Feeling the Luck of the Irish

It is the morning of my first official day in Dublin! The plane trips (I had three) all went rather smoothly. The first one though, even though it was a shorter flight, was interesting because there was a lady sitting in the aisle seat that loved to talk about herself and her family. The poor guy in the middle seat got most of it. haha But she was a very nice lady, but she just wouldn't let any of us sleep if we wanted to!
Then came the long flight from San Francisco to London. I tried to sleep on the plane with special consideration that it would help me get over jet lag sooner. I never fully fell asleep, but it did help me adjust to the different time zone. After that, we got the wonderful experience of going through tons of security before boarding or last flight back to Dublin.

The large plane I took from San Francisco to London

The funniest part of this last airplane trip was the fact that I could not understand a lot of the announcements they made on the plane (electronic devices, etc) because of how quickly they were speaking!
From there, we went through one more security checkpoint then we were outside in the Dublin air. We took the airbus, then walked to the Abbey Court Hostel where we will be staying for the next few days. I have to say that we didn't blend in so well with our suitcases!
 We checked in at the front desk and they told us that our room was the next building outside to the right through the red door and our room is on the first floor. So we go outside to the next "building" and try the red doors (yes plural), but they either didn't open or did not lead to any rooms. So we went back and asked them again. They said now to go through the purple door! We went back outside and there it was, the secret purple door.

We go inside, and there were stairs going up. But wait, I thought we were on the first floor? Well, the first floor here is really the second floor in America. So our room is very small, but we have a view of Dublin outside of our window.

The view outside of our room

We got settled in then we went out to find something to eat. We ended up eating at an Italian place. The food was really good and our waiter, while he was difficult to understand, was very nice.
Then we attempted to find a dance studio that I found a brochure on, but we were not successful. We went back to our room and looked it up online and found where the location is so we can try to find it again.
Then we all basically went to bed early and get some rest from all of our traveling!
I have to say, since our window has to be open or else our room will get very hot and stuffy, it was very noisy outside. I guess Saturday nights are very popular in Dublin.
 This morning we went to get breakfast that was provided to us. I had toast, orange juice, and an apple. They didn't offer us anything that was Irish-specific, so I can't tell you what a typical Irish breakfast is like.

Look what I found! A horse-drawn carriage merging in traffic. They were going fast!

At noon today, we meet the Arcadia staff to have lunch until 2:00. Then we have the rest of the day off!! My hope is that we will be able to find that dance studio. Free classes this week after 6:00pm. I think I'm already feeling the luck of the Irish! = )