Greetings from Publin!!!!
If you are receiving this e-mail, it's because I think you are special and want to share my travels with you. But, if for some reason you are feeling lame and don't wanna hear about my ridiculous stories, let me know and I will stop soliciting you! (P.S. These will probably be long and coming to you twice a week or so, so if you don't have time to read it, I'll be posting them at melissajoykong.blogspot.com so you can read them later on when you have time.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Eurotrip Stop #1: Publin =)
That being said, let me just preface this first e-mail by saying I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IRELAND (Amy and Megan, I understand why you had such a blast here). I've been here for about three days, and every single day has been ridiculously and unfairly fun. I started preparing on Sunday night by sleeping, like, 4 hours. I thought to myself, "Just get really tired and you'll fall asleep the whole plane ride there." FALSE. For those of you who know my completely erratic sleeping habits, you also know that I am a fool for convincing myself of that. I slept about, uhhh, an hour. But the intensely high level of trip excitement got me through the next 24.
The flight was fairly smooth, and when I arrived in Dublin, I had to buy my bus ticket into town. My timing was impeccable, as there were two backpackers from Los Angeles in front of me. So, there was nothing left to do but introduce myself, and good thing I did- the three of us winded up being good friends and exploring Dublin together for the next two days. We were coincidentally staying at the same hostel, so we took the bus together and started making our grand plans for Dublin. The two of them are traveling Europe together for about 35 days, and then one of the girls, Liz, is moving to Switzerland to be an Au Pair for a year...very cool. She's just about the sweetest girl, and she's traveled all over the world, so we had some great story-sharing moments.
Alright, so obviously the first thing I did when I got to the hostel was go to sleep. JUST KIDDING =). We threw our bags down and pretty much ran to the first pub we saw in Temple Bar- a district in central Dublin that's filled to the brim with pubs and clubs. Let me just say, they weren't lying when they said the Guinness is better over here. It really, truly is. After a day of sightseeing, I really did have to power nap because I hadn't really slept for 2.5 days. But, I was ready to go after that, and Liz and I went out to an awesome Irish pub, which was PACKED on a Tuesday at 9:30 pm. The Irish really know how to live right. We met a few guys and pub-hopped with them for a bit, then winded up talking to a group of people visiting from England and went out to the clubs until 4 a.m. - Not a bad first day at all.
The flight was fairly smooth, and when I arrived in Dublin, I had to buy my bus ticket into town. My timing was impeccable, as there were two backpackers from Los Angeles in front of me. So, there was nothing left to do but introduce myself, and good thing I did- the three of us winded up being good friends and exploring Dublin together for the next two days. We were coincidentally staying at the same hostel, so we took the bus together and started making our grand plans for Dublin. The two of them are traveling Europe together for about 35 days, and then one of the girls, Liz, is moving to Switzerland to be an Au Pair for a year...very cool. She's just about the sweetest girl, and she's traveled all over the world, so we had some great story-sharing moments.
Alright, so obviously the first thing I did when I got to the hostel was go to sleep. JUST KIDDING =). We threw our bags down and pretty much ran to the first pub we saw in Temple Bar- a district in central Dublin that's filled to the brim with pubs and clubs. Let me just say, they weren't lying when they said the Guinness is better over here. It really, truly is. After a day of sightseeing, I really did have to power nap because I hadn't really slept for 2.5 days. But, I was ready to go after that, and Liz and I went out to an awesome Irish pub, which was PACKED on a Tuesday at 9:30 pm. The Irish really know how to live right. We met a few guys and pub-hopped with them for a bit, then winded up talking to a group of people visiting from England and went out to the clubs until 4 a.m. - Not a bad first day at all.
On Day 2, we decided to explore a little bit outside of Ireland and randomly hopped on a train to a countryside town called Wicklow. For those of you who have been to Ireland and know the east coast well, you know that Wicklow probably wasn't the best choice, since there was, well, absolutely nothing to do there. Plus, the fact that it was pouring rain added to the "fun". But, the trip was certainly not a waste because we met a few really nice people in town, and had a great conversation about education, NGOs, sustainable development, and the like.
(Interesting fact: Did you know that soy is one of the worst things for the environment? Look up the many reasons why. I just thought that was interesting, since everyone connotes soy with being uber healthy and green. Funny how misrepresented things can be...)
Today, I walked around Dublin for about 7 hours and the highlights included: a trip to the National Museum of Ireland; The Guinness Storehouse, two very cute parks; finding a much needed rain jacket for a mere 13 Euro!; the real St. Patrick's Cathedral; seeing the pub where James Joyce wrote; ...and my favorite part would have to be when several people randomly walked up to me to get me to donate money....but, completely unlike NYC solicitors, when they realized I wasn't from Dublin, they started giving me advice on non-touristy places to go! And they were telling me about their own travel plans and what they did in Ireland...I absolutely loved that. The Irish are so friendly, and they kind of make me wish I lived here.
I made a couple of observations on the trip so far...
1. The Irish drink. A LOT. Not that I ever doubted it, but come on- packed pubs 7 nights a week? Ridiculous.
2. All of the Irish men here have really nice jeans, among other things. American boys need to start taking fashion cues from the guys over here.
3. Thank goodness you don't tip bartenders for a drink at most places here. Otherwise a beer would be like, $15 American dollars. I don't like you, Euro.
4. I went to the grocery store and thought it was interesting that A.) they make you pay for bags so that you eventually get smart and start bringing your own. Good for the environment and saves a lot of money. B.) The cashiers sit down in Ireland....why the hell do we make them stand up in the U.S.? It makes absolutely no sense.
5. The hostel I am staying at- which has a sauna for goodness sake- was originally a 200 year old wine vault!
Since I started this little backpacking adventure, it hadn't really hit me that I was on another continent and that I'd be gone for a while. Ireland, in a lot of ways, is like the states- people speak English, people drink, there are Burger Kings and McDonald's. But, the one thing that has really stood out about this city is how quaint and homey it feels. I don't get this feeling about a lot of places, but I could honestly live here. The fact that all the guys are cute doesn't hurt either- I'm just saying. =)
Oh, and since I have absolutely ZERO space for souvenirs, I'm going to ask a local from each place I visit to write down their best piece of life advice, then take a picture with them so I can make a big collage later (makes sense, since I am obsessed with both collages and getting life advice). The hardest part is finding the right person to ask, and that happened last night when I went out and started talking to a sweet Irish woman. When I asked her, she wrote down, "Live life to the full". So I asked, "You mean live life to the fullest?" And she said no, because there is only so much you can fill your life with...if you make it sufficiently full, there is no reason to overfill it.
I took it as this: The best pleasures in life are the simple ones. For me, the best parts of this trip so far haven't been the museums, the churches, or even the Guinness. It has been the random strangers who come up and talk to me; the new friends I've made; the laughs that I've had; the smiles that I've given to and received from complete strangers. At the end of the day, that is what makes life full. And when you already have a full life, what's the point in 'fullest'?
I took it as this: The best pleasures in life are the simple ones. For me, the best parts of this trip so far haven't been the museums, the churches, or even the Guinness. It has been the random strangers who come up and talk to me; the new friends I've made; the laughs that I've had; the smiles that I've given to and received from complete strangers. At the end of the day, that is what makes life full. And when you already have a full life, what's the point in 'fullest'?
* Please let me know how all of you are this summer. I want to hear about your own adventures, be they near or far from home. Let me know what's going on in your lives- I miss ya! And if you have any travel recommendations, or want to come along for part of the trip, let me know!
Days: 3
Roommates: 5
PB & J Sandwiches: 5
Local Life Lesson: "Live life to the full"
Jukebox: Ring of Fire, Johnny Cash ( I heard it like, 5 times here for some reason)
Random Thought: Guinness is Genius
Quotable: In true Melissa fashion...
Liz: Have you ever had a lunchbox?
Me: Yeah! A pink Hello Kitty one!
Liz: ...I meant the drink. (which btw is: Bud Light, Orange Juice, and Amaretto)
Overheard: "It's your life. If you want to travel, then that is exactly what you should do." ...I couldn't agree more.
Love Life,
Melissa
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment