The Red Carpet

A lot of this week has been a blur due to a major lack of sleep. After arriving home from Dublin, I had to unpack my bags and then pack and get ready for an overnight stay in Leicester Square. My friend Kelly and I waited over 24 hours to see the Breaking Dawn Part 2 premiere in London. 

Kelly and I finally in our place at the premiere

When we first arrived, we joined a short queue next to the Raddison Hotel. We just missed the 500 cut-off point, so we didn't get wristbands or tickets. We still had a pretty good spot in line. After a couple of hours though they had us move behind designated barriers. Everyone rushed to get in front of one another so our 'spots' and ticktet numbers were useless at that point. Kelly and I still got really great places in line though. And this is where we had to camp out overnight. We were given about five feet of space to spread out. There was a short stone wall we could sit on, but it was uneven, cold, and really uncomfortable. The only thing I brought with me besides many, many layers was a thin blanket. That night, I did not sleep. Even with all of the layers that I was wearing, the night became so cold, I was begging for morning. At 5am McDonalds opened, so I had some hot cocoa and felt much better. Soon after we all got moved into one of two different 'pens.' Yes, we were put in pens. The put over 100 of us in each pen. Once we got settled in our spot. I went and sat in McDonalds for about four hours. When I came back to the pen, we were all standing again and we remained standing for the rest of the night, so about another eight hours. 

The waiting bit was pretty unpleasant, but it wasn't horrible either. Some of the people I met were incredibly nice, and I may even see some of them again. Some of the people I was waiting with were less friendly. A lot of bickering took place and even people chanting to kick someone else out of the pen. At least I had Kelly with me!

Once the event finally started it was about 5:30pm the next day. The red carpet was laid out and I got pretty excited. Working at a cinema has actually made me very curious about movie premieres. I've only seen one before and it was a very small scale red carpet event. The Breaking Dawn premiere was MUCH larger than the first premiere I've seen. I was a bit overwhelmed by the enormous crowd and the number of media present. They soon announced that Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, and Taylor Lautner were on the red carpet and a few girls around me started crying with excitement. Kelly and I had a really good spot, second row at about the middle of the red carpet. I sat on a railing and took photos for my friend, and Kelly was able to get all of the actor's autographs. 

At the end of the event, I was beyond exhausted and ready to go home. It had been over 48 hours since I slept, and it had been even longer since I'd been in my own bed. I'm really happy that I got to witness a major movie premiere. It was definitely an experience I will remember, but it's also an experience I don't think I will ever do again. I certainly wouldn't camp out to see a premiere, but I'm still happy that I saw a real red carpet event in a major city.

My Irish Weekend

This past weekend has been the absolute craziest of my life, and mostly in a good way! 
I went to Dublin and then saw the Breaking Dawn Part 2 movie premiere. 

My friend Tonya and I left for Dublin late on Friday night and arrived there about midnight in the Dublin Airport. I had the unfortunate experience in which my eardrum popped while the plane was descending. Let me tell you, that is NOT pleasant. 

We arrived at our hostel, Abraham House, fairly easily. It's just a short walk from O'Connell Street. Even though it was late, Tonya and I decided we wanted to go out and see the city. We found a late night rock bar and each had a beer while listening to the 80s hair metal blare from the overhead speakers. It was such a nice little pub actually, I wish I could remember the name of it.

Our stay in the hostel was pleasant. It was my first experience in a hostel, but it was tidy and the staff was friendly. The next morning we went down for breakfast which was cereal and toast, my typical breakfast. Then we decided to spend the day shopping. The first mall we went to, The Irish life Shopping Mall, had only one store. Everything else seemed to have gone out of business. This might possibly be because of the number of Penney's and Carrolls around town. This is where Tonya and I bought all of our souveniers. Carrolls is an irish souvenier shop, and Penny's is Dublin's Primark. We did pretty well shopping-wise.

Trinity College Campus

The next day we we visited St. Patrick's Cathedral. We had to wait about 30 minutes to get into the cathedral, and then it was quite small. After seeing Westminster Abbey and St. Paul's Cathedral, St. Patrick's seemed a bit dull. Next we went to tour Dublin castle, only to discover it wasn't much of a castle, and the only tour was for the state apartments, which we chose not to tour. Next, we made our way to Trinity College, which was very pretty. The best part of Trinity College though was seeing the Book of Kells. Unfortunately, we couldn't take pictures of this amazing exhibit.

On Monday, we toured the Guinness Storehouse and the Old Jameson Distillery. This was the best day by far. We had our first taste of Guiness and I had a Jameson and Ginger, which I'd been craving for some time. It was really cool to see how each beer and whiskey is made for its special flavor. The tours were really well put together and entertaining as well.

Each night, Tonya and I went out for drinks as well. We both love ciders so we discovered Bulmers, a delicious Irish cider. We had to make our way to the Temple Bar, a famed tourist location. The bar was SO packed. We could hardly move through the crowd and the drinks were quite pricey. At least I can say I've been there! The best pub was Madigans, where Tonya and I tried traditional lamb stew. It was SO good. Possibly the best meal of life. seriously. I had it with a pint of Smithwick's as well. Amazing.

My free Guinness Sample!

I really enjoyed Dublin, but at the same time I missed Kingston a lot while I was there. The flight home was much smoother, but as soon as I arrived home I had to unpack and repack my bag for an overnight stay in Leicester Square. The final Twilight film, Breaking Dawn part 2, premiered there, so my friend Kelly and I camped out on the concrete with about 1,000 Twilight fans to watch the celebraties walk the red carpet. I will post about that soon!!