I am writing this, not as a teenager, but as a sophisticated twenty-year-old. This past Saturday I opened a new chapter of my life. I said goodbye to my teens, my adolescence, and ran with much excitement into my twenties. I feel like just yesterday I was so excited to turn thirteen and say I was a teenager, and now I’m even more excited to turn twenty and say I’m not.
June 25th, 2011 began just like the Saturday before, at five in the morning. Interesting how the days I work are my sleep in days, but with so much to see, there is no time to curl up under the covers late into the morning. Eight of us gathered downstairs and made our way over to the Grafton Street area to catch a van to Connamara. This time, others joined us from the U.S. and Italy. We requested Bud, but unfortunately he wasn’t able to take us for whatever reason, so instead we had Joe. He was nice, but he was no Bud. We learned that Connamara was once a bog where the English monarchy forced all the Irish Catholics. What a great place to spend my birthday, right? Though the land wasn’t great for farming, it was still beautiful. Originally, the soil of Connamara was really rocky. In an effort to farm, the Irish removed thousands of rocks, but then had nowhere to put them, so they built stonewalls around their fields. They had no cement, so they had to place the rocks in a way that they would fit together on their own. They did a great job, because they are still standing today, good as new.
We saw the bridge they used in filming the John Wayne classic, The Quiet Man. Then, Joe took us to my future home, the Kylemore Abbey. Wealthy, English politician Mitchell Henry originally built it for his wife. It took 100 men four years to finish. Four years after it was completed, Henry’s wife dies. He then had a gothic church built on the grounds in her honor, which took another four years to complete.
After seeing the Abbey, we stopped in the gift shop where I got some chocolate, handmade by Benedictine nuns, and a Claddagh ring. I love my ring so much. I have wanted one for the longest time, but held off on getting one until I could get it in Ireland (I always had faith I’d end up here one day!). From the Abbey we drove to a boat and took a ride down Ireland’s only fjord. I enjoyed some seafood chowder and brown bread while admiring the green and rocky scenery around me.
Before heading back to Dublin, we stopped for an hour in Galway. We explored a street market where I picked up a Christmas present (who’s the lucky one today?) and spotted many attractive Irishman. It’s a beautiful city, and I’m definitely excited to spend a whole weekend there later this summer.
I came back to find some birthday treats from my flatmate, a delicious chocolate and caramel square and a delicious chocolate rice krispee. I really feel so lucky. I love the people I live with. We get along great, and one even goes to Penn State! I enjoyed my desserts as I got ready for a night out with all of my flatmates and other friends. We all gathered at an apartment the floor above before heading out, and they surprised me with cupcakes, a birthday sash, and a card they had all signed. I never would have expected these new friends to do so much for me. I felt so special, and the night was still young. We started at this place called Howl at the Moon. It was four stories tall with all sorts of fancy fixtures, chandeliers and the like. It was beautiful! After discovering there was no set dance floor, we decided to start our own in a room off to the side. It wasn’t long before many others joined in, and we were dancing to everything from Pitbull to Destiny’s Child. It’s always American music, unless you’re at a pub and a group of friends is strumming away in the corner.
After Howl at the Moon, half of the group decided to head back to the apartments, while the rest of us decided to move on to a place called Dandelion. Their dance floor was in full swing and we jumped right in. It was here that I met my new friends from Holland (keep them in mind). After lots of dancing and birthday hugs, we decided to call it a night. On the way home, rather than pass an assortment of places selling late night pizza like you would find in State College, there are late night kebab restaurants and falafel stands. Some people stop to get falafels and one of my friends treats me to some chips (that’s Irish for delicious french fries). While they wait in line, many people admire my sash. The common consensus while I’ve been here is that I’m 23 or 24. While I’m okay with that now, I feel like that is going to come back to haunt me later in life.
I finally made it into bed as the sun was coming up. Before you get too shocked, I have to tell you that Ireland is what I imagine Alaska to be like. It is never ending daylight, unless it is raining. It stays light out well into the night, so it could be ten o’clock and if you weren’t looking at your watch you would think it was six. And then it gets light out incredibly early, well before anyone would ever need light in the morning. So, in reality, the Irish live with like three hours of darkness (unless it’s raining).
My late night did not stop my body from waking me up early the next morning. Sunday was a beautiful day, and I was ready to get out and enjoy Dublin. After piddling around for what seemed like ages waiting for everyone else to catch up with my internal clock, a group of us finally set out for a flea market that is held the last Sunday of every month in New Market Square. We made a few laps around St. Patrick’s Cathedral before getting some useful directions and finding it tucked away in one of the oldest parts of Dublin. I picked out about six different teacup sets for my future apartment and a pretty dresser. Unfortunately, I had no feasible way of getting these back to America, so they stayed behind at the flea market; treasures for someone else to find. From there three of us made the misleadingly long walk to Phoenix Park, passing Dublin’s oldest pub, The Brazen Head.
After finally making it to this giant park, home to the Dublin Zoo, the president of Ireland, and many reindeer, we collapsed under a tree and took a short nap. Once we recuperated, we did a little exploring, which led us to an ice cream truck. After walking over 5 miles, we felt we deserved a little reward. Apparently Ireland only has vanilla ice cream, a bit of a disappointment, but it still hit the spot on such a hot day. We made our way to a giant monument (I still don’t know what it is) with ice cream in hand, when who should coming running toward us but one of my new Dutch friends! I look over and the whole group of them are relaxing on the lawn in front of said monument. What are the odds in a city the size of Dublin and in a park the size of Phoenix Park? I learned they have traveled to Ireland with a professor and are visiting all the different museums. We relax by the monument as well for a bit and take in our surroundings on this spectacularly sunny day before heading home. This time, we take the bus.
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