Today started promptly at 7am with everyone meeting in the hotel lobby/eatery area for breakfast. The breakfast was served buffet style with eggs, sausage, bacon rashers, cooked mushrooms, grilled tomatoes, croissants, irish guinness bread, bread rolls, cereal, and jam. The bacon rashers and croissants were very popular with everyone in the group, mainly the rashers because they were a different cut of pig than we get in America. The meat is thicker like ham but still fairly fatty and so delicious. From what I've read, a full irish breakfast which includes everything above plus black pudding (blood sausage) is ususally only eaten regularly on a Sunday morning preceding Mass .
However, on week days most people will have something small like toast and tea then run out the door, leaving lunch to be their dominant meal of the day.
After everyone ate plenty and then some, we all gathered our things and left the hotel on the way to the bus that would take us down Southeast across River Liffey to the Fulbright Commission Office. This program allows Irish citizens to go to the States to study or research, and for Americans to do the same in Ireland. Here we would be welcomed by the director, Colleen Dube, and given a detailed background of the scholarship program, as well as relations between the program, the US, and Ireland. Being a historian in spirit and education, she gave us an excellent overview of Irish current political events that was over most of our heads, but still gave us a great basis of knowledge to use as a lens to view the country around us.
On the way to and from the Fulbright Commission, we were able to appreciate the greenery around us and managed to find a nice little riverside path that we all stopped to take pictures of.
However, on week days most people will have something small like toast and tea then run out the door, leaving lunch to be their dominant meal of the day.
After everyone ate plenty and then some, we all gathered our things and left the hotel on the way to the bus that would take us down Southeast across River Liffey to the Fulbright Commission Office. This program allows Irish citizens to go to the States to study or research, and for Americans to do the same in Ireland. Here we would be welcomed by the director, Colleen Dube, and given a detailed background of the scholarship program, as well as relations between the program, the US, and Ireland. Being a historian in spirit and education, she gave us an excellent overview of Irish current political events that was over most of our heads, but still gave us a great basis of knowledge to use as a lens to view the country around us.
On the way to and from the Fulbright Commission, we were able to appreciate the greenery around us and managed to find a nice little riverside path that we all stopped to take pictures of.
We opted to skip another bus ride to the shopping district and began to walk in the direction of Grafton St. On the way we cut through St. Stephen's Green park, which was beautiful. The area was covered with tall, thick trees and small ponds scattered throughout with swans and ducks. It makes me sad that the Irish people don't take better care (littering-wise) of the cities and greenery because it all has so much beauty but just random bits of trash everywhere kinda ruins it a little.
After meandering around the park for around half an hour, we exited and went towards Grafton St., an area lined with shopping venues: some unique, most familiar as they are in the US. At 11:30 or 12 pm we arrived at the cafe and then were able to wonder about as we wished until 1 pm when we would meet up for lunch at Bewley's Cafe. This cafe was significantly larger on the inside than we saw from the small venue outside. All of the food was fantastic, I myself ordered a simple ham and cheese toastie, a double espresso, and a chocolate brownie for dessert.
After eating we hopped on the hop-on hop-off bus to tour around the high points of Dublin, which eventually dropped us right off on O'Connell St., so a quick walk back to the hotel.
In all a very eventful day, one that seemed to take forever, but in a good way. All of the new experiences made the day go by so slowly. Its interesting how monotony of everyday life that we're accustomed to can make days, and even years of life seem like no time at all. Going out and experiencing new things, be it a massive trip to another country to see and take in completely new experiences, or just adding something new to your life can make it pass by a little slower and make it a little more enjoyable.
In all a very eventful day, one that seemed to take forever, but in a good way. All of the new experiences made the day go by so slowly. Its interesting how monotony of everyday life that we're accustomed to can make days, and even years of life seem like no time at all. Going out and experiencing new things, be it a massive trip to another country to see and take in completely new experiences, or just adding something new to your life can make it pass by a little slower and make it a little more enjoyable.
EDIT: Decided to also look up a few common slang terms that are thrown around here in Ireland. A few seem to be rooted in the Gaelic language, a few from the UK, and some I have no reference point for and if I heard them from any Dublin natives, I would probably simply dismiss it. http://www.slang.ie/mostcommon.php