I made it back from an amazing Semana Santa all in on piece...surprisingly. Que horror fue el aeropuerto durante la huelga. It was seriously like a scene from 'Dawn of the Dead' or something. Scary shit man.
Our lovely host sister dropped us off at the airport since there were minimal buses and metro. When we walked in, it was the quietest I have ever heard an airport, aside from say being in one in the middle of the night. All that was left was the hundreds upon hundreds of flyers and garbage the protesters left behind reading: '10 razones para la reforma del trabajo' meaning 10 reasons for work reform. Walking further into the terminal we started seeing more people sitting against walls, probably for hours and many hours to come, waiting for a flight to where ever they were supposed to go. The news said about 1 in 10 flights would be cancelled so Jenna and I were surprised when we saw our flight was one of the few that was not cancelled. Maybe since we were going to Dublin, and RyanAir is an Irish owned airline. Then we were hit with the enormous lines. I think there were only two people working at the check in and baggage for RyanAir, and since they have a policy that all non-European Union citizens need their boarding pass stamped or else they are not allowed on the plane, there in this enormous line we had to wait. We were inching oh so slowing to the front when I turn and am staring directly at my friend Allan. He just seems to pop up everywhere, it was quite funny. Shortly after we ran into Allan someone finally started a line for people who only needed their boarding pass stamped. Thankfully so, since I'm not sure we would of made our flight if we had to stay in the original line. Then off to security, which was infinitely faster, and only a short wait until we were on our plane to Dublin. It was my first experience with RyanAir and I really can't complain much other than the bag restrictions, which they gave me no problem with since they seem to ignore passengers with backpacks, and every two minutes there's an announcement for some absurd thing, or not so absurd thing they are selling. I heard a lot of negatives about the airline before my trip, but for the prices I think it's defiantly worth it.
Just 2 hours later we arrived at the Dublin airport and took a bus to our hostel. It was called the Dublin International Youth Hostel, which used to be a church and it was very obvious at the sight of the interior with the high ceilings and stain glass windows where breakfast was served. It was cheap, surprisingly clean and only a 15 minute walk from the city center, but just in that short walk our hostel was in a pretty sketchy location. It was fine during the day, but at night I didn't feel 100% safe. Luckily nothing happened, aside from a creepy, yet semi-attractive Norwegian guy following us to our hostel until we told a group of Irish people he was bothering us and they gladly took care of it. So nice those Irish are.
First night we met up with my friend Mallory from back home who is studying in Dublin, and Jenna and I got our first taste of the night life in Temple Bar. The first challenge was actually finding Temple Bar since we accidentally took a left instead of a right, and I felt like the stereotypical tourist when I finally had to ask for directions to the biggest party spot in Dublin. I imagined they heard that high pitched, annoying 'biddie' voice the guys back home like to say I sound like. "Umm...like where's Temple Bar??"
I would say very successful night with Jenna, Mallory and her roommate Mona at a lovely club called 'The Button Factory' and lucky us, it was hip-hop night equipped with all the classics. So much fun. The next day, pretty hung over, I ate the best egg and cheese bagel of my life at a local corner store called 'Centra' and then it was off to the Dublin Zoo to watch some penguin sex. Not the reason we went, but we did in fact see some penguin sex until it was feeding time where they promptly stopped, typical. It was a very nice zoo, it had some of my favorite animals like giraffes and hippos, but zoos tend to make me a bit sad. It's weird to me to go and gawk at what are supposed to be wild animals in their 'natural habitat' and they never look happy or their sleeping. Also, tons of crying children. But this was defiantly one of the better zoos I've been to. Then we went back to the Temple Bar area, had the biggest cup of coffee I've had in a long time and listened to the street performers. That was one of my favorite parts about the trip was all the street performers and live music everywhere. One day shit got real when Jenna and I were watching this guy singing and playing the guitar, when a huge bachelor group came up and started singing and having fun with the singer. A most likely intoxicate, crazy homeless girl came up and tried to pick pocket one of the guys in the group. When he realized what she was doing he literally dropped that bitch to the ground with her face against the pavement, when the homeless girl's friend run up and pushed him off her. There was a bit of a scuffle and the police and ambulance coincidentally arrived to pick a man in a nearby restaurant called the 'Bad Ass Cafe' (such an awesome name). It was quite the sight to see.
The next day we went to the seven story Guinness Factory, where we got to pour 'the perfect pint' for ourselves. So much Guinness! Actually, if I had to sum up the whole trip for Ireland it would probably be Guinness. It was actually quite interesting learning how they make it and the whole process that goes into it. On the top floor is the gravity bar, and you can see the whole city from inside. It was a really nice day, and not raining for once in Ireland, which made the view so incredible. That night I convinced Jenna to go to 'The Hunger Games' with me at a theater on O'Connell street. I was so excited! The movie was really good, true to the book and I may have cried a little...So worth it, I would have had to wait until mid-April to see it in Spain, and maybe even longer to find a theater that would show it in English. I don't mind watching movies in Spanish, just not movies I would pay to see in theaters because the over dubbing drives me crazy.
Sunday we went on a free walking tour of Dublin through 'Sandeman's New Europe.' It's this group that does tours for free in major cities, there's on in Madrid as well. I was so impressed with the tour since it was so good and it was free. Our tour guide, Richie, was a funny Irishman who really new his shit about the city he grew up in. Considering he was college student majoring in history I guess he would have to. We were one of the bigger groups he's had, and a diverse one at that. People from all over the world, and surprising a lot of Spaniards, both visiting and living there. Our host mom mentioned that a lot of Spanish people were moving to Ireland to look for work, but I was surprised by how much Spanish I heard. We actually ended the tour at a restaurant for some authentic Irish food with two lovely Spanish girls who just moved to Dublin 2 weeks prior. It was great to have a nice conversation in Spanish since Jenna and I were a bit worried about not speaking the language for over a week. We also had two Spanish roommates in our hostel the last night we were in our hostel from Barcelona. Anyway, we hit up the hot spots of Dublin on our tour like the Dublin Castle, Trinity College, the Chester Beatty library and more. After, since we were both running out of money fast we just walked around and listened to this live band that is usually at this local bar called 'Quays.' What I found interesting was that the weekends tended to be more for the older crowd and weekdays for the younger people. But it was so great to see older people out having a good time and just enjoying life and dancing. Everyone in Dublin seemed really happy and friendly, except for one weird guy who heard Jenna and I talking and asked if we were from America, and when we said yes, he seemed to be disapproving of the fact. Our final day was spent checking out of our hostel, getting Jenna's hair cut in a sketchy Asian hair salon and getting to the airport where Jenna and I would part ways, her to London and me to Liverpool.
The flight was the shortest flight I've ever experienced, about 30 minutes. I literally close my eyes for what felt like a second, and was awoken by the feeling of a landing plane. I was so excited to see my friends Chris and Alex, I almost didn't know what to expect after not seeing them for a year. They were on the bus when I got to the arrival area in the airport so I decided to get some subway. While in line I heard, "Crystal?" and turn around a low and behold there is Chris and Alex just the same as they were a whole year ago, only the minor changes you see when you look back on pictures of yourself from prior years and you can tell a difference, but only slight alterations. We burst into a hug, and almost into tears for me I was so excited. Then we subsequently annoyed the subway workers because we were too caught up in asking each other questions to finish our orders. Sorry subway workers. We finally got our food and sat down to catch up. Yes, obviously after a year some things change, this person doesn't hang out with this person anymore, this person moved, this person dropped out, the usual. But talking to them, it was almost like no time had passed, which was great because I was wondering what it would be like going back without the American gang there.
Next stop, Chris's apartment with a quick stop at a tequila bar in Liverpool for a proper welcoming. Four tequila shots later, one of them being chili flavored thanks to Alex, we were back on our way to Ormskirk. They kept saying that they had dessert waiting for me, knowing them I knew it wouldn't be your typical dessert. When we got to Chris's they blind folded me with my scarf, led me to the kitchen and said to open my mouth (I know, this sounds so bad haha). I got a mouth fully of 'jelly' a.k.a jello shots. They made so much dessert, there were shot glasses and tupperware bowls full of jelly. And that was just the beginning of a night full of beer pong and going out to bars. I never thought I would be so happy to play beer pong since first of all, I'm not very good, and second of all I didn't play that often in the States. I guess it's that whole thing of not being able to have it, you miss it more. After playing beer pong we went out to a bar and this is where it gets a little hazy. The bar closed a bit early, but Chris and Alex were talking with this guy they met who said he owned a bar around the corner and said we could do a lock-in. It was so much fun, I've never done a lock-in before so this was a first for me. We all walked around the corner and he opened his bar for us, drank, danced and played pool. End result, having loads of fun and figuring out I don't get better at playing pool the drunker I get. Overall, very successful first night if I do say so myself.
Next couple of days were spent relaxing, watching 'Anchorman' which I wanted to do for a long time now, and revisiting some clubs from my last spring break in England. Although, probably not the best idea to go to a club the night before Chris and I planned on going to his hometown of Blackpool the next morning. Needless to say, even if we didn't have troubles with the train, we still wouldn't have got there at the time we planned. When we arrived, it was a bit cold, but the sun was shinning for our walk on the promenade and pier. Blackpool it right next to the ocean, and sort of like New Jersey but with an English twist...or maybe it's just the accent. Chris was telling me they recently redid the promenade, and it shows, it looked very sleek and new. It would be nice to be there in the summer time, but at least I got to touch the sand on the beach :)
Afterward we made our way to Chris's house where we had a lovely dinner of fish n' chips with his family. Such nice people bless them. Great food, with great people and conversation. Later at night we went to a local bar with Chris's girlfriend. It was so nice going to his hometown and visiting the places he likes to go to, showing me his world basically, since pretty soon we will be showing him our world when he comes to visit America for a month during the summer. Oh, I can only imagine what a month that will be like, or what we will remember from it. Chris and I were both exhausted after the past couple of days in Ormskirk, so after the bar closed we called it a night and I slept for about 11 hours straight, only to be awaken by Chris, who was awaken by his mom. We got ready to go back to Chris's apartment for my final night in England. We spent it at Liquid and Alpine, and it was such a blast. I danced my face off and got hit on by a lesbian who was convinced one day we would do 'Wife Swap' together. The thought of leaving was really sad, and it was a sad goodbye the next day at the airport. I had such an amazing time, and such an amazing spring break I didn't want it to end. Two years in a row I spent spring break in England, hopefully the trend will continue.
So thank you all for showing me a beautiful time. I can honestly say I will never forget this spring break for reasons listed, and reasons not listed.
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