Dinner Party and Dublin!!

http://community.webshots.com/album/568299063sPVxZI These are the pictures from my weekend. This weekend was the best weekend I've had since I've been here. It was soooo much fun and I am completely exhausted. I hosted a birthday dinner party for my friend Lydwine. He boyfriend was in from Holland for the week and she also wanted to do something special with her close friends and him. We had an absolute blast...ate lots of food, played some great games. We then went to Costello's after which is the one place that all of the international students go to all the time. The next night we had a party for Lydwine at the pub on campus called the Stables. It was really relaxed and we all just sat around, ate some food, and talked. We needed that after the night before. On Saturday we left for Dublin at about 7:45. The bus ride wasn't bad at all. I slept for a lot of it. It was only about a 3.5 hour drive. And it's funny because I crossed the country in that short amount of time...this place is so small! When we got to Dublin we had to check in at the hostel. It was great because the hostel was about a two minute walk to Temple Bar and about a 5 minute walk to O'Connell Street. The only thing that I really wanted to do was go and see the Book of Kells. That's what I told everyone and I won! We walked over to Trinity College. That place is absolutely gorgeous. The buildings are quite impressive. And then I finally saw the thing I've wanted to see for years now. The Book of Kells was absolutely amazing. It met my expectations and I am so happy that I finally saw it. I also went into the Long Room which was incredibly impressive. I remember when I walked into the room my eyes teared up. It was just so amazing to actually see something that I've been obsessed with for so long and for it to be that awesome. We then left Trinity College and went out in the absolutely terrible weather. It was typical Ireland when we stepped outside. It was cold, wicked windy, and pouring out. We decided to take a walk to the Guinness factory. Mind you, from where the Trinity College is to the Guinness factory, it's quite a hike. And factor in the awesome fantastic weather...that was one of the worst walks ever. We were all miserable by the time we got to the factory and we all really needed a beer. I must say that I wish we hadn't wasted our time going to the factory. It was basically the most expensive beer of my life. We paid the 11 euro entrance fee and went into the factory. It was pretty boring. By the time we got to the second floor and realized we still had 5 more to go, we just hopped on an elevator and went to the top. We left there eventually...not soon enough, and took the bus back to our hostel. We then all got ready to go out. Thankfully by this time the rain had stopped. We first went to the Temple Bar. It was really really nice but wiiiicked expensive...surprise surprise. A beer cost 6.20!!!! Considering here in Limerick most beer is under 4.00. I was so surprised when I got my drink. We didn't stay there long because it was really crowded and we all wanted to dance. The whole Temple Bar area is really nice. I really enjoyed it. It had a really good atmosphere and people were playing music in the streets. It was great. We then went to this club called Club M that was really really nice. They had it decorated for Halloween and the music was very very loud. We stayed there all night and then went back to hostel and went to bed. The next morning we got up pretty early and went out for breakfast. We wanted to have a pretty easy going day so we went to Grafton Street and went shopping. I fell in love with Dublin. It's a gorgeous city filled with interesting people and incredible buildings. We also went to St. Patrick's Cathedral which was really impressive. We had planned on staying another night but by the time we were done with the cathedral we all decided we wanted to go home. I got back to my apartment at around 11:00. So all in all it was a fantastic weekend. Dublin is my favorite place that I've been to in Ireland and I hope to go back there again before I leave.