The Irish are too kind!

Abby Luce and I have been in many education classes together, but we never were really that close. Mostly just acquaintances. We are both abroad, this semester and I heard word that she wanted to go to Ireland. I offered to have her stay with me because I know how tight money can be while traveling. She came and stayed with me for a night. I was wonderful getting to know each other. It was so nice having a familiar face with me for a short while. She stayed last night! Then I got up this morning and went to class, went on a run, ate a little breakfast and showered, got dressed, and then Abby awoke! Then after a little while, we were off to Dublin for the day!

We stopped at the Coffee Mill before we caught the bus. It is a cute little coffee shop that is located in a basement. I asked what the soup of the day was and of course it was Vegetable Soup. The waitress caught on that I was America right away and she seemed pretty excited about it. She said that the other soup was Tomato. Then I asked her which one is more popular and she laughed and said both, "but the Irish would normally have vegetable soup". Winner! As she was pouring my soup she asked if I had ever had tomato soup. I laughed and said that we have some in America. And she said, "Oh it's different here. It's more fresh." I replied, "I believe it!" Then Abby and I sat and had our lunch and then went to the bus stop. We stopped in a Pharmacy to kill time. They had Taylor Swift perfume that came with a free bag. I was SO TEMPTED. But I could hear my mom's voice in the back of my head, "Megan, do you really NEED this?" So I resisted. We got on the bus and girl sat in front of us. She had the most beautiful hair I had ever seen. There is a picture on Facebook! (Yes, I take pictures of EVERYTHING.)

We got off and did some shopping. I only got 10E worth of items. I manage to talk myself out of everything... I feel like my mom is sitting on my shoulder while I shop. Thank you for teaching me how to be a good shopper, mom! I just kept thinking, "Do I NEED this?" And the answer was always, "NO!" After a while of walking around, I decided we should get some ice cream! We stopped at a tourism place and I asked a gentleman behind the counter and I said, "Do you know where we can find Ghellato?" He had no idea what we were talking about. We explained that it was Italian ice cream. He was so funny about it! I love people like that. He asked his co-worker and his co-worker told him where the place was. He then got out a map and showed us where it was. It looked like a long walk and he saw our faces and said, "It's only 10 minutes. Trust me, it will be a 10 minute walk that is totally worth it once you're eating your ice cream." He was right! The ghellato was amazing! It took me 15 minutes to decide what kind I wanted! I finally decided to get a flavor that I thought my mom would like, Teramisu. And it was delicious!

Side note: When we went to check into a Hostel for Abby, the employee was an elderly man. He was such a dear to Abby. He called her, "Miss America" and then the girl behind her, "Spanish Darling". 

Oh! On our way to get ice cream we noticed there were people standing in a circle around this man. We got closer and saw that the man was putting on a show. He is a "street actor" and he was performing with a ten foot unicycle. It was SO COOL! He was too funny. I took a 10 minute video of it. It was a very delightful show. At one point there was boy helping him (probably about 12 age) and the actor gave so much attention to the boy and appreciation and told us all to clap for the boy "because it is hard to get up in front of so many people". Then after the boy was done helping him he said, "I didn't bring any money with me, but someone just dropped 2E for me. Take that. It's yours." It was such a beautiful gesture to see!

Oh! Another thing! We ran into someone we knew! Such a small world we live in.

Then we went to the Disney Store. It was very darling. Then we went to Temple Bar. I realized what one of my favorite things about Ireland is. The cute little cafe's, pubs, and restaraunts. A lot of eating places we passed were tucked away in a tiny little shop, candles lit, peaceful atmosphere, cozy, etc. I loved it! We stopped in one to eat some dinner. O'Connel's. I steered away from soup and got some Bruschetta. It was the same price so I figured, why not? We had good conversation, got to know each other a little better. Then after we paid, we went outside and took a picture of the place we ate at. A gentleman came out and offered to take our picture in front of the place. I only had my phone because my camera died, and it took a couple times to explain to him how to take a picture with it. It was so funny to both of us. I kept laughing and smiling. We did get a good picture, though!

After supper, we found the bus stop and Abby and I parted ways. When I got on the bus I was scrounging for change. I have a story for this: When I was getting on the bus, I forgot to have my change ready so I was trying to get my exact change as fast as I could. I was the last one entering my change. It is 2.80. I had put in 2.75 and was scrounging for a .05 and the bus driver said, "Is that 2.80?" I said, "Almost, I'm sorry!" And then he printed the ticket and said, "It's okay, dear. It's only five cents." The world is filled with good people.

On the bus I had a wonderful encounter. I posted this on Facebook, but I will post it in this blog just in case any of you reading this don't have Facebook. . .  Story: On my way home from Dublin on the bus, the person sitting next to me accidentally dropped her bag and everything went everywhere. I quickly helped her pick everything up. She felt so terrible and kept saying "sorry!" and "thank you!" I kept saying, "Oh no problem! It's fine! It happens." Then we settled back into our "bus silence" and she tapped me on the shoulder and handed me a candy bar and said, "Thank you so much for helping me." I tried not to accept it, but she insisted. Then we spent the rest of the bus ride chatting. :)

After that happened, I couldn't stop feeling blessed. I kept on thanking God and Jesus for everything and just had this overwhelming peaceful/blissful feeling in my heart and soul. 




Irish people are blessing my experience without even knowing it! Their kindness and joyfulness fills my heart!

I hope you all are having a good week!
Cheers!