Yesterday was one of the best evenings I've had so far (apart from the evenings I had with Dirk of course). During my night-shift a group of Dutch guys walked in, they were absolutely hilarious. First I had to go to the Thursday-bbq (I know, my job is great) and after my shift I had a drink with the guys in the common area. Marilou came back from work and Cathal was also done with his shift, so we decided to go to the Czech Inn and have some fun with the whole Four Courts Hostel gang:)
It was amazing! We had some drinks, lots of laughs, in short: A good night out!:)
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Now we're back at today, and, well, I didn't feel thát great today;) I've got myself to blame, I know! I slept in and had a wonderful brunch at the Brazen Head (the oldest pub in Ireland). It's so weird for me that people start to drink in the morning. I had breakfast/lunch at 12 and I was the only one who had a coke, the rest of the people were drinking Guinness, Bulmers or Heineken. It's just part of the culture of Ireland to drink and not only for young people, you'll see people from every age in the pub drinking beer.
Monday, 23rd of May
"Hello Dublin. Hello Ireland. My name is Barack Obama." That's how Obama started his speech in College Green in the centre of Dublin. The best thing about that was... I was there! I was one of the 25,000 people listening at College Green. But before that, let me take you back to where it all started....
When Dirk was in Dublin we went to Dublin Castle and we were told that Obama would be coming over in a couple of weeks. He would visit the Dublin Castle and visit some of the places his ancestors lived hundreds of years ago. Besides his visit he would also give a speech.
Because of the huge chaos that overcame Dublin, called Queen Elizabeth, I never thought about the visit of Obama again. Until a couple of days ago when one of the guests brought it up. We immediately decided to go to College Green with a group from the hostel. The gates to College Green would open at 2 o'clock and the speech would be at five. So we thought that leaving from the hostel at two would definitely be early enough to be on time for the speech.
Well, we were on time, but just on time. The security measures were extreme and everybody who wanted to enter College Green needed to be searched individually. Before we came to the checkpoint for this search it was 2,5 hours later... We needed to empty our pockets, go through a walk-through metal detector and last but not least another metal detector for an individual search by a cop.
After collection the stuff from my pockets the road to College Green was finally clear. We were at the College Green square at half past four and enjoyed a couple of performances by Jedward (participants of Eurovision Song Contest for Ireland) and Westlife. The atmosphere on College Green were excellent, but my legs started to collapse after three hours of hobbling through the streets of Dublin. I stayed put despite that and I was definitely happy when I saw the President of the United States enter the stage. It was memorable...
I was happy when it was over, I really wanted to sit down and eat something. We went back to the hostel and someone had the amazing idea to start a Harry Potter Marathon in our jammies! It was the absolute best way to end this absolutely perfect day... :)
If you want to read the whole speech, click HERE.
Sunday, 22nd of May
It's not smart, I know, but as I told you I went to bed way too late yesterday. It was a huge challenge this morning to wake up. I managed to drag myself out of bed and into the church. I planned to go to another church for a change, but I slept too long. The only option was Christ Church Cathedral. It was a nice service, but as always I missed depth in the service. When I got 'home' I decided to solve that by listening to the service held in the 'Oude Kerk' in Barneveld.
It was very curious to listen to the sermon. I really felt like I was in the building, especially in the beginning when everybody is talking and coughing! I felt oddly at home while I was listening to the sermon and I felt a little home-sick.
Saturday, 21st of April
This was one of the most exhausting days behind the reception of Four Courts Hostel. People kept coming and going and kept bothering me with questions. The upside of that was that my shift was quickly done! There was a plan to go to the Porterhouse. A pub which brews his own beer:) They've got four floors (and no, It's not big enough to get lost, that's even impossible for me) and between the third and fourth floor there's a tiny space for a band. This results in the best live experience you can get:)!
The night started there and after a while Marilou, a couple of Quebec guys and me went to the Czech Inn and after that to a Reggae-pub. It was one of the best nights I've had in Dublin. We didn't drink too much, we heard some amazing live music and we had excellent company! The only downside of it was that the Quebec-guys and Marilou all speak fluent French and they tend to forget that I don't understand it;)
We were back at the hostel a 'little' later than I had in mind, but it was definitely worth it!
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