Dublin!

Courtyard at Trinity College

Christchurch

Guinness Tour time!

Dublin was everything I'd hoped it would be and more. Ireland is sooo beautiful! I was excited from the moment I caught glimpse of it on the plane! Thursday night I traveled from London to Dublin and met up with Alexa (another friend from my program at SARUP) and we found our hostel along River Liffey. Once settled into our room, we decided we needed a Guinness on our first night in Dublin so we had to check out a local pub. We ventured to Brazen Head which is the oldest pub in the city. It was adorable, as expected. A bit touristy with the items on the wall belonging to visitors who traveled there over the years (mainly signed money), but the beer was great and the people were incredibly friendly. Ran into some Americans who bought Alexa her second beer (damn me for drinking to fast and already purchased my second one!) Lucky for us, this seemed to be a common theme throughout the rest of our stay in this awesome city.

Friday we woke up at a reasonably early time and met up with our friend Meaghan (another friend in our program) and we visited Trinity College, which is the oldest college in Ireland. It had a beautiful campus and I completely understand why students would want to study here. We walked along neighboring streets in and out of tourist shops. Eventually we met up with Meaghan's friend from her undergraduate studies, Sarah. We all had lunch together and then walked around to see a few other sites, such as Christ Church, St. Stephen's Green (one of the larges planned parks in the city), Powerscourt House and other various sites. After an eventful afternoon, we parted ways and went back to the hostel to freshen up for dinner. We ended up going to Farrington's for dinner where I had to try the fish & chips... I don't think I can ever get sick of this meal. We dined upstairs and when we finished we went downstairs where we met this awesome girl and her husband who both happened to be from Grand Rapids. I wish I remembered her name, but she started up conversation with the guys next to us and the next thing I know my drinks are taken care of for the rest of the night. Needless to say, I was nursing a hangover the next day. I suppose this had to happen ONCE in Dublin. I blame the Guinness. :)