No tags yet.
During my junior year of college, I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to study abroad in Ireland. I frolicked through Ireland exploring cities and small towns. I was there for a month, and from that I gained cultural knowledge that I never thought I'd have. At the time, I was a freelancer for a local newspaper and wrote several columns highlighting my trip. In lieu of Saint Patrick's Day, I thought I'd share with you my first adventure in Ireland: Dublin. Cheers, lads.
The pubs crawl with people anxious to grab a pint after a long day at work. Guinness is poured and the tan bubbles rise to fill the glass with rich, dark color. Lively music is playing in the background, drowning out the clinking of glasses and mindless chatter. The streets are bustling with double-decker tour buses and impatient cabs while the sun starts to set. Voices engulf the alleyways between the antique buildings. Night is falling upon Dublin.
Dublin has a rich history that matches the vivid and violent history of Ireland itself. This was my first stop as a Penn State student studying abroad. Growing up in a small town, I always dreamed of visiting places across the pond. So with a newly issued passport and an open mind, I stepped off of the plane and into a new adventure.
This month-long program consisted of art and English classes, focusing on the Irish culture and its breathtaking landscape. Our days would be spent admiring and sketching the wonders around us, while reading and listening to poets who could give words to things that are otherwise silent.
After finding my luggage at the carousel, I, along with some newfound friends of the program, nervously walk through the airport. The signs are in English, except Gaelic can be seen underneath our native language. I quickly realized that we needed to exchange our dollars to Euros, which instantly killed my wallet. Nothing can make it rain harder on your parade than looking at the exchange rate.
We stayed at Trinity College in the heart of Dublin for the next week. Its stone walls surrounded a strikingly beautiful campus filled with ivy covered walls and an immaculate clock tower. We would meet every morning at the tower and then head off to explore the city.
In Dublin, museums line the street as well as numerous pubs and shops. We took advantage of the rich history inside the museum’s walls and visited the National Gallery and toured the Book of Kells. The Book of Kells is a beautifully and vividly illustrated Gospel manuscript that is written in Latin. It is believed to have been created around 800 A.D., and has been through a lot since then. The Book of Kells was highly sought after for its ornate illustrations in Western calligraphy and is considered Ireland’s finest treasure. It is on display at Trinity College where it will remain permanently. After the Book of Kells, we also toured the Old Library which was filled with historical books, a spiral staircase, and cathedral ceilings. Busts of famous philosophers lined the hallway of the library. Honestly, I felt smarter by just standing in that room.
Although Dublin has been mentioned time after time in Irish history, the town itself has grown to fit the times. Tourists have taken over and the economy knows that. Grafton Street can be deemed the Irish version of Fifth Avenue. Shops of every kind line the street and when you reach the end, you are led to a shopping mall. Dublin has the feel of any big American city, busy and consumer driven. While I was shopping, it felt as if I would step into a different era with every musician I passed on Grafton. From jazz to indie, music notes floated on the cool, rainy air. I then realized how many people can sing, and also, how many people can’t. It seems as if there are no restrictions on who can set up a microphone on Grafton Street.
Another iconic street in Dublin would be Temple Bar Street, aka the street of pubs. Throughout the cobblestone streets, you are surrounded by pubs on either side of you. The street is typically buzzing with people, but nighttime is when the real action happens. Lights are strung up the sides of the pubs while beautiful hanging flowers drape the windowsills. It is truly a magical site and the beer is fantastic.
But two of the most popular tourist attractions other than the city’s pubs, are the final two that I visited during my stay in the capital of Eire. Kilmainham Gaol is one of the largest unoccupied gaols in Ireland. The word gaol is pronounced the same exact way as our English word jail and means the same thing. Kilmainham has seen some of the most heroic and tragic events throughout Irish history from the 1780s to the 1920s. On our guided tour, we passed through corridors of uneven pavement that prisoners walked on their way to their cells or even to their execution. Many of these prisoners were leaders of Irish rebellions and were sadly executed by the British and by the Irish Free State. Many children also spent time in the prison for “criminal” acts as small as stealing a loaf of bread during the famine. The cells were small and unwelcoming; a sad box of stone to live in. All throughout the tour, I would run into cold spots and my skin would crawl, sending chills up and down my spine. For me, being inside a building where history was made makes me feel something that is unexplainable. History fascinates me and standing in the East Wing with the encased staircases and metal framework sent my mind racing back to a time in which this place actually functioned. If only walls could talk.
The second place that is a must-see if you are in Dublin is the Guinness factory. Nothing says Ireland more than a pint of Guinness; or the whole storehouse. After getting lost in Dublin and having to ask an elderly couple where the factory was, a group of us finally made it and inhaled the sweet smell of chocolate and the bitter smell of hops upon entering the building. The actual working factory is right next door and can be seen out the windows of the museum. The storehouse has seven floors that surround the center of the building in the shape of a pint of Guinness. Clever, I know. Throughout the tour there are different displays that tell the story of Guinness. My favorite part, as I'm sure is the majority of people's favorite, was the Gravity Bar. This is where you redeem your free pint of Guinness. When people say Guinness is better in Ireland, they are exactly right. Guinness in the states is nothing like Guinness from the storehouse.
Dublin is the home of many things, from Guinness to poet W.B. Yeats, and is a place that everyone should experience. There is something for each and every person in Dublin and I can only hope to experience it again someday.