After a long day of traveling from Panther Hall to Griffith College, here in Dublin, we jumped right into a walking tour of the city. All of us were jet lagged and it started to pour. Before departing, my parents told me that the weather here is like a teenage girl: moody and unpredictable. I realized that my parents were very accurate within the 4 hours of our walking tour. The weather cycle consisted of cloudy, pouring, windy, then sunny and you never knew which one was coming after each one. Despite the weather inconsistency, the physical space and buildings were absolutely beautiful.
Pittsburgh buildings are relatively new, but Dublin architecture is rich with history and aesthetic uniqueness with uniformity. We first walked to St. Patricks Cathedral. Unfortunately, we could not enter the cathedral but we heard the bells ringing throughout the city. It also had a small charming garden with a large lawn. I was surprised with the amount of green space I saw in Dublin because I just imagined this city to be filled with old and new buildings. The neighborhoods, however, did feel like the neighborhoods around Pittsburgh. Not the suburbs but I felt like the buildings in Shadyside resembled the European style architecture.
We kept walking through the city, stopping at famous tourist spots, for example, the Temple Bar. Because I was very jet lagged, I don’t remember much but tried to keep myself awake by taking pictures of everything and everyone. My absolute favorite place we visited today was St. Stephen’s Green garden. We walked there after Liz, my advisor, bought all of us a chocolate drink from a famous chocolate store called Butler’s. Many pigeons and sea gulls flocked the garden, however, the flowers, the trees and fountains were gorgeous and had the ‘European’ historic feel that does not exist anywhere in the United States.
Although we are in Ireland, I still feel like we aren’t in a foreign country because everything is in English. However, I feel that my stance will change once I encounter more Irish people and engaging and emerging myself in their culture. I am beyond excited for what’s to come for the next two weeks.
