Mary Meets Budapest: I Left My Heart in Dublin.

Irish babies reunited in Dublin!! So happy!!

FAMILY!

I think these friendly reminders
saved my life! Very confusing.

There are times in my life when everything just feels right. The three days that I spent in Ireland this weekend were three of the happiest days of my life. Not only did I have the chance to catch up with one of my oldest and best friends, Nancy, but also I finally had the chance to see the country where most of my family is from. This trip meant the most to me of all the trips I have planned for my duration of time abroad. I’ve long heard about how amazing Dublin is, how green the grass is, and how friendly the Irish are, but seeing it for myself would give meaning to all of this.

Everything I've dreamed of.

Dublin City Centre - O'Connell St.

I arrived late on Thursday night, but even on the bus ride to Nancy’s dorm on the UCD campus, I was electrified with a passion for the city that I had seen in passing. The good vibes only led to good times. Nancy and I stayed up for hours talking about our experience abroad and catching up on both our lives. Nancy is one of the best people I've ever met, she will forever be one of my favorite people to hang out and de-stress with.

Doors of Dublin = beautiful

Full Irish Breakfast

We woke up on Friday pretty early. We wanted to go outside of the city to see a castle, or the coast, or those famous rolling hills. Before venturing, Nancy took me to a restaurant called Bewely’s, which is famous for it’s traditional full Irish Breakfast. I was hesitant to try all of the food on my plate, but I was pleasantly surprised to how delicious it was. Another reason that travelling is great—I’ve learned that often, when you try something new, it usually pays off in a great way. After eating the potato farl, toast, sausage, bacon, white and black pudding (never thought I’d eat blood!), mushroom, tomato, poached egg, relish, and coffee, I was definitely ready to start the day. We had planned to go to a small town called Bray, but due to some crazy flooding earlier in the week, that trip would have been difficult to make, so we asked the teller if she could recommend us a day trip. This adventure took us to Malahide, a small town on the coast about 30 minutes from Dublin.

Malahide definitely exceeded my expectations. Walking out of the Dart train station, we saw signs for a castle, and followed them into a secluded path. This path was absolutely beautiful. We were enclosed in trees and grass far off of the street. Finally we saw the castle. Malahide castle isn’t the biggest or most grand castle in Ireland, but it’s the only one I’ve seen and I sure loved it. It sits on 250 acres of the greenest grass I’ve ever seen. All that rain really does wonders I guess. We walked the castle grounds, found a secret (enchanted fairy) garden, and just enjoyed the scenery. We went inside the castle, but for whatever reason—we think the workers were on lunch break—we weren’t able to tour the entire castle. Which was fine, I could not have been happier to be there.

At the Castle!

We walked back into the town, which was extremely quaint. And I fell for Ireland even harder…there were kids everywhere walking around in their Halloween costumes coming home from school. I loved listening to their accents and their excitement for the upcoming holiday. We found a great pub in the town called Gibney’s, and I ordered the famous cider, Bulmers, and had a great soup and sandwich. We lollygagged around for a while, and ended up finding the breathtaking coast and a small harbor before hopping back on the train into Dublin. Overall, Malahide was extremely refreshing and fun. For the rest of the day, Nancy led me around the city as we went in and out of shops and roamed around. We didn’t really do anything touristy, but I liked this even more because it meant that I was even more so mistaken for a local (haha)!

Harbor

Nancy looking fabulous on the coast

After making a divine dinner, we hit the town hard at night, and found ourselves at a club called DTwo. There were so many people in costumes, but even though we didn’t have costumes, we looked fabulous and had a great night talking to a ton of people and having great conversation. I really liked the nightlife in Dublin. The guys are much more respectful of boundaries than some of the other places I have been. On the dance floor, they keep a distance until you decide to let them dance with you, and the dancing is fun…I was twirled around the dance floor a lot! The conversations that I had were with all kinds of people who’ve had all kinds of experiences…I spoke with someone about how disgusting the Red Light district is, I talked about environmental law and practicing law in Ireland, about someone’s travels to Cambodia. I was captivated by these conversations…the night went by so fast that by the time we got home it was about 5:30!

Peace and Love - Mary/Nancy!

Needless to say, we had a slow start to the day on Saturday. Walking in Donneybrook, we had a great surprise in stumbling upon a rugby match. We walked in, and I was captivated by the sport. I’ve never seen it played before, and it was a bit confusing, but I was extremely impressed by the aggressiveness and skill of the sport.

Music by The Riptide on Grafton St.

From there, we went to the city center, where I was introduced to new areas of Dublin, including O’Connell St., Grafton St., and St. Stephen’s Green. The walking streets were amazing, and every 50 meters, we would walk into a street performance or talented musician playing amazing music that I couldn’t help but listen to for a few minutes. I love street music and street art, I constantly find myself drawn to it—regardless of what it is. St. Stephen’s green was also amazing…like a Central park, but in Ireland. I always love city parks, and this was no exception. We stopped at a tart shop and got some pastries and coffee before going to a pub to listen to traditional music and get some dinner. I love pubs, I love pub food, and I love Irish music. More reasons to move to Dublin. We were having so much fun, but we were exhausted. We went back to Nancy’s apartment, put on a movie, and passed out!

Shamrock on my Guinnes

9,000-year lease signed by Arthur Guinness

We didn’t have too much time to explore on Sunday, but we made it work. We woke up early and were determined to get to the Guinness Storehouse. It took us a lot longer to get there than we had estimated, but the journey was worth it. It was amazing to see the brewing process and learn about the history of Guinness. I learned two crazy things there: Guinness has a 9,000-year lease on their beer, and Arthur Guinness is a hero in Ireland. My goodness, my Guinness! After we moved through the whole tour, we were standing at the top of the building, drinking a pint of Guinness (poured perfectly, with a Shamrock in the foam)—with a 360-degree view of Dublin. It was incredible to say the least. Not something you get to do everyday. We didn’t have too much time to savor the experience, as my flight was rapidly approaching we were in a race against time to get back to Nancy’s dorm and get to the bus stop in time. Luckily, after sprinting around Dublin for the day, everything panned out.

Cute little street.

It might all sound like just another trip, but there was something about Dublin that inspired me. My internal compass now points to Dublin, or Ireland. I know that I will live there in the future, and I can’t wait for the adventure.