Today was our first real day in Dublin. With a fresh start the city seemed so much brighter and exciting then the day before. We had a late start to the day as well, making wake up a lot more relaxing. I had a quick breakfast before heading out towards St. Stephen’s Green with my roommate Maddie. We left 2 hours before we were due at CEA CAPA HQ so we were able to stroll through the city, stopping for coffee at Boom Coffee Roaster. There we both got dirty chais and chatted with the barista who immediately asked if we were students studying abroad… are we that obvious?
After we got our morning cup we went on towards St. Stephen’s Green, the “Central Park” of Dublin. We spent around an hour in the green, wandering around, taking pictures and sitting and chatting. We saw a ton of massive seagulls, much bigger than American ones, mag pies, pigeons, ducks and swans. I am not a big fan of birds so I was a little perturbed, however, Maddie is a big nature photographer so she was in her element. After St. Stephen’s Green, we headed to the CEA building to meet up with the class to prepare for our Dublin walking tour. We met our tour guide and began around 2PM. We walked around St. Stephen’s Green, the Dublin Castle, and other important landmarks. We learned a lot about the Great Famine, the Troubles, the fight for independence from the UK and the civil war in Northern Ireland. The tour guide was very engaging which made the experience very enjoyable, rather than feeling like a lecture. After the tour, Ryan and I explored Grafton Street and enjoyed some light shopping before heading back to the apartment. At night, Ryan, Maddie, Kira, Mel and I all went over to John’s Bar and Haberdashery to enjoy a quick bite, a pint of Guinness and a lively viewing of the Arsenal game. Arsenal unfortunately lost and I wasn’t a big fan of my Guinness, however, the night was still quite fun as we were all focused on enjoying each others company.
