The Good Life

"This is the good life. Take a good look. Have anything you want. This is the good life. Dining with your friends at the fancy restaurant. Living the good life. We have such a good time. I know."

This weekend I went to Dublin with the BC group. Maragaret and her husband, Brian, also came. We left at 9:30a.m. on Friday morning by bus and arrived in Dublin at 12:30p.m. Once we got dropped off we took cabs to the hotel we were staying at called The Burlington Hotel. IT WAS A FOUR STAR HOTEL!! We got to the hotel before Margaret because she was driving in to the city so we waited in the lobby for her to arrive. She checked us into the hotel and gave us our room assignments. There were three people to a room and I was staying with Katherine and Emmy. The rooms were really nice. They had big bathrooms with nice showers and three twin beds. The best part was the showers which constantly had warm water, unlike at the Niland House were you have to boost the water heater. This means we have to turn a dial on the water heater and wait 35 minutes for it to heat up before showering. This was such a luxury. We dropped our stuff off in our hotel rooms and headed back downstairs to meet everyone in the lobby. From the lobby we walked through Dublin stopping at a bagel place for lunch. I got a bagel with turkey, cheese, and mayo on it. It was so delicious. After lunch we walked past the Boston College House in Dublin. There are instructors at the colleges in Dublin from BC and they have their own house. It has Boston College flags and says BC everywhere. It is very neat. From the BC house we walked to Parliament where we were given a tour. Our taxi driver on the way to the hotel told us to bring matches with us and burn the place down. The people of Ireland are not happy with Parliament these days and as a matter of fact, Parliament was dissolved a couple of weeks prior to our arrival to Dublin. Elections take place within the next couple of weeks. Parliament was really cool to see and our tour guide was nice. I learned a lot even though some of it I did not understand. After Parliament we went back to the hotel because it was raining and we were all exhausted. Although I think we were actually not that tired but we really wanted to just relax in our nice hotel rooms. Once back in our rooms I watched some t.v. and then showered. The shower was so nice. I stayed in it for as long as I could and enjoyed the hot water. I then got ready and we headed downstairs for dinner.

The BC group in front of the BC House in Dublin.

We had dinner at a restaurant in the hotel the first night. It was three courses and the food was delicious. Before dinner we had bread and you would have thought we had not eaten in days the way we all attacked the rolls. I ordered some weird chicken dish as an appetizer. I decided to be adventurous and try something new. Boy was that a mistake. The appetizer was very bad. It was chicken that looked as though it was molded together, kind of like a lunch meat that has different types all molded together. Even though it went against every bone in my body, I tried the weird looking meat and although the chicken part was good the jello (?) part was not so good. I decided to just take one bite and leave the rest. For dinner I had steak and it was SO GOOD! I realized when I was eating it that I had not had steak in a really long time. It came with sliced up potatoes. I of course had to ask for ketchup and the waiter judged me for it. The steak came with a sauce which was actually quite delicious but it did not come with enough of it. For dessert I had cookies and cream which surprisingly had no cookies. It was three different types of ice cream with fruit flavoring on top. It was also very good. The meal was extremely filling and delicious. We also had a glass of wine each. After dinner some of us decided to go out while others wanted to stay in. I went out with some of my friends. It was very low key and we just hung out at a pub. Margaret paid for our taxis though for "safety reasons." It was nice to not have to walk and to have taxis paid for us.

Kegs at the pub on Friday night.

Saturday morning we got breakfast at the hotel. It was buffet style and there was once again a lot of good food. They had potatoes, scones, fruit, sausages, among other things. I had lots of coffee because it was real coffee and not the instant stuff I am used to drinking. Whenever I find real coffee I take advantage. After breakfast we headed to Dublin Castle. After taking my castles class I was looking forward to seeing a castle. And it was a real castle unlike the motte ones we hear about in class, which basically look like mounds. After the castle we walked to St. Stephen's Green Park and walked through the park. It was gorgeous. We then walked along Grafton Street and headed towards Trinity College. On Grafton Street some of my friends and I spotted a Starbucks and headed right towards it. It was really warm outside (I did not even have to wear a jacket) and so I got an iced caramel latte. It was really good and hit the spot. Trinity College was nice, not that exciting though. After seeing Trinity Margaret gave us money and sent us on our way to the Guinness Factory. The factory was even better than I thought it was going to be. Some of the girls did a pour your own pint tour where they were taught how to pour their own pints and they got to sample a bunch of Guinness. I did not do the tour because I want to do it with my dad when he comes. After walking through the factory we got to get a Guinness in the Gravity Bar. It was so good and the bar was packed, everyone was enjoying their Guinness pints. We took taxis back to Grafton Street where Margaret met up with us. We headed to a pub where her husband, Brian, bought us each a pint. I had a Carlsberg.

The BC group with Margaret by Dublin Castle.

The BC group in St. Stephen's Green.

Me at the Guinness Factory.

My friends and I sampling some Guinness.

The Gravity Bar.

A view of all the people in Gravity Bar.

My Guinness pint after the bartender poured it.

My friends and I with our Guinness pints at The Gravity Bar.

My friend Lauren and I enjoying our pints from Brian.

Once we were done with our pints, we headed to an Italian restaurant for dinner. Once again dinner was delicious, I think that this dinner was even better than the night before. I had antipasti as an appetizer and sausage for dinner. my appetizer was good and came with some dipping sauces. One of my friends got risotto with squid. I tried it (shocking) and it was really good. I also had some bread with pesto, which was also delicious. I was on a roll with trying new things. The sausage I had for dinner was SO GOOD. It came with a sauce that was too die for and potatoes. We also had lot of wine which we all enjoyed. There was no dessert at the restaurant because it was my friend's 21st birthday and Margaret got us cake and it was back at the hotel. We sang to her at the restaurant and then headed back to the hotel. We got ready, ate some cake, and headed out to celebrate my friends birthday. We went to a really fun pub called The Porterhouse. It was a lot of fun and we met some fun people. I met some guys from New Jersey, they even live in Morris County. One of them was from Warren and one was from Morristown.

My table eating dinner.

Sunday morning we got up early and went downstairs for breakfast. After breakfast I went to church with some of the girls. We had heard great things about the mass but I was greatly disappointed. The choir was not good and the mass was long. It was also in Latin so overall it was not enjoyable. Once mass was over we headed to the bus station to catch the bus back to Galway, unfortunately our weekend of being spoiled was over. I could definitely get used to this kind of treatment.

HEN PARTY!!

For those of you who do not know what a Hen Party is let me enlighten you - it is a bachelorette party. Except they seem to be way more common in Ireland than in the States which could mean that a) women get married more frequently in Ireland or b) people throw fake parties. Incase you could not guess which category my friends and I fell into, it is b. After having seen many Hen Parties while out on the streets of Galway, we decided to throw one ourselves. We decided that our friend Kelsey would "get married." Invitations were given to each girl in our program, we went all out. There were pins for each person attending the party and a sash for the bachelorette. We bought outfits for the night at a cheap store called Penny's. We started the night in the big room upstairs where we played drinking games and all hung out. One of the rooms made a punch and had it in big pots. It was really good. We left eventually and went to Coyotes to get our free shot and free glass of champagne. If you bring a party to the bar you get a free shot and free glass of champagne per person. It is quite the deal. The night was a blast. We had a great time dancing and celebrating the bachelorette party of one of our friends. Haha.

Our free glasses of champagne.

Me and my roommates.

The group before we went out.

T-SHIRT TIMEEE

So I decided that I wanted to get out of Galway for the weekend and travel. A bunch of the girls were going to Paris for the weekend but I really wanted to save Paris until my friend from BC is there so I can visit her. I decided to take a bus to a town called Killarney with Haley. We wanted to see the Ring of Kerry. We left on Friday at 9a.m. (after going to bed very late on Thursday it was difficult getting up so early) and we were not supposed to get to Killarney until 2ish. However, somehow we got on a nonstop bus and we made it to Killarney by 12:30p.m. and only had to change buses once. When we got there we realized that we had no idea where our hostel was or where anything was for that matter. We walk outside of the bus station/mall and find a map of the town. We study it for a little and just start walking (mostly because we forgot to look up what street our hostel was - we just knew it was near the national park). We walk for awhile and the town is gorgeous but we do not find out hostel. We finally stop at a gas station and ask them where Paddy's Palace is (yupp that's the name of our hostel). We are not that far from it and we also find the tourist office. We stop by at the tourist office first to ask about the Ring of Kerry tour. They were so nice there and gave us lots of literature on Ireland. We then found Paddy's Palace only to see a sign on the door that said "Closed from 2-4." We found a cafe called O'Brien's. I got a latte and a bagel and we hung out for a little since we had a lot of time to waste. We left the cafe and walked around the town, bags and all. We stopped at a couple of souvenir stores and I bought a shot glass. I decided that I want to get a shot glass from every place I visit while abroad. After what seems like forever, we realize it is 4p.m. and we head to Paddy's. The deal at the hostel was buy one night get the second night free (perfect for broke college kids) so it ended up being 10Euros a night for a double room which was perfect. The room was small but clean and we had our own bathroom. When we left to go anywhere though we had to leave the key to our room which was a little weird.

As soon as we put all of our stuff down we headed for the Killarney National Park. It was really warm outside so I only had on a sweatshirt but for most of the time I was actually only wearing a t-shirt. :) The park was beyond gorgeous. The sun was out over the mountains which looked so beautiful and the rest of the park was pretty. I am not usually one for nature necessarily but this place is a must see. We walked around the park for around 2 hours if not more. We wanted to walk to Ross Castle which is located in the park but unfortunately all routes to the castle were flooded. Instead we walked as far as we could and got some pictures near the river and you can see the castle in the distance.

We had dinner at Eddie Rockets and then went back to the hostel to get ready. We decided to go to a place called O'Connors because they were supposed to have live music. Well on the sign outside it said that live music starts at 9-ish (I have no idea what that is supposed to mean) so we decide to get there at 10. Well at 10 the band still had not gone on so apparently 9-ish really means 10-ish. We decided we did not want to stay and headed to a place called The Danny Mann Inn that had a one man band playing. We sat at the bar and I ordered a Guiness and we watched the guy perform. After we were done with our beers we headed back to Paddy's since we had to be up early in the morning.


We left for the Ring of Kerry tour at 10:30a.m. and did not get back until 4:15p.m. It was a long but exciting day. The Ring of Kerry is a long road around mountains in Ireland. It was beautiful out in the beginning of the day and then started to rain (shocking). We got to see the Dingle Peninsula and the Ballinskellig Bay along with Ladies View among a bunch of other places. One place was prettier than the next.









Tonight we got a quick dinner and then headed to a place called Courtney's which was interesting and had some weird people in it and then we went back to The Danny Mann Inn where the band played "Galway Girl" <3 Overall the weekend was amazing and I got to see so much.

Bringing Beer Pong to Galway

Tonight we decided to play some pong. My roommate's mom sent her pong balls and solo cups in a package a couple of weeks ago and it was about time we put them to good use. We invited everyone over to play. I have not played in so long, we barely ever played it this past semester at BC. Everyone came over and we had a great time. The table was a little small for our liking but we made do. We had to stand back extra far to make sure it was fair to each team. My roommate and I were partners and lost two games (safe to say I may have lost my ability to play) but ended up winning one later on.

After playing pong we headed out. We started the night off at King's Head where there was an amazing band who played lots of great covers. Unfortunately, we had gotten so wrapped up in playing pong that we did not get to the pub until late and so we only got to hear the band play a couple of songs. Once the band was done playing me and three other girls decided to head to The Quays (pronounced Keys). There we met up with the only boy in our program and he was hanging out with some of our other friends. One of the guys we know was with his family because they were visiting for the week. Hanging out with them made me really homesick but his dad bought all of us pints so there was no complaints coming from us. Still all of the girls kept talking about how homesick his family was making us.


After the bar we decided to head to Charcoal Grill (great drunk food). I had never been and was not drunk but decided I would try it out. It was delicious and cheap which is what makes it so appealing I think. There is no real way to describe this place but it is definitely an experience. While we were eating a guy came over to us and asked us where we were from in the States. We asked him how he knew we were from the States and if it was because of the way we spoke. He said he knew because of what we were wearing and then proceeded to say, "That fleece thing you have on...what is it northfleece? north..." We then told him it was called Northface and he asked us if we would ever wear that to the bars in the States and we all replied of course. He laughed at us but at least now we know that our Northface fleeces and raincoats are a dead give-away to the fact that we are Americans.

About time to live it up

So after doing nothing for the beginning of the week a bunch of us decided we wanted to go out. We were bored of staying in all the time and wanted to live it up. We got ready and pregamed in our room for a little before heading out. We started our night at Hole in the Wall (classy name, we know). We had gone there once before but it was before school had started so it was empty. We decided it was time to give it another chance. It was an adventure to say the least. The boys were insane and one of them actually picked up my friend and threw her over his shoulders. When we told him that this was not okay he put her down but then proceeded to pick up our other friend. When we finally got him to put down that friend too we decided it might be best to leave this bar. We then decided to test out a gay bar that we had heard about in town. This too was empty - interesting, but empty. From the gay bar (Dignity West) we headed to Sonny's, our go to bar. Sonny's is never a let down although sometimes it is too packed. We had a great time there and danced a lot. Overall the night was a success.

New Pubs?!

Hard to believe but Saturday night I went to yet another new pub. Well actually I went to 2 new pubs that I had never been to before. Since all of my friends were in London, I went out with my friend Haley who does not go to BC. I met Haley on Shop Street since she lives so far away and it is really close to me. The center of town was so crowded. People were everywhere and I had not seen Galway like this since I have been here. From there we walked to The Crane. It is a small pub that is supposed to be very authentically Irish. I did not have a chance to notice the authentic Irishness of the pub because it was really, really packed and we left without even getting a beer. From there we went to Roisin Dubh. I have been there before, actually I met Haley there for the first time when all the international students were there. Part of the pub was closed and finally opened at about midnight and then there was more room to move around. There was also a DJ at midnight so that was a lot of fun. Eventually we decided to go to The Front Door, mainly because I think we end up going there almost every weekend. This weekend though it was PACKED. There are two entrances to the bar and usually only one of them is open on the weekends because the other entrance gets too crowded. To save us the trouble of being told to go to the other door we just went to the second door. However, this time even that door was packed and we had to wait in a line to get in. First time ever. We waited and met some Irish guys online and chatted with them for awhile. Eventually, the line was not moving but a guy came out and opened up a side door. It was kind of sketch and led us up some stairs but it was sweet because we finally got in. Not shocking at all to us but the place was packed. We got a beer and then realized that we did not want to stay here so we snuck out beer under our rain coats and hit the next pub. We went to a place called Kelly's. I had never been there before either and really enjoyed it. There was a dance floor upstairs and so we hit the dance floor. We also successfully snuck in our beers even though we also got IDed. Oddly enough, they ID in Galway more than in the States I think. After Kelly's we decided to head home for the night.

Irish Set Dancing

On Tuesday our coordinator, Margaret, took us Irish Set Dancing. It was amazing but quite the workout. We all got dressed nicely and set out to go to the dancing place. There was one guy who was teaching all of us. We learned the basic steps first and kind of shuffled forward and backwards. The steps got more and more intense as the night went on. We thought that the dancing was only supposed to be an hour but it was more like 2-2.5 hours.

After learning all the little steps we put them together and set up in pairs. THe only problem was that there were way more girls than guys (not a shocker here in Galway). So I danced with my friend Emmy and we were put in a small circle. When we first started dancing, Emmy and I could not get the first big step down. We asked our teacher if he could help us but instead he just put us back to an older step. We were worried that if we couldn’t do one part of the dance we wouldn’t be able to do the dance in sets. However, after we saw one group dancing we had it down. Our small circle consisted of Emmy and I, Maragaret and our friend Katherine, and two random couples. The random couples were not very good. They almost took Emmy and I out numerous times with their dancing. Margaret’s husband showed up and helped us even more. Emmy and I had gotten it down so well that even some of our friends told us how good we were.

The dance was called the Kerry and you have 4 couples in a circle. You dance forward, back, onward. And you repeat this until you are in your spot again. At this point, two couple put their right hands in the middle of the circle and dance in a circle, then their left hands, and then they split back into pairs and dance together for a second. Then the dance repeats. We also learned a more complicated version of this where instead of the couples putting their hands in the middle the guy shows of his moves to his girls and the couples just do a dance.

RELAX! Don't do it...

After a great weekend, I was exhausted and so was everyone else I live with. We all stayed in every night this week (except Tuesday). Everyday was the same thing - classes, gym, home. It was so nice to be able to relax for a whole week. I had a presentation on Thursday and it was nothing like the presentations I do at BC but I think it went well. All of my friends left for London at some point this weekend and I was looking forward to being alone in the apartment and relaxing. I felt a cold coming on so I spent most of Friday in my bed trying to beat out the cold. I am happy to say that I think it worked.

Pretty boring week but enjoyable none the less.