Dublin: the land of the Dunne's...

     Last weekend my friend Rathi and I went to Dublin! It was amazing despite the weather which persisted to rain on us for two days straight. Nonetheless, the city was beautiful! There was so much history that I've never studied before.    
     After arriving early on Friday, we went straight to sight seeing with the National Irish Museum, the              National Library, and the National Art Gallery. The museum was incredible and even had bog bodies found in Ireland-bodies that have been preserved in bogs for thousands of years! This was really interesting from an archeological perspective. I learned a lot about Irish history, especially about Catholicism in Ireland that had to do with St. Patrick and Augustine. Although I don't usually appreciate art galleries as much as I should, this gallery was amazing! We saw so many original paintings from Monet, Picasso and many more. I loved this one beautiful painting of a scene where Judas betrays Jesus, and it shows their facial expressions vividly, it was such a memorable painting and I think it's quite famous!
     One of my favorite parts about our trip was going to St. Stephan's park which is near the center of the city. It reminded me of the Boston Gardens actually and I loved just walking around and seeing all the different gardens.
     That night, we went on a hostel pub crawl and it was awesome! We went to four pubs and a night club which was special because we got in for free. The pubs were so "typical Ireland" I don't know how else to describe them. There was great live music and it was so chill, which we really liked. Traveling with just me and Rathi, we were relived to meet new friends who were studying abroad in London. It was really cool to meet everyone else traveling, there were people from all over the world! Oh and side note, we went to the pub that P.S I Love You was filmed in...I thought that was a highlight of our pub crawl.
     The next day, we walked everywhere. We walked from one side of the city to the other! We started at Trinity College- I loved it. It's assumed to be the Oxford Uni. of Ireland which made it seem really intellectual and cool. Although it was pouring out, Rathi and I loved walking around the city center and just window shopping for things we wanted to buy. After a warm lunch with lots of soup...we went to St. Patrick's Cathedral. This was by far one of the most magnificent cathedrals I've ever seen in my life! It was so impressive and for a good reason-St. Patrick was the person that brought Catholicism to Ireland which makes him one of the most celebrated saints. Walking further to the outskirts of the city, passing the Guinness factory, we went to the old Irish prison. This was the creepiest place I've every been and it was relatively modern considering the history of it the 18th century and used until 1946. We paid for a tour and it was well worth it, we learned so much about the rioting in 1919 that helped Ireland gain independence!
     At this point we were very tired and cold...we were ready for a good pint and some fish and chips, so we walked to a pub and had dinner! I wouldn't mention it, except the pub was so unique. One of the benefits of traveling with one other person is that you could go anywhere without worrying about being a loud crowd of Americans. So walking into this quiet, old pub was so fun because we got a real Irish experience and everyone there was so nice!
     Saturday night we went on a literary pub crawl...For those of you that don't think I'm literary intelligent, I'm not really, but one of our mentors gave us all the answers! Also, this was an experience that I wouldn't have had otherwise, so I'm very glad I did it. It was actually a lot of fun!
     Staying in a hostel was quite an experience. We met two really cool people there, which I wasn't really expecting! One: her name is Mary and she is 18 and traveling Europe ALONE! I can't believe how independent and friendly she is for her age! She was really nice and this weekend, I might see her in Barcelona! The other was a girl from Australia who was also traveling alone before returning to her university. Both of these people made me feel slightly immature because of how big a deal it is to travel. But not in a bad way, just in an inexperienced way. I loved them!
     So with the most amazing trip near an end, we packed our bags and prepared for our early journey home. However, neither of our alarms went off the next morning....So instead of waking up at 5 30, we woke up at 8 15. I thought we were done, I knew at that point we had missed our 9 30 flight on Ryan Air, a notorious airline that requires you to be there two hours prior to your flight and one that closes the gate 30 minutes before departure. We took a rather expensive cab ride to the airport, and a miracle happened...there was NO ONE in line at Ryanair. So we got our passports stamped easily and then another miracle happened...NO ONE at security! It was amazing, and we barely made our flight! It was such a rookie experience, and thank god we made it because it would've costed us so much money to reschedule. Sitting on the plane knowing we were going to make it home was the best feeling ever!
     That basically sums up my trip to Ireland. Dublin was so cool and just really chill, I hope I can go back someday and visit or even live there. I loved it so much even in the pouring rain... This week is our midterms week and I'm pretty stresses but I've already written one paper which is good! It's also my 21st birthday tomorrow, which I'm excited for! Honestly, I miss my sister so much and I would be more excited if I could be with her- because as a twin, this is our birthday. But I know both of us will have a great time even if we are continents apart!
I will post pictures in the next entry! This weekend is Barcelona, so I'm looking forward to a weekend in the sun! :)