Day 2: Orientation part 1

So after a decent sleep, not amazing (a room overlooking a busy street is fascinating during the day but a bit loud at night), we had a morning full of orientation, followed by a quick lunch and a "hop-on, hop-off" bus tour of Dublin. It was perhaps the coldest I've ever been in my whole life. Dublin is an amazing city (not too large either), but it is VERY cold and almost constantly raining. Among the twenty-some odd stops in our tour, I chose to visit Dublin Castle, Christchurch, St. Patrick's Cathedral, and Kilmainham Gaol (jail), bypassing sites such as the Guinness Factory, Dublin Zoo, and National Museum. Sadly, there just wasn't enough time to visit them all. Dublin Castle was gorgeous, as was Christchurch. We didn't tour anywhere until we reached St. Patrick's, which is unbelievably beautiful (pictures to come) from floor to ceiling and every wall in between. Also interesting, St. Patrick's is the final resting place of Jonathan Swift. Upon hopping on the bus again, we were all so comfortably warm that we hated to get off again. But we wanted to see the gaol, and we figured, it's inside; how cold could it be? The answer: very, very cold. It was so cold that I can't believe that more prisoners didn't die by freezing to death. But the gaol was very interesting (packed with history) and once held several famous Irishmen (and women), most of the leaders of the Easter Rising/Rebellion, one of whom would eventually be prime minister and president of the Republic of Ireland. So after freezing in jail for almost two hours, we hopped back on the warm bus! A lovely British woman from Yorkshire sat next to me, and we began talking. (I felt like my mom :) ) Anyway, because it was a short bus ride, I don't know her whole life story, but I do now want to visit Yorkshire and meet more Britons. When we finally returned to the hostel, almost the entire Arcadia group went to the pub next door for dinner (yum!) and then we all went to see "The Sea-farer," a famous Irish play at the National Theatre of Ireland. My day ended at a pub, where I had my first legal drink :) And now, I'm back at the hostel, still slightly cold, but very comfy and ready to go to bed!
See you all soon :)