I hate leaving places like this

Well the weekend of filth has come to an end...
Yes, you read correctly. The weekend of filth. I only managed to shower once over my weekend in Ireland and here's why: I have learned from my weekend in the "Amsterdam Hostel" that sometimes it's probably cleaner to stay out of a hostel shower than venture into it.

More explanation? Ok. My friend Suzanne and I slept in an eight bed hostel with six other girls (none of whom spoke any English as far as we could tell.) The first night was terrifying. By the time we got into the room, at least four girls were asleep so we had to arrange our sheets on the beds, change and find our way to bed in the dark. Being a little too on edge about the strangers I was sleeping near, I slept with my purse, hugging it the entire night. I also woke up around seven times, each with a furthering degree of a migrane. I swear I dreamt about packing my things and finding a legitimate hotel. To my relief, I woke to see the next day. Suzanne and I stayed there for two more nights, each night improving slightly (especially after I broke down and paid the deposit for a lock box.) The last night I moved in with three other friends who were staying until Monday in a nicer hotel. I wasn't in my new room for more than thirty seconds before heading to the shower.

Ireland itself was absolutely amazing. I particularly liked our first day. It was sunny so we decied to take a small train ride to the coast to a town that I read about online called Howth. We walked around the entire day and covered about five miles of trail. We hiked up to the summit and found a trail that led us across the cliffs along the coast. Just when we were about ready to turn back, we walked around a corner and saw the most beautiful lighthouse. It was the cherry on top of a perfect day. That night we had seafood and reviewed the pictures, astonished at what we got to see.

I'll admit, Dublin was not as great as Howth, but how can you really compete with Howth? I mean just look at that picture. However, it was a fun time walking around the city and seeing ancient churches, castles and pubs. We spent a considerable amount of time around the temple bar area which was hopping. I was also lucky enough to be in Ireland during one of the most significant sports weekends in Irish history. The Irish rugby team won a huge game and the city went nuts! There was honking, cheering, singing and just overall cheeriness.

On our last day in Dublin, four of us walked the city in search of things to do. First we found the National Gallery which in my opinion, turned out to be a dud. Sadly, the only person we reconized in their portrait gallery was Bono. We got out of there pretty fast. As we walked through the Trinity College area, we started to see signs for "Ireland Rugby Homecoming," so we followed. Turns out, the entire rugby team made a public appearance on the street and we were surrounded by thousands of people and a live band. It was amazing and a great end to the weekend.

This week I have a paper due on Wednesday and haven't started yet. I get really nervous about these things so I should probably go do that now. It's on the IRA and Northern Ireland, a topic that I am actually extremely interested in. So I will leave you for now. Have a good week, I will try to update again this week.

FIND ALL OF THE IRELAND PICTURES AT: www.flickr.com/photos/mcgroves