I'm never leaving

Because my internal clock is still on roman time I woke up at seven this morning, about an hour before I had set my alarm. I'm sleeping in a ten bed dorm, and everyone was still in their beds. I gathered the things I needed and went to the bathroom to shower. The water was really hot, which was lovely, almost too hot. After a few complication (including standing water) I was nice and clean. I hung my towel on the radiator to dry while I did my makeup so I wouldn't have to pack a damp towel later. I went to the kitchen for the free breakfast and had a bowl of cereal and piece of toast. The toast was fantastic, we don't have toasters in Rome, so I ate it like a delicacy. I headed out the door with no intention of returning until the evening. I really wanted to see the coast and figured that following the river would be the fastest way to get there. I was wrong, but the walk up and down the river was beyond beautiful. with the wind in my hair and the sun peeking through the clouds. I found a church with a mass at eleven thirty that I planned to attend. I made it back from my failed attempt to see the coast at nine thirty or so, and decided to explore the city center before mass. I walked around the shopping streets (a lot of the shops were closed, but there was plenty to see) in my aimless wandering I came across St. Stephan's Green, a perfectly square absolutely beautiful park. I took a bunch of pictures, and it was time to find my church. I went the wrong way and found myself completely lost, but it was so beautiful I couldn't bring myself to be upset. I stumbled upon a different church, St. Mary's a few minutes before their mass at eleven. It was beautiful. I'm pretty sure we were singing in Gaelic at one point. It was absolutely amazing. After mass I meandered back to the city center, finding another beautiful park (arch bishop ryan's park) along the way. It had an area dedicated to Oscar Wilde with a statue and quotes. It was nearly lunchtime so I returned to a restaurant I had found earlier that day. I was successful in finding it and ordered a chicken furry with mushrooms and onions and picked out a pretty magenta colored bottled drink. Mistake. I opened and drank some of my 'pretty colored' drink while waiting for my food, and discovered it was fermented herbal tea...and not good. Once my meal came the spice of the curry forced me to drink it, so no money was wasted. I continued my exploration/ wanderings and found Christ's Cathedral Church. From here I consulted my map to figure out where I was and and where I was going. I stopped by St. Patrick's Cathedral and laid on the grass for awhile soaking up the sun before moving on to Dublin Castle. I did some souvenir shopping before deciding to spend the next two hours or so before my pub crawl in the hostel. I spent them relaxing and writing my blogs into a notebook. Surprise, Ireland has English television, so I ate some crispy m&m's while watching two and a half men with another girl in the hostel. I gave myself forty minutes to get to the pub crawl location, and it only took about fifteen. I'm used to giving myself tons of extra time in Rome, and here you just don't need it. I walked around for a bit before heading in, buying my ticket, and ordering a drink. For those of you worried about a repeat of Long Island night, fear not. This was a literary Pub Crawl led by two professional actors, equal parts culture and booze, or just culture if you consider that I'm in Ireland :P I ordered a rum and coke to start with, and it was seven euros, that hurt a little. The pub crawl was magnificent, the actors were hysterical, and I learned a lot about famous Irish writers. I hung out with a girl from Munich who was on her own as well. At the next pub we ordered whiskey's with re lemonade on the actors suggestion, and they were quite delicious. It was the best whiskey I had ever had (Jameson) At the next pub we skipped drinking and just chatted and enjoyed the entertainment. Before the fourth Pub we had a quiz over all the stories we'd heard that evening and the winner relieved a t-shirt (not me although I did get one point :) We went into the last pub and my new German friend and I decided to order ciders, a pint each. The barman gave us key chains, probably because she was gorgeous (She used to work as a jaggermeister girl) We took our ciders and sat in the back room of the pub. We had it pretty much to ourselves as it was a Sunday night. We sat and chatted and drank our drinks slowly. As it turned out her major is Italian studies and she speaks better Italian than I do, pretty funny. She also professionally studied ballet for a few years and now teaches gymnastics and ballet at a studio. She's not even twenty one yet, so it's pretty impressive. We walked most of the way home together and exchanged emails just before we parted. Then she asked what my name was, and we talked about how really getting to know someone has nothing to do with knowing their name. Katja and I said goodnight, and I went to bed almost immediately thanks to the Irish liqueur in my system.