Dublin 2009

Dublin by Henriette Caroline Tønsberg

Monday 26.10
Now we have finally arrived in Dublin after a long journey, and I feel, probably like all the other students, quite exhausted. So I'm looking forward to slip into my pyjamas, tuck the duve around me and set off to wonderland. But before then I think I will go out and grab a bite with my other roomies. The hotel is probably the strangest hotel I've ever been in, it's straight from a Harry Potter movie. It is impossible to understand where to go, I think I spent 20 minutes trying to find the room. There is soo many corridors and rooms. It will be exciting to see wether or not i'll find the reseption tomorrow morning.

Tuesday 27.10
Today we went to see the the kilmanhaim gaol, a huge jail right outside the ciy center. It's history includes many tragedic stories, for example an eight year old girl being imprisoned. Nowadays it is not in use as a prison, but it is open for the public to go on guided walks around the jail. It has also been used in several movies, including one of Madonnas music videos, and as a prison in the movie «In the name of the father». I think most of us found the trip quite interresting.
Later during the day we went on a guided tour around the city, visiting several monuments. Some of them had played a great role in historical events in Dublin. The guide was a clever man, but frankly I would say that the first tour was quite more interresting.
In the evening we went out for dinner with Ingse. It was a nice, warm feeling pub with live Irish music. It has been a great day, and it was fun to see some bits of the irish culture.

Wednesday 28.10
Today we went all the way up to northern ireland, more precicly to Belfast. The drive took about two and a half ours. To make the time go, we all sang some irish songs. It definately made the drive less dull. We had two guided tours on our program in Belfast. The first one was by a former IRA member. He showed us the graves of Guiseppe Conlon and Bobby Sands. He also showed us around in the area close to the catholic cemetery. It was shocking to see that the wall which devides the catholics from the protestants was still in use. After a quite emotional tour we went to see the parliament of the Northern Ireland. To be honest it was a bit boring, but it gave us lots of information from a more objective view.

Thursday 29.10
Today we did not have such a full packed schedule as the other days. Until 12 o'clock we went to Dublinia, a viking senter in Dublin. The tour was inside an old church, datet from medieval times. After seing what the viking senter had to offer, we all went to have some lunch. Later on we had some time to spare, and I would say we that we used the time well. All the girls had some good, quality times together, doing what we can do best. We all went for shopping. Since it was our last day in Dublin we all went out for a dinner together at a nice Italian restaurant. The time has gone soo fast, it seems like we arrived yesterday.

Friday 30.10
Today we are heading back to Norway. Thank you for a wonderful trip, I really enjoyed it!