There are some experiences that should never be passed up. Carnival in Rio, New Year’s Eve in New York, Mardi Gras in New Orleans, and St Patrick’s Day in Ireland. So when the chance came up to go visit Dublin for St Pats and celebrate my friend’s birthdays I jumped on it. So what if I had four essays due the week after and would then leave for spring break? How many chances is a girl gonna get to be in Ireland on March 17th? After a crazy week of writing essays and prepping, we were off.
With nothing more than a small purse/backpack each, we left our flat at 5:45 in the morning and got to the airport for our 8:40 flight. Greeting us was the first snowfall since I’d left Toronto. After a slight hiccup, when two of us ended up on a flight that was delayed for almost an hour, we were in Ireland. We decided to spend our first day in Ireland in Wicklow, a super cute town just outside of Dublin.
First up was exploring the ruins of the black castle and the beach beside it. It had been a desirable vantage point and was constantly under siege ending with its complete destruction in 1301. The rain had been drizzling when we first arrived but by the time we returned to the Main Street it was down pouring. Looking like drowned rats, we met our lovely Airbnb host. She gave us a quick tour of the town area and the showed us where we would be staying for the evening.
After a quick drying of the socks we were back exploring the town. We grabbed books at the local bookstore and although we had planned to walk around the waterfront some more, the cold got the better of us. We did a quick lap of the bridge and went to dinner early to grab wings while we waited for everyone else. Ever the wild ones, we went back to the Airbnb after dinner curling up in bed early with some Netflix.
Bright and early on Saturday we were back on a bus bound for Dublin. Our first stop on our adventure was to find a shop to get another layer as we had seriously underestimated the warmth of packing in a purse. We grabbed some warm Ireland sweaters, as well as some bright green accessories, and went off to the parade. After standing at the barricade for two hours, the first float arrived. Filled with marching bands, mounted police, and a lot more interpretive dance than we were expecting, the parade lasted about an hour and a half.
Next step was Nando’s for lunch and then over to the festival grounds and Trinity College Dublin for a bit of exploring. Our night went the non-traditional route as we grabbed a quick cocktail and then went to Starbucks, before making our way to the airport as our student budgets decided to stay in the airport overnight.
Our overnight in Dublin airport starts as most good nights do- at McDonald’s. We found two booths beside each other and settled in for a couple hours as the gates wouldn’t let us check in until 3:30. After a quick nap for some and some reading for others we checked into our flight. We landed back in Glasgow before most of the city was awake and were able to get a couple hours of actual sleep before returning to school.