Dublin, Ireland...One Last Time

Well I left on in Krakow last time. After I was done writing the last entry a little bit of a fiasco happened at our hostel. See we were in a hostel with what appeared to be a family of Russian's who were out of a home. In general the hostel was full of people that did not speak English but were giving us weird and rude looks all the time simply for having dinner and laughing some. I guarantee you we were not being offensive. So at 1:30 am one of these Russian guys came in and turned on the bright ass lights, waking me up. I was pissed at him already because he had been rude and was quite cranky as well. So I reached over and turned of the light. he came back and turned it on and then said something to me in Russian. I pointed to my clock and all the people in the room and then he just went ballistic. He started yelling his ass off in Russian. I don't know what pissed him off with my logic, especially since he only turned the light on to take off his pants and shirt. So I just said that I didn't speak Russian and put my head down while he was yelling to himself with the lights off. We were ready to leave the next morning.

After that was Auschwitz during the day. It was a very powerful place to say the least. It was a bit surreal for me. I don't think the weight of everything fully hit me. I know that Mariel felt it though. The first camp, Auschwitz 1, was just a holding camp. That one was a bit more informative and quite frankly had a lot of tourists. The death camp, Auschwitz 2 - Birkenau, was something else. Less tourists but it was just absolutely massive. You couldn't believe how many people they were holding there all at once. And the train tracks running into the center of the camp and right to where the gas chambers use to be was very eery. One good thing, in my opinion though, was that there was a large group of Israeli students on a mission trip walking through there no problem. They were all wearing Jewish star clothes and many of them had Israeli flags that they were waving everywhere with pride. To me it was very significant that they were able to do this in what used to be one of the worst places possible for them to be anywhere near. It showed how far things have come since that time and the opportunities that they now have. Also kind of a big fuck you to the Nazi's parading through their camp that used to a tool of fear and a deadly weapon for them.

After that we took a train to Prague. We didn't get in until late that night and just passed out. We woke up and just had a day of wandering around Prague basically. We walked through the Old Square, the Jewish quarter another popular strip and had a damn good Czech lunch with 2 beers each. That was one thing that was awesome about traveling with Mariel. She was always down to sit down and chill out with a good beer multiple times a day. So we took full advantage of that. We came back and went on a pub crawl that night. Oh Deary it was wild. We showed up at 8:00 and the deal was you get free drinks at this first bar for a while before you head out. So I knew that I had to take full advantage. They gave us a shot of absinthe to start off. Mariel didn't want hers so I had it as well as mine. They had shots of mixed cranberry and vodka and free beer galore. I had plenty of both. We started talking with this Kiwi named Chris who was traveling alone and had a good chat with him. Mariel made out with him, which was good for her because he was a good chap. That lead me to start talking with some people from this group of students from the University of Florida who were studying aborad for their graduate school program and all traveling around a little bit beforehand. Mike and Amanda are the names I remember but there about 6 others that I was chattin up as well. I started talking with them by asking if I could join in on their game of quarters and Mike was very happy to oblige. Him and I talked about SEC footbal and he told me that they gave the PAC-10 no respect. I said that while it's not as good as the SEC surely you must give some temas some respect. He did not. I was a little angry but then he poured me a beer and it was all good. I also started talking with some dude from Colorado for a while and we had some good ass talks. I spilled his free shot so I offered to buy him another. I did and we talked and I guess all the tour guides though I was gay and making a move on him. Mariel had to explain that I'm just like that sometimes I guess.

Anywho I woke up quite hungover but also feeling quite fantastic. I walked back to my hostel because I did not end up at my hostel that night and met Mariel for breakfast. We then walked around all day across the Charles Bridge, up by the castle and in this awesome park that had a great view of Prague. We got a cheap lunhc because we were low on Korun's and it ended up being a hefty plate and pretty damn good. It re-energized me. We walked back and just took it easy that night. We met these 2 Canadian ladies traveling around and talked with them for a bit. They were cool but once again low on funds and beat from partying last night that we just stayed in on a Friday night in Prague. We woke up, got breakfast withe the Canadiens and went for a little walk to start the day. Then it was time for me to leave and catch a flight to London. Mariel and I said goodbye and hugged it out, then I hopped on the metro and got the airport in fashionable timing.

I decided to go to london because there are some dirt cheap flights to London, I know some people there and I had a night to kill so I figured why not Saturday night in London with some friends. The customs person was giving me the 3rd degrre because I didn't have a printout of my flight out of London and she thought I was going to stay and work for some reason. I stayed with my two friends Kim and Becca that I met on the bus trip in Ireland. they let me crash on their couch and we went out and had a damn good time. My other friends that Pat and I met in Italy when we traveled last year Pete, Darsh and Ben all came out and met up with us. Darsh had to get home early but that didn't stop him from having a couple of beers before he left. Ben, pete and I drank...and then we drank some more. We all talked about our adventures last time while traveling and what we were up to at the moment. Sounds like they're doing just fine. Kim and Becca got quite drunky as well. I bought them a drink and all of us a round of cheap shots that to be honest were quite harsh. Ben and Pete ended up leaving so I stayed with Kim and Becca and we drank some more. There's pictures of me lifting them up, biting their head, and giving granpa kisses and them loving every moment of it. There are also pictures of us on our crazy bus ride home at the top of one of those red London buses. We kept the party going on that bus. Then we went to a party at their neighbors house where I had a long ass conversation with their friend Pete and this 38 Welsch man about women. I don't know how the Welsh guy got there. Kim and I watched Lost in translation but I was asleep pretty fast. I also got my hand got in the futon when we folded it open. It didn't hurt at all thought for some reason.

I woke up and woke Kim up by acting just plain silly. She made me coffee and the 3 of us sat and talked for a bit. After that I had some time to kill so I said buy to the two of them and told them that when they come to Chicago, because they are from Ohio and go by Chicago from time to time, they are more than welcome to stay and that we would paint the town red, white and blue. Then I took the underground to Big Ben, The Parliament Building, Wesminster Abbey, St James's Park and Buckingham Palace. Walked by all of them for a while and had a good sit down thinking session at the park. I walked back and got a good ass burger with a coke for damn cheap and startedmy trek to Heathrow airport. From there I caught a flight to Dublin. Let me tell you the pilot looked like they were drunk or something. I've flown on a lot of planes and this was one of the sloppiest take off's and sloppiest landings as well. She kept swaying back and forth having one side of the plane go up and then down and shaking all the overhead compartments as soon as we were in the air from the ground and right as we were desending about to touch down.

Other than the plane though Dublin has been pretty good. I think it's very appropriate for me to end my European excursion back in Dublin. It was interesting taking the bus into downtown and comparing how I felt last night to when i first arrived in Dublin nervous and confused as hell. Same bus ride and it showed to me some of the changes in me and my viewpoints I've been through and what I've been able to do since I've been out here. I stayed at the same hostel, Kinlay House, as I did last time when I took the bus tour. The bus tour I took ended on a Sunday and guess what day it was. When i arrived I the receptionist was one of the people I had gotten some drinks with before and she told me that the tour guide, my buddy Dr. Kev, was out back having some drinks with his other 3 day tour that just ended. I walke outside and he promplty told me to sit down and have a drink once he was over the shock of seeing me. I had a couple of pints of Guinness and we talked about my travels, our bus tour, the tour he had just been on, Chicago (which he may be traveling to soon) and what the bus driver Dave was up to. I also started talking with some of the people that were just on his tour for a little bit as well. After he left though it was time for me to go because I wasn't going out on a complete bender the night before I had a flight back to the States. So that's where I am now. I have a flight straight to Chicago in about 5 hours and then I'll just be getting set up there.

It's weird because for a good amount of time I've been thinking that it'll be fun to get back to the States and get going in Chicago. Although I've continue to have fun and make the most out of each place that's what I've been looking forward to. Although this morning and even last night some I was also very sad to leave. I've had a fucking awesome time and I've been meeting up with a lot of people that I know here. I don't feel to disconnected from the States and I know people all over here that I could easily be incredibly good friends that I would hang out with regularly. I was talking with Kevin and it sounded like it wouldn't be out the question for me to get a job at the hostel here in Dublin and possibly with the Shamrocker bus tour company. but alas, I have a flight, responsibilities to get to and a life to get to in the States that I like and enjoy. More so than last time though I don't feel like I'll land and it will be as if I'm finally back. I feel like I'll land and just continue on with what I've been doing...living life. I'll just really miss the people that will be quite a distance away and straight up the adventures that are waiting around the corner. However, there are plenty of adventures ahead and life always presents adventures if you keep your eyes open. Mostly I just can't figure out exactly what this journey has been for me. It wasn't just Europe that was nuts but that's what I'm focusing on. it's also been Boston, Vancouver, the bay area, leaving Oregon, leaving the West coast, graduating from college, evn the road trip with the bro's and now Chicago. I basically just need some time to reflect and think about all this stuff. I do know that I've put a lot of thought into my decisions and so far when I take well thought out chances the experience ends up being good for me and something I appreciate and am glad that I did. That's especially been the case so far and I hope it continues.