner. Dinner took place as a rugby bar, which was quite fun and definitely a locals place. After dinner, we headed back for a semi-early evening in preparation for our VERY early morning into Dublin the following day.
Saturday: After waking up at quite the ungodly hour, we trekked back to the bus stop, grabbed our 4 hour bus into Dublin, and napped/stared aimlessly for the trip. It was a long one, but totally worth it. Again, we had great weather and the city was very fun. Definitely not as cool as London, but still a great day trip and adventure. It was much smaller than we planned, so we were able to walk around to all the places we wanted- namely, Trinity College, Temple Street and Bar (where we had a great lunch of steak and Guinness stew), Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin Castle, and finally a tour of the Guinness Factory. Personally, I found the beer disgusting, and so got a coke with my free drink pass. Yeah, I know, lame, but it’s okay. I indulged in the Bulmer’s cider all of Thursday night.
After the factor, we walked back along the river to the bus stop, grabbed our bus, and traveled the long journey back home. By the time we arrived in Cork, we were all exhausted and barely made it through our showers before crashing into bed. But, it had been a fantastic day, a brilliant and well-planned weekend, and we had no regrets about the exhaustion. We’d managed to see everything we had wanted to see, and the only time it rained was while we were on the actual bus. Pretty good luck, especially considering Ireland in March.
Sunday: We woke up early, got our breakfast, and then traveled back home. We arrived at a decent hour, and so grabbed lunch at my favorite Asian food place, and then had the rest of the afternoon for get back into workout and studying routines. Ugh… talk about walking right back into a stressful pool of work for finals. But… only a bit more time and then I’ll be in Istanbul and without any work at all!
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