Hello everyone! I thought I had published a draft I had written a few weeks ago but apparently not...so I have to write it all over again. Oh well, it was probably too descriptive anyway.
London
As you may have read from my previous post I went to London and met up with my old roommate from home, Jenna. It was so nice to see a familiar face! I didn't realize how comforting it would be to see Jenna, but it sure was. She currently is studying abroad in northern England and met up with me in London with a few of her current roommates and a fellow friend from home, Erin. Anyway, we were able to see a ton of cool things due to the fact that Jenna's roommate Tom had previously lived there and knew the way around the metro like the back of his hand...it was helpful to have our own tour guide! As the weekend came to an end it was difficult to say goodbye, but I know I will see her again when I come home which helped. It was so nice to be reunited and feel like roommates all over again since we stayed in the same room at the hostel together. As much as I loved London, though, when I returned to Dublin I felt at home. It was the strangest feeling being on the bus, driving through the city center, and having a self of relief. It was at this point when I felt Dublin truly was my home...and still is! 
Euro Trip!!!
After being back from London only one week, spring break began the following weekend! The first part of our two week long vacation was a four day road trip around Ireland :) The first day we waited for Amaury and Jenny to pick up the cars from the airport....OMG when they showed up driving on the left side in the tiny little fiats we nearly died. We were SO excited to have the freedom to drive with our own car....for all of us it had been quite a while since we had driven and have been restricted by the bus schedules for getting around. I don't remember much of the first day except that we drove straight to Cork where we were going to stay our first night. The second day we walked around Cork where we saw the Cathedral, but did not go inside.
Around noon we left for Blarney where the infamous Blarney stone is held. After paying ten euro and walking through the incredible park we finally reached Blarney castle where the stairs were spiral and so narrow that some of the larger people had to go up sideways. Kissing the Blarney stone was fast and anti-climatic, but I was still very excited! I hoped to gain the 'gift of the gab' as they say. After Blarney we hit the road again where we drove threw Killarney so I could get a picture with a sign (Killarney is the name of the type of rose which is a symbol of Delta Zeta Sorority). Spending less then 10 minutes in this small, but cute town we decided to drive to the Ring of Kerry which was near by. The Ring of Kerry is this road that travels through a valley and mountains containing some of the most gorgeous views of Ireland. Driving through the whole loop takes over an hour so we decided to only drive up to the point of Ladies View, an infamous spot where one can see the entire valley. On our way out we drove by Inch Beach; it was incredible! The view of the ocean against the mountains was probably the top views I have seen in Ireland. Of course, the wind was brisk that day making it nearly impossible to take a few photos end enjoy the site, but we did anyway.
The sky was turning dark and we needed to head to our hostel as we did not want to drive with out the light. After some confusion of the whereabouts of our hostel, we finally found it...a quiet nestled building on a fairly empty and quiet street in Dingle. We were so impressed with the comfort of this hostel that we stayed in, made dinner and sat by the fire that evening. The staff even purchased us food and gave it to us freely. Sitting on the comfy leather couch and resting in front of a small fire we all began to tell ghost stories...it seemed fitting at the time. That night we all got a great nights rest (or at least I did) and were ready for the adventures the next day.
The following day we woke up early and took a stroll in the town of Dingle, located less than ten 10 minutes from our hostel. It was a small fishing village complete with little shops, a wharf, and plenty of seafood restaurants even though most were closed. The view from the docks was amazing! Because the town is located on a peninsula you can see across the water to the other side where the hills were a bright green. I don't know why that day, but for some reason any dog I saw would walk right past me. It happened three times! It became a joke among our group that the Irish dogs must not like me lol. For lunch we ate at this cute little cliche seafood place...complete with netting on the ceiling and paintings of fish on the walls. There were so many options for fish and chips that it took me forever to decide! I am not normally a fish and chips person, but seeing that we were in a fishing town I felt obligated to try it. I got the smoked haddock and it was the BEST fish and chips I have ever had...and many of my friends felt the same. I cannot describe how tasty and fresh the fish tasted with the best flaky batter. After the best fish of my life we went to get ice cream from this place called Murphy's. It was pretty good, but wasn't my favorite...my friend Hilary loved it, though. After soaking up everything this town had to offer, we left the village in pursuit of Galway...where we knew we would have a fantastic time! 
It was on this drive that we rode on some very winding roads which made the driver of my car very nervous. At several points we stopped to view the scenery and take some photos. While we were driving on this one path a sheep appeared strutting on the side of the road so, naturally, I wanted to take a photo with it! But just like the dogs from Dingle the sheep wasn't very fond of me either. After a diligent effort I gave up and we continued to drive toward Galway. By the time we reached Galway night had fallen and we were all very exhausted but excited to go out! We walked around, bought some alcohol, and returned to the hostel (one which we had previously stayed in on our ESN trip to Galway: one of the staff even remembered me from my 'evil eyes' and nice smile) where we stole some mugs from the kitchen and pre-drank in our room. We played several drinking games before we decided to leave for the club. It was that night that we all let loose a little because we drove for almost four hours that day, stopping many time in between. This was our last night on our road trip so we all wanted to have some fun. The next day we all woke up early in order to check out on time; we also gave that one staff member a very positive comment card which he then proceeded to pin on the wall. Mike and I bought a carton of orange juice each and I was the only one to finish mine :) We drove Hilary and her brother to their family friends house on the way back to Dublin. When we finally got back, around 7pm or so, we all went to our respective apartments and crashed. It was the perfect end to a perfect trip, but Saint Patrick's day was just around the corner.
Saint Patrick's Day Weekend
After a very long four days on the road it was nice to be back in my own bed with my own bathroom...alone, but only a few days later my friend Jenna and four of her roommates came to visit for Saint Patrick's Day weekend! I was so excited to see Jenna again after London and could not wait for the weekend festivities to begin. They showed up on Friday afternoon, just two days after I came home from the road trip. I had offered up my apartment for them to stay so for that whole weekend all six of us shared one bathroom. That day their flight got delayed and did not show up until 5pm, but arrived just in time for dinner, so we decided to go down town to eat! That night went by really quick and the streets were already packed with tourists for the holiday.
The following day was Saturday and Jenna and her roommates went on a Paddy Wagon tour to the Cliffs of Moher while I slept in and finished up some homework. When they returned close to 9pm we pre-drank at my place and went out to Coppers after. That night we all drank just a little too much in celebration of Saint Patty...so the next morning was a little rough on some of us. Waking up on the 17th of March was slow and painful, but we gathered some breakfast and went to town where the Parade was being held! I have never seen the streets so packed in Dublin since being here...there were Americans everywhere! I finally felt like the locals and was disgusted by all the craziness, but it was definitely something to experience. I would say everyone should try it once! That afternoon we were starving and ate at the best little Italian restaurant on the outskirts of the temple bar district. It was just what we needed! After lunch we walked around for hours until we ended up at Whelan's (the pub from P.S. I love you). They had some great live music playing and so many Irish people were there...which was a relief after a day of, I hate to say it, Americans...or we can just say foreigners lol. We were at Whelan's for over five hours when realized the time. After a long day of activities we finally felt ready to go home. And to think...we were only half way through spring break.
Week Two
The night of Saint Patrick's Day we all went to bed ridiculously early since we had to be up at the crack of dawn to leave for the airport. My friends were going back to England while my group of friends from Ireland and myself were headed to Berlin. Running to the last minute packing we finally left my apartment and headed to the bus stop. Surprisingly we were the first ones there, but not long after we arrived did the rest of our group show up. It was raining and we were all exhausted, so I planned on sleeping on the bus to make up for the lack of sleep the night before.
I actually felt well rested when waking up as we entered the airport, but some of my other friends were less lucky. We all entered the gate and went our separate ways...it was so nice to see Jenna again and I hated saying goodbye to her for the second time, but I was comforted by the excitement I had to travel to Berlin! Arriving in Berlin was a struggle since everything was in German and the train station was unclear on how to obtain tickets and where to go, and, of course, there was no one there to help us. Finally we reached Alexanderplatz and walked to our hostel just down the road from the station. The weather was not as cold as we expected, but there definitely was snow on the ground. For an early dinner we ate at this small Asian place where the food was amazing and the price was unbelievable! We had an entire dinner for less than 6 euro each...nearly unheard of in Dublin. An hour or so later my friend Brice met us at the Hostel. He was relieved to be with us and was excited for the rest of the week. We decided to walk around Berlin and visit the Jewish museum--recommended to us by Hilary's brother who is studying abroad in Germany. The walk was nearly torture; my feet were killing me and the city was so huge it took forever to walk anywhere- Not to mention at this point the weather reached a freezing temperature. 
The next day we woke up early and ate breakfast at Dunkin' Doughnuts located just a few minutes walk from our hostel. This day we did a lot of sight seeing including visiting the Brandenburg Gate, Reichstag Parliament building, Tiorgarten Park, and the Topographie of Terror. We ate lunch in a little cafe called Leckerback and then went back to hostel to rest before going out for the night. After a very restful nap and hot shower we walked around this area where there was supposed to be some great bars, but on accident we found this hole in the wall place off of a dark alley. We don't even know what the name was but the theme of the bar was gargoyles and creepy stuff...difficult to explain but the decorations were insane! Brice was so kind and bought us all four bottles of champagne while we watched two performances of a contemporary dancer. We were literally mind blown by the place, and even better, Brice was having a great time too! As we left we saw this GIANT Dragon Statue that, if you paid one euro, it would do something...it scared the crap out of us as the wings began to flap and the eyes started moving! It was a very unique dragon as it was made from recycled materials. We all had a great laugh and took several pictures of it to remember the crazy night we had...but for some reason I cannot find any pictures of it! When I do I will post one :) 
The next day we woke up by 5:30 and left by 6am in order to get to the bus stop in time which was supposed to depart at 7:30am. Long story short three of us (my fault) missed the bus by less then 1 minute...it really does leave exactly on time and does not wait for everyone. While Jenny, Marc, and I waited for the next bus at 9:30am we sat in the station playing on our phones. When we finally got to Prague we got off the bus and inhaled the fresh air in the warm sun. After the treacherous weather in Berlin we were so happy to realize it was warm enough to not wear a coat! With everyone in a good mood we met the rest of our group at the hostel. Eager to walk around we left after dropping our bags off and walked around the old town center and near the large museum. We walked through a festival complete with live performances and fresh food, and could not have been happier! Prague was beautiful...we could not believe how amazing it was. We went to the top of the tower and got a view of Prague right at sun set. We ate dinner at the food stands just in front of the large museum and it was amazing! It was also extremely cheap...something we had looked forward to about eastern Europe. After our dinner and climbing the tower we crossed the bridge to go visit the Castle. When we reached the top of the hill we viewed the castle and large Cathedral. For drinks we went to a small bar and had some inexpensive cocktails...and they were so good! After a great day we headed back to the hostel where we got ready for following day :)
**** I will continue this post later today as I have much more to add :) Enjoy!****