Dublin, Ireland: February 1st 2015

I have decided to share my journal entries from when I was studying abroad. These entries will include things that I did while I was abroad as well as things I learned from the places I visited. This first one is from Dublin, Ireland. 

Cliffs of Moher

This past week has been a major struggle. I went to the school nurse on Monday because this past weekend I felt awful. When I went to visit the nurse the line was ridiculously long, everyone is waiting to get a physical to use the gym. After waiting for about 3 hours I got in. The nurse looked at my throat and told me I had some sort of throat infection. I asked if I had strep throat (I had been googling what it could be) and she responded “I don’t know what you have, it could be strep throat, but I don’t know. Take this medicine and if you done feel better in 3 days come back.” I left the doctor’s office feeling so helpless. When I picked up my medicine I had no idea what I was taking and couldn’t read the labels. I spent the rest of the week going to class and coming back straight to bed to get some rest. By the time Friday rolled around I felt a lot better. It has been really frustrating not knowing what was wrong, but I’m glad whatever antibiotics I took worked.

Cliffs of Moher 

We spent this past weekend in Dublin, Ireland. It was such an amazing experience! Getting there was a whole other story. I now know why the flights were so cheap, you get what you paid for. The lines waiting to board were not even lines, you board outside, and the plane felt like it was going to fall apart. Once we landed everyone clapped, it caught me off guard, but I was happy to be back on the ground. For some reason all of us thought that Ireland used the pound, so when we got there and one of us took out money we were very surprised to get Euros. Aside from the flight over, the Ireland trip was a success. We took a day tour to visit the Cliffs of Moher and other sights around Ireland. The following day we took a tour of the Guinness Factory which was so much fun!

First Guinness Beer in Ireland

Things that I have learned this week:

1. Being sick in a foreign country is difficult
2. Be prepared and bring medicine and vitamins 
3. People in Ireland are very nice
4. Brace yourself for RyanAir flights
5. Still not used to Italian Taxi Drivers
6. Everyone claps when your flight lands
7. Ireland does not use Pounds they use Euros
8. Bring flip-flops for hostel showers
9. Hostels are not as bad as movies make them out to be 
10. Ireland is beautiful