Welcome to daily update #2. Let’s get right into it!

Morning

This morning, I was going to wake up around 8:30 and have a relaxed, calm morning. One of my roommates thought differently about that. Due to an alarm going off at 7:15, I woke up over an hour earlier than I had anticipated. I decided to put my being awake to good use and go take a shower.

For some reason, I expected to have one shower per room (6 people in my case). Just to clear things up, that’s what I expected when I was still in Belgium. When I arrived at the hostel, it quickly became clear that I wouldn’t have to work out a showering schedule with my roommates. I sighed with relief internally. The shower was great and really enjoyable. So when I got back to my room, I dressed and went down for breakfast.

You should know, when I booked my accommodation online, I also ordered a full Irish breakfast every morning. Looking back on it now, that probably wouldn’t have been necessary, but oh well. The deed is done, might as well get some good breakfast out of it, right? Breakfast was also a good time to start writing for my blog. I did have to finish it at night, though.

Early noon and lunch

Right after breakfast, brushing my teeth and packing my bag, I was on my way to Trinity College. First, I had to go through some struggles trying to find the right bus to take, but I got there in the end. I must say, the views in and around Trinity College are quite impressive. I don’t know if it’s just me because I come from a not-so-impressive city or if the campus is actually that remarkable, but I was awed.

The inspiring front side and main entrance of Trinity College

Of course, the highlight of my visit to the famous Dublin campus was the Book of Kells exhibition and the visit to the Long Room. The exhibition itself was kind of eh, but the Long Room was definitely worth it. It’s just as beautiful in real life as it is on all the pictures.

A side view of what the Long Room looks like from inside (although I’m sure you already knew this as there are literally millions of pictures online)

A close-up picture of one specific section of the Long Room

For lunch, I bought a sandwich and a drink at some supermarket in the shopping streets and I went and ate it in St Stephen’s Green Park. It was a refreshing change of pace to eat surrounded by trees, birds, water and Chinese people.

Afternoon

I was originally planning on visiting the Oscar Wilde house, as it seemed like a fun and informative thing to do. I walked all the way there, only to find out that the exhibition and tour have been discontinued since 2007 and the building is now owned by American College Dublin. Fix your website guys 🙁

While the visit to Trinity College was the most informative thing I’ve done in Dublin so far, the most entertaining by far was my visit to the National Museum of Ireland (Natural History Department). I was originally planning on only going to the Archaeology Department, but I’m glad I decided not to skip this one. The stuffed animals lent themselves perfectly for funny pictures. I saw the opportunities and seized them.

Here are some of the less obscene examples.

Evening

After that, not much happened any more. I walked all the way to my hostel. That should have been a 20-minute walk, but it obviously took me over half an hour because I’m Slowpoke and I got lost. Anyway, I went and drank a chai tea at this little coffee shop I found yesterday and then dumped my stuff at my room in the hostel. Then I went out for dinner and came back, and now here I am, writing a blog post in the hostel lobby.

So, that was today. I’ve been working to get this daily update out on time – as opposed to the previous one – so that anyone that might be following me can actually follow and not lag behind. If you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading this update post!

-S

Day 1 – Day 3 – Day 4 – Day 5