Dubh Linn

This past weekend my study abroad group had our excursion to Dublin. We took off early, and i mean EARLY, saturday morning. Meeting at the coach station at 7:30 am. We went straight to our hostel to drop off our bags. Except me. I was able to pack everything in my purse of doom, which if you ever have the opportunity to stay in a hostel, the lighter you pack the happier you'll be. 

Dublin (Dubh Linn, "the black pool") is a great city. It is absolutely gorgeous. Initially I wanted to take pictures of all the buildings I thought looked really beautiful, but all I got out of it were crappy pictures that looked like this; 

What on earth was I going for?

From our hostel we took a short walk through the city on our way to the Viking Splash Tour. The bus is painted to look like a boat, and we were given viking hats to wear during the tour. 

As we have discussed this tour was called Viking Splash. So, I'm not sure why I was so surprised when  the bus actually DROVE INTO THE WATER. 

Orange life vests are flattering

I say the bus drove into the water, but it was a more drawn out process than that. They did give each of us a life vest (safety first) and attached some big yellow floaties transforming our tour bus into a tour boat. From there we saw some buildings involved in the Easter Rising, U2's recording studio, and the largest theatre in Ireland (or maybe it was in Europe. Hard to keep things straight) 

After the tour we headed to a restaurant for lunch, where I finally found spicy food here and some delicious cocktails.  Then we headed to Dublin Castle. It was a gorgeous building, with parts of the foundation original to the Viking settlements. There is a portion of the original river (moat??) still visible underground where tourists throw change as a sort of wishing well. Our guide told us that over 70 human skulls were found in that river, curious then why people use it for wishes.

Our last stop of the day was to the Guinness factory. It was a self guided tour, which basically means you run to the 7th floor as quickly as you can to get your free pint of Guinness. I tried to drink it, I really did. But, I have something against a beverage that is reminiscent of used motor oil. Regardless, seeing the whole process was pretty interesting. If you have the opportunity, I think this is definitely worth a stop. 

Saturday night meant going out for drinks in Dublin, it was a good time but me and three other girls came back to the hostel super early because we were dead tired. (I regret nothing). While we're on the subject of the hostel, check out this awesome artwork 

The hostel was covered with paintings like this. It was a pretty cozy experience. (No one was killed like  Hollywood would have us believe). 

Sunday morning 10 am came much too soon, but we took a tour of a prison and then we headed to Trinity College to look at the Book of Kells. If i am not mistaken, the Book of Kells is just the Gospels that are written in latin. They are so old. It is crazy that they survived this long. I would have a few pictures to show you, but they don't allow any photography in the exhibit. 

The Book of Kells was our last stop, we had about an hour to kill in Dublin so a few of us walked around the city center (down town) and got lunch. Then we hoped on a bus from 2 and half hours back to Galway.

Dublin is a gorgeous city and I would like to spend more time there in the future, but I still prefer my Galway. The friendly atmosphere is unmatched, and I was happy to get back. 

Until next time!

Procrastination is Best!

I am being a terrible blog updater. In the interest of procrastination I've decided to remedy that! Since I last wrote my study abroad group has had an excursion to the Aran Islands. Before this trip the Cliffs of Moher had been my favorite thing in Ireland, but the islands were so much better.

We started off at 9am Saturday morning (much too early for my taste) and we took a bus to the ferry. The bus was absolutely jam packed, we were luck to all get seats. We then road the ferry for 45 minutes to the island and rented bikes once we arrived. In total we probably rode for 3 hours or so, and my butt definitely reminded me of that for the next few days, but I digress. Riding around the island was absolutely gorgeous. Our main goal was a fort (I think it was a fort), so we ditched the bikes and took a short hike up a hill.

When we finally got to the top, it look like this.....

Except it was way better because pictures never do the sights here any justice at all.

We were lucky enough to get perfect weather, there was barely even a breeze, in fact I was able to get right up to the edge and peer 87 metres (that's how they spell it here) down to the Atlantic, sorry Mom. After we got back to Galway Allison and I took a trip to Tesco to stock up on supplies for that evening. A couple girls came over and we all made a fort that looked something like this; 

In light of the days activities, it seemed appropriate. 

Also, today I found out that the keyboards they have here are different, and believe me that is a MAJOR disability. Quotes and "@" are switched, and where the shift key usually lives there is a forward slash instead. Add that to the fact that I have basically no clue how to use Word for PC's and I'm sure you can understand what a dunce my group members probably think I am.

The next time I update will most likely be in a couple weeks after we've had our Dublin trip. 

Until next time!