Irish House Party!!

I don't really know why it is called an Irish House Party, but that is what the hotel calls it. It is more like a show I would say. Oh well, that is besides the point.

The Irish House Party was at Landsdowne Hotel right off Waterloo St. We were supposed to be there at 7:30pm sharp according to the emails. So Ally and I got to the number 10 bus at 7pm to meet up with Miranda and Heather and about 10 other people from our program. We asked the bus driver to please let us know when to get off. There was a lot of traffic and later Dorothy told us that Thursday was the late shopping day in Dublin so many people were out shopping. And even later than that (like on Friday when we were out shopping) we noticed that the Thursday shopping hours on stores were only one hour later, hahaaha! Wow, they stayed open until 8pm instead of 7pm!

So we got to the Waterloo St stop and followed the directions by turning right at the junction and walking 200 meters. Sure enough there it was! We walked in and the desk told us the party was downstairs. Downstairs looked just like a pub! There were people sitting around having drinks in business suits and watching rugby or something. We didn't see anyone we recognized and it was already 7:25pm..... and we were worried we would be late! They told us our room wasn't ready yet and to just take a seat. So we found some huge booths and sat down. A few more people came and then Dorothy arrived. She is the coordinator for all our activities and trips and a really nice older woman who is really funny and tells pretty great stories. She said we would wait around for the others to arrive and our room to get set up. It was about then that we realized the 7:30pm sharp was to make us get here asap and nothing was really going to start until at least 8pm. So people started getting drinks and taking off their jackets, etc.

Nuala arrived and all the boys were daring each other to buy her a drink. They all secretly wanted to but nobody wanted to be "that guy" who asked our study abroad lady, but if she would have said yes then all the other guys would most definitely be jealous of him. Anyway, nobody asked to buy her a drink, hahaha! By this time everyone was there and it was getting crowded in our little area. Luckily the room was ready and we went inside.

We picked a table that was close to the front but later realized there was a pole kind of in our way for some of the stuff, oh well. We sat with some girls from Colorado and students from Boston University who lived all over, including the Chicago area. We got two free drinks from the school so I took this opportunity to have my first full pint of Guinness! It took me forever to finish it and I was literally choking it down at the end, but I finished! In the time it took me to do that Heather and Miranda had 2 pints of Guinness, and Ally had a pint of Guinness and a pint of Bulmers. For the second round I got a diet coke. Everyone else got another pint of Guinness but I would have rather died than drink another right away.

The funniest thing was that this party was about 50 college students from the US, their two coordinators, and a table off to the side of 4 cute old women from Maine. hahahahaha!!! They were so funny the entire night.

The show was really great. They played their traditional instruments for us and told us some history behind the music and instruments.There were 3 men playing instruments and a girl who danced. She showed us some Irish jigs and other dances. We even had volunteers get up and learn some dances.... I definitely was not one of those volunteers. The funniest part was during one song when they had to spin around a lot they said more people should come dance..... so Dorothy and Nuala got up and did it! Then more people got up, still not me. One of the boys asked the women from Maine to dance and they just giggled a lot and I am pretty sure said no!

They passed out song sheets and we learned some Irish songs.... one was even in gaelic! They asked for some talent from the audience and one kid knew the Irish lullaby and he was a really good singer. We were all very impressed, including the band. Another kid played the guitar and sang Galway Girl from p.s. I love you. We were all very impressed by that too.

When it was over it was raining, obviously, because it is Dublin. We were all going to go to a nearby put but we walked FOREVER in the rain. Finally the two boys in front told us they didn't know where they were going, perfect! So Pat took the lead and he brought us to a pub that is probably half way back to campus! We were walking so long and my feet were so wet, ewww. Miranda went in and got a drink and wanted to hang out but Ally, Heather, and I did not. We were super hungry so we went next door and got food, I just had some chips (fries) and they asked if I wanted vinegar on them.... no thanks. After we ate Miranda still didn't want to leave so we just grabbed a cab and came back to campus. It was definitely a good night.