St. Patrick's Day!

Last weekend, I was fortunate enough to experience the jolly green blur that is St Patrick's Day in Dublin. After traveling to Ireland two years ago with one of my WashU classes and falling in love with the place, people, and culture, I couldn't wait to go back. We arrived in the land of the leprechaun on Friday morning with plenty of time to go out and explore. After checking into our hotel, Adi, Elena, Shelly, and I took the shuttle into the city center and went straight to Trinity college. The campus was just as beautiful as I remember it, with old stone buildings bordering lush grassy areas. We went in to see the Book of Kells, a manuscript containing the four gospels of the New Testament that was created around the year 800. Even though I'd seen and learned about it in my class two years ago, I still couldn't help but marvel at the lavish decoration and intricate calligraphy.

Throughout the weekend, we used our mornings to walk around the city and see the sights, including St. Patrick's Cathedral and Dublin Castle. Later in the afternoons, we'd venture into the lively Temple Bar area to check out the pubs and mingle in the streets. It seriously seemed like everyone and their mother was in Dublin this weekend. I ran into people from so many different parts of my life, it was honestly a little disorienting! A ton of WashU friends were there, either visiting from other study abroad countries or from St. Louis for spring break. I also had several HPHS reunions with random people I haven't seen in years. This made for an extremely touristy nightlife experience (it truly felt at times like there were more Americans in Dublin than Irish people) but it was great to see friends and hear about other abroad experiences.

Beautiful Dublin Castle

So happy to run into Brooke!

Monday was a holiday in Madrid, which meant we were able to stay in Dublin on Sunday which was officially St. Patty's day. Despite the early morning snowstorm (??) people filled the main city streets to watch the parade, which was complete with music, dancers, floats, and crazy green displays. It was so much fun to watch. Afterward, we continued our weekend pattern of wandering in and out of bars, running into friends on the streets, and enjoying the Irish cheer. A highlight of the weekend, though, was in one of the less touristy bars in the Temple Bar area on Saturday afternoon. A group of my friends found our way inside to warm up and refill, and there happened to be a live musician just starting up his set. He was amazing - just a guy and a guitar, but he played for hours and sang the best singalong songs (Country Road, Hey Jude, Wonderwall)...so we stayed through the afternoon singing loudly and dancing along in the crowded but comfortable pub.

Ringing in St Patty's with the locals

So the weekend was a lot of fun, but needless to say I was exhausted and ready to get back to Madrid come Monday morning. Now it's Thursday and I'm leaving tomorrow for my spring break travels! I can't believe it's already Semana Santa...can someone please get the time to slow down? Paris, Prague, Vienna...here I come!

A dinner story

The other night, Ana made fish for dinner. Nothing new, we eat fish pretty often. So why was this fish different from all other fish? Well, when we sat down at the table, Ana proceeded to give Jordana and me very specific instructions regarding how to remove THE ENTIRE SPINE from the fish before eating it. Meat here is rarely deboned before being sold or cooked, but I've never had to take out an entire backbone from my meal before eating it! Jordana and I succeeded in the operation with a lot of help from Ana, and then the spine just chilled there on the other half of my plate while I ate the fish (which was delicious, like everything else she makes). New experiences!