(The post title is "welcome to Ireland" in Gaelic/Irish/whatever you want to call the original language here.)
Helloooo friends!
This is my first blog post in Ireland, and it’s late,
naturally. Oh well. As I said previously, my blog posts this time around are
going to be more reflection and less pictures. If you’re looking for pictures,
there are tons on my Facebook page! Now, the words commence.
I have been very blessed in my short little life to visit
some extraordinary places; I have walked the ancient roads of Rome, seen
fantastic theatre in Edinburgh, strolled along the River Thames in London and
drank wine beneath the twinkling Tour Eiffel in Paris, with many other stops
along the way. There is something beautiful about every place I’ve visited, and
they all hold special memories and relationships and adventures for me. I have
loved and cherished every single trip; and yet none of these places has
entranced and delighted me as much as Ireland has in one short week.
It isn’t as though I didn’t anticipate this. I had a good feeling about Ireland; I thought that it might end up being very, very special to me, but I downplayed the thought so as not to get my hopes up too high. After all, three months is a long time to be entirely disappointed by one’s surroundings, but I need not have worried; Ireland is everything I hoped for and more.
Dublin is a fantastic city. It feels very large, with
plenty to do and a population of almost two million (between city and suburbs)
which, at first glance, seems huge. However, it is really only of medium
size when compared to other European capitals, and is small compared to London,
New York or even Los Angeles. It has tons to offer by way of museums and
restaurants and activities, but it’s not daunting in size.
I had already ranked Dublin above Paris and Rome in my mind
by my third day here. However, it wasn’t until this weekend’s trip to
Killarney, in the southwest of Ireland, that I was completely taken in by this
country. It is beautiful. But not just beautiful in the traditional sense of
beauty, like a sparkling city or a colorful sunset. It is a breathtaking,
awe-inspiring kind of beautiful. Painted-by-a-heavenly-paintbrush beautiful.
Stop-and-stare-in-silence beautiful. God spent extra time on this place.
I am so lucky to be here, and not just because of the scenery. I have 6 (!) excellent roommates. Four of them are from the States on the same program as me, and the others are from Belgium and the Netherlands. Our apartment is located in Temple Bar, which is THE central neighborhood in Dublin and where everyone wants to be, so we are very lucky. I am only about a ten-minute walk from campus and basically anywhere else I would ever want to go. The apartment itself presents some challenges, mostly because seven people live there with one kitchen and two bathrooms, but I will only be here for three months, and those challenges are easily dealt with.
Through my roomies, I’ve been able to meet some incredible
people, as well as through clubs at school. Classes begin tomorrow. I am kind of
dreading it; I am excited to learn and meet people but not to write essays or take
tests, which is how I feel about school 100% of the time, no matter what
country I am in. But I am taking three history classes, and I think they will
be very interesting and helpful, particularly Life in Modern Ireland, where I hope to learn about the Troubles
and everything that happened in the past century, which I unfortunately don’t
know much about.
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| Trinity College |
This is all for now! I hope to update at least once a week
on here if not a little more! Thanks for reading!
xoxo Sydne
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Read more from Sydne at http://theyesgirlwrites.blogspot.com/
To find out more about the ISA Dublin, Ireland: Humanities and Social Sciences at Trinity College Dublin program, check out: http://studiesabroad.com/programs/country/ireland/city/dublin
