Dublin Day 5: Failure is Fantastic
Today started
much earlier than I wanted it to. The alarm went off at 6:45AM, and despite
getting a relatively good amount of sleep last night, I just couldn’t manage to
shake an immense tiredness. But I perked up as soon as I realized that it was,
in fact, sunny outside again! My mood brightened even more when a few of us got
separated from the big group and ended up walking to class as just students,
rather than a collective of American “students”. It was liberating, and we
ended up beating them to the Royal College. Winning.
Once we settled
in to the room, we got right back up again to have a short but impressive tour
of the beautiful historic building that houses the Royal College of Physicians.
There was a huge reception room decorated in an amazing combination of
turquoise and white scrolled molding, a hallway leading to a concert hall.
Though it used to be a tennis court, the ceiling was constructed with no nails,
which makes it perfect for acoustics. Thus, it was converted into another
reception room and many concerts rent it as a performance space. The college
also boasts a superb catalogue of old medical books, among others, in their
library. Consecutive cases make for a great display of the books, and the
spiral staircase at the one side allows people to access yet another level of
books at the top. What I would give to have a look at some of those books, or
even to work with them. Their oldest book dates back to 1521, published in
Florence!
After a long few
hours of economics, literature, and music, we broke for lunch at a place called
KC Peaches. Though it is a chain restaurant, we had heard from another member
of our group that it was apparently very good and served a lot of food for a
decent price. So we went into the adorable blue building and ordered some
sandwiches—I ordered the Italian Stallion (basil pesto, mozzarella, tomato, and
basil), and Diana had a Peaches Club (three layers of chicken, pesto mayo, and
bacon with all the fixings). We were thoroughly impressed and decided that we
would come back in May when we return to Dublin.
One more class
later and it was time to walk over to the Natural History Museum to see the
greatest collection of taxidermy animals in the world. Not that I am a huge
taxidermy fan—I find it slightly appalling and frankly, a bit creepy. But I
think that for scientific purposes, taxidermy can help preserve animals that
either no longer exist, or are scarce or rare. I just wish that all specimens had
died naturally, although I presume that is not the case. We saw birds, fish,
small mammals, large mammals, jellyfish, bugs, insects, butterflies, and almost
everything in between. The stunning hall of animals on the upper level is an
amazing sight, even though I feel a touch squeamish around all of those
once-living animals staring back at me. Definitely worth the trip, as there are
hundreds if not thousands of samples of animals from the entire world all
located in one place. I would definitely recommend it!
The museum done,
we took the short walk over to Merrion Square, where we finally got to see my
favorite man, Mr. Oscar Wilde. He sits atop a rock, peering judgmentally out at
all of the people walking by. What a sight. I, of course, had to get my own
picture with him making a similar face. We continued on through the park, where
people were just finishing their lunches or going on jogs. In a moment of pure
happiness, we encountered a group of young school children—most no older than
four or five—out for a field trip or recess on the green. All of them wore a
form of plaid bottom, navy top, and navy beret. Cutest thing we saw all day!
Next was time
for homework before catching some dinner at the fish & chips chain
Beshoff’s. We split a cod meal and water to gear up for our pub crawl. Literary pub crawl. This tour came
highly recommended online and in town, so we decided to book two tickets to try
it. Obviously I was there more for the tour and the knowledge than anything
else, and I think that it delivered. It felt like more of an informational tour
than a pub crawl, in case that is what people were expecting. In total, we only
got about 40 minutes between two pubs to have actual drinks. The rest of the
2.5 hours was spent walking around, stopping at various culturally or
literarily significant pubs, and watching performances by the two leaders. We
made stops at The Duke, walked over to O’Neill’s in Temple Bar, then on to The
Old Stand, and finishing at Davey Byrns, the famous pub from Joyce’s Ulysses. O’Neill’s was probably the most
interesting out of all of them, and the most likely one that we would want to
return to later. The décor, the food, and atmosphere all delivered—and the
building? An amazing structure. Overall, it was a good experience. We met a lot
of people both on the tour and in the bars, including everyone from bartenders
to people from Dallas, Texas. We had a lovely time.
After the pub
crawl, we wanted to meet the class in O’Donoghue’s for a trad session. After
getting lost many, many times (Irish pubs seem to have a network of tunnels,
doorways, and staircases that only seasoned veterans know completely), we ended
up in the front room where an amazing session was taking place. The bar was
literally full, but upon inquiry to the bartender, this night was “blissfully
quiet”. We managed to find two seats at the bar, where we shared quick
conversations with the bartender in between his rapid-fire serving skills. We
learned he has been tending bar for 11 years, that Guinness is the most popular
drink he serves, and that he is a good shot—he can throw a glass the length of
the bar and have the person at the other end catch it. He also kept an eye on
us when stupid drunk people got too close to us. This was appreciated. The only
thing we did not learn was his name.
But then, the
most amazing thing happened. We started talking to another guy, since everyone
was basically squished together. He was right next to us and wanted to learn
more about our experiences in America, since he was from Britain but was living
in Texas. We told him about our study abroad program (which seems to impress
everyone for some reason), that we would be here for three months, that we had
already been to Japan and were going to Argentina with our band. It also came
up that I rode horses, to which he asked, “Do you ride western?” Of course, I
scoffed, saying, “No, English saddleseat.” And he responded, in correct form,
with, “That’s real riding.”
Eventually, we bade him goodnight and left for the hotel. We are back safe and sound, ready for a day of sleeping in and doing our own thing. For tomorrow, we plan on going to the music store (really this time), seeing a friend at the Dublin Cookie Company, and then heading back through some shopping areas to have a look around. We can’t wait. Thanks again for reading!
♥
photo credit Katie Walker
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