First let me clarify, by snakebites I mean the drink not the puncturing of some extremity of mine by the fangs of a slithery reptile. It has been a dreary week thus far in Ireland and that has affected my mood to a slight.. okay moderate extent. There is something about rainy weather that just makes me want to curl up under a blanket and either watch sappy movies or read a good book all day long. There are three problems with this practice: 1. if I did that every time it rained here I would never leave my apartment which would be bad because I'd miss class and everything else Ireland has to offer, 2. I've sworn off reading good books for now as to not distract me from school and Ireland's charms, and 3. I didn't bring any movies with me to Ireland and Netflix doesn't stream here (and I will not buy a subscription to European Netflix) so that's a no go as well. Don't get me wrong, I love it here but sometimes I just miss home and want a hug from my mom or my "other brother" Adam - very adult-like huh?
The gloom seemed to hover over the apartment over the last few days so we decided that we needed to go out and have some craic (an Irish word for fun, not the drug). We walked around trying to pick what bar to go into, we were going to start off at our first bar (and our favorite) Taaffe's but it was a little packed so we left in search of a new experience. We ended up strolling into The King's Head which is a pub literally two or three doors down from our beloved Taaffe's. Walking in it was immediately a different experience. I mean first off the place was much bigger (size of the room and height of the ceilings) than what we were used to and secondly there was live music but it was all American oldies. Don't mistake me for someone who can't jam out to "Proud Mary" (the CCR version) because I totally can. Sidenote- there is nothing more interesting than hearing some American classics done with an Irish twist, I kinda love it a lot. When the bartender (whose name I never got) asked us what we wanted I told him we had already tried Guinness and asked him what the next quintessential Irish drink we needed to try was. His response was Galway Hooker (a locally brewed beer, not the other kind of hooker) so in the name of trying everything new and Irish Lauren, Marie, and I all had a pint. It was a good beer but probably won't be my go-to drink while I'm here because of the weird gingery aftertaste, so far I'm a Guinness girl.
After finishing our drinks we decided that we wanted to go back to Taaffe's and our trusty bartender Johnny and the night got much more fun. Because Johnny is the only bartender we will get drinks from at Taaffe's we went straight to him when we got in. "Okay Johnny," I said "We've done Guinness and Galway Hooker, what's the best way to have Jameson?" Johnny, never one to lead us to something bad, suggested the way he and his friends used to have it when they were in college - Jameson with red lemonade. This may be one of my new favorite things in the world, just sayin'. We got our drinks from Johnny, found our way to a table (which was quite the accomplishment because it was still pretty packed), and settled in to enjoy some of the Irish music (which was mixed in with some American music, I stand by my earlier statement regarding this). When we finished that drink Lauren and I waved Johnny over to the end of the bar, because that was the only open spot to talk to him, "Okay Johnny," we said, "What next?" It was then that Johnny introduced us to the snakebite. We heard him tell us something about it being lager and cider mixed with something else but we never did get the last part - after looking it up this morning I now know that the mysterious third item was a blackcurrant squash (or flavoring syrup). Marie and I split my pint of it and Lauren had hers to herself mostly (Marie and I helped her finish it in the end). This might be my other new favorite drink, it was so good!!
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| Me, Marie, and Lauren with our Jameson and red lemonade drinks! |
Our glasses were empty, the band was getting ready to cease playing, and it was getting close to closing time (which here is like 12:30 not like in Buffalo where places stay open until 4am) so we thanked Johnny for yet again steering us in the right direction and headed home. I can't even begin to talk about how much I needed a night of good, clean craic but it lifted my spirits immensely and now I'm ready to head out into the rain and walk to school.. well as ready as I'll ever be anyways.
Until next time,
Sarah
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