Alice in Switzerland: Dublin

10/19/12 to 10/22/12

Once again Dublin was one place that I never thought I would have the opportunity to visit while studying abroad! I was so excited to go, because I had always heard how beautiful Ireland is. Fourteen people from the Riva program went on the trip! We flew out of Milan Bergamo with Ryan Air. It was definitely the most peculiar experience I have had in an airport. When we arrived at the airport, we had a long time before our flight left. Holland and I played bread sandwich football as well as another game with oranges! Security was a complete joke. They barely looked at the screens as people bags were going through. Some people in our group got through with more than 3 ounces of liquid and razor blades. Our flight was then delayed by an hour and it was such a weird process to get on the plane. From the gate we took a bus to the plane and then it was a mad rush onto the plane to find a seat. The overhead compartments were filled up so quickly and there was not enough room for everyone’s things. After about two hours, we arrived in Dublin! From the airport we took a coach bus that dropped us off outside of Trinity College and it was about a 10 minute walk to the hostel from there. By the time we were settled in, it was about 1 in the morning and most of us had to get up early in the morning for a Cliffs of Moher tour. We quickly went to this burger place called Bobo’s to eat. The meat was all grass fed and organic, which was ironic, because we had just learned all about this in BIT class. A girl, Shelby, that we met at the hostel came with us as well. She is from Canada but studying in England at the University of Birmingham. I was talking to her about the places she had visited so far in England and she brought up Amesbury! My grandmother lived there for my whole life and it is a pretty small town. It was bizarre to hear that someone was going there, because I have been visiting ever since I was a baby. Whenever I talk to anyone else that is also studying abroad, not matter which program they are doing, there is always this mutual connection and respect for each other. At the same time, the more I hear about other people’s programs, the more I love the way that CESA is set up. The program allows for all of us to become one big family and we know that we will still be able to see each other when we go back to Virginia Tech in the spring, as opposed to those who go to different schools.

On Saturday, I woke up at 5:50 on the morning in order to get to our tour bus by 6:40. Our tour guides name was Bud and he honestly was the sweetest man. He always had the most interesting stories and would just say them at random times on our drive. We stopped at a motorway stop after an hour of driving and it reminded me so much of the stops in England. The whole day being in the Irish country side kept bringing back memories of England, so I felt as though I should have been with my family. Our first stop on the tour was Limerick. We drove through the city and stopped at King John’s Castle on the Shannon River. When Allyson and I were taking a picture in front of the castle, an Irish man was walking by and said “ladies you are looking gorgeous today!” All of the people in Ireland are honestly so kind. Everyone that I met always smiled at me and had something nice and positive to say. Our tour guide said that not many things matter to Irishmen just as long as they are happy. We made another stop along the way at Bunratty Castle and then saw a statue of Saint Brigid. In Ireland, Saint Brigid is a patron saint and many people put the cross in their thatch roofs to prevent them from being burned down. Finally we arrived at the Cliffs of Moher and it was more beautiful than I could have imagines. The wind was so strong that our tour guide warned us to duck down so we would not get blown off the cliff. We had about an hour and a half there and it was nice to just get some fresh air. The weather ended up being really nice and not too cold. Bud then took us to Fitzpatrick’s bar to get lunch and it was absolutely delicious. I had salmon with carrots, potatoes, and cabbage. It is probably one of the best meals I have had since being abroad. This bar is a place where most of the tour companies take their tour buses, so they can serve up to 800 lunches on some days. As we headed back to Dublin, we stopped at the baby cliffs which were made of limestone. They used to be part of the ocean bed and apparently there are a lot of underwater caves nearby. I saw some people getting ready to go diving too! The last stop was a twelfth century abbey called Corcomroe Abbey and it was beautiful. Most tour buses do not get to go there because the road is difficult to maneuver on, but Bud took us anyway. In total that day we traveled about 600 kilometers. That evening we came back to the hostel around 8 at night and got ready to go out to Temple Bar.

Irish countryside

King John's Castle

Bunratty Castle

Beautiful Day!

Cliffs of Moher

Where we ate lunch

Mini cliffs

Our tour bus

12th century abbey

The people who had been on the tour on Saturday were able to sleep in a little bit on Sunday. Once we woke up, we went to eat breakfast at this little organic café called the Humble Bean. It had wonderful coffee, just what I needed to start my day. While there I met this sweet old man with the most adorable dog. The dog’s name was pepper and she kept doing tricks for me. I talked to him for a little while and he told us the best place to go shopping for souvenirs. When we were leaving he told us he would walk us to the shopping place. I cannot get over how kindhearted the people I talked to were. After shopping for a little while, we headed to this park in the middle of the city. It was so nice to be outside and see the Fall season. In Switzerland the leaves do not really change colors or fall off the trees, instead it is just rain season. I enjoyed the park thoroughly, because Fall is definitely my favorite season. On our way over to the Guinness Factory, we briefly stopped by Saint Patrick’s Cathedral. The factory is in the shape of a pint and it is the largest glass pint in the world. Over 10 million pints are served each day around the world and that brewery makes 3 million pints each day. On the fourth floor, we learned how to pour our own pints of Guinness. First you have to pull the tap forward and it releases the beer as well as two different gasses. You then fill it up the rest of the way after letting it sit for 5 minutes, but this time you push the tap and it only releases the beer. We all received certificates for pouring the perfect pints. The very top floor was called the gravity bar, and the view was beautiful, because you could see the whole city. That night we just walked around Dublin and found random places to go.

The park!

I love the Fall!

In the shape of a pint!

Pouring the perfect pint!

View from Gravity Bar

On Monday, I woke up around 9 and most of the girls wanted to go shopping. Instead Allyson, Stef, Cody, Holland, Fan, and I decided to do our own thing. Our first stop of the day was Saint Patrick’s Cathedral and we were able to go inside. There were many old British flags hanging up and I enjoyed reading all of the stories about Saint Patrick. It took us over an hour to walk to Kilmainham Gaol, a former prison in which many Irish rebellions send imprisoned and executed. We took a guided tour and the lady spoke so quickly that it was sometimes hard to understand her. The whole building was made of limestone and it was freezing inside. We learned a lot about the political prisoners that were held there and the effect that the prison had on Irish history and its independence. During the famine, people would try and get sent to the prison, because they would be fed and have a place to sleep. After the tour, we went back to the hostel and got on a bus to go to the airport. We were able to make it back to the villa by around one.

Although I have been to many amazing places while being abroad, I would have to say that Dublin has been one of my favorite cities.