My roommate and Lisa tried to get up early for a walk, but both of us were so tired we decided to pass.
At noon we met up with the other girls and went to the mall to get some coffee and breakfast. We went to Costa Coffee. They have this coffee place in Hungary as well and it is similar to Starbucks because it is a mainstream coffee place, but they don't have all the fancy drinks that Starbucks has. We also found out that it is more expensive to eat in than to have coffee on the go. I believe it is because they give you plates and a tray.
We ate and then went to Voda phone to get our phones figured out. Emily and Allie are going to use their American phones. I don't think that is a good idea. It is going to be so expensive.
I was pretty confident about this because I used Voda phone in Hungary and I had brought a cheap cell phone with me that was unlocked. All I needed was to get a SIM card. I paid almost 30 Euros to find out that my phone wasn't unlocked. WHAT!? I paid $15 to get it unlocked, what do you mean it is not working? They told me that I needed a code to enter into my phone. No one told me about a code! This means that I have to call the place back home and see what happened. I was so pissed! At least Lisa and Colleen were able to get their phones figured out.
We went to Penny's, kind of like a Marshals, so Allie could get a towel. That is also where Lisa and I got ours yesterday.
We then headed to Tesco to get some groceries. Colleen, Lisa and I decided just to look and later make a list of what we actually needed. Allie and Emily were going to do some hardcore shopping, so we left them and returned to our rooms to hang out.
Later we decided to be brave and face the bus system. We have orientation Tuesday and we wanted to figure out where to go.
The directions were kind of vague. I believe it said to take a bus to O'Connell Street and then go to Earl Street. Once Earl Street ends, there should be a hotel where orientation will take place.
The first step was to figure out what bus. Luckily there is a bus stop at the corner, so we all headed down there. We looked at the schedule and saw that the 41 would take us to where we needed to go. The schedules of buses are written on cylinders where you can turn them to look at them.
Somehow someone figured out that we pay on the bus. You tell the driver where you are going to and he tells you how much it will cost. Our was 1.85 Euro. You have to pay exact change,if you have have to pay over, for whatever reason, you don't get the money back.
We decided to be cool and go and sit on the top deck of the bus. The buses here are double decker, but they are not like the buses in London.
The next step was to find out when our stop was. This I will never understand. On the bus there are no maps to show you. No signs to tell you either. Even the bus stations don't have markers to tell you what stop you are at! This is the same in Hungary. On the trains in Hungary they would not tell you what stop you were at. Why is that? Why does it have to be a secret? Do you want to make people's lives more difficult? How do the locals "just know" what stop it is?
A man behind us started to laugh at us because we were say things like "this looks like a main place, lets get off here", when clearly we didn't know what the heck we were doing.
Emily finally asked a lady in front of her about the stop. The lady told us when to get off. As we walked down to exit the bus, the driver called out the stop. We agreed that next time we would stay on the bottom floor.
We exited the bus onto a very busy section of town with pedestrians walking every which way. We found Earl Street and went left. We saw many different shops. I was surprised about the amount of Polish convenient stores. I didn't know that Dublin had a high population of Polish immigrants.
We walked down until Earl Street ended. The further we walked, the quality of the stores and the people decreased. That is never a good sign.
When Earl Street ended, we were suppose to find a hotel. The group decided not to really look for the hotel. We had gotten this far; we will just find it on Tuesday. I decided to just go with the flow.
The group then turned around and we came across a pub called O'Shae, or something similar to it. We decided that food was in order. Now, the biggest thing about pubs or restaurants here is not a language barrier, but rather, what the heck do you do!? Do you wait for a hostess to seat you or do you pick a place for yourself? So far it seems that you seat yourself and that is what we did. The next complicated matter is to get some one's attention to give you a menu. You would think that if you have to seat yourself, they would leave menus on the table. This is not the case.
I decided to go with French Onion Soup since my stomach was still on the sensitive side. Everyone else got fish and chips; I was jealous.
The soup was okay, but nothing special. There was no cheese on it. My stomach didn't like it, so I didn't eat much. Everyone said that the fish and chips were good. Apparently the Irish put basaltic vinegar on their french fries. When my stomach gets better, I have to try it. I know in Belgium they put mayo on their french fries.
Now, the next stressful thing about dealing with restaurants is how you pay. Does the waiter come to you or do you go to them? Each place is different but it usually is that you have to go to them to find out what they want. They really don't check in on you like they do back in America. You basically have to get their attention and direct them in how to help you.
Tipping is another thing we need to figure out. In Hungary you don't leave the tip on the table. You basically give them the tip and payment all in one. I don't know what it is in Ireland. We just leave the tip on the table.
We left the pub and walked down the opposite end of Earl Street, across O'Connell, where we got off the bus.
This side was a lot nicer than the other. They had many nice stores; they even had a Forever 21! I laughed when I saw it! How random!
We didn't walk down far and decided to head back. Now, we needed to figure out what bus to take back. We found the 16 bus would take us near our apartment, it only took this is only looking at 5 different bus stops to figure it out.
When the bus came up we loaded onto it and stayed on the bottom floor to hear the driver.
The drive was not long, we got off at a stop near our apartment to make sure we were in the right area. Technically we could have gotten off in a stop or two. The bus driver didn't make an announcement liked we hoped.
Emily said something about talking to Selena about playing a board game. I told her to let us know what the plan was for later. Selena did come to our apartment and asked if we wanted to play Uno. Lisa and I told her that we would come later, but after we said that we didn't want to go. Instead, Lisa and I went on a walk in a park by our apartment. Our walk didn't last long because the park closed at 8:30 pm and it was now 9 pm. A worker kicked us out.
You would have fooled me with the time. It stays light really late here. Just by looking outside I would have said it was 4 pm!
We decided to walk down to the gas station to get a snack. I ended up getting their version of Cup of Noodles, if you will. Never again. It was chow mien flavor and it was gross!
After our walk, Lisa and I went back to our apartment to chill. And that brings me to where I am right now.
I was really excited to be able to go to the City Centre and see more of the city! Right now, my world in Ireland consists of only 3 miles! I can't wait to expand it :)
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