Hey everybody!

I got back from five days in beautiful Dublin last night. It was a blast. The first day I got in after a stern lecture from the scary Irish lady who refused to believe I would be leaving after five days. Checked into the hostel, then hopped on a bus tour my cabbie had recommended. It took me around the city in a loop lasting about 2 hours. I snapped some pictures, randomly ran into some other people from DIS, walked around a bit. Then it was dinner time, so I slouched my way around O'Connell street until around 8 when I found a suitable pub. Had some fish and chips and then headed back for a shower and bed.

The next day I headed out early, hopped back on the bus (apparently my ticket didn't actually get activated the first time around, so I got the whole day for free) then went out to see the Book of Kells and tour the Trinity College campus, grab a sandwich for lunch, then out to Kilmainham Gaol for a tour and some pictures. The Gaol was the home of most of the revolutionary leaders in Irish history since 1780 or so. Not exactly an uplifting place, but fascinating. I ended the day at the Guinness factory, where they have a glass circle at the top, the view from which is breathtaking.

The next day I walked around St. Stephen's Green, saw the government buildings, Temple Bar, and took pictures of the Oscar Wilde statue. Nothing much exciting to report, mostly just tons of cool pictures.

Saturday I headed out on a bus to the southern Irish coast and the hills around Dublin. It was amazing. Excellent fish and chips. Went to Powerscourt Gardens, where I took a ton of beautiful pictures. Went out that night for Chinese food for a break from fries, only to find out that the restaurant served chips and rice with their entrees. Then I went out with some Croatian economics students I met at the hostel, which was a lot of fun. There was great music, in the bars and on the street corners. A blast.

Spent most of Sunday wandering around. Dublin is mostly dead on Sundays before 6 pm, so I went to a few places to pick up knicknacks and a tweed hat for myself. Went to bed early after having an excellent kebab a place called Abrakebabra, which I thought was cute.

Headed out the next morning for an exhausting day of travel, including dealing with Zurich airport, which is ludicrously confusing. Swiss Air, however, are an excellent airline.