Dublin

Before discussing Dublin, I wanted to reference some quick notes about Italy. First of all, leaving the apartment last was so hard. I looked onto the table to see our three sets of keys in the empty apartment and I closed the door knowing that I would never walk into that apartment again. It made me cry because I am going to miss my life in Florence so much, my friends, my apartment and everything else that makes Florence special (too many things to possibly name).
As I took my last train I realized that my last train was the same as my first, the Fiumicino Airport shuttle to Rome Termini. This time when I got out the Airport, I recognized the ticket machines and understood the signs, things which made me nervous when I first saw them.
This must be pretty depressing so far, but I am honestly am having a hard time accepting that this experience is nearly over. I have been trying hard not to think about my experience in these negative terms because I should be thinking, wow, look at all of the amazing things I have had the chance to see.
On a lighter note- the Trenitalia Business class section is called "T-Biz"

So anyway, (something I have noticed that I say a lot in this blog of mine...can't help it)
We got to Dublin late at night on May 21 and we ended up having just one day to sight see. This made me nervous because I didn't think that I would be able to do everything. This is something that I have realized, it is better to do a few things and get a feel for the city than it is to run around stressed all day and ruin it.
So I focused on a few things that were important to me and I spent the rest of the time walking around the city and getting a feel for it. I went to Trinity College (1592 Established by Queen Elizabeth I) first and took a tour of the campus. The tour was given by an ADORABLE second year student named Kiernan Gellaher. He was so knowledgeable and well, cute. He told us all about life on the campus and the history of various buildings and notable alumni. I liked the tour a lot and at the end I went to see the Book of Kells, the most interesting thing about that was that the ink comes from all around the world, the red was made from the blood of a pregnant beetle. Interesting. After that I went and saw the old library called the Long Room, that library was fantastic and it smelled like old books, which is a smell that I adore.
Next I went to the Kilmainhem Jail. That was one of the cooler things that I saw in Dublin. The tour of the jail took an hour and the tour guide told us all about the history of the jail and the famous inmates including Eamon de Valera (who opposed Michael Collins when it came to the adoption of a treaty with Britain that would have given Britain the rights to Northern Ireland and the people essentially saw this as half a victory and therefore not good enough due to the amount of people that had died for the cause).
What I found really interesting about the jail was Jeremy Bantham's Panopticon theory at work. The idea was that the prisoners never knew when they were being monitored and they were therefore always on their best behavior. Theoretically, this would continue when they were outside the walls of the prison and they would be truly reformed. It is an interesting idea and it made for a very cool room. The use that wing of the prison to film many movies because the perfect horse shoe makes for great acoustics and the production staff also doesn’t have to worry about moving the prisoners because the prison has been closed to felons for many years and now serves as a center for learning and a social history museum.
Something else that was interesting was a story the tour guide told us about the youngest prisoner- she was an eight-year-old girl who was imprisoned for stealing a coat during the Irish Potato Famine. She and her family were starving and freezing to death and she was arrested for this act. She served for a few years performing manual labor.
My last sight seeing stop was at the National Gallery. I knew that there was a lot to see in Dublin and I didn't want to miss out on it, so I went into the museum thinking that I could take a quick look, but I loved it too much, I couldn't convince myself to leave. The collection was amazing and I was so happy to have chosen the National Gallery as one of my stops!
Then I wanted to meet up with my mom for a pint so I walked from the Gallery to where she was near the big modern needle on O'Connell Street. I liked that I was getting to know the streets and I liked feeling the rain as I walked through the streets of Dublin. I thought it made it feel like authentic Ireland.
My mom and I went to a famous pub on Temple Bar and had some traditional Irish food and Guinness. I learned that I hate Guinness- it was thick and dark and I thought it tasted like crap- but I thought that it was a good thing to try Guinness in Ireland. The food was better than I expected and the live music was really nice.
There were a few things that I wish I had done, but in the end I was happy with the three things that I chose to do and I spent the day strolling and smiling instead of running around unhappy. That would not have been very Irish of me anyway. It was a great day.

The next morning at 4 AM we left for London and that's where I am now...but I want to make that a second entry!