It's Guinness Time

Today being a cold and blustery day, what better way to warm up than with a pint? Indeed, off to the magical Guinness factory we went!

The Guinness Storehouse, Dublin

For most, this would be a pilgrimage that beer-filled dreams are made of. For me, not so much.

THE GLUTEN.

But still, it was really interesting to see! The place reeked of beer and fermentation, which proves that it was all the real deal! People got really excited. I have to admit, the descriptions of the process made the final product sound delicious. If only.

Things to see in the storehouse! A very simple recipe for something people love so much.

You can't get away with a tour of the Guinness Storehouse, however, without some Guinness in yer belly! They had multiple areas that you could taste Guinness under the careful instruction of Guinness connoisseurs. There was even a pouring station where you could try your hand at pouring the "perfect pint."

Quite the experience.

The tour culminates at the Guinness Storehouse's "Gravity Bar," which is a huge circular glass bar that gives you 360º views of the whole city of Dublin. The weather had cleared up a bit, and we could see for quite a ways! At the Gravity Bar you turn in a voucher that you received at the beginning of the tour for a free pint of Guinness. We get a reward for making it that high up!

Views from the Gravity Bar! The Dublin countryside and the Guinness Factory

Laura and Olivia with their Guinness pints!

Oh look, I got a Coca Cola. So Irish.

I mean, it kind of looks like Guinness. Kind of.

The Bar! One of the bartenders could made clover shapes in the foam.

After our time at the Gravity Bar was over, we headed back down and out of the Guinness Storehouse. It was an interesting experience, and I at least enjoyed seeing how beer was made! The smell will never leave me.

It's blurry, but there we are!

To conclude our truly Irish day, we decided to continue our Irish ventures and headed back to the city center. Where we went to a Chinese buffet for dinner. Because we are hungry American students and that is what we do. It was delicious. And I got a cocktail to console myself over my lack of Guinness.

A "Green Forest" cocktail. It was tasty. And almost as Irish as my Coca Cola.

So as the day draws to a close, I type this up under the revelry of my classmates on the floor above us (who acquired several cases of cheap beer for themselves to celebrate the last day of real class in Ireland... We will see how that turns out in the morn). Tomorrow we are headed for Glendalough and the Wicklow Mountains! I am excited to get out of the city to see some real Irish countryside! It should be a beautiful sight to see.

Long Live the Queen!

In other news, since we are adjacent to the UK at the moment...

Happy Diamond Jubilee, Queen Elizabeth II!

The Sun is Shining?

Yesterday was a beautiful day, and luckily, we had double classes spanning most of the day, so we didn't get to enjoy any of it! The long walks to and from class weren't that bad, though. UCD has a gorgeous campus that we all ogled for the majority of the day. We got to learn all about Irish history and its multiple rebellions in Facinelli's class, and Foy treated us to an outside class about Gulliver's Travels! After class we had to finish more of our readings for the next day of class, but we took a break towards the end of the day to absorb more of UCD's sprawling campus!

Class in near the grass!

The UCD Campus

A trail around the outside of UCD

Trails around UCD

Friends forever photo shoot in the forest!

The weather is being a little complex, but after a quantum mechanics-related class with Dr. Foy (what), we're done with class for the rest of Ireland! We'll decide what to do later today!

A Weekend in Dublin: It. Is. Cold.

The weekend has been a busy one! Settling in is never easy.

Yesterday, I had a bit of a day to myself. The Houcks had to go on an Irish doctor adventure, unfortunately (all is well, though!), so they encouraged me to go out on my own for a while and they could meet up with me later. So off I went!

The first stop was a little place called "Cow's Lane." It was like a small-scale Portobello Road, with plenty of shops from local artisans. A lot of jewelry and knitting! I decided to get myself a pair of felted fingerless gloves f. Dor the rest of the trip, as the afternoon started to turn a little nippy...

Far away Cow's Lane!

After my brief stint at the market, I headed off to try to get some wi-fi on my phone. Getting in contact with people is hard! So I settled into a Starbucks, got some tea, and unsuccessfully contacted no one. As I left the Starbucks in disappointment, I ran smack into a group from my program, led on a tour through Dublin by Dr. Foy! They had me glom on to them, and we went around the city for a bit, laughing at only the most tourist-y of tourist traps (and there are a lot).

Our impromptu tour ended, however, with the arrival of more concerned students desperate to find some groceries. Dr. Foy decided to help them find a local Tesco, and the rest of us branched off. We happened to be near a large shopping center called St. Stephen's Green, so I strolled through the streets for a while, looking around and taking in the local life!

The inside of St. Stephen's Green!

It was getting late, however, and I decided that dinner was in order. I had still been unable to contact the Houcks, so I went to go find some gluten free fare to satisfy my hunger. And find it I did! With no particular direction in mind, I came across another center called Powerscourt Centre. This center was much more specialized. There were couture stores, antique stores, a yarn store called "This is Knit" and a few nice restaurants. 

Powerscourt Centre! So cute.

And it was here that I found a restaurant made for me!

Gluten free pizza, garlic bread, carrot cake, and ice cream! YES.

As I had the most pleasant dining experience of my life, I finally got ahold of some free wi-fi and got in contact with Olivia. We agreed to meet back at Temple Bar so she could at least experience a little of Dublin for the day! We met up, got to experience Dubliners drunkenly belting out tunes at their finest, and walked about for a while. We even got some cappuccinos as we waited for our bus back to UCD to arrive.

So much food.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - 

Little did any of us know that the chill we had experienced the day before would turn into one of the coldest experiences of our desert-loving lives. Because today was freezing. When a local says, "It feels like winter," you know that times are bad.

Cold and rain and rain and cold.

Today we decided that we wanted to get the beginning of our Ireland group pictures out of the way, and we headed to Kilmainham Gaol, the jail infamous for holding prisoners from all of the riots and rebellions that Ireland had to offer.

Kilmainham Gaol

It was full of sad stories and a wee bit eerie to see. Needless to say, we all nipped into a cafe after the tour was over and warmed ourselves up with coffees for a good, long time after. Our groups had to branch off for bus reasons, but we decided to meet up at the General Post Office, headquarters of the Easter Rising, to take our second group shot. Knock two out in our second day here!

The girls in front of the General Post Office!

Our little venture back into the center of Dublin left us tired and, most importantly, chilled to the bone. Even after purchasing some new sweaters for layering purposes, the wind was too much. All other plans went out the window and we were desperate to get home. The odds, however, were not in our favor. For some bizarre reason, Dublin played host to a Formula 1 Racing Circuit through the streets of the city today. Cool as that sounds, the streets were clogged, people were drunk, and all of the buses were diverted for miles, so we had no idea how to get back into UCD! We ended up taking a haphazard route through good old St. Stephen's Green Park and found a functioning bus stop almost an hour later. It was almost a repeat of our Thomas Moore adventure, but on the opposite end of the temperature spectrum. Even the locals were running frantically to catch buses they couldn't find!

I got some good pictures on the way! Robert Emmet's statue and a cottage in the park.

We all cranked up the heaters when we got home and went into heat comas. The end.

(On a related note to begin this day: I was woken up early this morning by a bird attempting to get in to my slightly ajar window so it could steal things and mess me up. Needless to say, I thought my life was over. It was great.)

Luck of the Irish

After the most depressing morning of my life, we left Courtfield for the last time and were off to Heathrow! Our plane had some issues with take-off, but I dozed through most of it, so life was alright!

Passport check 2 out of 5!

We finally arrived a Dublin Airport at around noon! Most of us were trying to figure out why the Dublin Airport didn't have a fancier name, like Sky Harbor or Heathrow, and then we discovered that it did. Aerfort Bhaile Átha Cliath is a name that I will never be referring to in casual conversation about Dublin Airport.

A short coach ride later, and we arrived at our destination!

UCD! The green!

The University College Dublin is a gorgeous campus. It is pristine, open, and most importantly, green! We were extremely excited. We were even more excited, however, when we got to the room-assignment portion of our afternoon...

My room!

The separate kitchen/living area for the four of us!

The view from our living room!

As much as I loved dear Courtfield, the UCD rooms put my old room to shame. I'm so excited to go to sleep tonight! Our views are incredible, and the added bonus of facing the courtyard is being able to spy on everyone coming and going about their nefarious activities!

After a brief settling in period, Dr. Foy and Dr. Facinelli wanted to show us the bus stop and how to use it. We're about 20 minutes (by bus) away from the inner city of Dublin, so bus rides are necessary if you want to get into town in a timely fashion! However, I know that London has trained us well for walking long and far, so I think we'll be alright no matter what travel we take.

Starving, we ducked into the first pub we saw and got some traditional Irish fare!

Laura, Marissa, and Olivia at the Merchant's Arch!

We decided to make a brief night of it, as we were exhausted from our travels. So we went to the first grocery store we found and picked up the essentials. Then we hopped on the 39A bus, as instructed, and headed back to our new home.

Or so we thought.

Cue the dramatic music here! For episode two of "The One Were We Get Lost: Dublin Edition!" This adventure was not entirely our fault, however. Dr. Facinelli clearly told us that the 39A bus would take us back to UCD, as it drives on a loop that begins and ends at UCD. So, applying that logic, we got on the first 39A bus we saw. It started off driving in the opposite direction, but we knew that it had to turn around eventually and go back to UCD. After about 45 minutes of not turning around, the concern began to set in. When we ended up deep in suburbia miles away from our starting point and the lights got turned off with only the four of us upstairs on the bus, we knew something had gone horribly awry. 

So of course, I was the one who was forced down the stairs to go and see just what kind of trouble we were in with the bus driver, who didn't know people were still on board. It turns out that buses are weird. That is basically what I got out of his explanation as to why he had taken his bus out of service for the day and was heading back to the depot. However, upon explaining our dire situation/telling him that we were clueless American students fresh off the plane from London, he kindly went out of his way to drop us off at the nearest bus station that would allow us to get on the right 39A bus back to UCD. 

We thanked him profusely (I'm sure any other bus driver in any other country would have just dumped us in the middle of nowhere to fend for ourselves) and promised him that we would get used to the bus system here (maybe). He took us to the bus stop that was closest to the city center and the one he judged as safest for four young ladies to wait at, and bade us farewell. Needless to say, we made it back in one piece! It was quite an adventure, however, and we did get our own personal mini-tour out of the ordeal! 

Dublin has an entirely different vibe altogether, and I am excited to see what the next 11 days will bring!