NOT study abroad, but abroad...

My dad and I landed in Dublin this morning bright (well, the sun was just starting to rise, so not quite) and early at a little after 8AM. After getting very little sleep on our 5.5 hour flight from Philly to Dublin (we had to connect after a flight from NYC to Philly) we were both pretty tired, but since we couldn’t check in to our hotel until 2PM, we decided to hit the ground running. After driving around the city for awhile, we decided to go to the Guinness Storehouse…

where I learned about how Guinness is made, the history of the company…

watched some funny Guinness commercials from the 1950s, and…

learned how to pour the perfect pint of Guinness. We also had a great view of Dublin from the bar at the top of the storehouse…

We had made our way through the storehouse at a fairly leisurely pace, stopping for breakfast (scones, mmmmm) and of course, for the pint of Guinness included with our tickets, so by the time we left, it was about 1PM. After awhile spent figuring out where our hotel was and how to get there, we checked in. I must say, coming to Ireland during the “off-season” means you get great deals. Our hotel room is only 90 Euros a night, the room has a balcony with a great view…

…the hotel has a pool, and right after we settled in we had a bottle of Prosecco delivered to our door.

After I ventured out to find us lunch at a nearby supermarket, and got on the internet to check in with people back home, both my Dad and I conked out for a few hours. When I woke up, it was almost 7. We decided to walk over to the center of Dublin on O’Connell street and explore Temple Bar, a known tourist hub with lots of pubs and nightclubs, which serve an interesting contrast to the the medieval cobblestone streets. On the way caught a glimpse of the “Occupy” movement outside of the Bank of Ireland. We sat down at one of the many pubs for dinner, and I enjoyed some delicious Guinness battered beef pie with mashed potatoes…

(since I started the day with Guinness, I figured I should end it the same way).

Then we found a Starbucks! Hooray! It’s always interesting to me the things that are different at American franchises in other countries, but one thing that’s the same is free wifi! We whipped out our Kindle Fires and took advantage of this (the internet I’m using right now is through an ethernet cable). I looked up tipping in Ireland, since we had been uncertain at the restaurant (we left a tip as we should have, but apparently tipping for other services as you would in America is not expected).

Then we walked back to the hotel, and hopefully we’ll get a good night’s sleep so we can be fresh to take on Dublin again tomorrow. We’re going to see if we can get out hotel room for another night in the morning.

Kaitlyn