Ireland, St. Patrick’s and MUCH more :)

So as all of you know I went to discover the wonderful country of Ireland this past weekend! I actually just got back an hour ago, took a much needed shower, started laundry and am now in bed trying to write this with the wee little 4 hours of sleep I have gotten today. Oh my where to start!? (I started writing this long one on Tuesday when I got back but got caught up by the lack of sleep, school and Amber being here)

Amber arrived safe and sound in the city of love Friday morning. I met her at the train station and we came back to my place to chillax for an hour or so before we headed to lunch. She was in awe of the little bit of Paris she got to see on her way walking to my dorm and on the train to and from the airport. This was going to be the adventures of Amber and Kelsey 🙂 I took her to lunch at this wonderful pizza place, she fell in love, and then we headed to the airport to board for IRELAND!

Skipping to the next exciting part is the arrival in Dublin. All I could see was green and man was I happy! We made our way to the hostel to check in and start our long weekend. Little did we know that would consist of sleeping in a room with 20 freaking people, a first I must say and probably the last as well lol, 4 nights in a room with 18 other girls I am sure you can imagine my exhaustion haha. It was quite the interesting experience. I can now say I have stayed in a hostel, check that off the list! However, we shared the bathroom with the whole floor which had to have been at least 80 people + and I do not normally do this but it was so gross I showered as little as possible. If you know me at all I absolutely love being clean and would even say it’s to the point of me being semi germaphobic which I must add has tremendously changed being here in Paris. Makes me appreciate the little things in life! All in all the room was mildly okay, the girls were all apart of the tour we were on so other than some people getting back later than others and getting up earlier than others everyone was really respectful. Now the people who were staying down the hall from us that is a whole different story! The quietest time in the hostel each night was around 6am and thank goodness for sleeping pills, hallelujah!

Our first night there we went to dinner and relaxed before our fun filled weekend. Saturday we started off with a walking tour of Ireland. It was wonderful! Our tour guide was so intelligent and I am very thankful to now know so much more about the beautiful country and the city of Dublin. Here is a little preview of the tour.

Completely necessary right?! 😉

Famous Temple Bar district. There is a famous Temple Bar as well but people tend to get the district mixed with the 2. According to our tour guide! Amber posing it up

Bar named after Temple District

Famous Irish people, some were of a surprise to me!

Temple Bar District again

Trinity College, did you know the government pays for most students to go to college in Europe!? What the hell America lol

Mayor of Dublin? Lost track with all the pictures

City Hall

Canopy for the outdoor theater. Of course I had to take a picture. Those umbrellas cost around 2 million EACH

The screen

And the seats that fold down, how AWESOME

After our tour we were free for the rest of the day because some people were still arriving. We met up Saturday night with the whole tour group and had a nice meal, big thanks to WSA (Weekend Student Adventures). Later on we went to enjoy some Irish dancing, could not get much more Irish than that! It honestly is everything you imagine and SO much more. I wish I could share a video or two with you but hopefully all of you are friends with me on Facebook so you can watch the ones I uploaded as for it will not work on here or I have not figured out how to yet!

Sunday arrived and we were off to the coast of Ireland. Let me just say this was the most beautiful place I have ever seen. I wish these photos were going to do the mere justice of what it was like to be there in person.

Throwing up that Shocker sign all the way from Ireland. Shocker Nation

On top of the world! So blessed

YIPPEE

Pure happiness and unlike anything I had ever seen/experienced before! 🙂
We then topped off the day with a visit to the Guinness Brewery, yes the original!

As the Irish say “slàinte”
P.S. Guinness tastes a LOT better in Ireland

Sunday came and went, now it was time for the celebration of St. Patrick’s Day. I will say if you ever go to Ireland and throw out Happy St. Patty’s Day or just Patty’s Day that is a big no no lol. There were supposed to be an expected 1 million people in Dublin for the St. Paddy’s Day parade and the celebration, I will say I believe this was doubled. We started the day with the parade, where all those million(s) gathered so calling it crazy was an understatement. Then finished the day with walking around just admiring the chaos. Here are some pics!

Let’s do this!

Temple Bar District

and again

The most interesting part of that whole day besides the craziness, had to be the fact that we saw more teenagers (13-16 if not younger) drunk and acting a fool then we did people our age (20+). Now do not get me wrong I know the drinking age in Europe is quite different then America and yes I will admit at that age I threw a few back as well (sorry mom, dad, grandma and grandpa) but this was just beyond that! We watched little kids (13-16) fight, drama between girls, throwing up and more it was CRAZY! lol To put into perspective how crazy St. Paddy’s Day was in Dublin it was to the point that walking around on Monday my shoes were sticking to the ground because of all of the alcohol, never have I experienced such a thing ha. Quite the experience too!

After the weekend wrapped up that night I was ready to get back to Paris and be in my own private room again with a nice, lovely shower! The “fun” did not end though. We discovered when we were trying to check Amber in online for our flight the following morning at 6AM that welp her flight was never even schedule. Phew good thing I have done some research on travel in Europe because soon after we were booking her for quite the adventure back to Paris. Seeing as how flying with me back that morning would have cost 250euros which is just outrageous, we booked her a ferry ride to England and then a train ride to London. She then hung in London for a few hours and hopped on an overnight bus to Paris and arrived here Wednesday morning. This may have not been ideal but on the plus side she got to see another country!

Tuesday night while she was making her way to Paris, I caught up on some homework and got some much needed rest. Wednesday I had class all day but then we met up at the Louvre. Look who we found there!

Mona Lisa… DUH! 😉

We then stopped off for an up close and personal view of the one and only…

La Tour Eiffel, with love from Paris

Thursday I was off to class again and then we met up to discover some more of Paris’ finest

Sunset ❤

Such beauty

And what would hanging out on the lawn at the Eiffel Tower be without some SELFIES!?

We brought Kansas to Paris

Friday I had class in the morning but after we met up and went out for a bit then came back and napped for a good 2 hours. Amber really wanted to see a Burlesque show so she did some research and found this place so we thought we would give it a try! Had a lovely dinner at an organic restaurant, yes I love organic even in Paris. We were then in for a treat when we arrived at this lovely little cottage. No this was not the usual Burlesque that you are all thinking of. A little room where people lined the walls and listened to French singers. It was quite fun and interesting for an hour or so but we could not understand anything so we paid our dues and called it a night. It was actually a lovely time and a true French experience which is why I am here after all 🙂

Amber left Saturday morning, she was ready to get back to America but I know she enjoyed her time here as did I! I spent the rest of my weekend relaxing, for the most part, cleaning, grocery shopping, watching movies and even got my hair done. I am brunette again! Found a lovely little English speaking salon and actually met some wonderful people there. Even sipped on some champagne! For anyone looking in Paris for an English speaking place and more knowledge about hair than you can fathom, Style Pixie Salon is your place! The team is wonderful and I am sure you will be exchanging numbers and getting emails with everyone by the time you are finished. It was truly a wonderful little outing and definitely made any “treat” for oneself that much more, perfect!

Healthy hair!

Well this was a long one, hope you made it to the end and if you did, thank you again! All of the support and love continues to inspire me. Speaking of inspiring I get asked a lot what I want to do in the future and honestly this explains it all.

Hoping to bring light and love to so many, this is just my one way of doing that. Love to you all more than you know. Happy, happy day 🙂

Kels