Dublin, Ireland (Dubh Linn)

 Dublin, Ireland was my first real venture out to do some sight-seeing and traveling. I was there from the 13-15th of January and chose this destination because of its close proximity to the UK which made the flights cheap, yet I thought it would take care of my visa problem that occurred back in Heathrow. It was definitely the perfect warm-up for my travels as it allowed me to figure out the difficulties and challenges of traveling, especially alone.

DAY 1

My adventure began at 3:40 in the morning when I called a cab to take me from my house to the bus station. From there, I had to take an hour-long bus ride to the airport where I arrived two hours early for my flight (such an over achiever). After finally boarding my RyanAir  flight (from the tarmac!)  and just over an hour of actual flying-time we landed in Dublin city. I got very lucky and found that there was a tourist stand right outside the exit from which I purchased a pass for 24 euros giving me a bus ride to and from the airport (and dropped me in front of my hostel) as well as a two day sight-seeing tourist bus pass, hop on and off, around Dublin.

Irish symbol-the harp

I got to be a tourist for these two days, walking around taking pictures of everything! Dublin was a large tourist-town so I felt okay doing it. (Beware, many pictures to follow.)

My first day on the bus was spent mostly riding the bus, listening to the commentary, and taking photos from the top of the double-decker tour bus. I was absolutely fascinated with the architecture which was so different from anything I had ever seen before in real life. Everything seemed so different from the newer establishments I was used to seeing back in San Diego; so old yet so well taken care of.

I loved seeing things in the city that were very different from anything I would have seen back home. The statues of the influential people of Ireland and all of the monuments dedicated to the people who made the city what it is toady. For such a small city, there was a lot of historical buildings all within walking (or bus) distance, making it really convenient to see a lot of history in the two days I was there.

Gaol Cell

Gaol

I stopped at one point and took a tour of the Gaol (Jail). I wished I had known prior to the tour more about the history of Dublin so that I would know more about the men and women kept in this place. But it was fascinating to know that during the Potato Famine, men women, and even children as young as 6 were kept in this jail, often for stealing food.

I would now like to apologize for the rest of the blog as formatting photos on this website is really difficult.

If I saw the needle, I knew how to get to the hostel

 I spent the majority of my first day at the Dublin Zoo. I absolutely loved every minute with the animals and all of the photos I got to take. It was amazing how active they all were even with how cold it was outside! My favorite animals to photograph were the monkeys and tigers, as you will see with the abundance of photos of them. It took some time to do the editing, along with my trip to Italy immediately after, which delayed this blog.

Snow Leopard

Bird Fight

Amazing pond at the Dublin Zoo

My favorite primate

DAY 2

 The next day I went out with two of the guys from my hostel who were from different parts of the US but studying abroad in Germany. With them, I went to a lot of different locations and learned a lot as they knew more about the history of the city than I did!

Cool art at Trinity College

Dublin Cathedral

 Amazing art and history at the historic Dublin Castle. We escaped the cold for a while here :)

Photos of the ceiling/ rest break

The old "black pool"

Dana in Dublin

Castle Church stained glass window

Selfie in a castle, sure why not?!- also a lady's room, where they get pretty and wait all night for a man to ask them to dance

Then, after a while in the gorgeous castle, we made our way back to the bus where our next stop was the Guinness Factory. Although a little pricey, it was very well-done and a lot of fun! We got to see the factory and facilities, do a "proper Guinness tasting," and learn how to pour a perfect Guinness pint at the Guinness Academy. We then enjoyed our pints in the sky lounge, over looking all of Dublin.

9,000 year lease for Dublin Guinness property--paying $45 a year.

After a night out in the pubs in Dublin, I had to awaken early and say goodbye to my new friends and a breath-taking city. My first adventure was an overall success. I did a lot of wandering and sightseeing; simply being a tourist. The weather in Dublin was absolutely frigid, and I even saw my first snow in Europe while eating lunch. It was a cold but extremely rewarding and worthwhile trip. The people of Dublin were ALL so helpful, kind, and overall genuine people. I found university friends everywhere I looked; in a Starbucks, hostel, bus tour, sightseeing, or simply on the streets. I could ask anyone for directions and everyone was more than happy to provide me with them. The accents were so cute to hear in real life and my hostel directed me towards some genuine, non-touristy, pubs in Ireland. I had some good meals, though I never did try the black-and-white pudding. Most of you will understand why.

 For many of those of you who had not yet heard, I had some problems back at Heathrow, London airport receiving my student visitor visa that was required for me to study here in Nottingham. When I had arrived in Heathrow on the afternoon of December 30th, after traveling nearly a full day, I passed through customs only to have the officer providing me with my visa tell me that I had arrived just a few days too early and that my 6-month visa won't cover the time I was there. My studies are to end on the 5th of June, making my time there (as of the 30th of December) 5 months and 6 days. My visa that I was supposed to receive on this day was good for 6 months. To the officer, however, since June is the 6th month of the year, I had come into the country 6 days to early and therefor, my student visa would not be valid for my full term and I could not receive my visa that day. Exhausted, I didn't think about the logic this uniformed authority had told me as I should have, and ended up passing through the gates with a tourist visa. From this, I was instructed to leave the UK in the next three weeks before the start of university and return to receive the proper student visa. Upon flying back into my local airport it became apparent that I had not yet gone through customs to receive my visa and knew there was no way I had just by passed this station. After many phone calls and hours in the airport, along with a lot of assistance from my university study abroad program, it became evident that Dublin was within the "common travel area" and was not out of the UK enough; even though the country is in the EU and uses the Euro. Because of this, I had to once again leave the UK within that week to receive my proper visa, or not be able to study. With one day of planning, I successfully planned a trip to Italy and flew out the next day; flights, hostels, and sightseeing in each city. I spent the last week in Italy and made it back the day before orientation, visa in hand!

Photos and stories of my trip to Italy coming soon!