St. Patrick's Day in Dublin, Ireland

Happy St. Patrick's day from Dublin, Ireland!

St. Paddy's Day dinner

On Friday, we packed up again and hopped on a bus to Dublin, Ireland. The bus ride only takes about two and half hours. It is amazing that you can go completely across the country in just a few hours. We all packed light because we stayed in Isaacs Hostel in a room with 10 other people. When we arrived in Dublin, we met up with Nate and Brittney. They are living in Westport, Ireland because they are teaching secondary education. Isaacs Hostel was very nice! There were a lot of people staying there because of St. Patrick's Day. Dublin was also very busy and everyone was wearing silly St. Paddy's Day attire. On Friday night, we all took part in our first pub crawl, the Hostel Pub Crawl. There were many other people from other hostels that took part in the pub crawl too. It was a lot of fun! The last stop was at this underground nightclub. There was a really good saxophone player, who played along with the upbeat music. It was very unique but he was really good! On Saturday, we explored Dublin. We visited the St. Patrick's Cathedral, Christ Church, ate at a restaurant called Captain America, and did a little shopping. Isaacs had a full kitchen so for dinner we made spaghetti and garlic bread. On Sunday, we got up early and went to the St. Patrick's Day parade. The streets were filled with green, white, and orange. Unfortunately it was raining, hailing, and sometimes snowing throughout the parade. It was chilly so we only stayed for about thirty minutes of it. We went out for dinner that night and it was super busy everywhere. We ate at a little restaurant close to Isaacs. It is really weird eating out in a big group. The restaurants do not like splitting the bill. They put everyone on one bill and do no t give you the option of being on your own. There have been a few places that let us pay individually, but it is very rare that they let you. I am not sure why that is. Also tipping is uncommon too. We have asked our landlord what the proper thing to do is about tipping and he told us that it is our choice but it is not expected. 

St. Paddy's Day Parade

After dinner, we went back to our hostel for a bit and played some card games. A lot of people hang out in the lobby of the hostel before going out. It is a fun atmosphere. We went out to a few pubs but every place was extremely busy. It was a lot of fun though and I was happy that I got to spend St. Patrick's Day in Dublin!  This morning we got back onto the bus and headed back to Galway. We went grocery shopping for this upcoming week. I went for a nice run because it was gorgeous outside. Made dinner and now doing laundry. Tomorrow is my first day of teaching! I will be teaching "5th class", which is 10-11 year old students. I am excited and nervous about starting. It will be interesting to see the differences between the US education system and Ireland education system. I am most nervous about teaching mathematics because Ireland (and the rest of the world) uses the metric system and the US uses standard math. We have to be there at 8:20am and the school day starts at 8:50am and goes until about 3:00pm. We are not exactly sure what time the school day ends but I guess we will find out tomorrow! Everyone is going to bed early tonight. I can't believe I have already been here for 6 days. The time is already flying by! Goodnight! 

St. Patrick's Day Parade

St. Patrick's Day Parade

Hostel Pub Crawl

Serious faces at Isaacs Hostel