Our first day in Ireland

 

                                        Me trying my first Guinness at the Guinness Storehouse
       
         This morning I woke up in Ireland! How cool is that! I slept pretty well I felt pretty groggy this morning and my cold did not help that but I got up and got going...I actually got up to early by an hour! If you ask Austin or my Mom I am usually one of those people 10 min late or right on time never an hour early. Before this trip Austin got me a watch so I could tell time while abroad and it has made me so much aware of time! Which I think is a good thing because I have been early every day of this trip except two mornings because I had the wrong time and I was only 5 minutes late! I think thats a huge improvement and I am pretty proud of that! I actually have been the one waiting alot everyone in my group is always late and I am the one always on time or before time! Which I know I wont get points deducted for being tardy at least. David jokes with me all the time I am loosing points for stupid reasons thing like asking for the ketchup at the table or something silly...its sort of an on going joke between us.
          After waiting on the boys for 30 min we finally could have our meeting then get started with our day. The day began with a hop on hop off bus tour around the city of Dublin. One of the stops we got off at was Guinness Storehouse. It was really cool going around and seeing how the beer was made and at the end of the tour you got a free pint of Guinness in the gravity bar. The gravity bar is at the top of the Guinness Storehouse and has a panoramic view of Dublin which was pretty cool. I tried Guinness for the first time at Guinness lets just say I am not a fan at all of the beer! After guinness we got back on the hop on hop off bus and rode the rest of the way around until our hostile. We then had a short and sweet meeting and were released for the day to do whatever. Kayla, Lois, Dave and I all went to have lunch at Rockin Eddies a cute little 50's dinner. After lunch we separated and Kayla and I went and explored Dublin and went shopping. We went to this cute little store called Carolyn's and they had everything you could think of and more it was so cool! It may sound silly but I when I was shopping and looking around Dublin it all of a sudden hit me I am in IRELAND! I know I have been saying it but I was just in disbelief in that moment and literally almost cried (silly I know)....but I honestly did not know if I would really ever get the chance to come to Ireland and I just felt so unbelievably blessed and thankful!
          Once we got back to the hostel from exploring I decided to take a short nap since I know I needed it being so sleep deprived and sick. The nap was short but just what I needed. When I woke up I was going to go work on my budget and make sure I was on pace with everything.... and so I went to unlock my locker under the bunk beds... and I could not open the lock! I tried for literally 30 minutes before I texted Lois to help me. She and I worked on it for an hour more and in the end we had to end up getting bolt cutters. To bad the bolt cutters did not even phase my lock Kayla ended up twisting it all around and it finally broke not at the wire but she bent the metal. It ended up being a huge deal and we still don't know why my combination did not work correctly! Anyways after that Kayla, Dave, Lois and I went to the Hard Rock Cafe Dublin. This was my first time eating at the Hard Rock it was very good but expensive! After dinner we stopped by a grocery and grabbed a few things and then just hung out all night!

                                      A view from the Gravity Bar at the Guinness Storehouse