Review of last days...

Sorry it's taken so long to get this up. Internet has been hard to come by in travels and busy-nesses since the trip. Anyway, I'm home now and here's what happened to me:

July 14, 2007
>We're on our own! Emily, JoEllen and I (Henceforth they will be known as E and J) make our way... with all of our stuff... to the bus station. We talk to a nice man who we have named Dermot who told us to get a discounted ticket to take us to the cliffs of Mohr where we should be picked up for our Bed and Breakfast stay.
>We do as Dermot tells us and get on his bus.
>Dermot proceeds to take us on the greatest bus tour ever! We see castles, abbys, trees and shrines and even stop in at a great place to eat! Amazing!
>After eating, he tells me to play a song for everyone with my guitar. I do. It was fun. There's proof that it happened.
>We also stopped at the ocean. E, J and I accidentally went swimming with all our clothes on. Just go with it.
>We changed while a creepy Spaniard video taped us for a few minutes and then got back on the bus under Dermot's protection and found our way to the cliffs of Mohr.
>WOW!!!!!!!!!
>So, we still can't get ahold of the B&B, so Dermot takes out his cell phone and calls for us, gets ahold of them and tells them we're ready when they are. They say 10 minutes.
>Dermot leaves.
>Bye, Dermot.
>We wait 45 minutes.
>B&B van arrives! The friendliest Irishman you'll ever meet takes us 10 minutes down the road to the B&B.
[Now, I want you all to remember where we've been staying the past few days. A Hostel. Hell. Now we have a room with beds of our own, a shower of our own that has manual temperature control, floor space, it doesn't smell, there are friendly people who give us food and tea and OMG THE VIEW! Rolling Irish hills covered in the greenest grass from the farthest fence you can find. A castle thirty miles away on top of a hill top. Sheep occasionally roam past while Bruno, the big floppy dog, visits you as you eat your breakfast. Trees spot the hillsides and homes collect in small patches where children can find space to play safe from all th expansiveness of the world. One single road leads to the front door and off into nothing.]
>We want to swim again.
>We try to walk to a place to swim. We learn that it's 10 miles away. Stupid old lady telling us it's close.
>We eat some food and then try to get to another suggested swimming place.
>We lose our minds.
>We find said place is full of rocks. E gets her feet wet and J and I watch her and laugh.
>We go to find a gas station to buy some beer and go back to the B&B to relax.
>THE GAS STATION DOESN'T SELL BEER AT ALL! Where have we gone and where is Ireland?
>We go back anyway and read then get the best night of sleep any of us have had in weeks.

July 15, 2007
>Here's what we know: we need to get to Dublin by 8pm tonight.
>Here's what we don't know: how.
>We ask the old lady over breakfast and her daughter looks up some routs for us. Mind you, we are on the opposite coast of Ireland from Dublin. We rule out the bus idea (thank God!) and decide for the train option.
>Two choices, north or south to get East... why God? Why not just East?
>We choose north. We will somehow get to the cliffs of Mohr again, get some bus to take us back to Gallway and get some train to take us to Dublin hopefully by 8pm tonight.
>Her son wakes up and says he'll take us to the cliffs! Huzzah!
>We get there and as he pulls away, the number fifty bus pulls in behind him with a big flashing screen that says 'To Galway.'
>Holy ^%&*.
>We spend an hour at the cliffs again! whoot! then we get on the bus and spend the next 4 hours in the most uncomfortable, sweaty, muggy, smelly and windy bus ride of our mortal lives. None of us can stand or eat by the end of it for nausea. But we're in Galway and that's all that matters Damnit!
>E runs to get some food while J and I get train info. We get our tickets, take our food, walk onto a train and go to Dublin!
[Seriously? Did that all acutually work out? I'm still in a bit of disbelief...]
>We get to Dublin and almost immediately find Emma (Emily's friend who we will be staying with) and Annie (my friend from High School who is studying in Scottland and came down to Dublin for the weekend).
>2E and J decide to take some stuff back to the appartement and Annie and her friend and I will go and eat and start drinking.
>As we all begin to part ways, we turn a corner and WHAM! There are Sean McDowell and Sam Green (our teachers from the trip) standing in our faces!
>We chat for some time and then part ways again. We learn that one of the nicknames given to the two of them (Bert and Ernie) almost caused Sam's demise. While in a pub during our last night in Galway, Sam began singing the Rubber Duckie song in the Ernie voice. Little did he know that he was overheard by a man in a stall behind him! He almost died! We laughed at him.
>2E and J took stuff to the appt. and I kept my huge backpack and went with Annie and friend to food. We ate and had a few rounds before the girls showed up.
>They ate quickly and we all went out to the Arlington, our favorite pub in Dublin.
>Annie and I quickly downed a few Jamesons and got sufficiently tipsy before the girls and I needed to catch the last lightrail to the appt. We parted ways and went.
>The appt. is a godsend! It's amazing! Super modern and artsey, but we can't figure out the futon. I am in no condition to help, but I try. Oh well.
>The sleeping arrangement becomes Emma and Emily in one bed. JoEllen curled up on the half-futon. Me on the couch in the living room for Emma's aunt to find me there in the morning. Whoops. I mean, she knew I'd be 'there' just not THERE.

July 16, 2007
>We all slowly got up, met Emma's aunt and ate.
>We headed out and began our day by wondering and then getting hungry.
>We had failed at getting cash, but we didn't think we'd need it. We found out we did. Fortunately, we still had about 28 cents by the end of lunch to all of our names!
>We went to St. Patrick's park and cathedral then back out to Sandy Cove. Emily swam but JoEllen and I refrained given we had no swim suits, it was freaking cold and there was no excitement from the group's mob mentality. Although, Emily did get yelled at by a house owner onto whose property Emily accidentally trespassed and then was inadvertently flashed by an old man going for a swim, so we're rather glad we refrained.
>We wanted to watch a movie that night, so we tried to rent one, failed and proceeded to buy 'Stranger than Fiction.'
>When we started to watch it, we couldn't get it to work. It finally worked but everyone fell asleep within 45 minutes. We got the futon to work and then all went to bed. I joined JoEllen who was so out of it she hardly noticed that I was there. She doesn't remember doing this, but she said to me, "If you touch me in the night... I'll kill ya."

July 17, 2007

>I'm still alive. Apparently there was no night-touching.
>Literally, this day was spent resting and reading. Emma went to her grandmother's house a ways away and the three of us just found a tea shop and read for most of the day. It was amazing.
>We went out for dinner and a drink and then back to the appt. to watch Stranger than Fiction. Great film by the way. Go see it. Seriously. Now. Well, finish the blog and then go get it and see it.
>We all go to sleep after some hanging out and I get barely enough sleep to sustain me for....

July 18, 2007
TRAVEL DAY
6:15 Dublin
wake up.... oh God...
7:01 Dublin
Leave the appt with all of its sleeping residents.
7:20 Dublin
Arrive by Luas Line (lightrail) at St. Steven's Green
7:24 Dublin
Get a bus to the airport. Go me!
8:12 Dublin
Arrive at airport and realize I can't check in for 45 minutes... Okay, Karma. I get it.
10:21 Dublin
Through checkin and security and on to customs. I forgot to buy food before customs... so... hungry....
10:51
Through customs! Found food! Ate it! Called Emily to tell JoEllen how to get through all the security stuff better than I did. Then sat down and had two bottles of Guinness. Good idea for the plane! Seriously, best idea I've ever had. Thank you Hunter S. Thompson.
11:21
On the plane! I have two seats to myself! SCORE! Thanks, Karma!
13:48 Chicago - 19:48 Dublin
Finished Hunter S. Thompson's 'The Rum Diary.' Yesterday, I read 'MASH.' Good days. We've begun our descent.
15:21 Chicago - 21:21 Dublin
Through security... again. Got some food and waiting for my second of three flights.
15:37 Chicago - 21:37 Dublin
On the plane. The guy who sits down next to me I pin for an aspiring body-builder and jock-a-holic. I notice, then, the 'Muscle Monthly' magazine he's set down in the seat pocket. Man I'm good. That's alright, I'll read 'The Once and Future King.'
18:37 Dallas/Chicago - 00:37 Dublin
Landed about 40 minutes ago, got to my gate and called E and J. Apparently I'm missed! Awwwww. They found Jameson and had some in my stead. I am honored! Also, called home and let the know I'd be on time.
18:58 Dallas/Chicago - 00:58
Called home to let them know I'd be late.
19:25 Dallas/Chicago - 01:25
Finally on the stuipd airplane thing.
20:59 Sacramento - 22:59 Dallas/Chicago - 04:59 Dublin
LANDED! Dad picks me up and takes me to In-N-Out for a Double Double with onion, a strawberry milkshake and fries. I go home, unpack somewhat and sleep until 11:something the next day.

Well, I guess that concludes this journal thing. Thanks for reading it! I hope it was amuuuuusing at least! I'll post some pictures up here soon, so keep looking for the next week or so and you'll get to see some cool places I went.

end captain's log_