May 19: Beach and Mini Concert
Me and Mel decided to use our last free day to go to the beach! I am a beach girl by heart, so everywhere I go I find a beach. We did not know if there were any in Ireland, until we found Bray. It is a beach with rocks instead of sand. That was good because I am not a fan of sand. We met up with Ash in the lobby to take the train to Bray. The beach was super pretty, but it was freezing cold. We didn’t get to enjoy the water as much as we had hoped. We brought our swimsuits, so we had to go in at least once. We sat on the rocks for a little reading, looking for sea glass and shells, and digging holes in the dirt. We even got to venture out onto a ledge of rocks to watch the waves hit the shore. It was so calming sitting there with no one around just watching the waters. We couldn’t stay long since we had to find somewhere to eat lunch. We found this nice restaurant that was probably a little too fancy for us. Me and Mel got cheese pizza and a peppermint aero milkshake to split. The milkshake was delicious, and the pizza was good, it was just super thin and not filling. We wanted to check out a marine center, but of course it was closed. We ended up deciding to just leave since we were all tired.
Me and Mel didn’t have too much time left before we had to leave for the pub. No we weren’t going to drink or hang out with classmates; we were going to see our airport friend’s band! We had been waiting for this day since we left the Venice airport. We didn’t know what to expect, but we were excited to hear some live music. When we got there, we realized seating was very limited. I wanted to sit in the front closest to the band, but Mel thought it might be too loud. We ended up taking two seats at the very back of the pub. We had a perfect view of the band, until they started playing. Before they started playing, our friend spotted us. I was so anxious to find out if they missed their plane or not. He was so excited whenever he saw us and could not wait to tell us about their journey back. They did end up missing their plane due to the sudden switch from delay to boarding now. He said he had been dying to tell us, which is funny because we had been dying to hear. He was so glad we actually came to watch. The band was really good, and we realized our friend was the lead singer. He is basically Dublin’s lead singer. Everyone loved them. They play every Monday, so community members probably come on a weekly basis. They had a short intermission, which was good because it gave us time to leave without interrupting a song. We were there from 10-11, so I am assuming they play until 12. We wanted to say bye before leaving, so we sat for a minute to see if we would be able to. The pub was so crowded with people standing around talking and getting drinks. It was very hard to get through the crowd. I stood up and realized he was walking over to us. He asked if we were leaving, and we said yeah since we didn’t want to walk back too late. He asked us to take a picture with him to send to his wife who we unfortunately did not get to see again. While we were trying to find a good spot to take a photo, not one but two people came up to talk to him. One girl asked for a picture with him since she loves his music, and another asked for his autograph. It was such a weird experience. These people wanted a picture with him, but he was more worried about taking a picture with us. It made us feel like a celebrity since the celebrity wanted pictures with us. He even asked for our emails to stay in contact with us in case we ever needed anything. It was such a fun experience that I will never forget. I am so glad we met our airport friends!
