Day 8- Departure London Airport

It was finally time for this trip that seemed more like a fantasy to come to an end. WE packed up our stuff and headed to the airport fairly early. Most of us were still pretty beat from the night before. I fell asleep on the bus in a very peculiar way. We got to the airport and checked in, went through security, and waited for a few hours before we could finally board our plane. The flight home was alot nicer than the flight to Dublin. After 7 hours we landed in JFK. Then we waited another half hour for the Bus to come pick us up. Then after another hour long bus ride we got back to Kean. I was finally home.

Day 7- Last night in the UK

It was our last day in London and we had it all to ourselves. Gina talked me and a few of the others to going to Kennington Park to go see the Peter Pan statue. After that, I we headed back to Leicester Square to do a little souvenir shopping. WE met up with Andres and Liz and all headed over to the restaurant for dinner with everyone else. To my pleasant surprise, the food was pretty good. But I had eaten a big lunch at T.G.I. Friday's only a few hours before that ( I couldn't take British food any longer). WE hung out at the restaurant a little after everyone else had already left while he had a few beers with the Oklahoma kids. Then we all took the Tube back to the hotel. It was Tamika's birthday that night so a few of us decided to go out to a night club. After an hour of waiting for everyone else to get ready and meet in the lobby we all left and headed once again to Leicester Square. There, a club promoter approached us on the street and told us he could get the nine of us into the club without waiting in line and he gave us all free drink coupons. I'm not really a club scene kind of guy but it was alot of fun. Everyone was dancing and singing (most of us very poorly). After being at the club for a few hours (which felt more like the blink of an eye), we haggled with two cab drivers about the fare it would cost to take us back to the hotel. We got back to the hotel and ran around like fools for a short time and then passed out. It was one hell of a way to end the trip.

Day 6- London

There was only two days left on our trip and it was our first full day in London so it was going to be a busy one. We started off with a walking tour off of the tube and up to the British Film Institute. We also got an excellent view of the London Eye, which is basically a giant ferris wheel that takes 45 minutes to completely rotate so that you can get a view of the entire city. WE had tried to get into the Globe Theatre, they didn't have a tour available for us and wouldn't just let us run in and look at it. Then we walked across the Millenium Bridge to get some lunch. Then we met back with the group for our bus tour. WE saw the London Bridge, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, basically everything there was to see in London, we covered in one day. Then we met in Leicester Square (pronounced Lester) for dinner ( which was another repeat meal). But after that, a bunch of us from Kean went on the Jack the Ripper tour. I liked it alot. But a few of us didn't realize that the tour was a walking tour, and they really weren't up for the hike. But I thought it was very interesting. After that we went back to the hotel and stayed in at the bar in the lobby again. We had a free day the next day but I still wasn't sure what I wanted to do.

Day 5 - Stratford/London

After spending the night in Whales, we headed out for Stratford to see the Shakespeare Museum. Before that though, we stopped at Warwick Castle which was kind of like a mini-theme park. It was really cool, and again, the scenery was excellent even though it was more urban than Wales. After walking around and seeing all the different rooms in the castle, including the dungeon, we headed to Stratford. When we arrived I noticed that the area we were in was very much like Dublin's Graffton street. The Shakespeare Museum was really nice. I was a big fan of Shakespeare in high school so it was interested learning more about him than I did back then. I also got to walk through the house he grew up in but they wouldn't let you take pictures. After that we met for lunch and surprisingly enough we were served the same food that we got for dinner the night before in Wales. Personally I was disappointed. After that we headed on our three our bus ride to London. Once we finally arrived in London though it felt like it took an extra 3 hours just to get to the hotel, which was not only all the way by the docks, but also on the opposite side of bumper to bumper traffic that we were on. Finally we got to the hotel which was a huge upgrade compared to the past two hotels. most rooms had a double and a fold out single bed. I lost the coin toss and Andres got the double. We were all pretty beat so we just stayed in the hotel and partied there. Then we went to bed, anxiously awaiting for our tour of the city the next day.

Day 4- Whales

Turns out I couldn’t stay up and I fell asleep. The worst part about it is that the hotel forgot to give me and Andres the wake up call I asked for. Luckily, Ray woke us up at 6:15, fifteen minutes after we were supposed to be on the bus. The only reason they didn’t leave without us is because they had an issue with fitting the entire luggage on the bus. Needless to say I wasn’t feeling too good, but at least I made it to the bus on time to get to the ferry. When we got to the docks, David showed us the ferry, which looked more like a cruise ship. As soon as we got on, I sat down and fell asleep for a few hours. Finally after a long ride we arrived in Whales. It looked exactly like what the locals in Dublin told me it would look like, mountains and sheep. But it was very nice. It looked a lot better than the mountains you could see on the freeway in New York State. Our first stop was a tiny tourist shop with a ridiculously long name. The town we were in was very small and empty. Up the block from the shop was a supermarket chain called Somerfield’s, which is where the short British film “Cash Back” took place. Unfortunately, you can’t get cash back with an American Debit card. Afterwards, we went to a castle, which was used as a military base. It was really cool. Nader, Art, and I disregarded the “closed” sign on the steps going up to the outer wall and walked around the entire castle. The view from up there was incredible. After exploring the rest of the castle we made our way to our hotel. Again, the town was very small and quiet. And our hotel was more like a big cottage than anything else. They had no elevators so everyone had to lug their luggage up a few flights of stairs. And between the way they numbered the rooms and the way the place was built, it was like navigating thru a maze. Worst of all, they had little to no hot water in the showers or sinks. On the brighter side, I had an excellent view of the mountains from my room. After we were settled, we went to dinner in the hotel. Then when we were finished, David told us about a castle near by that he would guide us to. What he didn’t tell us is that it was at the top of the highest mountain that I could see from my bedroom. It was very strenuous and very tiring but once we reached the castle, it was all worth it. The view was incredible. You could see the entire village and a lot of the surrounding valleys. When we got back to the hotel I went and had a drink with everyone else who went on the hike then went to my room and relaxed. After two all-niters, I needed a night off.

Day 3- Dublin

After sleeping until about one in the afternoon since I stayed up to watch the sunrise, I found out that everyone was either on a tour of the countryside or out on the town. So I decided to do the one thing I was looking most forward to doing in Ireland, go to the Guinness Brewery. I took the bus to the city center and tried to find the other bus that goes to the brewery from there. Unfortunately, the only buses whose numbers matched those of the ones going to brewery were all parked and had no drivers. I ended up walking from the Spire all the way to the brewery. Everyone thought I was crazy for doing it, but I didn’t think it was that bad. When I finally got on the street it was on, I could smell this very potent aroma of chocolate and spaghetti marinara. Once I got there I ran into a few of my classmates and we walked around all together. It was great. As soon as I walked in I thought, “This must be what heaven is like.” We walked all the way up to the seventh level which is where the Gravity Bar is located. You can see almost the entire city from up there. They have 360 degrees of windows to look out of and see the city.






. Then we met up with the group and ate dinner, after that, we all went back to the hotel and hung out at the pub with someone from our group who was from Oklahoma, our tour guide David, his daughter and her fiancé`, and Brian (a.k.a. B. Oakes). We hung out there for a little while until the bar closed. Then we went back to our rooms and partied a little harder. The hotel staff told us to keep it down so we took our festivities to the lobby and hung out there. Before I knew it, it was 4:30 am and we had to be on the bus by 6. I tried to stay up until then.

Day Two (Saint Patrick’s Day) - Dublin

Due to heavy drinking the night before I skipped breakfast and slept in. Afterwards we took a bus to Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, since it was St. Patrick’s Day. They were preparing for a huge parade so a lot of the roads were blocked off which made getting around very difficult all day until the parade was over. Eventually we made our way to Phoenix Park which was beautiful and is home to the American ambassador and the Irish president. Then headed over to Trinity College where the Book of Kells is kept. I was really excited to see it until I actually saw it. Very anti-climactic.




. By the time we were done looking at a book underneath a piece of glass, the group went their separate ways and Gina, Art, Akansha, Effat, and I headed to the parade. I was told before coming here that we American’s make a much bigger deal about the holiday than the Irish actually do. Whoever told me that is a dumb ass. The parade was huge like the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade except the balloons are much closer to the ground. I was also told that no one wears green. Again, that person was very wrong. Everyone is very festive, locals and tourist alike. However, it was very crowded. People were standing on telephone booths, ladders, even on top of buildings, just to catch a glimpse of the action. Unfortunately I wasn’t lucky enough to get a view that good.


Eventually we decided to head out, the only problem was that because of the parade we couldn’t get around very far since the buses and trams weren’t running until after it was over. We stumbled across a movie theatre and decided to see “No Country for Old Men”. Not exactly the most Irish thing we could’ve done but we had a lot of time to kill and I was dying to see that movie for sometime. Afterward we headed back to the Spire (a.k.a. the Stiletto in the Ghetto) to meet the group for dinner. After dinner we went back to the hotel with some beer and liquor and partied there a little bit. We met some local kids who were pretty cool and very funny. Then we headed back to temple bar for a traditional St. Paddy’s Day celebration, which includes drink large quantities of alcohol. We took a cab back to the hotel and found the local friends we had made still here. So after hanging out by the front door of our hotel for a little over an hour we all went back to a room and had a few more drinks. We ended up staying up until the sun came up. It looked great from the 5^th floor of the hotel. After that I went to bed.