Since we had Monday off for a national holiday in Spain, we decided to make the most of this LONG weekend and get our Scottish accent on. After landing in Edinburgh and finding our way to the hostel, we took a little walk around the city to see the Christmas lights and castles lit up. The following morning had one of the greatest walking tours in store for us.
Wednesday: Little did Maeve and I know, our tour guide was kinda into Harry Potter. She lead our tour group through the city and into a creepy little cemetery. Edinburgh, Scotland has a lot of funny and dark history to it. There were MANY mass killings due to silly laws and a lot of stories hating on the English as well as the Irish. We had Starbucks again for the first time in WEEKS and it was Christmas season, so I go me a gingerbread latte. This is worth mentioning because when you DON'T have a good coffee shop within driving distance, it suddenly becomes liquid gold. Cherish your american coffee shops, the morning drinks here are very much different than back home.
THE REAL TOM RIDDELL GRAVE!
Some really pretty views of Edinburgh:
A cute little pub decorated for Christmas time
The sun sets around 4pm in Scotland this time of year. WHAT?! Yeah, so that means it's drinking time I guess. We milled around the Edinburgh Christmas festival for some Hot Toddies, Mulled wine and Christmas cakes. When you walk into a foreign pub and spot New Belgium Blue Moon on tap, you might as well let your knees buckle and fall to the ground. Another sacred American drink that I haven't seen in over 14 weeks. We pubbed then clubbed. Scotland is alright in my book.
CHRISTMAS FESTIVAL LIGHTS
Yeah, that's santa playing the bagpipes
Thursday: We woke up with a little headache and headed for the land of leprechauns. However, I wasn't so lucky in security (though some might say I was). The lady behind me set off the metal detector just as I had walked through and the TSA man decided that I, (with no shoes on, a sports bra, t-shirt and jeans on) needed to be padded down. NOT the eager lady behind me who forgot to take off her boots, massive earrings, hat and rings. So the TSA lady got the privilege to not only frisk every crevasse of my body, but proceed to stick her fingers into the waste band of my pants and swipe my undies. Then, she must have though I was still hiding something in my waistband because she proceeded to roll down the waistband of my jeans and expose my butt crack to the TSA man behind me. What a joke... but I was beet red and was patted in places I never thought existed. YIKES. On to the next adventure!
Friday: For our first day in Dublin, Ireland, we walked around the city and got lunch at a cute little pub called The Boars Head. Burgers, Fish & Chips and beers all around. As we soon found out, it's never too early to get some beer in your belly. I love Europe because almost all the pubs have some sort of rugby on the wall or on the TV. This really makes me feel at home and I was nostalgic for my team who were one day away from the Final Four Championship tournament!!
After getting filled to the brim, we sauntered over the the Guinness Storehouse tour. I LOVE ME SOME BLACK BEER! We also had met up with out friend Tyler who was staying in Dublin for a few days as well. He has an old high school gal pal who now lives in Dublin! She met up with us to show us the night life and give us advice on Dublin. The storehouse is really modern and very clean. It was a self guided tour so we all went at our own pace. We finished on the 7th flood, the Gravity Bar, as the sun was setting. We got out free Guinness and scoped out the city of Dublin at night from one of the highest points! Watching the sun go down with a Guinness in my had is NOT a bad way to spend a friday night.
Have you ever seen anything so perfectly poured?!
Dublin at sundown
This is the typical exchange between Tyler and I..
I tell him he's dumb, then we drink some beer over it. 
Saturday: 6 am came too early. We boarded a bus to the total opposite side of Ireland. Galway is a nice little college town on the west coast of Ireland and it is really close to the Cliffs of Moher. WOW!!!!! But first, our tour was very 'hometown friendly' to me because we got to stop at a cattle farm! We walked through the pasture and then had homemade cakes and Irish coffees! The two good looking guys who led our tour reminded me of home. The fields we walked through looked a lot like Wisconsin and the farm I got my first job at.
These are the awesome rain suits we got to borrow!
The cutie goat named Billy we got to meet!
HOMEMADE CAKES!
The three of us, Maeve, Molly and I, hopped back on the bus and headed to the cliffs. I have no way of describing this to you, so just look.
Sunday: I woke bright and early to get my butt to church. I walked to Christ Cathedral Church and attended a beautiful mass. There weren't a lot of people there, which was odd, but the choir was moving. I haven't heard real hymns and singing like that ever. This was a really amazing experience to be in an ancient cathedral, having mass and singing with strangers. I really like Ireland. I met back up with Maeve and Molly, but we really had nothing to do until our bus for Belfast at 1am!!!! So I spent the day Christmas shopping and finding wifi.
Finally around 11am (Minnesota time, but 6pm Ireland time) we settled into The Old Storehouse pub for some dinner. I was too antsy to eat because MY BLACK KATTS WERE PLAYING FOR FIRST PLACE IN THE NATIONAL TOURNAMENT!! Gosh, I wish more than anything I could have been out there on the field with the girls. These girls are my best friends, 4 of the starters are my roommates and overall, these athletes are my family. SHOUT OUT TO KATH AND PLETTA, I got AWESOME updates from these former stars of the Black Katt family! I ended up having to sit in a Starbucks for better wifi.
I am my fathers daughter. I could NOT sit still or keep quiet in this public coffee shop. As I was getting the updates from the game, I was jumping out of my seat, yelling "YEAH!" randomly. Im positive someone thought I had turrets or something. Let me just tell you, when I heard one of my little wings scored the last try, I cried. I cried in public and ran out of the coffee shop happier than ever.
My girls are National Champions!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THAT'S RIGHT!!!!!!!
The first ever women's sports team to win a National Championship EVER in the HISTORY of Winona State. Let that sink in...
Then I had a tear soaked Guinness in celebration.
Monday: 1am bus to Belfast-FREEZING nap in the Belfast airport-boarded the plane and slept for 3 hours straight.
Then.....I woke up to a woman rambling in my ear. Her name was Gabriel and she had an Irish accent thicker than mud. I seriously couldn't understand the woman! Although I had JUST woken up and still delirious, I was under the impression she was drunk. Then I though "nah silly, its 11am! She wouldn't be drunk on a plane at 11am!"
SHE. WAS. HAMMERED.
Gabriel introduced me to her husband "Phillip with a big P" (now imagine being trapped in the last row of the plane, window seat next to a drunk woman and her husband who now is JUST as embarrassed as I am). She proceeded to ramble on with a drunk slur and Belfast accent about her life then a VERY intrusive interrogation about my life. She asked me what I was doing in Belfast and if I had an Irish lover. Woman, really?! This is roughly the conversation:
Drunkard: Whereareyoufrom?
Me: What?
Drunkard: Whereeeee areyou from?!
Me: I am from the U.S., in the Midwest, Wisconsin. But right now I have two weeks left of my semester in Granada, Spain.
Drunkard: OHHHHHHHH REALLLY!?!?! WE LOVE SPAIN! It's Phillips birthday soon so we're going to Malaga for two weeks!
Me: Oh, that's really nice! My birthday is soon too!
Drunkard: WHENISIT?! HOW OLD AREEEEEYOU?!
Me: I'll be 22 on Monday.
Very embarrassed Phillip: Sagittarius eh?!
Me: *thinking* Wait, people still know actual zodiac signs still?
Less embarrassed Phillip: Oh, I mean my birthday is the 16th too, that'showIknow you know? (fairly sure he was drunk too)
Drunkard: What's your favvvvvorite drink dear?
Me: ................Beer?
Drunkard: ehhhhh... So you got a lover? Is that why you're in Belfast?
Me: Wow, no. I am just flying out of Belfast.
Drunkard: But surely you got a lover doncha? You in Ireland to see your lover eh?!
Me: Goodness, no. I do have a boyfriend in Minnesota, but not a lover in Ireland.
Drunkard: *she puts her hands on mine, which are folded in my lap* Well when doyaaa get to see him!?
Me: He is visiting after I get home, after Christmas.
Drunkard: OHHHH BLESS YOUR HEART *literally almost starts crying*
This went on for the next 30 minutes. I actually couldn't stop laughing. To say the least, she had a very vibrant character and made the flight landing very entertaining.
Finally we got back into our Spanish home and feasted. We were dead, hungry after 28 hours of traveling and only about 4-5 hours of sleep!
I only have 8 more days left in Spain. This semester has really gone by too fast!!!! But then I'll go back to a common American with the average life and no blog. Lucky you ;)
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