Kilts and Frites #HogsAbroad Student in Dublin

In the spirit of mixing it up, I’ve chosen a new café to write in again. This time it’s Sister Sadie, right down the road from me on South Circular Road. The space is absolutely buzzing on a Saturday, and seems more like the place to jump-start your senses for the day than a writer’s haven. Despite this and a lack of Wi-Fi, however, I would love to revisit this spot- but next time, I’ll bring a friend and we’ll have a proper meal. 
 

As this past week has been Trinity College’s Reading Week- something akin to an incognito Spring Break- I was given the chance to travel outside of Ireland. API had planned an excursion to Edinburgh, capital city of Scotland. So, off we flew on a Friday afternoon, with a stag party aboard our flight keeping things rowdily interesting for the 45 minutes that we were in the air. 

The defining feature of Edinburgh that I immediately fell in love with was its marvelous landscape. In the seven weeks I had resided in Dublin, I had somehow forgotten how much I enjoy living amongst rocky hills and curvy streets. Edinburgh’s Royal Mile is steep enough that any reasonably round object set rolling down the street at Edinburgh Castle would inevitably race its way down to the Holyrood Palace at the bottom. The city center is also laced with very narrow alleyways called closes (as in, “We’re very close”), many of which lead to tucked away courtyards lined with historically significant homes. 

In 1861 the five story building along this close collapsed. Rescuers heard a young boy named Joseph McIver yelling the words now sculpted above the close’s entrance, and he was saved.

From the perspective of an English major, Edinburgh was glittering with literary gems in a very similar way that Dublin does. Down one of the aforementioned closes was a building whose history inspired author Robert Lewis Stevenson to write The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and the touching story of Greyfriars Bobby also originated there. However, for me at least, the legacy of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series towered over all else. The Potter books were a massive influence on my childhood- I went to all the midnight premieres of both the movies and books, and I can still probably quote every Leaky Cauldron PotterCast episode fairly reliably. So, it was inevitable that I would wake up to my first morning in Edinburgh and make the pilgrimage to The Elephant House, the most well known café of several that Rowling wrote it, for coffee. The back room of the coffee shop has a picturesque view of the castle, and is situated right next to the Greyfriars Cemetery where Jo would often wander through to find inspiration for character names. Sure enough, a Moody, Crookshanks, McGonagall, Severus, and Tom Riddell (slight variation in spelling there) can all be found in this graveyard. 

In hindsight’s relief, I did other things in Scotland besides return to the mindset of my twelve year-old self. One blustery morning we took a hike up to Arthur’s Seat, finding a breathtaking panoramic view once at the top. The way down proved treacherous once it began to rain, and I believe that no less than four people slipped and fell on the thick Scottish grass. 

At the top of Arthur’s Seat, overlooking Edinburgh as the rain clouds close in.

With a quality two and a half days spent in Edinburgh, I returned to Dublin for a mere twelve hours before traveling solo to another gorgeous city: Amsterdam. My motives for visiting were, again, primarily born out of a novel. Author, vlogbrother, and head nerdfighter John Green’s feel-inducing story The Fault in Our Stars gave me a beautiful mental map in which to explore and experience the city. I intentionally wandered, following the constant flow of the canals and cyclists. A new friend often accompanied me: a German girl by the name of Cosima who was also traveling alone. She was excellent company, especially when I was hopelessly lost while reading menus and signs in Dutch. The street food in Amsterdam is definitely worth mentioning, as well, because IT. WAS. SO. GOOD. Vlaamse frites shoved into a paper cone and smothered in something similar to mayonnaise were my lunch one day, and the ice cream topped waffles in almost every window were truly worthy of lusting after.
 

Vlaamse frites in Amsterdam- lunch of champions.

The experience of staying in a hostel alone was a lesson in adaptation and social skills. The community of strangers is constantly morphing and swapping members, but it was a comfort all the same. I slept in a bunk above a 24 year-old Italian, and across from two young Californians, my German friend, Cosima, and at least six others, and we all had each others’ backs by lending out locks, passing out Kinder bars, and telling stories. 
 

My time in the Netherlands was taken at a wonderfully relaxed-yet-concentrated pace for a two day trip. I met up with my API apartment mates who were also in Amsterdam for a great lunch at Bagels & Beans (where I also discovered that matcha lattes could quite possibly be my next food addiction), and then we raced through the Van Gogh museum in a record 30 minutes. After making it through an evening canal tour, one outdoor market, the Anne Frank Huis, three cheese stores, two Dutch supermarkets, and too many Delft ceramic shops to count, I said a heartfelt goodbye to Amsterdam, caught the train to the Schiphol Airport, and finally made it home to our little apartment in Dublin. 

 

One of Amsterdam’s many beautiful canals.

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Colleen Boardman is a Junior in the Fulbright Honors College at the University of Arkansas, working her way towards dual majors in English and Chemistry. She is spending the Spring 2015 semester at Trinity College Dublin in Ireland. In addition to her college classes and researching her honors thesis topic, she is also exploring the culture of her new home by taking Irish language and dance lessons.