Sláinte!

SPRING BREAK PART 2: Dublin, Ireland

Bright and early on March 21^st, KJ, Connor, & I flew to DUBLIN!! After we found our apartments, we got lunch, and basically just crashed after an early morning. However our 1 touristy thing of the day was the Jameson Whiskey Distillery. Now I have never had straight whiskey before (I had only had whiskey at all when I tried a mixed drink of in Scotland), but this was fascinating! I learned more about whiskey then I ever knew! Tried a few sips of Connor’s straight and then enjoyed my Jameson Ginger ale drink. It’s surprising I’m old enough for this…  

March 22^nd:

Dublin clearly likes to showcase its alcohol, because today we did the Guinness Storehouse tour! Once again, I had never had Guinness before, but I was really impressed by everything I learned here too. Now I won’t be as ignorant back in the states. After touring the whole building, we enjoyed our free pint up in the Galaxy Bar with a 360 degree aerial view of Dublin. Very cool and very Irish. 

Afterwards we ate at Arthur’s pub where we made friends with 2 other American students. They are studying abroad in Rome and were also on “holiday.” It’s really fun to travel places, make friends in a restaurant or pub, and then go your own ways after just nice friendly conversations! I think I’m going to miss that atmosphere back home and definitely back in the “Elon bubble.”

That night we went to Whelan’s which is known for their up and coming artists, and we got to sit and listen to a country/rock musician. That was a pretty American feel for being in Ireland.

March 23^rd:

Today it was gorgeous out, and we managed to walk around Dublin even more.

First stop: Trinity College- This uni is fenced off but placed right in the city. When you’re behind the walls though it feels like you’re in a whole different world, not in the middle of a big city! 

We also went into the Old Library and saw the Book of Kells! Not only was the book cool to see, but the display did an excellent job of explaining it all.

After that we walked around Grafton Street, Dublin’s shopping street, and just took in the tourist, shopping, populated atmosphere. I really enjoyed just being out and about in Ireland! For some reason, I find it hardest to grasp that I was in Ireland! Scotland, I accepted, Paris, I accepted, but Ireland just blows my mind…Strange, I know.

In Dublin my mission was to buy myself a new cross, and that I did. It’s not overly Celtic because I want to wear it every day, but it’s still very pretty in my mind.

After shopping, we walked through St. Stephen’s Greens Park which is a gorgeous park with green grass and flowers. It finally looked, and smelt, like spring! Especially with the sun out…We saw newlyweds too! They lucked out with the weather, that's for sure.

That’s basically everything for Dublin! We spent quite a few hours on March 24^th in the airport so that we didn’t have to deal with making the right bus, not cutting it close, etc etc. So we just got to the airport early and killed time there.

Cool Dublin tidbits:

-horses (like for carriage rides) everywhere

-travelers (or gypsies) have these cool 1 person carriage horses

-lots of advertisements for First Communion suits

-Guinness advertisements everywhere…

-colorful doors & cool bridges! 

Now I’m back “home” in London and getting back in the swing of things! Some people already have count downs to the end of the program; I have a feeling this second half is going to fly by!