First of all, belated Happy Easter to everyone at home! I meant to get two updates in about Ireland and Paris before this past weekend but I just couldn't find the time. Anyway I'm on spring break right now and all my friends are already on vacation so I have some time to myself here in Brussels and I'll use that time to write all about those two trips and this past weekend. Ireland's up first, and what a story Ireland is.

I'll start by explaining that I've told this story so many times, I intend to just give a shorter more summed up version of it here. I wrote about our terrible experience for the student vernacular here at Vesalius College that is to be printed shortly after our break is over, so if anyone wants to read that when I get back home feel free to ask about it. Anyway Ireland started out lovely, it was the trip I'd been most anticipating during this semester abroad. Toni and I slept in the airport on Wednesday night since our flight was so early, this was an experience in itself! We found a little nook in the airport laid down our coats to sleep on and played "Loaded Questions" until our eyes got heavy and we gave into exhaustion. When we woke, check in went smoothly and before we knew it we were in Dublin city on our way to check in at our hostel!

Immediately we were greeted with that friendly and kind disposition the Irish are said to have. Our shuttle bus driver that took us to our hostel was a funny Irishman from Dublin who made us laugh and gave us some advice on what to do during our stay in the city. Once we'd checked in to our hostel, our day started with the two of us finding our favorite free walking tour. Led by a jovial resident of Dublin, we were given the history of the prosperous city and a tour of all the nooks, crannies and famous spots there are to see. Trinity College was among the most beautiful spots we visited and also happened to be where our tour came to an end. After tipping our guide it was time for us to decide what our next destination was. After some weighing of options and planning our next day, we decided to check out the Irish Writers Museum. The museum was interesting, I didn't know just how many influential writers came out of Ireland, but it was a bit overpriced for what we got and they neglected to tell us before we paid our dues that they would be closing before we could check out all the facilities. Either way, we had seen enough by the time they started to close and we decided to find some food for dinner and head back to our hostel to prepare for a pub crawl we planned to attend later that night. 

The pub crawl was loads of fun! Again, led by a colorful Dubliner, and joined by some really fun and kind travelers like ourselves, we went around the Temple Bar district and drank sweet, sweet Guinness and free cheap shots at each bar. On a side note, the Guinness in Ireland really IS way better than anywhere else, it tastes like candy and is way easier to drink (even though it's still like drinking a whole meal). Anyway one of the dudes we met really hit it off with us. This guy, Matt Lenhoff, had recently graduated from law school in Australia and was traveling the world before starting to work. He's recently friended the two of us on facebook and couchsurfing, very cool guy. We did lots of dancing at various bars, this one place had a live band that was playing Kings of Leon and Beatles covers, it was rad. The crawl ended at this night club that we got into for free and we met up with two of my friends from Vesalius, Courtney and Ashley, who also happened to be in Ireland that week! Eventually Toni and I were both too tired to stay out and we decided to head back to our hostel, a mere 10 minute walk from the club. This is where things took a turn for the worse.

On our way back, Toni lagged a few steps behind me, and in a split second I heard her scream "HEY!" and watched to blurry figures fly past me with her wallet in hand. Toni had had the tiny wallet hanging on her wrist and one of the two fiends snatched it from her while she was (probably) adjusting her belt. Inside it, was her school ID, her Belgian bank card, her phone, about 30 euro, and worst of all, her passport. It was at this point that drunken Dave made the less than brilliant decision to chase the bastards down the street and over a bridge traversing the River Liffey, ending the pursuit by tumbling down a short set of stairs at the end of the bridge and opening flesh wounds on my hands, knees, and right shoulder and elbow. Toni was in tears, I was injured, and we were both fairly drunk from our pub crawl. We made the decision to find a police station. After explaining our predicament the officer in the station suggested a) that it was probably drug addicts who were just interested in the money, and b) that we go to the U.S. Embassy in the morning and get an emergency passport for Toni.

Getting the emergency passport took the better half of our second day in Dublin. It cost us 100 bucks and it wasn't even a real passport (it expires before Toni is supposed to return to the U.S.). Luckily, the staff at our hostel was extremely helpful to us, showing us how to get to the embassy and allowing us to check out a little later then we were supposed to, and even letting us shower and giving us towels after we had already checked out. I should also note that everyone we told the story to at our hostel suggested that it was drug addicts that had robbed us, I get the feeling these drug addicts must be doing pretty well for themselves if they successfully rob people enough that everyone expects it to happen.

Anyway our time spent in Dublin finished with a really cool tour of the Guinness Storehouse, where we learned how Guinness is made, took a look at a history of Guinness advertising, and got a complimentary Guinness at the top of the museum in the sky bar, with a fantastic view of the city. Shortly after the storehouse, we headed to the bus station to catch a ride to Limerick to meet up with my friend Jackie who we would stay with for the next three days. Unfortunately, things had to go wrong again, and after what we assume was a bad sandwich from the bus station, Toni lost her lunch about 20 minutes away from Limerick city. We were both upset, Toni more so than me, but we made our way to Jackie's where she could shower and we could sleep after a very stressful day.

The next morning we got to do what I had been looking forward to the whole trip. After a traditional Irish breakfast of sausage, bacon (which is really ham), eggs and black pudding, we boarded a bus towards the Cliffs of Moher. We spent a good 4 hours admiring the awesome beauty of the cliffs, walking around them and taking pictures. It was everything I had imagined it would be and it was more than enough to take my mind off the mishaps from the previous day. Once we'd finished taking in the wonder of this amazing natural site, we hopped on another bus headed to Galway.

In Galway we met up with Sean Kelly, a friend of mine and Toni's from high school, who is studying there for the semester. Galway was also incredible to see. The charming little city feels like Ireland way more than Dublin does. The shops seem more authentic, the pubs are filled with less tourists, and the people don't rob you (alright well we didn't get robbed at least). We got another traditional Irish meal with Sean and Jackie, this time we each got something different. I got roasted chicken with mashed potatoes, carrots, and cabbage, Toni had an Irish stew, Sean got a shepherd's pie, and I can't remember what Jackie had. Either way the meals were delicious, and shortly after we'd finished we headed to a pub for a Guinness. After chewing on our Guinness we spent sometime at the quay near the Spanish Arch in town and reflected on the River Corrib. Soon our time in Galway came to an end, we said goodbye to Sean and headed back to Limerick for a quiet night in watching the movie "Once" which is set in Ireland and is a great independent film.

The next day Toni and I did some sight seeing on our own in Limerick. We went to King John's Castle Museum, which was pretty lame, The Hunt Museum, which was awesome, and explored around a nice little park, which was... nice. We then grabbed a case of Stella and a bottle of Shmirnoff to give to Jackie as a gift for hosting us for free for three nights and doing everything to make sure our experience in Ireland improved from our time in Dublin. However, this was not the best idea for a gift, as we entered the previously desolate campus to find it crawling with college students and security. We found out that it was the start of "Rag Week," a week of heavy drinking and partying for the students at the University of Limerick, and there are absolutely NO GUESTS allowed. Jackie didn't know this and after pleading our case with administration, we were told we could not stay in Jackie's room, but that we could stay in a faculty apartment that wasn't in use. This apartment was BOSS. It had leather couches situated in front of a working television, a huge bed, a kitchen and a bathroom connected to the bedroom with a shower and toilet. We were finally experiencing some of that luck that you're supposed to have in Ireland!

The place was so nice that Toni decided to stay in instead of coming out to a club with Jackie and me as we had previously planned. This was of course no problem with Jackie as she understood the stress we'd been through, not knowing if we were going to have a place to stay that night. Anyway Jackie and I went to a club in a cool old looking red taxi. After getting out of the taxi and waiting in line I realized I'd left my brand new hat from the Guinness Storehouse in the taxi (I don't know why things had to keep going wrong), but I decided I wasn't going to let it bother me and we went in to have a good time. On our way out, after lots of dancing and singing, we had a stroke of more luck! The taxi we took was waiting to bring people home just outside, and my hat was still in there! We made our way back to campus, I said goodnight to Jackie and thanked her for having us as we would not see her in the morning before leaving for Shannon where we would catch our flight home, and went inside to meet Toni and pass out.

Our next day in Shannon was incredibly uneventful, we should have researched the place before we went. We assumed that because the airport was there and because it was a city we'd both heard of before, that there would be things to do. However, in Shannon, there is just about nothing to do, at least as far as we could tell. After this realization, we decided to simply catch a bus to the airport and spend our remaining hours there, waiting for our flight to board. We were glad to be leaving Ireland, and coming "home" to Belgium, which is not a feeling I ever expected to experience after this coveted trip. It's funny how quickly a place can start to feel like home after you've been living there for a while. Belgium is not my home, Jersey is, but I'm comfortable enough to feel relieved to return to my host family's house when I've spent some time away from it in an unfamiliar country. I wonder if I'll long for the room I'm currently sitting in once I'm back home. I guess only time will tell, but I'm getting more and more homesick by the day. I'm still enjoying my time here in Belgium thoroughly, but I can't wait to get home.