I can’t believe I’m finally in Ireland! Stephanie and I arrived at 7am Sunday morning and explored Dublin while waiting to get into our hotel room at 3pm. We wandered around looking for places to sit because we were exhausted! Then luckily our professors let us come to their room when they woke up because we were freezing and tired!
Once we got to the hotel we rested for a bit then met up with all of the girls that were there so far for dinner at a pub called O’Neill’s. Monday we checked into Trinity College and got our apartments! They are so nice and have a huge common area. We got assigned by Trinity into groups of 3 or 4 and we each have our own rooms within the apartment! We all met up and explored and went to Temple Bar once we were settled in!
Yesterday we went to the Trinity College library and saw the Book of Kells and the Long Room. The library is beautiful! After that we went and got pasties for lunch before heading over to the Irish Emigration Museum! I really enjoyed that it was interactive and you got to stamp this little passport when you went through each room. It was really interesting to hear all about Irish Emigration! Then at night some of us went out for ice cream at this place called Murphy’s ice cream that was SO good!
Today was our first site visit and we visited a nonprofit called Fighting Blindness. Their mission is to cure blindness and support those with sight loss. We got to hear all about their organization and the services they provide. We also got to hear from one of the founding members of the organization who is actually visually impaired himself. He has been with Fighting Blindness since it started 40 years ago and it was really interesting to hear how he has worked with them and all of his experiences as a visually impaired person.
These first few days have definitely been an adjustment getting used to a new time zone and the jet lag and lack of routine but I have had a blast so far! Can’t wait to see what else Ireland has to offer!
