Dublin

Just got back from our trip to Dublin. We heard mixed reviews on the city before we went but I thought it was pretty sweet. The bus we boarded was thought to be a direct to Dublin, taking about 2.5 hours, but we accidentally got on the one with 10 stops in between, so it ended taking us 4 hours to arrive. It was torture but, in the end very worth it.

When we arrived, everyone went their separate ways. My roommates and I bought a cheap ticket for the Hop on Hop Off bus that went around the city. We sat up top, with the open roof. It was a little overcast and chilly but not too bad. The River Liffey runs right through the city, which was cool.

The first place we stopped was the Guinness Storehouse. It was a neat tour, showing how the beer is made and stuff. You work your way up the building and you get to the "Gravity Bar". Here they give you a free pint, and get a 360 degree view of Dublin. (I only had one, Mom..)

After that we went to Kilmainham Gaol, which is a historic, old jail in Dublin.  Here, many of the Irish Rebellion leaders were held and executed. It was a neat tour .. one wing of the jail was very old and the other pretty new. Eerie looking in either wing, but .. here's a picture of the new wing.

After that we went back to our hostel. It was my first experience in one so it was kind of neat. Ours was called the Four Courts, and as soon as you walked in it was crawling with students. My roommates and I shared a room with 2 other people .. never even said hi but what can ya do. Pretty sweet, comfortable beds right? That night we went out to Temple Bar which is this huge strip of pubs and what not. It was so crowded on a Saturday night in Dublin, but it was a neat experience. Saw plenty of Irishmen in their native form haha

The next morning we stopped to see St. Patrick's Cathedral and Trinity College. It was a Sunday so we just saw the outside of the Cathedral but it was really nice.

Trinity College was really cool too. Outside the walls it's very noisy and has a lot of traffic, but as soon as you walked through the gate it was extremely quiet. Would be neat to study a bit there, too.

After that, we walked to the bus station and traveled back to Galway. It was surprisingly nice to show up to Niland House after the weekend in Dublin. It felt kind of like home and we all hit the beds to nap.

Tomorrow I start classes. No clue what I'm taking yet .. they give you a 2 week period to go to whatever classes you want to find out which you enjoy most. Sounds neat, but no one seems to know how to figure out class times or location or if they will even give us St. Joe's credit for them haha. It'll be an interesting and stressful next few weeks. Aside from that, we're not allowed to travel outside the country until the end of September, when we register formally with the immigration office. So we'll probably be planning another trip inside Ireland soon.

Luke