May 7 - Dealing with Death, Meaning in Life, and Symbolism

Viking museum

I loved the history. I've already become acquainted with Norse mythology so I found it exceptional to see from there to here! Particularly the idea of Valhalla being a heaven for the warriors who had the opportunity of a noble death in combat fighting for those they loved... Think of the lifestyle a child may choose to have while idolizing those types of adults rather than a stellar refresh rate in their computer monitor, a mechanical keyboard that lasts billions of keystrokes, and a mouse with exceptional DPI. A Viking named Strongbow was one example of this.

Christ's Cathedral

I've been told, so I noted that the Cathedral was cross shaped from a birds's eye view: long hall, wings on either side, and the smaller area for the meeting authorities. Underneath the junction of them is the spot that the sacred transformations and rituals occur... so I looked up and sure enough they had a very elaborate design made of a seemingly precious stone. Strongbow's remains were here in the meeting hall. Beneath the Cathedral was the Crypt which I thoroughly enjoyed. There was so much symbolism between the Crypt and Cathedral... It was phenomenal! Decorative plates made of gold with elaborate designs, ones that you would only ever display.

From the Cathedral we broke into pre-assigned groups in which each group had designed a plan for the next few hours, after which, we were to meet up again with all of the other groups and professors at a location across town.

Group Activities:

The Badass Bar was such a fun environment. Even with the drinking here I'm not even bothered a bit thus far. It's just so different in the sense that no one shies away from alcohol so it just seems so normal to be offered and decline, I don't feel awkward or pressured by any stretch of the imagination. The fish and chips though... Wow.

St Stephens Green

The need for nature is so significant and recognized here in Ireland that they have these parks throughout Dublin. The extent we go to in order feel like we don't live in nature... It doesn't make any god damn sense! How can we ever think we don't live with nature, how else do we survive? Food eats food eats food eats food. Just matters which food you are.

Glasnevin Cemetery (where my phone passed away...)

I know, ironic. Additionally, my phone uses the "new and improved" USB type C that absolutely no one else uses on the rare occasion they even know it exists. I had plenty of willing friends with battery packs but hadn't brought my charger cable. Regardless, I was headed back to the hotel at this point...

A spooky thought pointed out to us while taking a tour of Glasinev was that there are 1.3 million people living in Ireland, 1.6 million buried in the cemetery. A couple big names we saw were De Valera and Countess Malkovich. I'd recommend you look them up. I don't think I can do them justice here.

Hailing buses? We were waiting at the bus stop, here comes the bus and the driver makes eye contact with us and then just kept going! We were like, "What?! Could he tell we were tourists? And was just like, nope!" Well... That's exactly what happened, we failed to notify him by reaching our arm out into the street in front of him... Talk about efficiency! Being the only one with data and without a phone I was feeling the early onset of anxiety. I went back to our tour guide, they had a good chuckle, told us our error, found us the next bus, told us we didn't need specifically that one, and "Cheers!"

Fergal at the Slick Fox bar with the heart wrenching story!

At this point we're on a bus headed to the red line that will get us to the hotel and the girls I'm with find a guy willing to sell them some Ed Sheeran tickets, they couldn't control themselves but didn't know exactly how to get to him. Thus began our journey to find Fergal at the Slippery Fox bar. Keeping in mind I was headed to the hotel to charge my phone, the only one with data. It was time to consult the locals which was extremely effective! Once arriving at the Silver Fox bar Fergal explained that in order to redeem the tickets at the entrance you need the card used to purchase them and the driver's license of the cardholder... I shit you not (yet refuse to prove it) Fergal whips out a photocopy of his credit card and driver's license! Justifiably he was hesitant to just hand it over so we eagerly visited with him telling him who we were, what we were doing, anything he wanted to know because, frankly, he was the one taking the risk. After a good amount of mingling, off we went to the hotel to charge my phone...

At this point I was at the precipice of hangry. The hotel is a good while out of Dublin so we opted to get food first. Off to the Brazen Head pub and anarchy seating round two! The food is indescribable.

After eating, back to the hotel! On the way to the red line we saw this beautiful sunset and while crossing the bridge over the river we got the reflection of that sunset in the river... It was breath taking... Keeping in mind my phone/camera passed away at the cemetery... As the majority of us are snapping pictures a passing car threw an egg at us. Luckily they missed any one of us, however it hit the bridge railing and exploded on a few of us. I got the worst of it by far so I wiped the girls off with my shirt, the others had, none to minimal collateral damage and on we went! To the hotel!

Finally making our way to the red line and to our stop we exited the tram to find a fellow student, alone, headed into Dublin because no one was around willing to go with her... Egged, tired, and really, really wanting to charge my phone... Back to Dublin! No one left behind, nor alone! This fellow student was headed back into the eye of the storm, the Brazen Head pub. On our way back in some teenagers began heckling us, no one was hearing them beyond myself so I keep looking back at them, they'd get quiet and stop until I looked away. At their stop they got really aggressive shouting at us, mocking us, teasing us just to jump off the tram like a bunch of cowards... That part is what really bothered me. If you have something you think I need to hear, you ought be willing to say it to my face. It gave them some sense of power being able to run away without repercussions. It was like a string of YouTube commenters hidden behind a screen name. Regardless, we got to Brazen Head and then back to the hotel!

Finally home after 5-6 attempts and now 9:30 pm... My phone charge gave way to sleep... It was a long day.