The journey has come to an end! As one last hurrah, one of our friends, Donal, took us to a place called forty foot in Dun Laoghaire. It is a spot where people have been swimming in the ocean for 250 years.
I thought I could handle it since I am from New England and the ocean is always cold, but we had to jump in and get out because the water was so freezing you felt like you couldn't breathe! People jump in the water here all year round, and it is popular to do it on Christmas day!
That night we got to have a final get together with all the friends we made over the past semester. It was hard to say goodbye, but we know we will stay in touch!
Overall, I had a great time in Ireland. I got to meet great people, both American and Irish, play hockey with a new team, travel a lot, and experience multiple new places. I'm really grateful for the experience, and thanks to everyone who kept up with the blog!
This morning we explored the Jewish Quarter of the city. This part was actually not destroyed when Hitler invaded because he had the sick idea to make it a museum for people to learn about the Jewish population there.
We went to an exhibit of children's drawings from the Terezín Ghetto, a place where many Jewish adults and children were sent before going to concentration camps. One woman urged many of the children to create drawings as an escape, and they were stored secretly in a suitcase under the floorboards of a house in the ghetto.
We explored more of the temples and some other churches, and then headed over to the other side of the river to check out some of the public parks. We saw a white peacock, which I didn't know existed! Our trip to Prague was short, but definitely worth it.
We only had one full day in Prague, but this was enough time to see a lot of the city! Prague is pretty small, but the architecture is really pretty, and the city is clean and safe.
We took a walking tour in the morning and got to learn more about the history of the city. Then we explored the castle part of the city, where the president lives.
Lastly, we walked over to the John Lennon Wall, a space that has been filled with Lennon-inspired graffiti since the 1980s. In 1988, it used to be a spot where students would air their grievances about the communist government. However, now it just advocates the global ideas of peace and love!
There was time between my last final and my flight home on the 17th for one last trip, so two other friends and I headed to Prague! We arrived in the late afternoon, so after we checked in at the hostel we had a Czech meal (think lots of different meat dishes, stews, and soft dumplings) and walked along the river Vltava as the sun was setting. There were lots of people sitting out along the river, and the sunset was gorgeous.
Finals at UCD are really different than at Swat! For one thing, the tests aren't in the classrooms on the college campus. All the students take their exams at a place called the Royal Dublin Society (RDS), which is really just a big hall with rows and rows of desks. There are 1,000+ students in the RDS at once, and someone sitting next to you might not even be taking the same exam as you.
Exams are two hours and most of the time worth about 70% of your grade for each course. Needless to say they were intimidating, but I think they went well!
My birthday was in the midst of studying for finals, so my friends and I did a low-key dinner out. We went to a really good restaurant in Dublin called Green Nineteen! We didn't eat out at restaurants too much because we all wanted to save money for traveling and other activities, so it was nice to go someplace kinda fancy!
After classes ended and before finals started, I got to make another trip to London! One of my friends had recommended a section of the city to me which has tons of street art, so I really wanted to go. The place is called Brick Lane - and there is paint everywhere! I got to see a lot of cool art.
In another part of the city, I got to see some of my favorite street artist's work, which is really a dream come true for me. Sadly a lot of it gets painted over, tagged, or removed, but that's just the nature of it. Here's a picture of Banksy's work and me!
