I've done a lot since my last post - some hiking, eating, drinking, socializing, traveling, sight-seeing, drinking, and other wonderful things. I'll try and fill you in as best I can. I'll write in reverse chronological order for your convenience.
So a few days after my birthday, I joined some friends for a hike. We took a bus over to Blackrock where we got on the DART to Bray (Bré in Irish). There was a sizable hill between there and Greystones (our destination)...
On the way up, the hill was covered in some kind of bramble bushes that had inch-long nettles. Some of it was tough going, but it helped if you ran through the rough spots. We also found an overgrown side passage beside the main road, which we of course explored.
(Photo credit to Mr. Eric Santagada)
Upon reaching the top of the hill, we were rewarded with a nice view of the surrounding area.
A few days later, the international and erasmus students at UCD were taken on a cultural field trip (for free!) We were taken to a church north of the Liffey (that I'm sure is very famous) and shown the crypts that contained several bodies, including that of an 800 year old crusader. It was considered good luck to touch his finger ("shake his hand"), so I'm now a lucky person.
Following that adventure, we were taken to the Guinness Storehouse - Mecca of Ireland.
The storehouse is seven stories tall, and the top floor is the "Gravity Bar."
Of course, to get to the Gravity Bar (for your free pint of Guinness), you first went on a self-guided tour around the facility. There were two good things about the tour: it was interesting and educational, and I found an extra ticket (which later translated to an extra pint). If you ever get to somewhere that isn't the U.S., try a Guinness Foreign Extra, it's delicious.
The next scheduled event for the group was to go and have dinner at the Arlington Hotel and enjoy some traditional Irish song and dance. Unfortunately my friends and I were separated from the group and spent about 45 minutes wandering Dublin City looking for the Arlington Hotel. Which we found. Funny story though, there are actually two Arlington hotels in Dublin, pretty much on opposite sides of the city along the Liffey. Naturally, we found the wrong one, though they were able to point us in the right direction in time for us to catch dinner and the show! (I had salmon)
Moving right along, that was a Friday. On Saturday, I attended my first official Couchsurfers event at a pub by Trinity. I met a Kiwi, two Brazilians, two Spanish guys, a Polish woman, and an Estonian woman. Overall it was a lot of fun, and pints were only €3.50!
Monday brought with it a new adventure - a trip to Howth! It's a small town north east of Dublin with a nice hiking path around it. In addition to being a fishing town, it also had some very cool architecture.
At this point, my diet is mostly Bran Flakes (for breakfast), pasta, a sandwich, a pizza, and/or some Ramen for the other two meals. There's also variable quantities of beer as dictated by the situation. Granted, every now and then I like to go out and eat real people food rather than just college kid food, but that stuff costs money :/ Pfft.
On the 28th (a Friday), my history class was taken to the National Museum for some good, wholesome fun. I'm not sure that photography was allowed, but I didn't reach that conclusion until after the photos had been taken... There were also 4 bog bodies (bodies that had been disposed of discreetly in bogs hundreds of years ago) on display. They were leathery and in various states of disrepair. One still had a beard, the other you could see the fingerprints on, it was all very interesting.
Getting closer to the present, I did some laundry tonight, and pretty much spent the whole day looking for the best deals on Ryanair. I've included a spreadsheet that had some of my figurings on it.
Suffice it to say, it took a while. The red things are date comments.
I finally settled on five days in Brussels and a week in Barcelona before returning home for St. Patty's Day. The grand total of my flights is $91 US. From here, I'm going to reach out to some Couchsurfers for places to stay and stuff to do. I'm also going to The Netherlands and London before I return to the States. Maybe one more trip? We'll see.
Oh, I've also been doing some reminiscing in my spare time. Here's what it looks like:
Hell yeah.
The time is now 2:52am, now do you see why I post so infrequently? It takes me forever! But have no worries, as faithfully as you read, I shall post. Plus I'll have more to post once I start doing more traveling, both abroad and around Ireland.
Until next time, dear readers, I bid you adieu!
-D
