Hitting the ground running in Dublin...I mean stumbling

To start off, when I imagined what it would be like our first day in Dublin, I never thought Ruth and I would be able to accomplish as much as we did in 24 hours. The main reason that we were able to do so well immediately was that we jumped on opportunities that sounded interesting even if we were a bit tired/jetlagged. I guess this is how life is in general though...

Upon a beautiful arrival into Dublin, after passing over lush green fields with the Coldplay song "Paradise" ringing in my iPod headphones, we made our way through security with the hoards of other American college age tourists. I couldn't help but notice that we looked less like tourists than most because we didn't wear Boston Celtics gear or ALL green attire. We instantly felt welcome when the security officer joked about the length of Ruth's travels this summer. This would be a taste of later warm interactions with the Irish. After grabbing our bags we jumped on a cheap 2 Euro bus to the Temple Bar where our hostel was located. We were lucky enough to get there just in time for a free walking tour of Dublin put on by many of the local hostels. Our tourguide, Eileen, was cute and sharp brunette from the south of Ireland with with a real passion for Irish history and the humor within it. Her wit and stories kept Ruth and I awake and interested, quite a feat, for the entirety of the 3 hours. She told stories about Prison escapes, Irish rebellions against the British, and the occasional reference to Jonathan Swift's baby-eating "Modest Proposal" after passing his birthplace. Our tour was nicely broken up by a stop at the Old Storehouse pub where Ruth and I shared Irish coffee (alcohol and coffee do mix!) and a Guinness pint (first of many). We chatted with two sisters from Penn State and Illinois, Amanda and Callie, along with Will from Indiana. These guys would become our friends that would later join us on the epic pub crawl. The tour ended in St. Stephens Green, a park in the middle of South Dublin, where a 10k walk for cancer was just getting going around 2:30pm. Over the buzz of people entering the park, Eileen told us a heartfelt story about Michael Collins, from her hometown, and how he helped bring about Irish independence. Overall, the tour was quite useful in getting a feel for the the city and it's history in the scheme of Ireland's as a whole.

Next, we dragged ourselves through the 10k crowd to collapse in our hostel for a 2 hour "phat nap" before the night's festivities. I was going to get up and run but elected to take the time for extra sleep and a shower after a lot of walking during the day. This will not become the norm...I promise you that my fellow runner critics! Feeling quite refreshed on this beautiful 60 degree and sunny evening, we made our way to a back alley Cappuccino bar with croissants for Ruth and a chicken sandwich for me. Upon filling up for the forthcoming night of drinking, we made our way to the first pub where we would start our hostel pub crawl...

The names of the pubs we went to and even the types of alcohol consumed are quite irrelevant (and honestly I couldn't tell you from memory ;) but what really stood out were the people we met and the experiences we had last night. First off, our pub tour guide was a real "boss" and made it his mission to get all the tourists in the group pumped up for the next bar. At our final bar, he even socialized with us telling us the hilarious story of how he just witnessed two bitchy American girls complain about a drunk Irishman hitting on them, resulting in him being kicked out of the bar! No wonder we Americans get such a bad reputation. Speaking of American reputation, we had the opportunity to play beer pong in the bottom of an Irish pub in what turned out to be a real American frat party, Irish style. There were even some University of Maryland frat stars to get overly pumped up when they made a cup. Definitely the best friends we made last night were two 28 year old women from Toronto and a brother/sister from Indiana named Matt and Jessie. Jessie was celebrating her 26th birthday and wanted to do it "real big" in Ireland. I can confidently say that she accomplished that with some help from Ruth, who became her Irish dancing buddy in each bar mwe stopped at. By the end of the night it was clear that both were enjoying each others company immensely despite the malmost 8 year age difference. I will say that Ruth also earned some serious stripes as a "wing man" in this particular situation. That being said, I rewarded her with a taxi ride (rather than long walk) and some late-night munchies cheese pizza when she said that she was hungry and about to pass out. Passing out is exactly what we did, especially with the discovery of 2 new roommates in our hostel room when we returned.

Great day, great night, no complaints. If this sets the tone for the rest of the trip, Ruth and I are in for a real treat!