We have arrived!

It's the evening of our second day in Dublin and I'm sitting in an internet cafe with Katie, Amanda, Alecia, and Susy. James has appointed me the official chronicler of our trip, so I will do my utmost to live up to that.

We arrived yesterday morning around 8:40 Dublin time. Customs was easy to navigate; we just had to wait a while for our luggage. Then we boarded a double-decker bus (!!) and took that to Parnell Square. We dropped off our luggage at Ivy Exchange Apartments and freshened up a little, but headed out soon afterwards, as James said if he didn't keep us busy, we'd nap and then be jet-lagged. We went to Trinity College to see the Book of Kells; also included in that exhibit was the Long Room, which houses the old, 20,000 volume library of Trinity. That was the most fantastic room I've ever seen in my life; I think I could die happy there! The other (non-English) majors thought I was a little crazy, but it was an amazing experience. From there, we walked past Leinster House and the National Museum and stopped for a bathroom break in the National Gallery. We then went over to Merrion Square Park and walked for a while, pausing for a group pose with Oscar Wilde. Our last tour stop of the day was Number 29, a restored Georgian house, where we split up into two groups and took a tour. It was a lovely four-story house with fairly small rooms; the guide said that the family who had originally owned it had 7 children, but the sons were sent to boarding school at a young age. It was interesting to see that facet of Dublin's history, since most of what I've read is literature from people like James Joyce and Sean O'Casey, who deal with a Dublin that is not only of a different era, but different classes as well. We had a group dinner last night at Flanagan's, then I came back and crashed after journalling for a little while with my head bobbing with sleepiness. Yesterday is hard to reflect on, though, since it was such a blur. I remember doing what we did, but I remember most of all that my feet hurt and I was exhausted.

This morning, we got up and met to go to the National Museum, which houses some of the major Irish archaeological finds. We saw the Tara Brooch and the Ardagh Chalice, which are surprisingly much smaller in actuality than I imagined. I also saw 4 bog people, who are incredibly preserved, but still rather creepy. I also wandered through an exhibit of medieval artifacts, most of them belonging to churches. I was surprised at how much I recognized as similar to things used in modern Catholic churches. Our next stop was the National Gallery of Ireland, where we visited an impressive exhibit of Impressionist interiors (yes, the pun was intentional. I know it was bad, but I couldn't resist!); Katie and I had lunch at the Gallery cafe (chicken and broccoli soup for 4 euros-not bad!) and then looked through the portrait gallery and 18th-19th century Irish paintings.

We regrouped on St. Steven's Green, where we talked a little about the similarities and differences we've noticed. Personally, most of the differences I've noticed have been small, like different vocabulary, the fact that all soups seem to be pureed, and the fact that you can't follow the "righty-tighty, lefty-loosy" rule for faucets (It's backwards, as I discovered at 7:00 with a faceful of cold water) Dublin is a very cosmopolitan, very diverse city; even walking around, you don't hear Irish accents exclusively-there are a lot of Eastern Europeans, Asians, Africans, Spaniards, as well as the requisite tourists. I spent the rest of the afternoon in my apartment, sitting on the balcony and drawing. Then I called Katie about dinner and found James, who walked with me down to Temple Bar, where we ate dinner at Farrington's. After this, I'll go back across the Ha'penny Bridge & down to O'Connell Street to get back to the apartment; I want to finish my drawing and get to bed again early tonight.

I apologize for not emailing yet; I can't get onto the whiterabbit server, so I will try again tomorrow or the next day. I'll also start using my gmail account. Emails/comments are welcomed and loved.