With one more week to go, I do not think I am ready to leave Ireland one bit. The time I have had here so far whether it be exploring Dublin or even just making new friends, it has made my experience so special. In all honesty, I would say this week was more relaxing than the others, actually… on second thought… I’ll get into that later on (HOWTH).

As always, lets get into what happened this week. The more time I spend at Financefair, the sadder I get thinking about leaving next week! The company has given me an unforgettable experience and had led me to meet even the greatest of people to be around. While excel might be tough at some times, the support I get from the team is invaluable. My weekly Tuesday and Thursday hudle meetings with the finance team allows me to stay on track and not get lost, and what makes it even better is that we always have a laugh at the end. Tomorrow, I am going out with the company to a comedy festival, I have high hopes for it!

This past Thursday, I was able to go out with my friends Erin and Riley, to go grab a bite to eat in upper Dublin and then shop! Of course on my end, I had to go grab new shoes due to the TRAGIC Gaelic games incident. But, looking on the bright side, I found an amazing pair of Hokas that I adore, however I do think my feet are a tad bit wide for these but they will do for the meantime.

Being able to walk in Dublin and get on and off the bus, it makes me feel like I am just getting started here! To walk St. Stephen’s Green to see its stunning nature and wildlife and just truly appreciate it has been a unforgettable experience. In addition, walking past local food trucks and seeing the amount of people that had still decided to come out and support them had made a rainy day seem bright.

On Friday, I was finally able to go to Doheny & Nesbit’s, a pub that I had been nagging my friends about to go to. It was highly recommended by my coworkers and now I understand as to why. The place has amazing vibes, dim lighting, but also multiple floors! The live music is insanely good, there are many nooks to sit in, and the staff is amazing! Shoutout to Embry! She’s a student from Indiana University but here for the summer working, welcoming us and making us feel at home!

However, Monday was a bit rough. While the food was amazing in Howth due to its proximity to the ocean, the 7km walk was definitely unexpected! It rained a lot the night before and was raining a bit in the morning so the trail was definitely muddy at the least and at the most it was fully submersion of my new hokas into the water. In hindsight though, I do not regret it one bit! Truly a great workout and I was able to have some good laughs on the walk with the tour guide and some friends. If you ever find yourself on the Howth Cliff Walk, prepare for the YELLOW BUSHES! They are spikey, not the worst, but just feels like thorns, so take high steps and just don’t think about it! The sight at the top was nice but as we got to the top, I realized there was a car park so I was thinking in my head “we could’ve drove here?…”. Moving on, something interesting I learned on the hike was that Howth distributes to countries such as Singapore and Spain which are two places that are known for their very great seafood! That had made me truly excited to eat after a long hike. I had the chance to eat a crab burger and it did not disappoint. The flavor was rich, savory and a bit tangy, I rate it a 10/10!

I totally almost forgot to add this in! But the other day I took a day to myself and went down to the city center. I grabbed an amazing matcha at the matcha bar, (I would recommend getting the blue vanilla one, I think the latte is a bit too bitter) and had looked around the shopping center. After I had tried to walk to a thrift store around to see what was there, I walked past a Patagonia shop that had a chalkboard sign saying up to 40% off! Knowing me, I can’t resist a good deal, so I walked in 20 minutes before close, franticly trying on the sales rack, talking to the staff members and finally deciding on a jacket. I ended up getting a brown synchilla and on the bright side of shopping in Ireland, there are VAT refunds! I learned that if you spend over 75 euro on a product then you are eligible to receive VAT refund, which is amazing because VAT here can reach up to about 20 or so percent! So being able to receive that money back is an amazing steal. I always wondered why people always came to Europe to get designer and now I know one of the many reasons! On the bad side, after I had bought this, I tried walking to the thrift store I wanted to go to and it was closed, but maybe it was a sign that this was meant to be instead!

On another note, I am headed to Edinburgh this Friday and I am so excited! My favorite show was filmed there, so of course I will be hitting up all the spots that were shown. That’s it for now, I will see you all again next week for my final blog of this trip!