Dublin for St. Paddy's Day!

It had been over a month since my last post, and a lot has happened. I will just talk about my recent travels. The past few weeks have been nothing but madness. It's a tough life I live, let me tell you.

 I never spoke about my program's trip to Granada for the last weekend in February. It was such a relaxing weekend with all my friends from Alicante and it was easy because everything was planned out for us; We didn't have to pay for anything, except lunch and souvenirs. Our program, CC-CS, had us stay at this beautiful four-star hotel, Hotel Abby, and we were given a huge breakfast buffet everyday as well as a 3 course dinner every night. My favorite highlights included seeing the Alhambra, going to a flamenco show and going to the Arabic baths. I could talk all day long about how amazing the baths were and I definitely recommend going. It was such a beautiful and old city with a lot of Arabic influence as Granada was the last place in Spain to kick the Moore's out. GO TO SEVILLA!

Flamenco dancer

La Alhambra

The Arabic Baths

Arabic restaurant where you could sit on pillows and eat dinner

The weekend after, I went to Seville with my friend Kelsey. We had three whole days to see the city so we had plenty of time to just stroll through and do as we pleased. I have to comment on our hostel experience. The hostel was probably the nicest hostel in Spain, called Oasis Backpacker's Palace. They offered free walking tours, a decent breakfast, beautiful lounges, free computer use, WIFI as well as a rooftop deck with a pool. The only thing that could have made it more enjoyable, but not as funny, would have been if Kelsey and I didn't share a room with 6 other random people... Probably won't be doing that again. It was also a nice change of pace because we decided to save money and cook for ourselves one night, in the hostel. For $16 euros, in total, we ate like kings for dinner, had snacks for the rest of the trip and made four bocadillos (big baguette sandwiches) to take with us on the plane ride back.

Mike (Canadian friend from Alicante) and I at the mushrooms. At the top you can see the entire city.

Christopher Columbus' tomb.

Rowin' a boat in Plaza de Espana

Plaza de Espana. My favorite building in Spain, hands down. Legit. No joke.

Reppin' Alicante

I recently returned from my weekend trip to Dublin (seven hours ago to be exact) and let me just say that it was my favorite trip so far. I'm already researching flights to Ireland for a free weekend that I have left here. It was a such a relieving change of scenery to go to a different country since I've been traveling just around Spain. They speak English (not that you can understand anyway) and there is more of a familiar metropolitan feel to the city.


Before I left, everyone was telling me how disappointing St. Paddy's Day (how the Irish spell it) in Ireland is and it's so much bigger in the states. I HAVE TO DISAGREE! Yes, it used to be a holy day for prayer in the country, until it was taken over by tourists but the majority of the Irish have joined in for the fun and for the weeks leading up to the holiday, the city is painted green with spirit. Literally. Every building is lit up green, every bridge, every sign, and even the beer was green! Although it was cloudy and rained the majority of the time, it was still a beautiful city. The contrast of all the lush green grasses with the buildings and gray sky was amazing. Not only did I learn a lot about Ireland's history and their war struggles but I didn't realize how much culture they had. It's not just an empty space on the map...


One of our activities in Dublin consisted of a four hour walking tour where we were able to see all the famous sights. We saw Trinity College and the Book of Wells, St. Patrick's Cathedral, the Guinness Factory (I learned how to pour a perfect pint!), Dublin's Castle (it's actually not a castle. I was upset...) and St. Stephen's Green Park. Our first night we did our own touring of the city and ate in the famous Temple Bar area. We went to The Old Storehouse but little did we know that we would wind up eating incredibly tasty food while enjoying a live band in the pub. Yes, the food was bland but once you added a pinch of salt, it was delicious.

On Saturday, every single bar and restaurant was packed with people. The streets were filled with song and dance as well as friendly people who just wanted to drink and mingle. The parade was actually great. It rained for a portion of it so I decided to hide under an awning where I met this little old woman who was born and raised in Dublin. She was so sweet and made the experience even better by giving me some inside scoops on the city.

I think It's possible to go to Ireland just to visit the bars. I can talk about the culture of their pubs for days. There is no other atmosphere like it anywhere in the world. Friday night the girls and I went on a pub crawl where we went with a big group and received drink deals. In a six hour time span, we went to five different bars and clubs. Saturday night, a.k.a. St Paddy's Day, we were able to bar hop to about seven different places within the night. In the older bars, there are usually a few floors from which you can see over balconies and watch the live band play. I thought it would be so boring listening to cover songs all night but It turned out I enjoyed pub sing-a-longs and Irish dancing more than any DJ I've ever seen. The people are extremely friendly, there isn't a need for "dress to impress" outfits (due to the cobblestone streets and the weather), there was never one type of crowd in any one place and there seemed to be enough locals mixed in with the tourists. If you want a real Irish experience, we just so happened to come across the oldest bar in Dublin, The Brazen Head. The crowd was all locals, pints in hand, with typical musicians playing flutes, violins and guitars.

Sarah and I returned back to our hostel (The Generator Hostel was amazing) around 3:30am, grabbed our stuff and called a cab to the airport. Nicest cab driver ever. It's Ireland, so obviously. Once inside the airport, it was nothing I've ever seen before. It was a sea of green as hundreds of people were sprawled out on floors, tables, plants and bathroom floors. Since all the flights out of Dublin, on Sunday, were all before 8am, everyone decided to screw it and not waste a hotel room. I even walked into the bathroom and there were two girls sleeping on the sink counter. Pretty much describes St. Paddy's Day for you.

Beef stew with mashed potatoes, fried potatoes, carrots and cabbage. And salt.

The Guinness Factory

Temple Bar area is where the majority of party goers gather

The least dense place in the airport. Can you imagine?