A St. Paddy's Weekend

Guinnesstaches 

Hello, family & friends! Many apologies from the four of us for neglecting to blog lately. To make up for it, I will attempt to post about all the trips we've taken. My flatmates might pitch in a post or two, too (hopefully!).

To begin, our most recent trip was to Ireland for St. Patrick's Day weekend. Shelby, Sierra, our friend Allison & I headed out to Dublin last Thursday (14/3). We traveled with WSA - Weekend Student Adventures - which is hosted by Andy Steves, Rick Steves' son.

Sierra discovered she is Irish this weekend. As Shelby said: DUH.

We survived the 16 room hostel.

After our first trip to an Irish pub we crashed in our hostel, and luckily got to sleep in a little. 

Full Day #1 was full of touring the north and south side of the city. 

A pointy sculpture that once represented Irish prosperity.
Now it's just a pointy sculpture.  

Our Irish guides were Trinity College students. they showed us around the
beautifully green campus.

River Liffey that separates north & south Dublin. I'll miss all the
European rivers when I get home! 

 That night we had a three-course meal with the WSA group (Irish people don't actually eat corn beef & cabbage?) & then hit the pubs. One of them was the P.S. I Love You pub, which is apparently a big deal. :) 

At the PS I Love You pub with new friends

Day #2 = Visit to coastal town Howth & Guinness Brewery. 

How to properly pour Guinness. We didn't actually do it.

Andy! 

Day #3: St. Patricks' Day Mass, Parade, & coldness

Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of the Church we went to Mass in. It was in Gaelic, the president & archbishop of Ireland were there, and there was a boys' choir. Although, I couldn't understand what they were saying, I knew exactly what they were saying (Catholic school thing). 

We put on our matching & incredibly comfortable green St. Patrick's Day
hoodies and joined the festivities. 

My one parade pic. There were millions of people in Dublin celebrating!

All in all it was a wonderful weekend. We felt very lucky (!) to be able to celebrate in the epicenter of St. Patrick's day. I'll bring it back to the reason for the season and leave you with a quote from the man himself:

“Christ with me,
Christ before me,
Christ behind me,
Christ in me,
Christ beneath me,
Christ above me,
Christ on my right,
Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down,
Christ when I sit down,
Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.”