This entire week the Jameson Film Festival has been going on all over Dublin and it has been 
amazing. On Monday I went to a viewing at the cineworld off O'Connell Street in North Dublin. Although the movie wasn't Irish I still really enjoyed seeing it at an International Film Festival. I saw Charlie Bartlet and would seriously recommend it to anyone! I thought it was such a great movie! Then the next night I was lucky enough to miss my Ireland and the EU 2.5 hour lecture to see the Irish Shorts for my film class. Our teacher, Ashley, as able to get us free tickets to the showing of 6 short films. All the films were made by and acted by Irish people and took place in various Irish locations. 1 of the films was in Irish and surprisingly I was able to catch a few phrases! I really liked most of the movies and it was a really great experience. The Irish 
Shorts were viewed at the IFI (Irish Film Institute) which was built by U2 for the showing of Irish Film in Dublin. The building was really cool and it's located near the Temple Bar area. After the Irish Shorts were done I went to the Temple Bar to attempt to listen to some trad music. I learned a good lesson in this attempt: that Temple Bar is NOT the place to see good trad music. I'm sure all my professors could have warned me of this, but I guess we all had to learn firsthand. Temple Bar basically has some "trad" musicians who play guitar and don't play real Irish music at all. We stayed for about an hour and then realized it wasn't even worth it.
Yesterday I went on a day trip to Dun Laoghaire (pronounced Dun Leery) and it was beautiful! It's about 20 minutes south on the DART train and it's right on the coast. The day started out pretty cloudy and cold, but as the day went on the sun peeked out a few times and the temperature rose a bit. In Dun Laoghaire we walked along the pier and watched some sailing in the harbor. There was also a sunday market set up in a little park so I looked around the market with a friend and bought some food. The atmosphere of the market was great and there were kids playing everywhere in Dun Laoghaire. After eating lunch at the market we walked down the coast and saw a beach area. Shockingly there was an old man who was swimming without a wetsuit! As I watched him from the beach with my winter coat on I realized I may be losing my tolerance to cold... there were a bunch of other people scuba diving but they were all in wetsuits. I think it looked like a lot of fun, but I think I would rather attempt it in the spring or summer. I'm not really over excited to get into the water when it's in the 40's. After getting done in Dun Laoghaire my friend Jess and I returned on the DART and attempted to get into the Custom House. Unfortunately they didn't open when my travel guide said they would so we just looked at the house from the outside which was still impressive. 
amazing. On Monday I went to a viewing at the cineworld off O'Connell Street in North Dublin. Although the movie wasn't Irish I still really enjoyed seeing it at an International Film Festival. I saw Charlie Bartlet and would seriously recommend it to anyone! I thought it was such a great movie! Then the next night I was lucky enough to miss my Ireland and the EU 2.5 hour lecture to see the Irish Shorts for my film class. Our teacher, Ashley, as able to get us free tickets to the showing of 6 short films. All the films were made by and acted by Irish people and took place in various Irish locations. 1 of the films was in Irish and surprisingly I was able to catch a few phrases! I really liked most of the movies and it was a really great experience. The Irish 
Shorts were viewed at the IFI (Irish Film Institute) which was built by U2 for the showing of Irish Film in Dublin. The building was really cool and it's located near the Temple Bar area. After the Irish Shorts were done I went to the Temple Bar to attempt to listen to some trad music. I learned a good lesson in this attempt: that Temple Bar is NOT the place to see good trad music. I'm sure all my professors could have warned me of this, but I guess we all had to learn firsthand. Temple Bar basically has some "trad" musicians who play guitar and don't play real Irish music at all. We stayed for about an hour and then realized it wasn't even worth it.On Wednesday my thoughts on Temple Bar music were affirmed when a mother and daughter came in to present traditional music. The daughter played fiddle and the mother played every form of guitar/mandolin I've ever seen. They spent about 2 hours bringing us through the history of Irish music playing jigs, reels, hornpipes, polkas, mazerkas, ect. I can't believe how amazing they were, because they would just improvise everything without music. They actually suggested a great pub where they do sessions on monday in North Dublin. I think I'm going to try and hit that pub up soon, because I really want to see some good trad music in Dublin!
So last week I found out that I don't have classes this week. Unfortunately it was too late for me to plan a fantastic vacation to any location so I decided to just take day trips around Dublin on the DART and hit up some more sights in Dublin, because amazingly I still have a lot to see. On friday I hit off the weekend in style with some intense badminton at the swan center in Rathmines. Each week the IES staff rents out the athletic center for 2 hours and anyone is welcome to join them for squash, tennis and badminton. This week only 5 of us showed up (as usual), but the small group is actually really fun. I tried out squash this week and found out it's harder than racquetball... I guess I'll have to dedicate myself to practicing. I also spent over an hour playing badminton and found out that it can be a cut throat sport (this whole weekend I've been super sore from my games). Well, after letting off some steam on the court I returned home and went grocery shopping. We then went out to Flannery's with some people who were visiting a friend. The pub was really fun and I busted some moves on the dance floor:-)
Yesterday I went on a day trip to Dun Laoghaire (pronounced Dun Leery) and it was beautiful! It's about 20 minutes south on the DART train and it's right on the coast. The day started out pretty cloudy and cold, but as the day went on the sun peeked out a few times and the temperature rose a bit. In Dun Laoghaire we walked along the pier and watched some sailing in the harbor. There was also a sunday market set up in a little park so I looked around the market with a friend and bought some food. The atmosphere of the market was great and there were kids playing everywhere in Dun Laoghaire. After eating lunch at the market we walked down the coast and saw a beach area. Shockingly there was an old man who was swimming without a wetsuit! As I watched him from the beach with my winter coat on I realized I may be losing my tolerance to cold... there were a bunch of other people scuba diving but they were all in wetsuits. I think it looked like a lot of fun, but I think I would rather attempt it in the spring or summer. I'm not really over excited to get into the water when it's in the 40's. After getting done in Dun Laoghaire my friend Jess and I returned on the DART and attempted to get into the Custom House. Unfortunately they didn't open when my travel guide said they would so we just looked at the house from the outside which was still impressive. We also walked up the Liffey and saw a replica ship that would have carried people ove
r to America during the famine. The ship was tiny and it was so sad to think about how many people they crammed on those ships. We also walked by the Famine Figures, which are statues commemorating the million plus victims of the famine. It was really a haunting area, but a reminder of how awful the famine was for Ireland. I then decided to split ways with Jess and 
wander through the city center towards St. Stephen's Green. There are so many side streets that I haven't seen yet so it was good to just take a roundabout way back to the Luas stop.
r to America during the famine. The ship was tiny and it was so sad to think about how many people they crammed on those ships. We also walked by the Famine Figures, which are statues commemorating the million plus victims of the famine. It was really a haunting area, but a reminder of how awful the famine was for Ireland. I then decided to split ways with Jess and 
wander through the city center towards St. Stephen's Green. There are so many side streets that I haven't seen yet so it was good to just take a roundabout way back to the Luas stop. Hope all is well with everyone and I miss you a lot! Thanks for taking the time to read the blog:) I'll try to fill it with some really interesting facts from Northern Ireland soon, because we leave on Thursday morning!
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