Dublin – A Brief (and Overdue) Synopsis

Apologies for the radio silence... the last 3 weeks have been a bit of a blur. I admit that I have done a lot of relaxing, reading and generally being a slug, but I have actually managed to get out and do things somewhere in there…

Dublin is a busy and cool city. It’s very walkable, safe, and quite pleasant. Though it’s not a hot-bed of architectural treasures, there’s definitely a sense of history that permeates. Because Dublin is becoming a hip (and expensive) international city, you occasionally get a feeling of cosmopolitan growing pains: fashionable bars nestle into the banks of the Liffey River among the traditional Irish pubs – but Guinness is always to be had.

There’s been plenty to do around here. Among other things, I’ve touched a mummified body at St. Michan’s, crawled through a subterranean tunnel at Knowth, admired graffiti from 1808 (no kidding) in the neolithic passage grave at Newgrange, chatted with a man at Christ Church about the floor tiles and the Franciscan-Benedictine monk rivalry, walked along the cliffs in Howth, and chewed roasted barley at the Guinness Brewery. And yes, I’ve had a few pints here and there.

Last weekend Diana and Tom and I went to Donegal, which I will do a separate entry about, and this week I’m off to Belfast for a couple days to see my sister – I can’t wait!

A sampling of photographs are below (when I get myself together, I’ll put up a proper slideshow of everything I have).










And on the continuing plans…

The hardest thing when I meet people is when they ask me how long I’m here for, or what I’m doing. I can’t seem to find an adequate answer. One guy put it well when he said that I was like the subplot of a comic book – in the “Meanwhile…” phase. I liked that.

I’m still working out some plans for the fall… Grad school? Back to Spain? Something else? The irons are in the fire, and I’ll let you know what happens.

I’m also starting to hatch some evil schemes for volunteer work in the summer – I’m thinking Iceland.

More to come on that.