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.