On the Road Again

So I have been a massive slacker in posting and I apologize! This probably wont be the best post due to the fact that many of the events over the past two -three weeks have become quite a blur. Hence why I need to be more diligent in my postings.

I believe it was two weeks ago now that I got the full experience of going out in Ireland. The weekend started not of Friday or Saturday night as it would for most. But started on Thursday! I went out with two friends to a small pub in town and stayed out only until midnight. Not bad since I had to be at work the next morning.
After work it had been planned that myself and pretty much all the younger and single women of the department would go out for a night on the town! Now Tullamore is a small town, population of 11 some thousand people and the girls here dress up for a night out as if they were in vegas! I witnessed more of this just last night. My coworkers had all the hair and make up, heals and sparkles, they made a very classy dressed group of women. Then there was me! Skinny jeans, plan loose fitting kind of draping top, minimal make up, every day hair and a borrowed pair of heals. Started out the night with drinks at the house, took a taxi to a pub where we all had several drinks. Then it was off to the night club. Yes this tiny lil town has a night club. The night went well, didn't actually drink much more because the mixed drinks (which are referred to as cocktails even if its just a rum and coke in a boring short glass) are very expensive and extremely weak. Don't know what I was thinking with the heals either, they killed me, I couldn't walk normal for days. I'm also not a purse person or a "clutch" person for when you go out. I checked my jacket but kept my phone, money and I.D. on my person. However my phone as massive as it is ended up in one of the other girls clutches, which walked away and out of the club with out me! AH I ended up getting the late night fast food fix with the girls that remained and then split off to a house party. Not thinking about the fact that my phone was missing and my keys were at the house where the party originally started. The next morning was spent in frantic search for people and belongings. ha
That being Friday night was not the end of my weekend, I was out again Saturday night with a different group. Friends I had met from my housemates had family coming to visit from California and so I had been invited to come out, have a few drinks and listen to some good music. Which I did! However I was more than pacing myself since this was my third night in a row, I was in no hurry to drink. We went to two different pubs that night and stayed at the second pub until closing. One difference between Ireland and the US is that at closing time they don't kick you out. They actually lock you in!!! They close the front door and place a bouncer in front of it. No one is aloud in and if you want out you have to go out the side or back door. If you want you can stay and drink until the sun comes up. I however found the side door around 3am and got a taxi home.
Once again that was NOT the end of my weekend. I was out yet again on Sunday, with the same group as Saturday. Went to the same pub we'd started at the night before. They had rock and roll bingo, which I was two spaces away from winning!! Which would've gotten me three shots and all the money from people paying to play. Even though I didn't win the night was still a good one, the place was packed!! But I still managed to get myself home around mid night so I could rest up for Monday back at work.

Fun at the night club! 

Last weekend was yet another set of adventures. I had fellow Americans here in the north of Ireland for a festival. I had made plans to go up north to Letterkenny and visit my friends. Since I am without wheels I started by looking into trains and/or buses to make my journey. However Letterkenny doesn't have a train station. So I'd have to take a train from Tullamore to Athlone, then from there take a bus to Letterkenny. The amount of time this journey would take is around 7hrs! I then decided to just google map the distance and see how long it took by driving and shockingly enough it would only take 3.5hrs driving. So that decided how I was getting there! I was going to venture on to the other side of the car and road to get to Letterkenny. 

I was able to rent a car easily enough, a manual transmission, four door hatch back of a different make than I'd ever driven before. The make was a Seat and the model a Leon. I actually really liked the car, very comfortable, easy to handle and had a nice sound system! Almost wish I could bring one home. 

 Pulled over in a church parking lot along the way! 

 The drive home from the car lot was probably the rockiest part of the whole drive. Having to shift with my left hand, trying to find the gears on top of making a conscious effort that when turning left I turned into the near lane and when turning right I'd turn across traffic into the far lane. One of the things I found the most difficult was keeping track of the left side of the car. I found the curb many times and it was hard to even look across that side of the car. My peripheral vision is just not trained to keep track of that side of the car and I felt I had to keep my eyes plastered straight ahead and on the middle line. The first portion of the drive north was on the motorway, aka freeway. Two lanes of traffic traveling in either direction. As per the driving etiquette in the states I moved to the right lane as the slow lane (inside lane), but soon had a van right on my tail with no intention of slowing down. I quickly moved over to the left lane and realized that that lane was indeed the slow lane (outside lane). It wasn't long until I was quite comfortable with the car and had some good music jamming on the radio. Soon however the navigation had me off onto the tradition country roads of Ireland.

 

Country Back Road

Motorway

 

 Driving on the back country roads was very scenic and also quite terrifying at times! The roads were quite windy, it was like a road course that never ends but also has cars driving at you with what seems like not enough room to pass each other. Not only are there normal sedans but lories(semi trucks) and buses. If you manage to survive the other traffic you also have to manage the roundabouts. I've never had any trouble with them at home but just the fact you are going around them in the wrong direction and with multiple lanes can be unnerving. Even the simple things like using your "indicator" aka blinker is tricky, it's still a task for the left hand but now the left hand also has to shift. So I generally skipped the blinker so I could get the shift. I also couldn't eat or drink while driving. At home if I needed to shift I'd simply put whatever I was consuming into the left hand which also would steady the wheel while the right would shift. Having the opposite hands for the opposite tasks was not allowing this to happen. It wasn't long into the drive when my right deltoid/shoulder was getting a little sore, all the slight movements of the wheel that it was very much not used to were taking their tole on my right side. 

I took my time with the drive, stopping in areas where you could stop. Since there is no such thing as shoulder of the road. It's road and ditch or trees and bushes. But here are some pictures of the country side along the drive to Letterkenny. I was terrible and noting where I was when I stopped. I passed through many small towns and was way  more focused on the drive than taking good notes, so I apologize for that. 

 It looked like the sky was falling-could see pockets of rain all around.

 The church I pulled over to see. Wish Churches looked like this back home.

 Another look at the car and lovely land scape around it!

 They actually have wind farms in Ireland.

Looking down on a valley with happy sheep! 

I made the drive with no major incidences, only one with a narrow bridge and on coming traffic. Got close enough to the bridge trying to make sure there was room for the other traffic that I managed to fold in the side mirror and bounce the car off the stone bridge. This was another example of having NO awareness of the left side of the car. It's so strange, almost like that side of the car doesn't exist until it reminds you "HELLO!"  Other than this one booboo myself and car made it to Letterkenny in one piece. I found my fellow Americans and settled in for the night. 

 

The next morning we went into town and had a traditional Irish breakfast, which let me tell you is nothing like the breakfast slammer at Denny's. I swear the one thing I miss other than the people back home is the food. I've been making a list of all the restaurants and food items I want when I'm back on U.S. soil. The egg with the breakfast was perfectly cooked, fully cooked whites but just enough run left in the yoke. We also had "bacon" aka slices of ham like you'd have a Thanksgiving except smaller. Plus two sausages which had a strange flavor and extra soft texture, which was a bit strange. Then of course don't forget the black and white pudding, which is in actuality blood sausages. They are both very salty and have an after taste that can't be pin pointed. 

After our not totally satisfying "Full Irish" breakfast we hit the road to find ourselves some Irish coast line and see some of the country side. This adventure would've been much more enjoyable for everyone involved if all my passengers hadn't just been in a car accident upon arriving in Ireland. Thankfully the only thing injured was the cars involved. But as anyone was quite on edge about even being in a car, which is expected after any kind of accident. At first everything was fine and dandy, but as we spent more time in the car and the roads got narrower and narrower then tension in the car could've been cut with a chain saw. My originally calm state while driving the day before was no were to be found, with all my passengers clinging to the seat cushions for dear life. 

Finally we found ourselves a coastline and a break from the car. The beach we found ourselves at was Ballymastocker Bay. This however was not known to us at the time and thanks only to google maps was I able to find the name! YAY!! The beach was not really warm, it was totally over cast with a slight breeze, keeping a constant mist blowing over you. Even with it being slightly less than desirable conditions for weather and the water being frigid, the beach was awesome! Here as some pictures! Hope you enjoy! 

 Sheep in the road-It really happens!

 The grassy hills that boarder the beach.

 Eureka! The Atlantic Ocean

 Looking back at the gang as the make their way onto the beach.

 Some really cool rock formations

 I couldn't resist-Had to climb!

 They even have drunk snails in Ireland

 The waters edge in the distance.

 More rocks edging the beach.

After a lovely time at the beach we went to the next small town and found a water front restaurant where we had a lovely meal before heading back to Letterkenny for a performance put on by the festival! The performance was amazing and was a great way to end the day. We walked around Letterkenny which was a nice change for everyone, by this point in time I was even stressed about getting back into the dang car. However I wasn't scared to cross the road like some of my cohorts. All in all it was a good day! 

 

Then next morning we packed up all our belongings and crammed it all into the car! Making it impossible to see out the back window and probably not that comfortable to ride in the back seat. The drive from Letterkenny to Dublin was much last stressful than our road adventure the day before. The whole drive was primarily made of not so narrow roads and motorways. It wasn't until we got to Dublin that the stress levels shot through the roof again. Unfortunately the navigation system wasn't able to locate the hostel we need to find, so we were wholly dependent on the memory of my friends who had stayed at the hostel when they first arrived in Dublin a week ago. This meant we drove in circles, on the tram line and also in a bus lane. All these options weren't the best but we finally made our way to the hostel and then to the parking garage.

After getting settled in our room we went for dinner at the River Bar, which had some of the best fish and chips I'd ever had! Then rest of the evening was spent on my bunk relaxing and watching Oceans 11. 

Sunset over Dublin. 

Monday was the last day spent in Dublin, we had a lovely breakfast and spent the rest of the day walking the streets. And I must say Dublin is a dirty city. Its big and its loud and covered in trash! It has its nice areas that are very lovely but you turn a corner and its nothing but nasty. Hence why I'll never enjoy big city living. I stayed in Dublin until mid afternoon then it was back on the road home to Tullamore to settle back into daily life. I'll finish off this blog with some photos of Dublin. And call it Grand!! 

 Final morning in Dublin, breakfast and coffee!

 City Center of Dublin

 The river than runs through Dublin.

 Went to Trinity College, got yelled at twice by security. Ha

 Awww the streets of Dublin.

 Very pretty horses

The traffic leaving town!

That's all folks!!