Final Dinner at Johnnie Fox's!!!!

The bus left the dorms at 6:30 pm to head to Johnnie’s on Friday night. We made it to Johnnie’s at 7:30, so it takes about an hour to get there, being the highest pub in Ireland. We pull up and it looks like it’s just a small little country pub situated on a hillside. I was thinking "ooooh this should be interesting". We all go outside and make our way to the back of the pub in this big dining room. I immediately noticed how traditional the pub looked. All of our seating was together which was really nice. We also noticed that there was a stage in the middle of the room. After hanging out and taking pictures for about 20 minutes, the first course came out, the Seafood Chowder. The chowder was probably the best chowder I have ever tasted. It was so delicious. Our main dish came out next, the Catch of the Day. This dish was interesting, definitely something that most of the students have never had before, but surprisingly it was still pretty good. And finally, our desserts came out, a slice of some sort of Irish pie. For the most part, I believe the students enjoyed the food because it was so different.

A traditional Irish band came on around 9:30. It really did feel like we were back in time. With all of the pots hanging from the ceiling and the overall vibe of the pub, this was exactly what I picture when I think of Ireland. The band was great. They played a lot of songs that we were familiar with. Following the Irish band, six Irish dancers came on the stage and gave a mini Riverdance show. I could tell that all of the students were having so much fun clapping along. One of our students, Katie Hogan, was lucky enough to get chosen to go dance with one of the Irish boys. After the dancers finished their show, the Irish band came back out and played a few more songs. The night at Johnnie’s finally ended about midnight, but that was the end of the night for the students. We had the bus driver make a stop downtown to let off the students who still wanted to go out. So a group went back to the dorms since they had early flights in the morning and the majority of the group went to a pub called Flannery’s. There they enjoyed their last night out together as a group. It was sad to see everyone saying their goodbyes and taking their last photos together. It’s hard to believe that the program had reached the end.