Dublin and more

So this past weekend I went to Dublin to visit my friend Naimh and her family. Naimh stayed with my family for a week in April doing work experience with my mom and other police departments. On Friday I traveled on a two hour journey to Dublin with Aunt Carol's friend Dara, desperately trying to finish the last book to the Divergent series as Naimh was the one who convinced me to read. I was unsuccessful and only made it about 150 pages when I met Naimh and her mom, Paula, however Naimh saw it in my hands and smiled but then she said I better brace myself because the last book is tragic (I finished it last night, thank God Naimh told me that or else I would've been more upset than I  already was). When we arrived to the house, Naimh took me upstairs to her room, which was very cool because her room was an attic room and had drawers and shelves and a dresser that perfectly fit the slanted roof. Her room was filled with books which I was so amazed at, because I think I probably only have about 5 books total. Then Naimh and I started talking about each other's schools, as she had visited mine on her trip. She said it was kind of weird seeing everyone in their normal clothes at a school, and also mentioning that it was very cliquey, which we both assume is because of the whole no uniform thing. During that conversation, Naimh started putting on make up for a fashion show her class was doing. I was very excited to see it and at 5:30, I was able to go to her school to help set up. As soon as we got there Naimh, being the coordinator of such an important event, was greeted with problems and questions she needed to tend to. So I stuck with her friend Aislin who was very sweet and interested in my trip. Up until 7:30 when the show started, I walked around and saw all the fantastic work her class put into the show. This fashion show was no ordinary one, it was a junk couture fashion show which means that all the dresses that the girls made were made from ordinary house objects. It was incredible. The girl that modeled the dresses had a whole choreographed routine and had so much poise. One girl had a mermaid dress completely made out of the negatives from a camera. another had a dress mad from maps that stuck out on either side but swooped down by her knees, another had a romper made out of subway wrappers complete with a big headdress. Naimh and Aislin made their dress out of teddy bears; with a top made from the bear's body, a skirt from the legs, and a coat from the bodies again, and the collar as the heads wrapping around the front. It was all very very cool to see. We finished the night by watching Angus, Thongs, and Perfect Snogging, which our favourite line from it was when the really cute boyfriend says to the main girl, Georgia, after they've made up after a fight. He says sweetly, "I wrote a song about you." And she turns all smiles to him and giggles with glee. He looks deeply into her eyes and says softly, "It's called Bitch in a Uniform." Georgia's face instantly just drops, and then he says, "But I still really like you!" It was referred to a lot throughout the weekend.

On Saturday, we went to a very cool, homey restaurant for breakfast. None of the plates nor the cups matched each other and everything was organic and homemade, to top it all off, it was cleverly called Ur"bun". I had a delicious scone and a big bowl of yoghurt and berries, which I couldn't finish at all! After that, Naimh and I were dropped of at Dundrum which is a huge shopping centre, and it has all the stores that the rest of Ireland doesn't. We walked around and went into different stores and tried to find the most ridiculous things for sale. Naimh took me to Hollister, which I've never been in, and she was very surprised to find that a Californian had never been to Abrocrombie either. Then we went to H&M where I bought two dresses and Naimh bought a shirt for just 4 euro. To end our shopping experience, we went to Build a Bear and made matching bears, hers was white and mine is light brown, Naimh found a cute bunny hat for hers and I found a bow tie shirt and also some glasses because both Naimh and I suck at seeing so its only fair if my bear does too. When we were making our bears' birth certificates, we awkwardly had to admit that we were above the age of 13 and buying it for ourselves (but who cares!) and I named mine Dubby, after Dublin and she named hers Cali, for California. After that, Naimh took me to her favourite restaurant, Nandos. Nandos is a chicken restaurant where you can choose what type of cut you would like, how much, what spice, how spicy and your side. I got the Lemon and Herb, which Naimh laughed at when I ordered because I didn't pronounce the "h" in herb.The chicken was so delicious and I guess I realize now why she likes it so much! While we waited for Paula, Naimh and I mosied around a really big toy store, entertaining ourselves for about half an hour with toys for small children. When we got into the car, Aislin was there ready for the movies. We were heading to see Divergent, finally! The movie theater was quite small, the screen was average size, but there were only 5 rows of seats, and they weren't even filled up, only about 15 people were there, including a group of boys who sat in front of us, and one of them was a little gassy. We heard it like 3 times, loud and clear, and Naimh, Aislin and I could not stop laughing, because each time he was very proud of himself and went for a high five or fist bump from the others. The movie was fantastic but of course, having read the books first we were annoyed the director left out certain parts. Later, Naimh's friend Chloe arrived for a sleep over. We watched the Eurovision finale, which is a big singing competition where amateur singers from each European country send one group or single singer to compete. Ireland didn't get to the finals, so we put each country in a hat and we all drew until it was empty so we had a country to root for. Then we all picked one really good act theat we though wouldn't get a lot of votes and Naimh and Chloe sent in votes for them. One of my countries, Sweden was second for a while, after Austria (Aislin's country) which had a transgender woman with a beard and won in the end. However, Chloe's country, the Netherlands came in second really fast towards the end. Naimh's France came in last, so we had to doggie pile on top of her. But, she redeemed herself when we played chubby bunny, a game where you stuff as many marshmallows in your mouth and say "chubby bunny" each time you put another marshmallow in. Naimh stuffed a total of 8 marshmallows in, and I was laughing so hard I was done at 5. We went to bed at about 2 in the morning and woke up at 11 when Aislin and Chloe had to leave. I really enjoyed hanging out them because they all like the same things as me, and not every thing was about California, which is the topic of basically every conversation I've had with someone since I've been here. 

On Sunday, after  the girls had gone, myself, Naimh, and her parents went to the Dublin zoo. We saw both Naimh and my favourite animals in baby form. There were baby giraffes, elephants, monkeys, and ducklings there. We also saw lambs, baby turtles, a calf, and we were supposed to see baby piglets, but they weren't there. For dinner, we went to Eddie Rockets, a restaurant designed to look like a fifties diner, and it really did! There were those plush red and white booths, old photos of Elvis and Marilyn Monroe, the waitresses dressed in the white out fit and boat-like hat, and the menu was packed with various burgers and milkshakes. Everyone ate some form of a burger, but I was the odd one out who ordered a salad...but totally made up for it with a Reeces milkshake, which didn't only have Reeces bits in it, but the ice cream also tasted like Reeces! 

On Monday, my last day in Dublin, I went to Naimh's school. Her school is all girls, like Our Lady of Lourdes, and also had a similar uniform. It was much bigger than OLOL, and there's much more diverse classes, such as fashion studies, Chinese, Spanish, and animation. I really enjoyed Spanish because the girls had to introduce themselves to me in Spanish, and I surprised myself when I was able to understand them, and talk to the teacher in Spanish, and participate in activities. All of her classmates were so welcoming and helpful. One of them pointed out that Naimh not only had the exact same lunches, but ate the same things at the same time. After school, Naimh and I enjoyed the movie Sydney White with pre-meltdown Amanda Bynes, and ate a wonderful Irish roast dinner, Naimh's favourite, from Paula. Sadly I had to leave at 7, so Naimh and I listened to High School Musical with our bears all the way to the meeting point at which we would meet Aunt Carol, a perfect ending to a perfect weekend... Oh my God, could I have picked a more cheesy way of saying that?! Whatever, I'm leaving it in!

Okay so, this isn't about Dublin, but I want to add it in! So on Tuesday, after work, Aunt Carol and I took a little road trip by ourselves towards Fethard. We were heading to Aunt Carol's weekly Irish group where they only speak Irish but took a few detours along the way. First, we stopped at where we had the best 99 cones; vanilla ice cream, swirled on a wafer cone, with a chocolate Flake stuck in. You have to push the Flake down so that when you go to eat the cone, you eat the chocolate as well! Then we went to a beach where everyone drives, for a little driving test, however, after learning how a stick shift works we got stuck in the sand and a man had to come and push us out. (Embarrassing!) So, I didn't get to drive because the sand was too wet. As we were driving out, we saw this weird looking thing in the sand, so we stopped and got out only to find a huge jelly fish bigger than my head washed ashore, it was so freaky! Then as we were heading on, we stopped at Dollar Bay, a little, hidden beach, and had a walk around, picking up different shells and sea glass along the way. When we finally got to the pub where the Irish group is held, I brought in my book, thinking I would be so bored and confused that I would just be better off reading and not paying attention. However, with the little Irish I've picked up, and knowing how a conversation works and what questions are normally asked, I was able to understand and even speak a little bit! I borrowed a woman named Aisling's Irish-English dictionary and jotted down a few phrases and words that I could use later in life. I was really impressed by this one woman, Grace, who despite knowing far less Irish than the rest of the women, still tried to communicate and wasn't afraid to ask when confused which is something most people are so afraid to do. When the meeting was finished, Aunt Carol told me I could take a spin around the empty parking lot. Now, I am probably the most clumsy person to live, and I get really nervous on bikes, because of an accident that happened a while ago, so I was a little shaky getting into the driver's seat of a stick shift. However, I hopped in, and surprisingly, it's just a patter you have to follow, so it was actually easier than I thought! Even though we jolted forward the minute I stepped off the clutch and onto the accelerator, I was abled to make a full circle around the parking lot and put on the brakes without injuring any necks. We finished the night by making Irish soda bread, hoping this one doesn't turn out like the last which tasted like hay! All in all, it was "a very productive evening," and Aunt Carol put it.