Week 4- Exploring Dublin with Owen!

This past week in Dublin has been one of my favorites so far. My boyfriend, Owen, came and visited me for his birthday. It was his first time visiting Ireland and I had so much fun showing him around Dublin. We spent a lot of time walking around, shopping, making dinners, and going out. He was especially excited to see his friends and fraternity brothers Ellix, Price, Layth, and Aidan so we went out with them and it was fun catching Owen up on our Ireland adventures. We were really lucky to have such warm weather this week. On his birthday on Sunday, we got lunch and sat at St Stephen’s Green. It was so nice seeing how many people were out and about on such a sunny day, playing, picnicking, and enjoying the weather. I love how since the weather is usually not so nice in Dublin, people really appreciate a beautiful day so much. At home in the summer, I’m always complaining about the heat but here I enjoy it so much more because it feels like such a special treat. We got gelato and then got ready to go to dinner at Boeuf and Frites. I would highly recommend, for 29 euros you get a delicious steak with bottomless garlic bread, fries, and dessert. Then, we went to the pub and I got the live singer to sing him happy birthday which he was embarrassed about at first, but I loved it. We had a really fun night celebrating. On Monday, I loved visiting the Guinness Storehouse. I wasn’t expecting it to be so interactive and interesting. It was really cool to learn about the history of Guinness, a brand so important to Irish culture. I didn’t realize it had been around since 1759, and how hard they worked to perfect the flavor. I was surprised to learn that it only really consists of four main ingredients, and that the water specifically comes from the Wicklow Mountains. I enjoyed getting to try a pint of Guinness after the tour, as it’s not my typical drink order but something I definitely had to try. I liked it more than I thought I would, it wasn’t as heavy as I remembered it being when I tried my Dad’s the last time we went to Ireland. I got some posters to hang up in my dorm room and then met up with Owen afterwards to sit outside in Temple Bar. We found a bottle opener that had his last name Kenny on it which was a fun souvenir. After such a fun visit, Owen was officially convinced to study abroad next year so Dublin can take all the credit for that!

Had to show him the iconic Temple Bar