We had class a bit early from 9:30 in the morning until around noon. We discussed James Joyce and Samuel Beckett. It was fun to talk about Beckett having seen the play the night before. We had an interesting discussion on morality and how it was defined in older Ireland and how it is defined in present times. We also talked about how Joyce broke down the typical novel and how the Catholic church affected him and his writing. Class always seems to fly by. I am really liking what we are learning!
After class, Megan, Lindsay and I decided to head over to the Guinness Storehouse centered in Dublin. We ate a little lunch before we went and then started on our walk. It was a good 30 minute walk from campus, but fortunately it wasn't raining. We got to see the Dublin Castle, City Hall, and Christ Church Cathedral on our walk over.
I cannot believe how magnificent the churches and buildings are. I will definitely miss walking around every day and seeing all these amazing buildings. I will just look for the beauty in the simpler things :)
We got to Guinness and went through the tour where we learned all about the ingredients, brewing process, and history of Guinness. I never knew that Arthur Guinness had signed a 9000 year lease for his building and storehouse location. He was obviously very confident that he had a good thing going- guess he was right! At the top floor of the building we got our free pint of Guinness at the Galaxy Bar which had 360 degree views of Dublin. You could see everything! It was awesome!
We headed back to campus around 4pm and stopped in this acclaimed cafe called "Queen of Tarts" for cofee and a little dessert. I had a delicious apple tart/crumble which reminded me of my dad and the apple crisps he makes (yours were better Dad!).
Got back to campus and then headed to the computer lab to plan our trip on Saturday. We decided to try and go out to Killarney, but it would be really expensive without the student discount so we are going to go to the train station in the morning to see if we can haggle and get a better price. If not, we are going to hang out at Trinity and in Dublin tomorrow and plan out a trip to Wicklow on Sunday. After planning things out a bit, we decided to head out since it was one of our last nights in Dublin. Lindsay and I ran into some of the girls from our program who said they were going to go to the bar on campus before dancing. We went to go get ready and then met up with them at the Pavillion Bar on campus, but we weren't really feeling it, so we went out into the city instead. Lindsay, the 2 Megan's, and I went out to Stags Head on Dame Lane. They had traditional Irish music going on downstairs a little after we got there. We just had a couple rounds and sat around talking. Megan M. was out with us for the first time, so it was nice getting to know her. She is really sweet. We listened to music and just laughed while
talking about anything and everything!
We decided to call it an early night after 3 hours and walked back to Trinity around 11pm. Lindsay was craving pizza so we walked down Grafton in search of pizza. We were walking down the street when we saw these funny rickshaws that you could take around the city. Great for all those pub crawlers who don't feel like walking. They were too funny! I figured they knew a bit about the city, so I went up and asked one of them if they knew where pizza was. He didn't know, but we got to talking and I learned his name was...Fabio! We all had the same reaction, "Did you say Fabio?!" A real live Fabio...He was from Brazil and was living in Dublin for a couple years to work on his English and work. He was really nice and asked if I wanted to go out dancing...not really into the dancing with foreigners thing, but he was nice to ask.
All the other girls made a McDonalds run (which in Dublin is decorated with a Chinese motif with lucky cats, paper lanterns and all). Very bizarre...Got back to campus and tried to call Will before heading back to the room. I sat around talking with the Megans for a bit while they ate. I am doing this thing where I am going to make a slideshow of pictures from Lindsay, Megan and my camera so at one point I asked Megan if I could steal her pictures...then I realized I was really only borrowing them and giving her back something cooler- a slideshow of more pictures set to music. So it was decided that I was "Santa Claus bringing presents but set to music." You had to be there...but I wanted to write it down so I don't forget it.
It's bedtime and I have to be up early to try and haggle cheap train tickets. Hopefully it works, but either way, I am going to get to do some awesome hiking around Ireland this weekend. And if I can't get out to Killarney, that just means I'll have to go with Will when we come back :) Who knows when that will be, but it will happen...I am coming back to Ireland again. I love it here!
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