Anyway, my trip to Ireland was relatively uneventful, although I did have to get to the bus stop at 4:30AM to catch the bus to Stanstead. Ryanair is a wonderful airline if you want to travel to various parts of Europe essentially for free (my bus fair to Stanstead cost more than my round-trip ticket to Ireland), but not as good if you want to be able to pack anything more than a toothbrush (I wore about half the clothes I brought to Ireland with me on the plane. It was warm).
In Ireland, I was staying with my friend John. John's brother, Patrick, went to MIT, so I've known John since he came to visit Patrick this one time a few years ago. John is going to Harvard next year and had just finished his leaving certs (basically exit exams for the Irish school system), so I guess he was out pretty late partying the night before I came. This explains why John's dad, not John, came to pick me up from the airport early Saturday morning (I guess John's mom commandeered his phone and sent some explanatory texts from it, which I thought was very creative).
I flew into Shannon, and John lives in Limerick. After being fed a second breakfast of scones, jam, and cream (I cannot explain how delicious this is...I wish I could take an infinite supply back with me to the states) by John's culinarily (not a word, according to Safari spell-checker, but who cares) talented mom/mum Lily, John and I wandered into Limerick along the beautiful river that runs by their house. We met up with John's dad later to watch the Lions/South Africa match (my FIRST rugby match!) in a pub (my first Irish pub!), where I learned how to watch Rugby (i.e. cheer loudly and complain about the scrum, more or less).
My arrival coincided with the 15th birthday party of Tommy, John's lovely younger brother. John's family already has a trampoline in their backyard, but for the occasion, a bouncy castle was also brought in (along with enough food to feed a small army, including Twitter-themed cupcakes...). John and I had spent part of the evening making questionable cookies, based on our sudden and urgent need to consume cook dough (ingredient ratios are important, it turns out. Who knew?).
Limerick has a reputation of being kind of a rough place. I heard from Lily that it sometimes was called "stab city." Well, within a few hours of being in Limerick, I already had a busted lip! The story is less interesting, and more or less I will leave you with the thought that lying down on a trampoline is almost always a bad idea, and being kicked in the face hurts.
Over the course of the evening, the trampoline migrated to be closer to the bouncy castle, and we spent a good hour or so diving from the trampoline to the bouncy castle under various premises (trampoline rugby is the best game every invented...you score a try by getting the rugby ball to the bouncy castle...but will England have a team for the 2012 Olympics? Stay tuned to find out...). I've uploaded a few videos to facebook.
It came up in the course of conversation that John's family still had Patrick's old violin lying around, which I had the pleasure of playing. Although it hasn't been particular well taken care of over the past few years, it's a really good violin! I kind of (ok, really) wanted to take it home with me. It's got quite an impressive, resonant tone. Oh well, reason to visit Ireland again, at least...oh right, that, and because it's one of the most beautiful places on Earth.
I have to say, after spending a few months in England, I was surprised at how social and laid back the Irish were. The English fear of social interaction with all but the closest of friends is completely counterbalanced by the Irish penchant for making random (and, in my case, totally unintelligible) conversation with complete strangers (good thing the smile and nod method works just as well in Ireland). And the people are so nice! And relaxed! I think "chill" is the word I'm looking for. Then again, if you lived in a place as beautiful and scenic as Ireland, you'd probably be relaxed too (no offense, English countryside).
John, me, and my new friend Alan went down to Dublin on Sunday (under the guise of giving Alan a ride home). I LOVE Dublin! I have to say, Dublin isn't a city like Paris or Rome (or London) where you go to SEE things...it's more like a city where you go to just hang out. But, for hanging out, there is no better city. I just loved the atmosphere there. We toured Trinity College (where Alan is going to school next year), including seeing the Book of Kells (the oldest surviving Celtic manuscript, which was absolutely amazing to see), the library, and the infectious diseases exhibit in the science hall. Afterwards, we went to the Guiness Storehouse (can't go to Dublin without going to the Guiness Storehouse!). The top floor is a 360 degree circular windowed room overlooking the whole of Dublin. It's breathtaking. And also there's something really cool about drinking Guiness from the place where it originated while looking out over Dublin. *sigh* We then went to one of Alan's favorite haunts, the Boar's Head. It was a traditional Irish pub, and I loved the atmosphere (and the delicious food, of course). It wasn't quite as happening on a Sunday afternoon as it might have been otherwise, but I still loved the experience.
Sunday evening was uneventful. John and I got home too late to really go out again on Sunday night, so we went to bed instead (after watching an episode of Top Gear...mmmm Lotus). The next morning, I packed up and John fulfilled his end of the Twitter deal.
Allow me to explain. John visited MIT last April before he made the (tragic) decision to go to Harvard. While there, he encouraged me to get Twitter, and I said I wasn't interested. He kept bugging me, and I kept saying no. Well, seeing as John was hosting me in Ireland, I was feeling conciliatory, so I agreed finally that if he arranged a picnic on the cliffs overlooking the sea (something picturesque that I'd always kind of wanted to do), that I would get Twitter. Unbeknownst to John, my work at this summer has required me to use Twitter on occasion, so I already had a Twitter account (@crazyank, for those interested in the random happenings of my life, updated biweekly or so, which is less often than my blog). John, being kind, still took me for a picnic at the cliffs of Moher.
A picture is worth 1000 words. Go on facebook and look at the pictures. And then remember that it is a million times more stunning in real life. I want to go back.
I flew out Monday evening, and, remembering my harrowing trip through immigration at Heathrow ("are you SURE you're not a terrorist?"), I was a bit nervous. However, they just waved all the passengers from Ireland right through Immigration, so I was pretty happy. I got back home just in time to collapse from exhaustion!
Interesting observation about the UK and Ireland:
The cops aren't armed. I'm not kidding. When John told me this, I literally said "but how are they supposed to stop people from committing crimes?" I mean, imagine if cops didn't have guns in the US. No one would take them seriously! "Come over here...I DARE you to stop me from robbing this bank? What are you going to do? Scold me?" Then again, I have a very funny image of a proper British cop doing just that:
British cop: (politely) "Good sir, stop what you're doing there at once! Please."
Robber: (politely) "Oh, my good man, I must refuse. So sorry"
British cop: "I must then be forced to scold you very sternly."
This probably wouldn't fly in the States. Gun culture is vastly different in the UK and the US. Gun control laws are very, very strict here, so it's actually safe for most UK cops to assume that your average criminal isn't armed. You can't make that assumption in the US. While not everyone has guns, like some people in the UK tend to think, it statistically looks like it to a UK citizen, because in the UK, almost no one at all has guns.
We have a long way to go...
In conclusion, I absolutely loved Ireland and know I will find a way to go back some day. I've been catching up on work since I got back, and will hopefully have another entry up soon!
Check pictures on facebook!
Hey there! Next time you go to Ireland, you're going to take me with you. Okay?
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