Stealing a kiss, making a wish, blowing off a cliff, eating a Cheez-It.

Sitting at the Burren

Alright, enough about J.K Rowling, Rick Steves is the true literary genius with his helpful tourist book on Dublin.

I didn’t mention this before but getting from the airplane (and yes, airplane) to my apartment was NO BUENO. I have absolutely NO sense of direction or common sense when it comes to reading signs. My only hope is to follow the crowd and hope they’re going where I need to be. Luckily I sat next to two very experienced travelers on the plane who helped guide me in the general direction. The one even took me through customs line, for a potty brake, on to luggage pick-up and then out to the buses/taxis. Nice girl but then, there I was, standing alone outside with my two monstrous bags and suitcase and nothing was in my hands but a phone that wouldn’t make any phone calls (I accidentally got a sim card for England, who knew?) and a little blue book.

Well, folks, that little blue book was literally the answer to my prayers. Thanks to my lovely life mentor and great friend who knows me well enough to get me this necessary guide book, I opened up to the map. And, I know myself well enough to plan in advance that I’d be lost so while waiting for my plane to depart from Newark Airport I studied that map like I never studied anything before and I knew exactly where my apartment would be. So, I walked over to some man (slightly scared) and pointed to the street on the map and said I need to get “there” and Voila! He got me a taxi right away and I was on my way to my new home.

So Harry and those other wizards may have graduated this past week- big deal. Their schooling at Hogwarts is not what has helped me get through the last 5 weeks in Dublin. It was Rick Steves who has helped me make the most out of my time traveling here and for that, I hold him on a higher pedestal than J.K Rowling.

This weekend may go down as my favorite one yet. Now I may have had some pretty fun and exciting nights out on the town but this weekend was all about day trips and I have never had this much fun in Irish daylight since I’ve been here.

On Saturday, my half-birthday (AKA less than 6 months til I’m 21 and LEGAL! and my boss’s birthday!!) my roommates and I went to kiss the Blarney stone. We hopped on a train very early in the morning and almost 3 hours later we were in Cork.

There we had a lovely lunch, got a little lost (too bad I didn’t have Rick Steves’ book on all of Ireland) and then we went to the bus station to head to the Blarney stone. And then, we missed the bus. So it was off to the taxi driver who got us there in no time. From there, we entered into a world I thought I’d only see in fairy tale movies. As dumb as this sounds, it truly looked magical. Forget going to Disney World, I was such a kid here. I wanted to see everything, touch everything, climb on everything, wish on everything AND take 8,000 pictures of EVERYTHING. I’m pretty sure by the end of the day my roommates wanted to kill me but I love documenting all of our moments and what better way than snapping a quick picture.

As we climbed up the Blarney Castle the little spiral steps got smaller and smaller and with every step my roommate got more scared which made me more scared. But after checking out every dark crevice and window we made it to the top. It was your typical dreary castle weather — windy and rainy and so it was PERFECT. We waited in line and planned out the perfect way to take pictures of our quick kisses but each time we never seemed to get that perfect shot. It all happened so fast. One second you’re thinking about how high up you are from that green grass wayyyyy below you, then you’re thinking how there’s no way you’re gonna actually lie down over an opening with two bars, then next thing you know, you’re laying down wondering if the guy holding you up really knows what he’s doing then in that next split second, you find yourself arched backwards staring directly at a dirty stone and BOOM. Fireworks start flying because you just had your first kiss with the Blarney Stone. Then you stand back up and realize that magical connection and promising relationship is all over when you see the next person kissing it. So you head back down, out of the castle.

I’m broke. Really. I owe my roommates lots of money already so the thought of buying a nice professional picture of me kissing the stone was just not happening. But I really wanted a good picture of that special moment. Like I said, pictures are the perfect way to capture it all. So, desperate times cause for desperate measures. I did something illegal. I took a picture of the screen which had the pictures on it that I could purchase and on a VERY large sign it said, “Do NOT take pictures of the screen.” But for some reason my eyes didn’t see this sign and I did. And by the time the cashier saw what I did we left and I felt a little guilty about it but once I was home uploading all of my pictures onto facebook, I saw that picture and felt very happy that I had it. So now I’m guilt free!

All the land surrounding the castle was beyond beautiful. There were so many bridges to throw pennies in and make wishes, so many big plants to stare at, waterfalls to listen to and steps to wish on. These steps, which had to be at least 20, supposedly can make any wish come true in a year if you go down them and then back up with your eyes closed thinking about only that wish. And it said it helped if you also went down backwards. So, of course I did. I can’t tell you what I wished for but if it does come true the world is going to thank me for risking my life going down these stairs backwards and blind. And for fun, there was also a tire swing and an ice cream place — totally beats a day at Disney.

The way home was not as fun. We had gotten student tickets for the train ride in hopes of saving a few extra bucks with the discount but apparently they only took one specific type of student ID and made us pay an extra 48 euro when the whole ticket was only 23 euro. I, being broke, was not too happy about this. So, I did what anyone would do in this situation. I cried. Alright, maybe not everyone would cry in this situation but the lady was really mean about it and we had no choice but to pay her because we had to get home. And no, my tears made no difference. They can get my out of speeding tickets but my tears were not changing this lady’s mind, that’s for sure.

So overall my half-birthday was a lot of fun. On Sunday, we had to be on a bus at 7 am so I didn’t go out Saturday night but no amount of sleep could have prepared me for what was to come at the Cliffs of Moher. After a 2 1/2 hour bus ride we made it to the cliffs. To give us a preview for how windy it was outside, the bus was rocking back and forth. I was nervous. But off we went, up to the top. I’m not kidding when I thought at one point I was going to blow away. People could barely walk up the steps. And then, once at the top, I had the time of my life! Why? We found this perfect spot where the wind blew so hard that you literally got knocked over. It was AWESOME. It was so rough that my shoes laces were blown untied, my hair tie blew out of my hair and I lost it forever, my shirt kept flying up and slobber was flying out of my mouth. I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day and no, this is not my Irish sarcasm coming out. I am being completely serious. At one point we were just laying in the grass as the harsh winds blew everything around us and I felt like I was Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz watching out the window as her friends and family blew all around her, except there was no witch on a bike. Darn.

The incredibly windy Cliffs of Moher

Interns Blowing in the Wind!!

From there we went to the “Burren“ where it’s all made up of limestone leading to cliffs that look over the blue ocean. Another beautiful view. I know there’s still so much I have yet to see in America but I don’t think there’s any place like Burren. Of course, I was very safe but I did venture out pretty close to the edge and sat down looking below at the waves crashing against the sides and the power behind every crash was unbelievable.

All in all, it was a perfect weekend to be in Ireland.

Also this past week I experienced Christmas in July! After weeks of talking up how tasty Cheez-Its are to my bosses they drove me to the post office to pick up my TWO packages from home because they knew Cheez-Its were sent to me and they knew how important it was that I get my packages ASAP. I’m telling you, opening up these packages was like Christmas morning for a 5 year old. Not only did I get my necessities from my mom — Contacts, a purse, a jacket (since I came to Ireland without one!!) and Cheez-its, but she also packed me Easy Mac, instant rice, a sweet letter <3 and other yummy treats. The REAL surprise came from my Aunt and Uncle. When I opened the package I was speechless. It was filled with endless amounts of Twix bars, Heinz Ketchup and Rice Krispie treats. My family knows me too well. When in doubt, send Leslie junk food!!