Thursday Elizabeth, Cami, Elizabeth B, Ashley and I went in to town after class to walk around the Trinity College Campus- Ireland’s oldest university.
It was a beautiful day outside- sunny, warm, and everyone was out and about. We spent some time laying out in the grass among the many other students and visitors and then eventually met with with the rest of our group for a Literary Pub Crawl.
The crawl took us through a few of the major pubs in Dublin while narrating a bit about some of the many famous Irish writers. Our tour guides even acted out a few of the scenes for us. The writer I was probably most familiar with was Oscar Wilde. Especially after having read some of his work in my Victorian literature class last semester.
Friday a small group of us took a train from Dublin to Waterford- home of the world famous Waterford Crystal. It was fascinating to see how many detailed steps Waterford uses to create their unique and treasured pieces.
I can definitely see why their crystal is so well-known and well-loved and I can’t imagine how long it must take to create some of the really intricate pieces.
Saturday we all went to the Guinness Storehouse for a tour and tastings. Sometimes I feel like the bulk of Irish culture revolves around this dark, ruby red, treasured beer. The storehouse was really neat and we learned the many steps to creating Guinness and the history behind the famous brew. We also learned how to properly taste the beer and of course how to pour the perfect pint. Did you know it takes 119.5 seconds to properly pour a pint of Guinness? I even have a certificate to prove my pint pouring skills!
After the storehouse we made a trek to Croke Park where many hurling and football games are held. We were trying to get in to watch a hurling game, but unfortunately couldn’t seem to find a ticket office or get in. The girls headed in to town to peruse the shopping areas again and the boys headed back to the apartments.
Sunday we had an early start to the day and caught a bus with Wild Wicklow Tours. The tour bus took us down to the DunLaoghaire Harbour, Wicklow Mountains, Sally Gap, and Glendalough.
They were all beautiful sites and we hiked to view lakes, mountains, and greenery. In the middle of the tour the guide even treated us all to shots of Jameson. Only in Ireland do your tours break for whiskey shots!
Yesterday (Monday) was another long, but fun day that I’ll detail out for y’all later and this week we have many more activities planned before another weekend trip out of Dublin!
Love, Pristine
how exciting! love reading your blog!
ReplyDeletelove and miss you.
mom