May 9: Free Day!
With our first totally free day this trip, me and Mel decided to sleep in!! It was so refreshing getting to wake up and see the clock say 10 am. I know it might not seem like sleeping in to you but we had been waking up at 8 am if not earlier. I was so excited for today because 1) we get to explore Dublin at our own pace and 2) WE ARE SEEING Twenty-One Pilots. We had impulsively bought tickets to see them whenever we were sitting in the airport. Thank goodness for our flight delay, I guess.
To start our day, we went to the shopping center. This shopping center has an inside and an outside area full of stores. The inside of this mall is absolutely beautiful. Me and Mel were able to find some souvenirs for ourselves and family members. We spent a good amount of time in there just checking out the different stores since we don’t have most of them in the U.S.
Once we were hungry enough and done walking through the inside portion, we decided to get lunch. Today was the day I finally got to try European Subway. It was everything I had hoped it would be. I got a 10% discount for being a student, which was pretty nice. I got an Oreo muffin which I had never seen before and was super excited about, a footlong Veggie Delite for me and Mel to split, and a bag of Chili Doritos for Mel. The bread is a lot softer here, but I didn’t love the taste of it mixed with the veggies. The veggies actually tasted fresh though. The lettuce was so delicious. I would give it an 8/10.
After we ate lunch, we stopped in the few outside shops we hadn’t gone into yet. There was a super cute bookstore where we decided to buy 2 books. There was a Celtic Jewelry store which was super cool, but way too far out of my budget. We also tried Starbucks here which has different menu items than the U.S. We got to try a lime refresher which thankfully wasn’t as sour as we thought it would be.
As we were leaving the shopping center, we stopped to listen to a street performer singing Beggin’. It was a very good performance. Then we headed back to the apartment to chill before it was time to go to our concert. This concert was the perfect way to engage in a local event with little to no tourists. This is where we really got to see Irish culture shine through. One thing I miss about the U.S. is STANDING at concerts. In Europe they sit a lot of the time during concerts to make sure everyone can see. It was so depressing not getting to jump around while screaming my lungs out. In between songs they would randomly break out into an Olay chant which was also super interesting to witness. This concert was absolutely amazing, I actually knew the songs, unlike when we saw them in September in Philly. My throat hurt so bad only a few songs in. I am so grateful that I got to experience this.
