This weekend, our entire Galway group (16 of us!) traveled to Dublin. The entire trip was planned by our BC coordinator and paid for by BC! Yes, paid for! Our hotel, meals, taxis, tours, bus ride, etc. were all covered for. I literally only spent 1 euro the entire weekend on postcards. Needless to say, it was a nice change after all the money I spent in London & Paris.
It was really nice to have a leisurely, relaxing weekend. We stayed in an amazing hotel and ate luxurious three course meals. We also all knew we'd most likely be back to Dublin with friends and family, so no one felt particularly rushed to squeeze as much in as possible in a weekend like we usually do when traveling.
The first day we checked into our hotel, grabbed a quick lunch, then walked to Parliament. We received a tour of the Parliament building which was really beautiful on the inside. Unfortunately we couldn't take any pictures. After our tour we ate dinner at the hotel, which was an incredible three course meal (mussels, steak, and chocolate mouse) with great wine!
Boston College house in Dublin!
Parliament.
On Saturday we saw the Dublin Castle, Trinity College, St. Stephen's Green, and Grafton Street, which is the main shopping area of Dublin. Then, we took a tour of the Guinness factory. I can't really say that I paid all that much attention to the actual tour. It was self guided and got a little boring. I can tell you the four ingredients in a Guinness though- yeast, barley, hops, and water! We did, however, pay extra to take a course called "the Perfect Pint," where you learn all about different types of Guinness, as well as the proper technique to pour a Guinness (it's really quite a science!) We also learned what makes a good/ bad Guinness and why the technique, storage, and temperature is so crucial to it's taste. After the course we got certificates and are official Guinness connoisseurs :) The coolest part of the factory is on the top level there is a gravity bar where you drink your free Guinness, with all glass windows that give a 360 view of Dublin.
St. Stephen's Green, the main park in the middle of Dublin. Sort of reminded me of the Commons!
Dublin Castle.
All of our group!
One of many cool street performers on Grafton Street!
Trinity College.
Instructions on how to properly pour a Guinness.
At the end of our tutorial, we all poured our own!
The fourth ingredient- water!
This weekend, I'm staying in Galway and very excited about it. Alex is arriving the weekend after so it will be nice to have a weekend in Galway to relax. There is also a great outdoor market on Saturdays in Galway that I keep missing because of traveling, so I can't wait to go. In the meantime, I'll be catching up on sleep, cleaning, laundry, and school work!
No comments:
Post a Comment