Cairdeas means friendship in Gaelic and could not be a more perfect description of my time in the (supposed) Gaelic speaking country of Ireland!
My trip to Ireland was the smoothest thus far. Conveniently I was able to take the tube all the way to and from Heathrow airport and easily found my friend Lindsay at the Dublin airport. It was so amazing to see her and as soon as we were laughing and catching up in the cab I knew it was going to be a great weekend. Once back at her flat we talked to the wee hours of the morning over digestive cookies (a biscuit covered with chocolate) and milk! Quite perfect.
Friday morning started off with a bus ride into city center. We passed the striking cab drivers and made our way to Trinity College. It was one of those days that makes everyone, even a winter loving girl like me, love fall!
From Trinity we wandered passed Molly Malone, the subject of the unofficial anthem of Dublin, and made our way to Grafton Street!
Lindsay was a great tour guide and didn’t miss a beat as we flawlessly went from window-shopping on Grafton Street to Saint Stephen’s Green. Once again it was such a perfect fall day and we didn’t stop talking the whole time. You would have thought that we have been friends for years not weeks…
We then met up with two of Lindsay’s roommates for delicious vegetable soup at the VAT house before continuing on to the Guinness Factory.
Prior to our self-guided tour of the factory I was not a huge fan of Guinness (sorry Uncle Doug). But after reading about every step of the brewing process and getting to the “tasting zone” I stomached it and was actually pleasantly surprised! It was obviously the freshest Guinness I will ever have (right from the source) but I am also much more open to ordering it in the future. We continued through the rest of the tour, watched some old Guinness commercials and made our way to the Gravity Bar at the very top of the building. There we received our complimentary pint and enjoyed the view (that's the Dublin Spire in the distance).
We were quite tired at this point and a bit annoyed that there was no where to sit, but we were happily chatting together and of course still all smiles…
From there we found a perfect coffee shop in which to satisfy our chocolate cravings and headed home with time for dinner and getting ready. We then went to a club called The Academy that was hosting Indie Rock bands.
The next day we decided to take a train to local Dun Loaghaire. Almost immediately after we arrived it started pouring. Not letting it get us down we sat it out at a coffee shop, it thankfully let up and we were able to enjoy the beautiful landscape and really really cool old boats. (Thank you Lindsay for the picture below, I guess I only took boat pictures on my 35mm).
We had a great lunch at a little panini shop, walked around a bit more and then made our way back to DCU (Dublin City University, where Lindsay is studying for the semester). Saturday afternoon was filled with Skyping with Brian, watching PS I Love You and another great dinner! On Saturday night we went to Whelan’s bar, many may recognize it from PS I Love you.
Sunday came too quickly. After a traditional Irish breakfast with Lindsay’s Aunt and Uncle who had just arrived in Dublin; we caught the bus to the airport. I really did not want to say goodbye, but knew that I would be seeing Lindsay soon (November for Taylor Swift!!), and would probably be talking to her in just a few hours. Overall the weekend was amazing, Lindsay was a perfect host and I had such a great time exploring the beautiful city of Dublin!
Monday started out with a class field trip to BBC. It was a cool tour, we got to go in the gallery of a few studios, see the newsroom, and learned a bit about the behind the scenes operations. Seeing all this once again makes me appreciate FC TV so much. I am so fortunate that I had the opportunity to learn so much about the production world before even coming to college.
From there it seemed like it would be just another rainy day in Londontown, that is until I heard about the Joshua Radin concert that was happening in Camden Town later that evening. I rushed to get ready and met my new friends Gerard and Stephanie at Tottenham Court Road to make our way to the venue. Our anticipation rose on the tube and while queuing for tickets. Throughout the hour or so we had to wait I got to know them quite well. I was very happy with my decision to put myself out there and meet new people!
Joshua Radin was such a good performer! My favorite part was how personable he was and how he took the time to explain his thoughts behind every song. Makes me appreciate his music so much more!
He and his band also did a few songs in an old school radio style, acoustically all around one microphone. It sounded amazing and was also a true testament to his voice as he was able to project throughout the whole venue without being next to the microphone.
He even played some new songs from his yet to be recorded album, my new favorite is called “I Think I’ll Go Inside”; it’s about the London rain!
Tuesday was filled with the stress of collecting rent, our landlord looked at me like I was crazy when I showed up with thousands of pounds in 20-pound notes. That’s what you get with 8 college students I guess. The high point of Tuesday was definitely the yoga class I took between my classes. It was a faster class than I am used to but I really enjoyed it and am looking forward to taking it every Tuesday!
Wednesday was quite an eventful day! Emily joined Kelsey and I on our excursion to the British Museum. This awesome museum is literally a 3-minute walk from school and, like most museums/ art galleries in London, is free! We first saw the Rosetta Stone,
Wandered through the Egyptians and the Greeks,
And paid a visit to Alexander the Great.
From there Kelsey and I went to STA Travel where Suzanne met us and we booked our fall break plans! We are flying into Barcelona on the 23rd then going to Madrid on the 25th and are hoping to make our way to Toledo, Granada and Seville from Madrid before we head home to London on the 31st…
After packing all Wednesday night Kelsey, Suzanne and I were so excited and ready to leave for Istanbul right from school on Thursday. It was an amazing experience and I am going to post ALL the details very very soon!
Slainte (Cheers in Gaelic)
Kelli
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