the end

I've been meaning to write a final message about my trip to Dublin. I know it's been months, and I've started about thirteen entries to wrap up my travels. It's hard to put into words, and now so much time has passed. However, I feel like I've had words at the tip of my tongue since August about my final thoughts.

After some upsetting family news, I had to pull out of our presentation last minute. My group really stepped it up though, and the presentation went off without a hitch. I know the entire team of students felt great once everything was over. It was an amazing opportunity to work with the Digital Hub, but it was a ton of work, and I think everyone was a little eager to finish everything.

I was a little down for my last night in Ireland, but was eager to get back home and to my family to celebrate the life of my grandfather. I spent the last night figuring out travel plans to get to Maryland for my Pop's funeral and packing up everything sprawled around our apartment.

My flight out was not until later in the day when most of my roommates (and by most I mean all) were gone by 7:30 am. It gave me an entire day to my thoughts, on the past month and the difficult moments to come. It is needless to say I was anxious for my flight from Dublin Airport to Laguardia, New York. I was at the airport about four hours before my flight... woops. I was able to buy Twilight and (re)read the whole thing on the flight. Not too bad to pass the time.

I have never been so happy to see my mom, I felt like I was in a movie as we slow motion ran to one another and burst into tears. It was a difficult time, but being back with the family made me feel about a million times better.

Overall, my trip to Dublin was life altering. I had experiences that I will remember forever and the chance to share them with you. I made amazing friends, had an opportunity to work with dedicated and intelligent students on a great project, and saw a beautiful country with a fascinating past and an equally fascinating future.

I gotta say, I can't wait to head back to Europe in January!

There are sometimes you just really want to be with your family. 

website

Also, our entire project is available on http://web.me.com/kirankripakaran/Home_Page/Interactive_Dublin.html. Kiran put the website together, I think he did a pretty great job, we're really proud of all the work we've done. 

last day!

I cannot believe I have one last day here! It's absolutely ridiculous. It was nice to think it was my last day to wake up at 7:30 though, I am not going to lie. Today is our final presentation in which the sixteen of us will present to Digital Hub clientele our proposal and research. I'm a little nervous, I never am a big fan of public speaking. I feel pretty confident about our work however, so hopefully it all works out. We also finished our paper- 72 pages, baby! Woot woot. Feels good to check that of the list. 

i just wanna dance with somebody

1. the fiddle player 2. you can see how they open the screen so you can see the musicians 3. the dancers! 4. before hand, look how great out seats were

dance, dance

Last night I went and saw Riverdance with three of the other girls on the trip. We were a little skeptical, but excited nonetheless. The show takes place in the Gaiety Theater by Grafton Street and were only 25 euros, so we decided to do a slight splurge and get acquainted with one of the biggest tourist attractions. The cheap tickets, however, gave us some pretty interesting seats. We were in the last row possible of the highest balcony. Thankfully it wasn’t a very large theater and we could stand since there was no behind us. The view wasn’t as bad as you would think. Irish dance is crazy. You always hear about how intense it is and how their legs don’t look like their attached their bodies. For some reason I was expecting a robotic performance after that explanation. But, it’s really a combination of tap dance and ballet, a much more flowing dance than I expected. They had a series of numbers, with all women, all men, solos and combinations in the first half. My favorite by far was an a capella type dance with all the men. There was no music but the stomping of their feet and it was so cool. Another dance was a partner dance that was like half acrobatic, the guys were lifting the women all over the place and spinning them like tops… it’s really hard to explain but it was so sick. We were a little confused as to whether there was a plot enough, but that did not take away from enjoying the dance sequences. There were also a series of musical pieces, with just singers. One of the female singers had one of the most amazing voices I have ever heard, it was super high soprano and you just got goosebumps listening to her. But, the real talent was the fiddle player. It was a young woman, and throughout the show the curtain blocking the music would rise and we could see them playing live. And, during a few scenes, she walked down and played in the center of the stage, all while playing intense fiddling. Overall, it was a really cool show and I’m really glad we went. 

oy vey

Things have gotten a little tense for a lot of the groups working on this proposal for Digital Hub. We're all feeling very stressed right now, with a 50 page paper, a huge presentation on Friday, a website, and personal reflection essays all haunting our To Do lists. It's frustrating having so much work to do the last week when all we want to be doing is enjoying our dwindling time in Dublin. However, I am always one to love intense, pressure-filled situations, especially when writing and time crunches are involved. (Thank you, Miami Student.) It is interesting to see what people step up to do work, how people handle stress, and what skills and assets really come into play in the final days. I feel bad for the groups who work and live together- makes me pretty thankful for my awesome group! We have not had any drama whatsoever amongst ourselves and are so far ahead of the game- a pretty great feeling. 

Overall, all this work is getting me a little less depressed about heading home in a few days (ah, so soon!) Mary Marshall and I were talking about how all the work here is helping us get ready for classes to begin again. And I, for one, know that I cannot wait to get back to Miami to see all the people I've been missing for so long! In the meantime though, I know how much I am going to miss Dublin. It's hard to think about leaving such a different and fun place. 

omigoodness

I cannot believe I will be home in less than a week! Today was our last day off before we head home, and I am going to miss this place and these people a lot. 

pub crawlin

Saturday we had a lazy morning followed by a dead-end quest for tickets to Riverdance. Seven of us headed to the theater by Grafton Street to see the matinee of the Irish musical/dance show. However, the cheapest tickets were already sold out, so we decided against it. Instead, we bought tickets for Wednesday night, so we'll go then! Mary Marshall and I wandered around for a little, going in and out of a few stores and shops. After some quick dinner and a little rest up, a giant group of us reported to a pub crawl starting by Trinity College. . It was called the Backpacker Pub Crawl, designed so travelers could meet other travelers, a pretty nice deal! For ten Euros, a group of around 40 people were led by two tour guides to four pubs and a night clubs. We started at 8 and the crawl officially went until 12:30 with about an hour at each site. We got free cover and a bunch of drink specials, which was pretty ideal for us broke college kids. We just had so much fun. All the pubs were off the beaten path, so we got to go to a few places we had not been yet, which was really nice to branch out. I don't think I've laughed so hard or enjoyed the company of the people I am with so much as I did last night, it was just so much fun. The nightclub was packed and right in Temple Bar, so that worked out well, and we busted some moves on the dance floor and all that jazz before everyone heading home at around 3 am. I definitely would recommend doing a pub crawl, although I do wish we had done it earlier in our visit to find a few of the other pubs and maybe met some new people. Overall though, probably my favorite night out!

Today we slept in, did some grocery shopping, worked on a little of our stuff for our class project. Then, Mary Marshall and I went with Jena to get her tattoo! I was tempted to tell my mom I was getting one too, but decided against it. Jena got a butterfly/heart symbol on her foot, it was so fun to see it done, although I can't see myself getting one after having it described "a lot of bee stings."

Now, onto a little productive work for class again tonight and getting ready for our final week! 

st. patrick's

cathedral day

Today was a little bit slower today. I was completely exhausted from the amount of work we've been doing. A lot of others went on various day trips to places across Ireland and Europe, but I stayed in Dublin and did a little bit of exploring. One of the guys on the trip, Kyle, and I decided to look at two of the cathedrals in Dublin. First, we went to St. Patrick's, one of the best known churches in Ireland. It is now a Protestant church, but was built as homage to St. Patrick, who converted pagan Irish to Christianity. It was a little bit of a tourist zoo, but beautiful nonetheless. I realized I'm obsessed with stained glass as I took countless pictures. There were also a ton of monuments all along the walls, including statues, busts, plaques, and even some of the windows. There was also this beautiful park right next to the church that we wandered around. There was a beautiful view of the buttresses and some colorful flowers. We then went to St. Auden. Not nearly as striking as St. Patrick's, it was still a pretty cool church. It's from the medieval ages, so you can see the original walls of Dublin and some pretty old grave sites. Overall, it was an interesting day, and I realized I'm really interested in old churches!

workin' that 9 to 5

It's really crunch time for work right now! We have five more days after today to finish our project. Today we did our development presentations to explain to Digital Hub what exactly we have been focusing on. My group presented seven different visualization technologies that we think would be extremely beneficial to the company, as well as its clients. Now, we have to cipher down which ones of those technologies we really want to push and focus on the economic benefits and costs before our final presentation next Friday. We are also working on putting together our entire research and brainstorming history in a final paper, which I have been working on. Finally my interest in writing is getting a chance to flourish! I know that we will all be busy working next week, but for now, thank goodness the week is over. We have to celebrate our last weekend in Dublin!

1 and 2. gardents in hyde park 3. on the serpentine

London 3

1-3 at the ice bar! the third picture is my glow in the dark drink in my ice glass 4. our indulging dinner 5. cappachinos by the globe

London 2

1. me, jena, mary marshall in front of tower bridge 2. tower of london 3. trafalgar square 4. buckingham palace gardens 5. our hostel

London 1

1 big ben. 2. jena and i by london eye 3. london eye, big ben, and parliament building 4. parliament 5. changing of the guards

more dublin

us all at the guinness factory and the land of leprechauns!

and a finale!

Sunday was our last day in the city, but our flight wasn’t until 10:30 at night, so we were still able to enjoy the whole day.

We decided to take the time to have some breakfast in Hyde Park, visiting a little café right on the Serpentine called Lido. It was beautiful and very cute, with our little lattes and pastries. We then continued to wander around the park, enjoying the magnificent gardens that I know my Aunt Cindy would have loved. It was just so pretty, right out of a storybook.

We then headed back to the Covent Garden area, going to the market in the middle of the cobble stone square. It was packed, with a ton of street performers and a lot of boutiques to shop in. I loved the little sidewalk vendors with homemade arts and crafts, including hand painted views of London and black and white photography. We wandered around for a while, stopping to have lunch smack in the middle of the market place, enjoying an opera singer in the courtyard. Pretty amazing. Then, Jena and Mary Marshall decided to continue some shopping, so I headed to the National Opera House, Sommerset House, and St. Mary de la Strand. Just a few sights and photographs, all absolutely stunning, before we met up again to head back to our hostel to get our bags, catch a bus, and head to the airport.

We flew in and our of Gatwick airport, which was very easy to get to and from the city center. After flying in, we took the train, which was about 12 pounds, but really easy and quick. To get out of the city on Sunday, we took the bus, which was 7 pounds, but took a lot longer of time and was a little nauseating. I would definitely take the train if I were to go back. Gatwick was insane. I’ve never seen such a crowded airport. The lines were going out the doors and there were people missing their flights left and right. A lot of angry passengers to say the least. We were lucky since we didn’t have any bags to pack, but still we spent a lot of time waiting. The security was also super intense, with a ton of check points and  about half the people going through getting patted down. But, we made it in time for our flight and got home right on time!

Overall, I just loved London. It’s a beautiful city and so much fun. We were exhausted from constantly being on the go, but it was so worth it. I really can’t wait to go back there while I am in Luxembourg next spring!

part deux

The second day we woke up early again to get a jump-start on everything we wanted to do. We took the tube to the Tower of London. Now, little old dorky me was so excited. Part of the reason I’m a history major is because of all the stories associated with the tower, from Anne Boleyn to the two princes. So, needless to say, I was super excited. We got there, paid admission, and thought about taking a tour, but it was crazy crowded. There were like 50 people for each tour, so it seemed pretty pointless. Instead we wandered on our own through the entire fortress. I felt like a kid at a candy store, I was loving it. We went through what used to be the medieval castle part, then the defensive towers, then the crown jewels (amazing), then to the Bloody Tower where the princes were last seen. The weather was a little crummy though, which was the biggest bummer.

After being tourists, the three of us crossed the Tower Bridge. We legitimately thought it was London Bridge until we were half way across, and were dismayed to learn it was not the bridge in which the nursery rhyme was based. However, it was beautiful, and we loved the view. To get in the spirit, we also bought some roasted nuts (Mary Marshall’s favorite) and meandered through the tourists. After a quick stop for lunch and a dead-end search for a fashion museum, we continued down the Southbank until we reached Shakespeare’s The Globe. Admission was a little pricy, so instead we enjoyed a cappuccino in the Swan Café overlooking the famous theater.

We were dead tired from walking and it was pouring rain, but we ventured on for a little boutique shopping before heading back to the hostel to meet up with Taylor. The shopping was fun, except a little pricy when we took into consideration that one American dollar is worth like 50 pence.

We all passed out at the hostel for a little, then got dressed up and decided to treat ourselves to a nice dinner. We took my mom’s advice and headed to Covent Gardens. We wandered down a few roads and came across a pretty happening corner of the city. It was already pretty late, but the first restaurant we went into was perfect and serving until 11:30. We split a bottle of wine, ordered some delicious bread and oils, and enjoyed some refreshing salads we had been craving. It was such a great time, I had a blast with my awesome roommates and a little splurge.

Afterwards we booked it to Absolut Zero, an ice bar located in Picadilly Circus. We had reservations at 12:30 with Taylor. The bar is made entirely of ice. You get 40 minutes inside and they give you a cape and gloves to wear. The actually serving bar is ice, the walls are ice, the chairs and tables are ice, even the glasses they serve your drinks in are made of ice. It was so cool. I feel like everyone I know who has gone abroad has visited this bar, so we thought it may be overdone. But, it was just one of the coolest things I have ever done. We laughed a lot, took a ton of pictures, and enjoyed a pretty legit cocktail in an ice cub- can’t get much better than that!

just dropped down in london-town

What an amazing weekend! For ever my mom has been telling me how much I would love London, and for ever I told her I didn't think I would. Well she was right. Again. What else is new? 

Jena, Mary Marshall, and I landed in London right as it was getting dark, but were able to find out hostel without incidence. We stayed at Astor Quest right near Hyde Park. We stayed in an 8-person co-ed room. Our hostel was located just north of the park, but an easy distance from Bayswater tube station. It was our first visit to a hostel, and at first I think we were all out of comfort zone, not really knowing what to expect and being relatively paranoid about theft. However, taking into account cost and how little time we actually spent there, it worked out really well! Our roommates were also pretty nice. We had one empty bed, two guys from Holland, a girl from Brazil, and another man from France, who had actually been there for quite some time.

The first night we wandered around the neighborhood a little, ducking into a few bars and enjoying our first London cocktail. However, it was really late and we were exhausted from travelling, so we headed home early.

Friday was our first full day in the city and we tried to make the most of it. We walked through Hyde Park to Buckingham Palace for the changing of the guards. The park was gorgeous, and much larger than we expected. There were so many dogs everywhere, I know it made Mary Marshall and I a little bit homesick for our pups. But the Serpentine River was just stunning and we enjoyed walking at a somewhat leisurely pace. We got lost a few times, but finally made it to the palace.

Buckingham was legitimately like Disney World. It was just a mob of people all speaking different languages trying to get a glimpse of the guards. We didn’t really get a good look at anything, but it was quite an experience.

From there, we wandered through James Park, took pictures with the guards who don’t smile, stopped for a drink, and headed to Parliament and Big Ben. It was beautiful, way more beautiful than I had expected. I feel like you see pictures of these things all the time, but in real life it was even more than picturesque. We each probably took about 500 photos, and wandered around the entire building and Westminster Abbey. The parliament building wasn’t open for tours, which was a little bit of a bummer. We also crossed the bridge to see it from the other side, and got quite a view of the London Eye. We contemplated doing the entire Ferris wheel ride, but ultimately decided against it. We stopped at an adorable little place on the Southbank for lunch, not spending too much money but having some good food.

After lunch we did another leisurely walk (a theme in our vacation) back to Buckingham Palace. Since it’s summertime and the queen is on vacation (Jena was bummed, she really wanted to try to meet the queen…) the palace was open for tours! Just the staterooms, but one of the most amazing things I have ever done. The sheer magnitude of the rooms, as well as the intricacy of the decorations that adorn every corner of the palace, was overwhelming. We went through ballrooms, living rooms, dining rooms, as well as were able to view the entrance of a secret passage and some of the gifts the queen has received from other nations as part of a special exhibit. No photos were allowed, which was a huge bummer, but I don’t think I’ll forget those sights. I think my favorite part was the portrait galleries where we got to see original paintings of Queen Victoria and her family, as well as older paintings dating back to Queen Charlotte and King James I.

We headed back to the hostel to meet Taylor, one of the guys from our Dublin trip who was also staying with us at the hostel. After quick relaxation, we headed to a cheep pizza and pasta joint (yay for attempting to save money) and then headed to Picadilly Circus. We found a bar my friend Amelie had recommended, enjoyed a few drinks, and wandered around the area of a little bit.

Overall, I feel like I really got a grasp of the tube system in London. I thank the heavens I understood New York City better after this summer, I really feel like it helped me navigate London; especially since I feel that the tube system is easy than the New York subway.

oh goodness, my guinness

So much to catch up on! 

First thing's first. Last week was relatively calm. A lot of working on our project for the Digital Hub, sprinkled with a few visits to The Pale pub down the street. We have made a lot of progress on what we are going to present to the company, and now we are in our final stretch. My only real complaint about work is that they are very long hours. We work 8:30 to 5:30, which makes it very difficult to explore Dublin at all during the week. Most tourist sites close at 5 or 6 and we can't really go out too late since we have to be up relatively early. However, since we don't work on Fridays, we have found time to explore.

Anyway, on Thursday before we left for London, our class did a group trip to the Guinness factory for a tour during our lunch break. Digital Hub hooked us up, so we didn't have to pay for the tickets which was clutch (especially since I'd just been there a few weeks before with the family!) It was pretty cool, again. We took a guided tour which was different. I am a bigger fan of leading yourself through the factory after doing both, you get more time to explore. We were a little rushed with the tour. Then again, it was completely packed when we went through. However, I had a great time at the Gravity Bar (glass bar with 360 degree view of Dublin) with the roommates, and really enjoyed seeing the whole place again!

After work we raced to get ready to leave for the airport. Our flight was at 7:45, so it was difficult, but luckily we made it! I'm going to split up these blog entries just because there is so much to say about Londontown!