March 2008

We also took some time to visit the Guinness Storehouse, where I learned how to pour “the perfect pint.” The Guinness people even tried to teach me how to draw a shamrock in the foam with the tap. The bartender there could draw a shamrock and write “Enjoy!” I could only convince myself that the mess on top of my pint looked like a shamrock; it was nowhere close, but I have a healthy imagination. While at the storehouse, we met an American who'd recently graduated from UNC Greensborough and was traveling around Europe; she ended up joining us dinner with us that night. (See, what did I tell you about strangers in Dublin? Even the travelers there catch the friendly bug.) And finally, as an English Major, I wanted to experience the literary history of the city, so I visited the James Joyce Centre and the Dublin Writers Museum.

Of course, our break was during Holy Week, so Morgan and I went to a Good Friday service at Christchurch Cathedral.

A panoramic view of Christchurch in Dublin where we attended church during Holy Week.

The inside of the cathedral was absolutely stunning and brought forth the same feelings I experienced when attending a service at St. Paul’s Cathedral on Easter the Sunday following. It was simply surreal to think that I was actually attending a service at such a historic and religious landmark.
Coming back from Dublin, I realized that I was excited to return to England, and that I had already come to think of London as some sort of “home.”