The Last Days in Dublin

As I finished multiple final papers, presentations, and tests I was excited to be done with school, but really sad to be leaving Dublin. I always heard that this semester would go so quickly, but I never believed it would actually be done. My last night in my apartment I went out to Devitt's with my roommates and some friends which was amazing! As usual there was great trad music to be listened to and the musicians were so fun to talk to. I talked to a fiddle player named Vincent who was really friendly and then just spent some time with friends and said goodbye.

I needed to move out of my apartment on April 19th and luckily my grandparents were in Dublin that day so I could move all of my belongings and myself into their hotel room. They had just gotten done with a tour of the Ring of Kerry and then I was going to show them around Dublin for 3 days. On that saturday we decided to get settled in and then tour around the Grafton Street area and see the Book of Kells in Trinity College. I hadn't seen the Book of Kells yet so I was really glad we decided to do it. I personally enjoyed the old library up on the second floor much more than the Book of Kells, because it was a 2 story room just filled with books from the 1800's. It was crazy how many books they had from such a long time ago and the room design was really original. After this we ate dinner and called it an early night. The next day Grandpa woke up with a cold that I probably gave him...ooops. He wasn't feeling very well so he decided to stay at the hotel while Grandma and I went to the National Museum and the National Gallery. We also went shopping for a few souvenirs and then saw that the weather was taking a turn for the worse so decided to see how Grandpa was doing at the hotel. We found him eating chocolate ice cream in the hotel bar and then decided to plan on going to Foley's pub for dinner, because the hotel staff had highly recommended it. The next day Grandpa was feeling a bit better so we got on the Dublin hop on- hop off tour to see all of Dublin. The bus really is a great way to see all the sights and get some good commentary from a Dubliner. We saw Phoenix Park, the River Liffey, Merrion Square, St. Stephen's Green, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Christ Church Cathedral, and the Guinness Storehouse. We got off the bus and took the tour of the storehouse which was pretty fun. We got seats up in the Gravity Bar and got to enjoy some great views of the city. We then returned on the bus and went back to the hotel to pack and organize, because they were leaving the next day and I was going to be leaving for Copenhagen shortly.

Overall, we had some great times in Dublin and it was great to see them and share my semester experience with them firsthand. It was unfortunate that Grandpa got sick and wasn't feeling well, but we did our best to have some fun and see all the sights!