Week Five
Week five brings us to February 11th—the night of Simon Says.
Thursday, as said in week four, we had a lecture about the GAA (which was awesome). After this, Amy, Amanda, Amanda’s friend Alex and I went out for what ended up being a really fun night.
This was an Eastern European themed night from the beginning. We attempted Pravda, but it was closed at 11:30. Not okay, Russians should party all night. So we headed to the Czech Inn—best name ever. We just got one drink there, it was pretty relaxed, but definitely somewhere I’d want to go again.
From there we went to Doyle’s, where all of my dreams came true. There was a midget girl there and she was AWESOME. She was clearly wasted and was dancing up a storm. It was amazing. I actually saw her again the next night, and AGAIN last week at the mall…clearly we are meant to be best friends.
After Doyle’s, we went to the Porterhouse, where Amy met Simon. Before I get to that, though, I have to express my excitement and pure joy that Porterhouse had margaritas! And they were only 5.50 euro that night because it was 2 euro off night. They were delicious. So back to Simon, the DJ. He played some pretty sweet jams, like “Build me up Buttercup,” and the like. He was also cute, and sober, a new criteria for Amy. She asked him to play “Love Shack” and he said—wait for it—HE HATES THAT SONG. I don’t understand. Best song in the world. We told him it was Amanda’s 23rd birthday, and eventually he played it, such a sweetie. He talked to Amy for a bit, and ended up offering us a ride home, which we gladly accepted. (He was tiny and there were four of us, so we were completely safe). The way back I amused myself by making as many Simon Says jokes as humanly possible. It was a good time.
Friday morning we headed on a group fieldtrip to Glendalough—the glen between two rivers—in Co Wicklow, south of Dublin.
It was really pretty, but the weather was dreary and we were all exhausted, so it was less enjoyable than it should have been. The best part, weirdly enough, was the bus ride back, as only 6 of us returned to DCU, with the rest heading to Co Kerry on a weekend trip with Caroline.
That night we went out again and had a really good time. Convinced Mike F to come out with us, as we were basically the only people there, and it was definitely a fun time. Pravda was hopping that night, although the band was pretty terrible.
The next day Amy and I met Amanda, Alex, and another one of Amanda’s friends, Keely, at a pub near the Bernard Shaw for the Ireland/France rugby game. The game was entertaining, but Ireland got their asses handed to them, unfortunately. From there, we were supposed to meet Marcus (the Canadian Amanda is seeing) for dinner, but he got held up at work, so the five of us got thai food instead, which was AMAZING. Then we headed back to DCU, pregamed, and headed back out for the night. Amanda had Krispy Kremes Keely brought from London for Marcus which she had been holding onto all day, so she brought them to The Foggy Dew where he was meeting us.
I kid you not when I saw every single person in the pub had their eyes focused on that box of doughnuts. They were all about them; it was so weird. That was the first time I met Marcus, though, and he was really nice. He’s from Canada and he looks like Jemaine from Flight of the Conchords, so he’s alright in my book. Amy met up with Steven (the tour guide) for a little pre-Valentine’s Day action, then met us at the Porterhouse, where we saw the midget (!!!) and Simon! Best experience ever—no free ride this time, though.
Valentine’s Day was that Sunday, clearly a quiet day for me. I think I watched a movie and ate ice cream to soothe the depression…just kidding about the depression but totally serious about the ice cream!
That week we had three field trips, which were all awesome. Monday we went on a walking tour of the city with Lorcan, this wicked awesome, semi-crazy history buff. We started at Trinity, headed to the GPO, saw the Four Courts and finished at Dublin Castle, discussing the 1916 Easter Uprising along the way. He was so interesting and hilarious—called Amy, Amanda and I a “clique” and called me out saying “all Irish Catholic girls have their wedding planned from the day they’re born—don’t tell me you don’t!” haha it was embarrassing but awesome. Best part is that we then got Pa Pa’s pizza after—delicious.
Wednesday we had another history field trip, this time to Kilmainham Gaol, a jail over 200 years old which held the most notorious political prisoners, including Parnell, DeValera and all the leaders of the 1916 rebellion, who were also killed there.
The jail is no longer in use, but many movies are filmed there and lots of artists record albums there. They also have a really cool museum about the jail, 1916, the War of Independence/Civil War, and the Irish Free State.
Thursday night we went to a play, an optional field trip. It was free, so of course I went. It ended up being like community theater, but it was still amazing. The play was “Playboy of the Western World,” about a kid from Cork (?) who kills his father and then brags about it to everyone, only to find out that his father isn’t really dead. It was kind of weird and I’m not sure I completely understood it, but the acting was really good, and I got to talk to this really interesting old man who sat next to me. He told me about his kids and where they went to school, and how one of them lived in NYC for a while and was actually right near ground zero on 9/11, so crazy. He was a sweetie though, asked me if I lived near the Kennedy’s! So cute. I told him he definitely has to come to Boston, all Irish people would love it.
