Escaping Paradise

 Yesterday, (was it only yesterday?) I hopped on a bus with Yvonne to Dublin, Ireland! Oh my. That sentence is unreal. That's how I felt about this whole day, really. But anywho, we jumped onto a bus that took us to the London Luton Airport that after only an hour flight, took us to Dublin for another short bus ride to the City Centre. We walked a short distance with our small carry on luggage transported through Ryan Air and found our hostel. 
 I am so lucky to have the opportunity to take this trip with Yvonne! She studies at Berkeley and studying abroad through them at King's College. I appreciate her taking charge of the plans and directing us to the right places. Nothing has gone wrong on our trip (yet)! *Knocks on wood* Background info: I'm from Los Gatos and she's from Santa Clarita, but we met during the summer through some friends. We get along so well and I'm really happy we have the chance to explore England and Ireland together. Who knows where else!

This hostel is different than any other I've stayed at before.  Isaacs Hostel is a youth hostel, which means it is a supervised, rather inexpensive lodging place with a communal kitchen and bathrooms, study room, and TV room. It feels like I'm at camp! Haha it's fun. There are seven bunk beds in our room, but luckily only five beds are full, besides us two. (That means we're less likely to be woken up late or early by others.) 

So upon our first night arriving, we had time to walk around the main street in the city and find ourselves a Tesco. Yay, Tesco! We cooked an amaaaaaaaaaazing dinner in the kitchen of which four men and another woman was already cooking in. But there was room. And I found it interesting that the majority of the people cooking were men. Was this a cultural influence or just the same as what a hostel in California would look like?

Back to dinner. We had carrots, bell peppers, and snow peas seasoned with Pesto on top of Quinoa with delicious, vegetarian sausages. UM, YUM. I'm so grateful Yvonne and I like the same sorts of food! It makes it easier to travel when peoples can agree on where to eat or what groceries to buy. :D Also, we ate dinner sitting on log benches...I feel like the wooden logs are important. *It's culture* :) 

Culture Joke: I asked reception where the kitchen was and he said with his accent, "Kitchen? What's a kitchen?" I began, "It's a place where you..." He cut me off laughing and pointing me in the direction. I felt awkward. Oops, he got me good with his joke! I wonder how many times he tells that joke a day? The fun you get to have at hostel boarding international people.

 After dinner, we found a comfy spot in the basement to plan out our activities. The basement isn't as scary as it sounds; it was actually quite appealing! Made of bricks from who knows how long ago, this room had soft lighting and cute, small lamps. Five personal tables line up against the walls decorated with pictures from European travels framed by rather cheap looking frames.  (In fact, I'm sitting in there right now, so take my description seriously, people, I'm not making this part up. ;) hehe.)

Then we watched Sherlock Holmes on Netflix because...well, you don't need a reason for that.


Living in the fast-paced, electrifying city of London and traveling around the United Kingdom doesn't leave much time for blogging, mind you. (<-- ooo British phrase!) So I'll try to keep my blogs a little shorter (and sweeter?!) so that I can blog more often. There's so much happening everyday! Forgive me. But keep up with me. Please? :) I really appreciate you guys reading this.