The past few weeks

Hello everyone

After what feels like an eternity, there is actually something more exciting to talk about. For the past few weeks, we have been busy writing our stupid term papers and school projects, so we had very little time to explore. Nevertheless, we managed to go into the city a few times. The first time, we just wanted to visit a few stores to buy things to send or bring to our families. That's when we stumbled upon the National Art Gallery, which we wanted to visit. So, we lined up and waited. After a short while, we were in the entrance area and realized that you also have to make an appointment to enter here, just like almost everywhere else these days. Thanks to Corona. Fortunately, we met a nice lady (who looked very important) who said that we could walk through, but we had to hurry and go to the exit on the other side of the building as quickly as possible. So we quickly walked through the first two rooms. For the rooms after that, we took a bit more time because it was fascinating to see the paintings exhibited there. We quickly realized that the National Art Gallery is HUGE. However, because we were afraid of getting caught, we tried to find the exit after half an hour in the gallery. It turned out to be an absolute challenge. We got lost at least 5 times in this incredibly confusing and maze-like building (a few times, we accidentally ended up in the largest elevator I've ever seen) until we decided to ask one of the security guards who were standing around everywhere how on earth we can escape from this labyrinth. After about 100 more turns, we finally stood in front of the exit. We will definitely go there again because we only saw a tiny fraction of what is exhibited in this gallery. But next time, we'll do it the legal way. On the same evening, I painted the girls with henna color. It took forever, but the results are great.

On the next day, we met up with Verena (the girl we met in our hostel at the very beginning). We went to a Disney shop together, where I felt like I was in heaven. I'm a huge Disney movie fan and of course, I couldn't resist buying a little something for my best friend, who loves Disney just as much as I do😇. After that, we met another girl that Celine had met through some website. Her nickname is Cat and she lives here in Dublin. Very likeable person. And of course, we couldn't miss out on the takeaway beer for home. 😅

A few days later, I spontaneously got a tattoo. For all the people who have absolutely no knowledge of botany, these are snowdrops. For those wondering why these flowers in particular: years ago, I had a conversation with my sister about what reminds her of me. Her answer was "snowdrops. Because you were always the first one in spring to pick them and bring them into the house." Apart from that, snowdrops are one of my favorite flowers.

The following weekend, we were back in the city because Hannah wanted to go to the souvenir shop where Celine and I had already bought some things the weekend before. Nothing spectacular. We met up with Cat again and managed to buy beer in a bar for the first time since we've been here. We sat in the Dublin Castle Park and spent a short while there before heading back to the city. It was the first time since we've been here that we sat in the city until it got dark. Dublin at night is amazing! We met some more people with whom we had a lot of fun and had a short but very enjoyable evening.

I still have a lot of school work to do for the next few days, so I will probably have very little to talk about and even less desire to write more posts here after a whole day in front of the laptop. But it will get better in two weeks, and in the last weeks here, I will definitely see more of Ireland than just Dublin. Galway is high on my list, as well as some sights scattered across Ireland.

Until then

Slán