Dublin Revisited
(new pictures up under the blog album!)
First off, my congratulations to Amy KP, who won the election back home. I'm not sure how close it was, but I'm sure she'll do a great job.
I left with the choir on Wednesday and had my first experience with Irish trains. While the bus takes a good 4 1/2 hours to get to Dublin and results in a cramped butt, frequent stops, and a 50/50 chance of not getting a window seat, I found the train to be far superior and lots of fun, but I was also in good company. We arrived in Dublin from the train station and quickly caught a cab to our apartments, paid for by the Societies office at college (yes) and found our place to be great: Two bedroom, kitchen, living room, and a great view of Dublin. It was also in close proximity to all of the major downtown fun stops, but we had to get going before we could explore to DCU, Dublin City University, for a choir concert. Now, I was a little nervous about this concert. There were only 8 people from the choir that came (out of around..30ish) and I was the only tenor depending on what part our director sang. I also didn't really know a few of the songs, but the concert went fabulously. There were two other college choirs that just formed and they weren't very good, but we rocked the show. The only group that truly showed us up was an elementary choir. We all know how adorable 1st graders can be, but these were even better because they had Irish accents, and there's something about little Irish kids singing songs.
After the after-party of the concert, we went down to Temple Bar to find a late Pub, and grooved that evening up. We went to the Turks Head, which is a pub open late with free admission, and I always end up going there every time we go to Dublin (I'm 3 for 3 now.) The following day we woke up and after a big hassle about where the apartment key was lost (surprise! I wasn't the last one with it) I finally got to go "out into the town" and did the Guinesse Brewery tour. Now, alot of my friends have discouraged me from going, saying it is too over-hyped and really not worth the price of admission, I had a great time (then again, I spent three hours there reading everything: have to get my money's worth.) The whole tour tells you the processes of brewing Guinesse, the history of the founder, advertising, how to make barrels, etc. The building itself is really cool as well, and is shaped like a pint-glass with a bar at the top representing the foamy head of a pint of Guinesse. I found the tour to be enjoyable, and the whole ascent to the bar was one big buildup for what I would deem the ultimate pint of Guinesse. It was amazing. And the view from the bar was also great. I could see 5 of the 7 towers (two have since been destroyed) from U2's song "running to stand still."
That night we had the BICS (not sure what it means exactly) which were awards for the best societies in Ireland. We didn't win, but the dinner was magnificent and we got to hear an Irish senator speak. Also, DCU's campus was great. Very modern, and they had nice couches and a bright atmosphere that reminded me of Whitman, despite the assertions from my Galway friends that NUIG is still far superior.
The next morning we hopped on the train back to Galway and I spent an hour playing a terrible game of pool against Peter Mannion, our director and a girl in the choir, Mary Catherine. I realized I'm terrible at pool and also realized that Peter will go down in my memory as one of my favorite people. Quite a few people make this list, but Peter is hilarious. He has a distinctive way of talking and is always animated and cursing. The best part is, whenever something irritates him, as opposed to saying "I'm mad," Peter will say "oooh, I'm getting the rage." Priceless.
Last night I met up with friends from work. We had a secret diner come to Eddie Rockets and they gave us a 96%!! 2nd highest for the franchise! Guess who the waiter was? Me! This means I get an extra 20 euro. John, our manager, rewarded us with a tab at the bar, and, needless to say we had way too much fun. So now it's morning, I have work in about 45 minutes, and I'm still trying to remind myself that exams are a week away. I'm also still looking for housing in Tacoma, we'll see how my search goes. And yes mom and Aunt Annie, I'm trying the "Whitman" connection ;-).
Hope all is well back home.
Cheers,
-Nate
"Sweet the sin, but bitter the taste. In my mouth. I see seven towers, but I only see, one way out."-U2
Website of the day: Create your own blog! I did. www.blogspot.com .
First off, my congratulations to Amy KP, who won the election back home. I'm not sure how close it was, but I'm sure she'll do a great job.
I left with the choir on Wednesday and had my first experience with Irish trains. While the bus takes a good 4 1/2 hours to get to Dublin and results in a cramped butt, frequent stops, and a 50/50 chance of not getting a window seat, I found the train to be far superior and lots of fun, but I was also in good company. We arrived in Dublin from the train station and quickly caught a cab to our apartments, paid for by the Societies office at college (yes) and found our place to be great: Two bedroom, kitchen, living room, and a great view of Dublin. It was also in close proximity to all of the major downtown fun stops, but we had to get going before we could explore to DCU, Dublin City University, for a choir concert. Now, I was a little nervous about this concert. There were only 8 people from the choir that came (out of around..30ish) and I was the only tenor depending on what part our director sang. I also didn't really know a few of the songs, but the concert went fabulously. There were two other college choirs that just formed and they weren't very good, but we rocked the show. The only group that truly showed us up was an elementary choir. We all know how adorable 1st graders can be, but these were even better because they had Irish accents, and there's something about little Irish kids singing songs.
After the after-party of the concert, we went down to Temple Bar to find a late Pub, and grooved that evening up. We went to the Turks Head, which is a pub open late with free admission, and I always end up going there every time we go to Dublin (I'm 3 for 3 now.) The following day we woke up and after a big hassle about where the apartment key was lost (surprise! I wasn't the last one with it) I finally got to go "out into the town" and did the Guinesse Brewery tour. Now, alot of my friends have discouraged me from going, saying it is too over-hyped and really not worth the price of admission, I had a great time (then again, I spent three hours there reading everything: have to get my money's worth.) The whole tour tells you the processes of brewing Guinesse, the history of the founder, advertising, how to make barrels, etc. The building itself is really cool as well, and is shaped like a pint-glass with a bar at the top representing the foamy head of a pint of Guinesse. I found the tour to be enjoyable, and the whole ascent to the bar was one big buildup for what I would deem the ultimate pint of Guinesse. It was amazing. And the view from the bar was also great. I could see 5 of the 7 towers (two have since been destroyed) from U2's song "running to stand still."
That night we had the BICS (not sure what it means exactly) which were awards for the best societies in Ireland. We didn't win, but the dinner was magnificent and we got to hear an Irish senator speak. Also, DCU's campus was great. Very modern, and they had nice couches and a bright atmosphere that reminded me of Whitman, despite the assertions from my Galway friends that NUIG is still far superior.
The next morning we hopped on the train back to Galway and I spent an hour playing a terrible game of pool against Peter Mannion, our director and a girl in the choir, Mary Catherine. I realized I'm terrible at pool and also realized that Peter will go down in my memory as one of my favorite people. Quite a few people make this list, but Peter is hilarious. He has a distinctive way of talking and is always animated and cursing. The best part is, whenever something irritates him, as opposed to saying "I'm mad," Peter will say "oooh, I'm getting the rage." Priceless.
Last night I met up with friends from work. We had a secret diner come to Eddie Rockets and they gave us a 96%!! 2nd highest for the franchise! Guess who the waiter was? Me! This means I get an extra 20 euro. John, our manager, rewarded us with a tab at the bar, and, needless to say we had way too much fun. So now it's morning, I have work in about 45 minutes, and I'm still trying to remind myself that exams are a week away. I'm also still looking for housing in Tacoma, we'll see how my search goes. And yes mom and Aunt Annie, I'm trying the "Whitman" connection ;-).
Hope all is well back home.
Cheers,
-Nate
"Sweet the sin, but bitter the taste. In my mouth. I see seven towers, but I only see, one way out."-U2
Website of the day: Create your own blog! I did. www.blogspot.com .
posted by Nate at
4:50 AM
1 Comments:
hahaha.. congratulations on getting a good secret shopper rating (those people terrify me!) yay. i hope you took a picture of the guinness brewery cause i can't even imagine what a building shaped like a pint glass might look like. mreh..
-jilian
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