Dublin

This past weekend I ventured to the Capital city of Ireland.  It is the only legitimate city in Ireland, with over 1 million people living in it.  This was certainly my favorite experience to date, as I fell in love with the history and happenings of, that's right, Dublin.

We left Galway on Friday morning and used a CityLink (10 eruos) Bus which dropped us in the center of city at around 1 o'clock. The first thing we did was check into our hostel, The Ashfield House.  For future reference, when I refer to "we," I mean the 9 of us who joined the trip, 8 Villanova students from my program and Megan.  The Ashfield was literally right in the center of the city, on D'Olier street.  A prime location.  The staff was utterly clueless, but the joint had hot water and free breakfast (cereal, hard boiled eggs, warm OJ, weird eastern Eurpoean girls buttering their bread BEFORE toasting, what?!) and reliable wifi. No complains really. I fear I've set the bar atypically high for what a real hostel is, but I figure it's not a terrible idea to ease myself into discount travel lodgings.

Ashfield House, Budget Accommadation

After checking in, Katie, Erin and I made moves directly to the Gunniess Storehouse.  It was about a 30 minute walk across town to the storehouse, but absolutely worth it.  For 13 euro we learned how a Gunniess is made and about how awesome Arthur Guinness was.  There seemed to be a cult like obsession surrounding Arthur throughout the museum, a tad strange but also hilarious.  The tour was honestly a waiting game until the main event, the Gravity Bar on the seventh floor.  This room is entirely made out of glass which offers some of the best views of Dublin, allowing you to really get an idea of just how large and beautiful the city is.  At the Skybar you receive a complimentary pint of the best Guinness you will find anywhere else in the world. I sat above the city, drinking the sweet nectar of Arthur's mad genuis, as the sun set over the city and the surrounding Wicklow Mountains. 184 XP Points.

 

After the Storehouse we met up with the group for dinner.  That night we went to Temple Bar, which is the district of Dublin where most of the pubs and nightlife is.  We popped in and out of various bars and enjoyed the live music and 7 euro pints. Yes, that's over 9 dollars. Grossly expensive, so here I'm not afraid to admit that I resorted to drinking half finished drinks that I came upon throughout the evening. Creature. Back to the Ashfield House for a sporadic sleep on a bunk-bed beside Brazilian and Belgian strangers. 

The next day, Saturday for those of you keeping score, was probably the most tourist day of my entire life.  Nose in a map the entire day, taking pictures of everything I saw.  Here are a few of the highlights, giving you a flare of the day.

James Joyce Statue.  His presence is felt everywhere throughout the city

Dragged everyone to the James Joyce Center. So amazing.

 Visiting the James Joyce Exhibit was the highlight of the day.  For those of you that don't know, Joyce is my favorite author of all time. He is quite honestly the most fascinating person I have ever studied.  Visiting the museum really inspired me to finish his body of work and do my senior English teacher Peter Honig proud. I saw this quote in the museum and it really seemed to resonate with me.

 “I am tomorrow, or some future day, what I establish today. I am today what I established yesterday or some previous day.”

The Custom House

Trinity College

Doosher band called Keywest that was playing on the street. Admittedly quite good though.

St. Patrick's Cathedral

There were other stops along the day, but I wanted to share those. That night we went back into town.  I purposely lost myself from the group and enjoyed some time to myself, roaming the streets and looking for some good live music. I went into the pub called Farrington's and say by myself listening to a incredible two piece band.  The female singer sounded like Janice Joplin I kid you not and the guitarist was the word record holder for most consecutive hours playing guitar.  They played covers of all the classic rock and roll songs, insanely good.  It was so nice to just have some time to myself to enjoy the music and a drink by myself. 

Sunday was our final day in Dublin, and by far the best day of the trip and my study abroad experience to date.  Erin found this bus tour called the Wild Wicklow Tour, which was an 8 hour, day's long trek through the Wicklow Mountains that are to the West of the city.  The Mercedes bus was spacious and clean, and although the tour guide George was a tad boring he definitely pointed out the key landmarks and was very friendly. The first stop on the tour was the Martello Tower in SandyCove, Dublin.  Interestingly enough, this is also the official James Joyce museum and serves as the setting for episode 1 of Ulysses.  Definitely got my Joyce fix during this trip.  

The bus proceeded to climb the mountain and the views and scenery got increasingly more breathtaking as the tour progressed.  These mountains were carved by glaciers during the Ice age and were the setting for Braveheart and P.S. I Love You, which I have not seen. Umm. Anyway.  As the tour reached the top of the mountain it began to snow, making the scenery that more surreal.  Our guide said that, "No matter which direction you point your lens you wouldn't be able to tell quite what century you were in."  This is the best way I could describe the day in Wicklow.  Here are a few pictures, which I know will do no justice.  Photo credit to Rachel Young and Jacqueline Selter.

Most photogenic part of the tour. You're welcome for the new computer background

Glendalough, pronounced 'Glen da lock.' An old monestary build by St.Kevin around the year 600

Sally Gap, favorite picture of the Day

  

Sally Gap Again, almost standing in the clouds we were so high

 So Dublin was certainly a successful weekend.  I got some culture, had a lot of fun, and the trip definitely brought our group a lot closer.  Here's the best part of the story, and a small metaphor for my life in general. We ate dinner with our adviser on Monday night and she surprised us with, get this, a trip to Dublin.  This weekend. Yup, just my luck.  Never thought I'd be sad to hear the news of a trip to Dublin.  Textbook First World Problem. It's just a shame that we went last week and spent all of that money when we could have waited for VU to fund the excursion.  In any event, the city is big enough that we will still get to see some new things so I really shouldn't complain.

Thanks for reading.  Ravens vs Falcons in the SuperBowl, heard it here first. Ravens will win the ship. Gambling is legal in Ireland so if anyone is interested in placing some bets, I've developed a solid network of trustworthy book keepers in the last week or so.  Solid guys. Real family men. FB Message me your picks.

Also, I've been exposed to loads of new music while abroad.  I've also rekindled my love of of some of the classics that I obsessed over in HS like the Arctic Monkeys, Kooks, Stokes, etc; all the bands in Galway cover that type of music.  From here on out I'll end each blog post with a song that I've found or rediscovered.  Without further adieu:

I've heard this song in so many stores, apartments, around school, at 'pre drinks', etc.  A 'Proper' tune, my roommate's friends like to say. Enjoy.

Nova to outlast Pitt in the Pavilion tonight by a final score of 56-51. Bet has been placed.

-JD