Who Needs A Man When You Have Church, Chocolate, and Donkeys?

So, yesterday I didn't get back from Dublin until very late, thus I did not post. But, I will fill you all in on what happened then and today.

With it being Friday the 13th, we of course had a ton of bad luck getting to Dublin. We even crossed a black cat, which is probably why we missed the first two buses we planned on getting on. However, we eventually did get on a bus, and headed to Saint Patrick's Cathedral. It was a very authentic Irish day, the sky was very gray and it was off and on raining (it was the coolest).

It didn't move me to tears like the Vatican did, but I was in awe of the place for sure. It was very detailed and very beautiful, and my room mates and I loved the design so much, we decided we would like to experience a service there, just to be able to say we did. I was very disappointed, though, to find out that it's no longer a Catholic church.

The back stained glass windows

So beautiful 

They had beautifully hand sewn kneeling mats

It was so detailed

They had a section for those fallen in the war

The altar

Saint Patrick

The eagle symbolized spreading the word of God

The cathedral against a typical Irish sky

We had a while before the service, so I took the girls to Dublin Castle, since they hadn't been yet. I told them everything I could remember from my guided tour, and I got to see the gardens this time, which was very cool. I was surprised at how much I remembered!

The garden 

Self portrait

We went back for a short service, which was definitely an experience. They turned most of the lights off and lit candles, and we greatly enjoyed all the little choir boys who sang the entire time. For dinner, I took them to The Boar's Head, and one of the servers immediately recognized me and said, "I didn't believe you when you said you were coming back!" The staff was very surprised with how much we all, especially me, loved the place. To them I suppose it's just another pub, but to us it's just a nice authentic place to eat that's cheaper than most places and treats us nicer than any of the other pubs would. After drinks, lots of laughs, and a very filling meal, we headed home, making for a pretty successful day (though I had planned on buying things I needed and didn't get a single thing on my list).

Today, my room mates all went to Wicklow Mountains, so I caught up on some homework reading while they were away. When they got back, we started to prepare our Valentine's day feast. Sara and I went to the store to get some pasta sauce, and when we did we brought our stale bread, in hopes that the donkeys that live next to Saint Mary's Church and the grocery store would be out. They were! They made great valentines for us.

My valentine

Clearly, we're in love

For dinner, we had pasta with chicken, some champaign, and some deformed, yet delicious chocolate cupcakes. We were pretty happy about the whole meal.

Family dinner

After watching a few chick flicks, we decided that we hadn't really gotten to know our neighbors yet, and rang their doorbell just to see what would happen. As it turns out, they're all guys and we're just going out for drinks to celebrate their loneliness. So, we invited ourselves a long, and had a great time getting to know each other. 

Getting to know the neighbors

We now plan on having a floor dinner, and even planning a Quilty first floor trip (possibly to go hang gliding, but I don't really trust their drunken plans). I'm having the time of my life here, and I'm excited for every day I wake up here, even if I have school some of those days. As we all agreed last night, we're here for such a short time, and we need to enjoy every second, which is what I've been trying to do this whole time. Here's hoping I have a relaxing Sunday, I miss everyone, and hope you all had a loving Valentine's day!