"I'm sorry...

we're American."
That was Paul's apology to the others at The Old Oak when Smashmouth's "All Star" started to play and the entire table bursted out into song - something that occurred repeatedly throughout the night. Who wouldn't sing along to Journey, The Police, and Counting Crows? We headed out at around 8:30, which is a good time to leave in Ireland because things start and end a little earlier, at least in comparison to America. We were at Old Oak around 9 since it takes about a half hour to walk from our apartment to the city. Old Oak is a really open space, and it has a great vibe, plus it plays some great music and we love to sing along. The nice waitstaff, including a cute bartender or two doesn't hurt either. One of the bartenders, a sweet girl with blonde hair, actually chatted with me a bit about school and what each of us were studying, which may have been a first for me. The younger locals here haven't been the kindest so far, so that was a nice treat. There I discovered a new favorite drink, and Carolan tried something new, hated it and went back to her never failing Bailey's & milk. I went for a half pint of Bulmer's cider, and continued with Bulmer's throughout the night. Something to note - a pint here is much bigger than a pint in the States (that's my new thing to say "Back in the States..."), so ladies if you ever plan on visiting Ireland pay attention and order the half pint. It's smaller and much more manageable, plus you never know how long you'll stay at one bar. The map of Dublin is color coded - bars are in red. In Cork this whole road is filled with different bars to go to and a smaller drink makes it more likely that you won't have to waste any if your crew decides they want to move to a new bar. Of course you're always welcome to order a pint if you're feeling bold - as for the boys. Don't order a half pint, it definitely looks girly in a guys hand. Sorry.
We stayed there just long enough to begin to mildly annoy some of the older (no offense intended) people in the crowd that were there to see whoever would be performing. I don't know if it was our singing or our very original dance moves, or perhaps our hysterical laughter. My face hurt so much from laughing and I don't even remember why! It could have been the lovely suggestive coasters on the tables. On one side it said Miller on the tag of a zipper and on the other side it said "Genuinely easy. Miller." How clever. Anyways, with a quick vote we finished the last of our drinks and headed to an Brog, the college friendly bar I wrote about last night. It's a great bar to head to at the end of the night because it is packed and noisy and with my crew there is very little chance of annoying other people with our loudness. You can barely hear each other there. Luckily Sam, my roommate, offered to grab me a drink from the bar so I could go play some fooseball. When we got there a group of Irish boys were playing but two left and they offered to let us play with them so Carolan and I jumped in. It wasn't bad. We played a few more games and when the Irish boys left Pat and Paul joined me and Carolan. We played a few more games before calling it a night and heading back on our half of an hour long walk back to Victoria Station. And I'll have to get back to you tomorrow on the events of today because I am way too exhausted to explain it all. xoxo, brit